I am getting my butt handed to me on a daily basis!

[optnewb888]

I just registered for this site and I'm glad I read this.

I just started trading myself and reading this post and comments have been really helpful in that it's a warning that there will be ups and downs and it's important to change and evolve constantly.

Hope you find your edge and I wish you the best.

 

[Crude Man]

Quote from jeredlbb:

I am new to trading, but I am not at the same time. I got my start in hedging for a grain elevator that I owned back in the mid 1990's.

In all I have traded off and on for 20 years. I have had big runs of success and failure. I have consistently traded commodities. Lately only the ES.

Recently I came to a place in my life where I had the opportunity to trade full time. In the past, mostly, I was trading around other things in my life.

My first day to trade as a full time trader was March 27th, 2013. I am down 82% from where I started.

I work 8-15 hours a day 5-7 days a week trying to figure out what my edge may be. I obviously have not found one yet.

My confidence is unshaken. But, maybe that is a bad thing...

My fear is that with all of my work, reading and such that I am still not making forward progress.

I guess I already know that you probably can't give me any concrete answers. And, I guess, I am not really asking for any. Hell, I don't even know what to ask for.

I learn as I go from the mistakes I make; or at least I try to learn. I clearly see all the ways I started wrong. But, am I truly closer to being profitable?

I guess reading some of the posts by Jack Hershey and others I realize how far I have yet to go. I wonder if my early successes have hurt me rather than helped me.

My "system" is a technical one based on price action and volume. No indicators. Well, I use ATR to help place stops. I generally try to find term trends and or play reversals.

I am not looking for sympathy, but I sure don't need more ass kicking...the market has provided me with plenty of that.

Sir,

LEARN TO REGULATE YOUR EMOTIONS!

Pick a good entry, have a stop loss or exit point, ACCEPT THE VOLATILITY - This is where you remain calm, this I personally believe to be the most important component of trading. If the trade goes for you great, If it goes against you no big deal. Because the next 1000 trades you put on, you will have more winners than losers. One trade doesn't make you or break you, the market cannot disappoint you, you cannot have expectations of what one trade will do. Take your trades!

By the way, do you have an edge? Mine is price action. what is yours?

I used to be a confused novice trader like yourself, I was a paper boat being tossed around in the ocean, I had no idea what anything was and got my ass handed to me everyday also. But the moment I worked on a developing an edge and more importantly on REGULATING MY EMOTIONS and not letting the market disappoint me, I was on my way to profitability. I actually still cannot quite believe, that I am able to trade Crude using price action and be profitable week in and week out.

Lastly, please read TRADING TO WIN BY ARI KIEV AND TRADING IN THE ZONE BY MARK DOUGLAS. And No, not on a TABLET. Buy the physical book, highlight passages, take notes, read passages over and over again. I promise if you stick with it, you will progress in your trading.

These are the stages of a Trader and I am sure many on ET are at Stage 5, I personally just entered stage 4:

http://www.donnaforex.com/forum/index.php?topic=4345.0

 

[frenchfry]

Quote from jeredlbb:

Also, I still have not been shown how to degap. Therefore, I am sure I have some 'Forms' wrong.

Are you sure? Please go back to the graphic I posted yesterday.

Can you do this little mental exercise? Imagine those bars you see are hanging somewhere. Unfortunately the close of the previous bar and the open of the new bar are not aligned. What do you do? You move the complete previous bar (or the current) into a position so that close and open match. After that shift, do you still have a XB or is it now a FTP or vice versa? Do you still have a Sym or do you now have a XB? What is the resulting formation after shifting the whole bar so that close and open match?

 

[jeredlbb]

Quote from frenchfry:

Are you sure? Please go back to the graphic I posted yesterday.

Can you do this little mental exercise? Imagine those bars you see are hanging somewhere. Unfortunately the close of the previous bar and the open of the new bar are not aligned. What do you do? You move the complete previous bar (or the current) into a position so that close and open match. After that shift, do you still have a XB or is it now a FTP or vice versa? Do you still have a Sym or do you now have a XB? What is the resulting formation after shifting the whole bar so that close and open match?

