Quote from jjf:
IF you want to use IF then try this ...
IF the price rises, buy into it
If the price sells, sell into it.
A few days ago I pointed out the importance of treating Trading as a black and white exercise.
Buy - Sell
Trade - No Trade
Continue - Exit
etc etc
The problem is that many people are so poorly conditioned to b&w thinking that they see B&W in shades of grey
Petty's post along with many others on this thread are classic examples of grey thinking
jjf-
I operate a fully automated trading company. (intra-day only) It is extremely black and white business. I understand your point.
However, when I am looking at *large* swings within the ES I am looking at grey areas and these grey areas provide me with black and white levels that then are IF/THEN...I trade large swings with discretion and semi-automated...
I am not in here to post my trades. I am in here to show people over time how to look at the ES differently than mainstream. I am going to stack information as I can and see fit. Yeah its going to be grey because my guides are grey...
Let explain a different way:
My trading signals are very robotic, yet the rational (derived from guides) that surrounds a swing level or even intraday is very organic (grey if you may) and everything that happens with a trade, either good or bad is logged and tracked and used for some future insight...you can never over look what price did, it all means something.
I never question a trading signal or try to understand what the market is going to do from a trading signal. If it says trade, you have your entry, exit and stop. That's it. period. The trade means nothing more than that to me (b&w) But the guides are the fun part and the part that allows me to build a larger swing position or formulate views about price.
This is one way I take emotion out of manual trading by making the signals "boring" and rigid and not using them at all to talk about the markets. This way, if a signal fails, so be it. All I did was loose money on that trade. It failed but my overall view stays intact. And their are NO negative feelings about what just happened.
I find this very useful in keeping a positive attitude while manually trading. It also allows me to be intellectually stimulated by analyzing the markets with tools outside of those that make me money.
----Many people analyze and stimulate their minds with their actual trading signals. For instance, if they see a signal fire they are revving up their mind wondering what the market will do, and this brings along emotion, and a lot of it. If it doesn't work out, they question their insight, their signal or even themselves. When this happens over and over it destroys their ability to make trades. On the flip side, a lot of false confidence can be built from a string of "winners" and the trader thinks their signals are infallible, thus their analysis is infallible as well. And we both know what happens next: the market humbles them and they are left second guessing their signals. Not with everyone, but why play with fire? ----
My trading mind set, for many, seems odd. But it made me a better trader and eventually allowed to automate signals quite easily, thus being able to build a business and trade for others. So I make money via intra day automation and take larger swings manually from my analysis (grey) about price based upon my guides.
