In response to M1's PM: Thanks for your interest.
Yes, family for me comes first -- although the juggling act isn't easy. I'm not going to tell you that there aren't times when trading's hot and heavy, and I simply can't tear myself away from the screen. Overall, though, building a family and bringing up kids is so incredibly fulfilling. Message to traders who let their monetary asperations hijack their lives and fail to marry and build a family: IMHO you are making a decision you may deeply regret later in life. Some day, you're going to be old, and trading and money won't be so meaningful any more. You'll look back at your years and wonder where they've gone, and what you've got to show for them. Without a wife and kids (and grandkids), life has a way of getting very lonely. Marriage and childrearing is a
huge investment, and yes, there is
risk involved. But as traders, we all know that the profits are highly correlated to the risk and level of investment. (Get's off his soapbox...)
(As an aside, just before writing this post, I took a 15 minute break from trading [right after the channel broke down]. Why? My 2-year old was screaming in agony. Despite his mommy's repeated warnings, he continually chewed on hot peppers I picked up earlier today in "The Market". It took a while, but thankfully I was able to relax him (well, actually, he just fell asleep). That's him down below.)
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As far as scaling in/out of trades starting with as little as one contract, and what you call "price discovery," for me, too, figuring out that trading that way suited me best was a "gem." I remember thinking one day, after I had been doing it for a little while, and was starting to experience some success, "Wow -- I just figured out what the difference between successful traders and the rest of us is..." Until then, I had been hung up on entering my trades in full size all at once. It caused me to miss a ton of entries, because I knew that at "full size", whatever that means for each trader, a stop out hurts.
Many times, as ones trading prowess/experience grows, you get an intuition. It's not something that shows up on the charts (and of course it may be wrong -- remember that!!), but you're pretty sure you see where things are going. Yet you hesitate to put the position on, and rightly so. After all, you don't want to end up like some gunslinging video gamer that jumps in and out on hunches. But how frustrating it is when the market goes on to do just what you expected it to.
Taking a very small position (like 1 contract) allows you to act on your intuition before confirming it with your charts/indicators etc. If you're right, you can add to your position as the market continues to confirm your original hunch. If, at any point, it doesn't, it may be time to get out, or tighten your stop.
It sounds silly, but often having those original one or two contracts in the market make all the difference between "having the guts" to put on the rest of the position once confirmation comes, and between "chickening out" and staying on the sidelines.
"Price discovery" will take place whether or not you've got a position. It's in how you deal with price as it discovers itself that having that small position makes the difference.
Also: I find, and I've seen others post along these lines, that my "feel for the market" is greatly multiplied when I've got some kind of position as opposed to when I'm flat. I'm sure others have experienced this: Having money on the line heightens our sensitivity many fold. But, you don't have to put on a big position to experience this (at least I don't). And when you're convinced you're wrong, it's a whole lot easier to exit-and-reverse out of a small position than it is to do so from a large one.
I hope some of this is making sense. It's not always easy to put these types of experiences into words.
