How much depth do you have to your strategy

[Xela]

the thing is I sort of know what I'm doing so I was wondering how I build this into a strategy.

I would strongly suggest, before you try to build it into a strategy, that it will help you greatly (both now, and in the future for judging how to inerpret "information" offered in forums) to read a few hard-copy, long-established, accredited, professionally-edited, peer-reviewed textbooks which address in some detail the specific issue of "How to build something into a strategy", and to avoid online information, however well-intentioned, until after you've done so.

And here are three recommendations for books which do exactly that (and between them will give you, in detail and with examples, the information you need, to be able to orientate yourself) ...

Trade Your Way to Financial Freedom, by Van K. Tharp (don't let the horribly promotional title put you off: it's a great book)

Beyond Technical Analysis, by Tushar S. Chande

Profitability & Systematic Trading, by Michael Harris

Can anyone share how they went about this

Yes - I (more or less) did so, here.

I think he just doesn’t understand the technical terms.

For sure (well, that's where we all started off, isn't it?), and that's not helped by the fact that there's quite a bit of talking at cross-purposes in the thread, and not everyone purporting to advise the OP is using those terms with exactly the same meanings anyway. No criticism of anyone implied, of course ... there's some good advice in the thread, but I suspect it may well be that the OP has, as yet, insufficient experience to be able to identify and follow it.

 

[murray t turtle]

[PartialQUOTE="Nicko, post: 4642682, member: 504254"]S..... stupid question again forgive me but what is price ta?[/QUOTE]
%%
WE forgive you; its price+ tek analysis. It's', like a concrete illustration, GE ,52 week downtrend; QQQ 52 week uptrend.And guess which one is above 200 day moving average + which one is below 200 day moving average?? NOT a stock tip on GE, may lose value.

 

[FXbeachbum]

For sure (well, that's where we all started off, isn't it?), and that's not helped by the fact that there's quite a bit of talking at cross-purposes in the thread, and not everyone purporting to advise the OP is using those terms with exactly the same meanings anyway. No criticism of anyone implied, of course ... there's some good advice in the thread, but I suspect it may well be that the OP has, as yet, insufficient experience to be able to identify and follow it.[/QUOTE]

Right! I didn’t mean it to taken badly. I just meant his terms are not there yet. There’s plenty of terms I don’t know. At one point Most of us didn’t even know what a candle was. Plus the language is all very vague, someone might call a particular candle or set of candles one thing and another something else. Bullish engulfing vs big shadow. M or W pattern vs double top/double bottom sometimes it’s easy to tell the different terms equal the same thing other times it’s not. Heck a double bottom that qualifies as a double bottom for one trader might not qualify for the next. I consider PA part of TA others do not, there’s really no universal language, although some things are more common terms.

 

[WeToddDid2]

To make it a bit clearer, if you have a trading strategy, how much of your trading does it dictate, what do you let it control what do you control, what have you included etc. Also, I love the Indiana Jones nod

What is your definition of strategy?

My definition of a trading strategy is at a minimum inclusive of entry, exit and money management (per trade allocation and portfolio level risk management).

In other words, if your definition of a strategy is a loosely defined entry system, I don't consider that a strategy. Just an entry system.

If your definition is the same as mine, I think that you should have the answer to the questions that you are asking.

 

[Nicko]

Thank you all so much for the help here, a lot of great advice from some great people

Beachbum and Xela where basically bang on with what I was asking after wording it differently thank you for that, still learnt a lot from a lot of others here as well, I'll finish reading the book I have now, trading for a living before I pick up other but I've added the other to the list as well!

 

[Xela]

I'll finish reading the book I have now, trading for a living before I pick up other but I've added the other to the list as well!

I used to be quite keen on the Alexander Elder book, until I realized that that was probably partly because I'd read others first, and managed to concentrate on the stuff from Elder that I hadn't seen before and gloss over the rest without paying too much attention to the details.

Specifically, I think his understanding and explanations of "how and why collective human emotions translate into price movements" is both interesting and helpful - and exactly the kind of insight you'd expect from a former psychiatrist - but to be honest I now think the "indicator-driven entries" aspects of the book (perhaps with one minor exception) are actually pretty much ill-advised and counterproductive, for most beginners' purposes, and easily focus people's attention in altogether the wrong direction.

So maybe I should just wish you well with the others you've added to your list.

 

[FXbeachbum]

I know Xela hasn’t been fond of some of my reading lists before, and I agree with her if people are looking to use the systems found in some popular books, don’t use the books for the systems. Those probably aren’t the best systems. I really do think “trading for a living” is a quick easy read and a good introduction to markets. The book covers a lot for how short it is, but very minimal introductions to such topics. Basically consider trading for a living a foreword or summary to all the reading you’re about to embark on.

Xela has given me some reading recommendations before too and I’ve actually started on some of them. Finished “Naked Forex” I’d say it’s worth reading even if FX isn’t your market choice. Multiple chapters would apply to all trading. Now looking into some of the “AL Brooks” stuff. He’s geared for shorter term traders but he’s specifically mentioned the patterns repeat over several time frames, so I’m going to continue into his stuff. Brooks has also mentioned and used examples from the works of “Edwards and Magee” titled “Technical Analysis of stock trends”, Which is geared towards daily and weekly charts. I’m going to actually review that book before I dig further into “Brooks” works. I’ve also seen her recommended reading list on one of her posts so she offers more info if you look into those.

Some of the works mentioned though would require some basics of charting before you delve into those books. “Steve Nison” work would introduce you to the basics of candle price action. Nison is very protective of his work and kind of big headed about being the godfather of candles in the US and accuses others of being knock offs or plagiarism of his work. His works are expensive but learning generals about candlesticks regardless from whoever doesn’t have to be Nison is a must. I got lucky and searched for Nison videos on youtube and found his dvd courses posted there for free and watched them. They’re long though, about an hr a piece times multiple videos. Since he’s protective, the works don’t stay up for long once he finds them. I did a quick search and right now and see his Forex version of the videos posted by a YouTube user if you search “profiting in forex” you might have to use “profiting in forex disc 1” disc 2 and disc 3 to get each one but his videos come up under an India YouTube user. Forex is a little different than other markets though since it’s not succeptible to gaps. Candles are candles though. I believe there’s other users on YouTube that’ll teach you about trend lines and support and resistance. So combining reading with visual videos helps. I must say again though many people post free education stuff on YouTube as a way to catch your eye in hopes you buy a more complete course so be careful not falling for the sale.

Some of the work I like will be different than others though, we don’t all trade the same markets or time frames, or styles. Finding good material is hard also. For example I’ve seen threads on here criticizing “Brooks” work and others that love it. Thing is Tiger Woods and his coach could Author a book on golfing strategies and most readers would never become more than amateur golfers. Does this mean their strategy is crap? Further on Tiger is a better player but more useful wisdom may come from his coach. Someone like me could also write a book on golf only having golfed one round their entire life, in that case you’d be getting pure rubbish or recycled info I’ve found put into a book. I think that’s what makes deciphering good work from bad a challenge. You have good strategies that the majority can’t follow anyways so it’s considered junk along with the real junk. Only real way is to do your own homework which sucks we all want short cuts.