Ideas for struggling traders

Okay, so at this point, I think I have put together a nice set of suggestions for new and struggling traders.

If you are having trouble getting to profitablilty some of these ideas may help you..and of course you are going to have to put forth the effort to change the way you do things. Can't help you with that unfortunately.

I will answer questions as best I can, but this will be "it" for new information...

Good luck everyone..

Steve
 
I can't thank you enough for your insights. It is rare to have a professional guide you through the inner workings of locals. Even more rare is someone posting and explaining a thorough straightforward no nonsense method.

screwed in peekaboo moves - guilty
screwed entering breakouts - guilty
screwed not letting profits run - guilty

I think the biggest lesson here is the entry with tight stops achievable mostly in fades with the trend.


Still absorbing - hope this thread doesn't disappear
 
Forgot to mention, I would be interested in learning your take on Value Highs and Value Lows. From what i gather , there is 80% probability of going 75% of the way to the opposite Value range if entered. Would you use these lines exactly as you would your MAs?


thanks
 
Quote from fifo:

Forgot to mention, I would be interested in learning your take on Value Highs and Value Lows. From what i gather , there is 80% probability of going 75% of the way to the opposite Value range if entered. Would you use these lines exactly as you would your MAs?


thanks
More...

Depends on the context. For instance, today we opened at 1253.75 and the previous value high was located at 1243.75.

One of the reasons I took my initial short was that I am betting that the market will test back to the previous day's value area.

Today that bet worked out.

So early in the session I am looking for a test of the previous day's value area high or low

Now as you move on in time that changes....I have posted about the importance of time of day earlier in this thread.

Things that affect my decision making process include the size of the Initial Balance. I look at the size of the IB as compared to a 10 day average. If we have a (relatively) big IB, I am looking for price to trade within that framework. If on the other hand it is relatively small, I look for it to be rejected. This is something that I encourage folks to test for themselves. Nothing beats seeing the data firsthand.
 
Quote from steve46:

As you can see, this one failed

I got stopped out

Short entry at 1245.50

One scale out at 1243.50

then it reversed on me and I took the two point loss
for a breakeven trade less commish.

plus 2 on the scale out, lost 2 plus commish on the exit
More...


So does that mean you scale out 50% of holdings at every target?
 
No, I use discretion scaling out. It depends on how I see the tape play out. I watch the size of the spread as price moves around. I watch the size on the bid and size on the ask...It would be difficult to describe how this works for a new or struggling trader.

I think the best way is to use a simple math

If you are new and your account size is less than 20K, trade no more than 10 units. Scale out 2 at 2 points, 2 at 3 points, 2 at 5 points, 2 more at 7 points, 1 at 10 points, and (always) leave 1 to run....to the EOD if possible with a B/E stop.

If you are struggling (or your confidence is low) trade no more than 6 units. Scale out 1 at 2 pts, 1 more at 3pts, 1 at 5pts, 1 at 7pts, 1 at 10pts, and leave 1 to run to EOD with a B/E stop

Quite honestly if you can't handle this (talking to struggling or new traders), or if you see that you are still consistently losing money, you probably should be standing aside and work on your system (testing and refining your approach) and practicing your execution skills.

I hope that helps.

Steve
 
Quote from steve46:

Depends on the context. For instance, today we opened at 1253.75 and the previous value high was located at 1243.75.

One of the reasons I took my initial short was that I am betting that the market will test back to the previous day's value area.

Today that bet worked out.

So early in the session I am looking for a test of the previous day's value area high or low

Now as you move on in time that changes....I have posted about the importance of time of day earlier in this thread.

Things that affect my decision making process include the size of the Initial Balance. I look at the size of the IB as compared to a 10 day average. If we have a (relatively) big IB, I am looking for price to trade within that framework. If on the other hand it is relatively small, I look for it to be rejected. This is something that I encourage folks to test for themselves. Nothing beats seeing the data firsthand.
More...

Agreed, it wil take me some time to get market profile indicators set up, so I will wait and visualize the data and get back to you...
 
Quote from steve46:

No, I use discretion scaling out. It depends on how I see the tape play out. I watch the size of the spread as price moves around. I watch the size on the bid and size on the ask...It would be difficult to describe how this works for a new or struggling trader.

I think the best way is to use a simple math

If you are new and your account size is less than 20K, trade no more than 10 units. Scale out 2 at 2 points, 2 at 3 points, 2 at 5 points, 2 more at 7 points, 1 at 10 points, and (always) leave 1 to run....to the EOD if possible with a B/E stop.

If you are struggling (or your confidence is low) trade no more than 6 units. Scale out 1 at 2 pts, 1 more at 3pts, 1 at 5pts, 1 at 7pts, 1 at 10pts, and leave 1 to run to EOD with a B/E stop

Quite honestly if you can't handle this (talking to struggling or new traders), or if you see that you are still consistently losing money, you probably should be standing aside and work on your system (testing and refining your approach) and practicing your execution skills.

I hope that helps.

Steve
More...

Understood. I will see if I can adapt the numbers for YM.
 
Quote from steve46:

Just spread your scales out (further apart) for the YM and you will be fine.

1 ES point = $50

10 YM (Mini-Dow) points = $50
More...


Playing around with this today and found myself tightening the stops too quickly. At what point would you move your runner stop to BE? Also, do you tighten the other positions at predefined intervals/rules? At the moment my platform only allows me to scale out 3 targets at most so I am trying to change the framework to conform to this limitation - at least for sim.
 
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