Diary of a very bad trader!

[dbphoenix]

Quote from Brianharvey:

price has stopped falling, so out here at 94.47 for +3

It's a start.

 

[Brianharvey]

Quote from dbphoenix:

And how are you defining "up"?

when it stops dropping and goes the other way

 

[dbphoenix]

Quote from Brianharvey:

when it stops dropping and goes the other way

So why did you hang onto your previous short for -15?

 

[Brianharvey]

Quote from dbphoenix:

So why did you hang onto your previous short for -15?

because I was trading with hard stops and targets at that time.

Since then, I took your advice. If it moves against you, get out.

 

[hitchslap]

Quote from Brianharvey:

If it moves against you, get out.

Been there, done that.

You will get chopped to PIECES doing this. You'll also never get a decent winner.

Do you wait until it moves 4 ticks against you? 10 ticks? 1 tick?

Price doesn't move in straight lines.

 

[dbphoenix]

Quote from Brianharvey:

because I was trading with hard stops and targets at that time.

Since then, I took your advice. If it goes the wrong way, get out.

It's not quite that easy. Or simple. You had been in a range since 1040. And while stops and targets may be possible in a well-defined range, they are for the most part wishful thinking. Yes, take your longs at the lower limit of the range, if there is one, and your shorts at the upper limit, if there is one. But then you have to see if price is doing what you expected it to do. If it isn't, you have to get out and the hell with the target.

This is all quite different from trading a trend.

 

[dbphoenix]

Quote from hitchslap:

Been there, done that.

You will get chopped to PIECES doing this. You'll also never get a decent winner.

Do you wait until it moves 4 ticks against you? 10 ticks? 1 tick?

Price doesn't move in straight lines.

What you wait for depends on the results of the testing you do. But if you insist on trading chop, you're going to get chopped anyway.

 

[MarketAddict]

Quote from Brianharvey:

price going up? We were down on the day at the time of the short, price had dropped off nearly 40 ticks from the high of the day, AND we were below the 20 ema on the 5min chart.

How many ticks does it take to quantify up? (or down)

If I had have went long there instead, and the price dropped, people would say ''why were you going long when the price is going down??' lol

regarding stops, some are saying they're too tight, others that they're too large.

Go have a look at my journal. I had explained exactly why shorting was a bad idea at the time you went short (I actually waited and went long).. Secondly, whats the reason for you entering the Market? You haven't told me yet.. Are you a pullback trader, breakout trader etc? And thirdly, I think you are over trading for right now.. Try to set a daily loss limit and move on to the next day..

 

[dbphoenix]

Quote from Brianharvey:

short 94.50

Question. You went short because you expected price to fall. It didn't, so you got out. It's now been sitting here for a half hour. What would you be thinking if you were still in? What would you be doing for this half hour? If sellers are in charge, why is price just sitting here? And if it resumes its downtrend, what are you going to do? Since you're out, you have all sorts of options. What are they?

This is trading.

 

[Brianharvey]

Quote from dbphoenix:

Question. You went short because you expected price to fall. It didn't, so you got out. It's now been sitting here for a half hour. What would you be thinking if you were still in? What would you be doing for this half hour? If sellers are in charge, why is price just sitting here? And if it resumes its downtrend, what are you going to do? Since you're out, you have all sorts of options. What are they?

This is trading.

If I was still in (and using my typical hard stop/target approach), I'd just be waiting for it to hit either my stop or limit. (unless I got a new buy signal, in which case i'd reverse the trade)

If price is just sitting here, then it would seem neither buyers or sellers were in charge at that point in time.

If it resumed it's downtrend now, it would likely be without me being on the train. I'd need a signal of some sort to get on board. You could say that 'price moving down' is 'signal' enough, but then you'd need to quantify 'down' and it's not as if there's a certain tick amount that means price is likely to carry on in a particular direction. Also taking every tiny move as a signal like a puppy chasing it's tail sounds like a recipe for disaster. (commissions+chop+'noise' etc)