Enough dreams for one day for me. Today's work:
Did a little bit of work today. My game plan would have not resulted in any trades as of 11:23 p.m. on the GBP/CHF (plan started around five or so). My target would have been hit on the EUR/USD for a nice gain, and I would either be working with a very tight stop or would have exited at this point. I did notice the entry points on the EUR/JPY and USD/JPY shorts (top of channel and kind of diamond), although Iâm not sure if I would have taken the trades.
Spreads: unfortunately the GBP/USD is abysmal at 15 pips â 0.08% in Asian session. I did a spread analysis just over an hour ago, and decided that the USD/CHF (surprisingly good movement this session), EUR/CHF, and AUD/USD have good or acceptable spreads in both London and Asian session. It is somewhat possible that I cut the GBP/CHF and add all three, although Iâm not sure I want six pairs and will really have to think about this one.
Thatâs about all I did worth talking about today, but I would like to discuss the validity of playing classic chart patterns in todayâs markets, both in my strategy and in general.
Personally, I think chart patterns are a great way for me to enter the market. Finding a path to consistent profitability will be fantastic for me before I can start screen watching more and begin to learn more things about the market that canât be read in books. It is also very rule and order-based (concrete limit/stop entries and exits), which makes them fairly easy to play with some memorization, discipline, and patience â all things I can believe I can develop in a somewhat shorter period of time.
Now, why should I or anyone have confidence in the validity of simple, recurring chart patterns? The answer is in the moves of the markets and trader quality. I am going to be working on the assumption, and for me it is an assumption, that chart patterns and signals, etc. were profitable at one point and time. Now, letâs have millions of online traders attack this profitable opportunity, and what happens? Some very interesting things, but mainly noise, and noise creates losses.
Most people, I am sure, cannot take consistent losses. They canât take the loss and rejection of learning, they may lack the intelligence or dedication or be too stubborn to change their approach (surely infinite reasons). If they pass this, then they likely still fall short of the money management policy of losing three of four trades with a 4:1 reward to risk. Maybe it is the stress of losses, maybe it is the failure of management skills to reach this level (if my stop is just a bit higher, I would have stayed in and madeâ¦â¦â¦â¦â¦â¦â¦.), but the reasons themselves donât matter at all. Every losing trade, or rather every missed opportunity creates stress for a new wave of traders, and they disbelieve the system - they quit, justify themselves with efficient market theories.
Noise is the key to profitability in the markets. It means that traders are getting shaked out; losing; failing. It weeds the weak, the undisciplined, undedicated, less astute, or less experienced. It is the losses that are the brilliance of market consistency, not the profits. It is the pain of noise, of inconsistency, of randomness that creates opportunities.
And what remains? The same profitable patterns and occurrences that were there in the beginning, evolving with innovative thinkers yet overall unchanging in nature. Common market knowledge (if fibs overcome patterns or some new indicators, this would still hold true) can only APPROACH unprofitability, but can never become unprofitable. A small window will always be left, as people as a whole will never realize and be capable of exploiting the opportunities enough to close it (and if they did, there would be no opportunities, weed out some traders, which would open it again). It is this phenomenon that creates opportunities for the stronger; those who experiment; those who think critically; the resourceful; those who learn. May they be patient and either take or realize the profits given to them before they can become innovative, master the art, and rise to the elite - a level in sync with the markets, which common market knowledge cannot even begin to understand.