Ok. Many thanks FF.

 

[jeredlbb]

Quote from frenchfry:

Are you sure? Please go back to the graphic I posted yesterday.

Can you do this little mental exercise? Imagine those bars you see are hanging somewhere. Unfortunately the close of the previous bar and the open of the new bar are not aligned. What do you do? You move the complete previous bar (or the current) into a position so that close and open match. After that shift, do you still have a XB or is it now a FTP or vice versa? Do you still have a Sym or do you now have a XB? What is the resulting formation after shifting the whole bar so that close and open match?

FF,

So if "the bars are hanging" and I adjust the 2nd bar if it gapped. Does the second bar stay in its new adjusted position when deciding if the third bar is gapped off the second bar? That's confusing. Do you understand my question?

Put another way. Once you move a bar after a gap so the Form is correct. Does the bar then revert back to its original position to get ready to measure the form for the following bar?

 

[frenchfry]

Quote from jeredlbb:

FF,

So if "the bars are hanging" and I adjust the 2nd bar if it gapped. Does the second bar stay in its new adjusted position when deciding if the third bar is gapped off the second bar? That's confusing. Do you understand my question?

Put another way. Once you move a bar after a gap so the Form is correct. Does the bar then revert back to its original position to get ready to measure the form for the following bar?

Jack would say to think and try to deduct. Look at his chart(s) and see if what I write makes sense.

The 2nd bar stays in its position. It is as if everything that happened before the 2nd bar is glued together. You move the complete set of bars up and down to match the open of the 2nd bar.

When a new bar comes in after the second then the 2nd bar is glued to the previous bars and you move again everything to match the open of the new bar. This way you keep the relationship of the previous bars in tact.

Btw. if there is a gap between yesterday's bar 81 and today's bar 1 you do the same. You shift the close of bar 81 and theoretically all previous bars into a position so that it matches the open of bar 1. What formation do you get?

 

[jeredlbb]

Quote from frenchfry:


Snip

Btw. if there is a gap between yesterday's bar 81 and today's bar 1 you do the same. You shift the close of bar 81 and theoretically all previous bars into a position so that it matches the open of bar 1. What formation do you get?

The formation of bar 1 would be XR. Correct?

 

[jeredlbb]

Quote from frenchfry:

Jack would say to think and try to deduct. Look at his chart(s) and see if what I write makes sense.

The 2nd bar stays in its position. It is as if everything that happened before the 2nd bar is glued together. You move the complete set of bars up and down to match the open of the 2nd bar.

When a new bar comes in after the second then the 2nd bar is glued to the previous bars and you move again everything to match the open of the new bar. This way you keep the relationship of the previous bars in tact.

Btw. if there is a gap between yesterday's bar 81 and today's bar 1 you do the same. You shift the close of bar 81 and theoretically all previous bars into a position so that it matches the open of bar 1. What formation do you get?

Would you say that bar 7 did not have a gap because of the adjustment of the previous bars?

 

[jeredlbb]

Ok. .

FrenchFry, thanks for the help.

If you and or Mr. Hershey would comment on this I would appreciate it. I think I understand now about 'Gaps'. I have some question as to which rows to indicate a 'Gap' on in the Log. I did it the way that seemed the most right to me. Hopefully I did not get it wrong.

Mr. Hershey, should I proceed with doing this 50 days in the past to 'cement' this in my hard head?

Thanks

 

[frenchfry]

Quote from jeredlbb:

The formation of bar 1 would be XR. Correct?

Seems like. In this picture you see how I used Trade Navigator's "Copy Pattern" feature to copy and paste yesterday's last bars and move it to a position where the close of bar 81 is aligned with the open of bar 1.

Copying multiple bars this way of the day before I would also make sure that if yesterday ended for example with a lateral that I would capture/recognize what bar 1 does with that lateral.