If You Can Draw A Straight Line . . .

[fortydraws]

Quote from fortydraws:

Something like this, you mean?

My trade for the day. I was not intending to trade today, as I had the day off and had a mid-morning tee time, but I saw this and before I knew it, I was in. Did the best I could to manage the trade using TWS mobile on my phone, and took the ride for 14.25. Technology is a wonderful thing!

Last week I had a couple of people PM saying they wanted me to post a pic of my IB chart shoing my trades. So here is one for them: I do not use IB's charts, so I apolgize fro the black background and all the colors. On the bar below the magenta arrow, you will see a little magenta line - that was the fill for the sell order to go short.

On the bar above the blue arrow, you will see a little blue line - that was the fill for the buy order to cover the shorts.

 

[masterm1ne]

Quote from dbphoenix:

I suggest also that you find something other than ES to trade, if you want to make money. No offense, but if you're a retail trader trading your own money, you're out of your league.

Would you mind linking or explaining why you think this?

 

[deaddog]

Quote from fortydraws:



On the bar above the blue arrow, you will see a little blue line - that was the fill for the buy order to cover the shorts.

How do you get the arrows on an IB chart?

 

[Gringo]

Quote from fortydraws:

Last week I had a couple of people PM saying they wanted me to post a pic of my IB chart shoing my trades. So here is one for them: I do not use IB's charts, so I apolgize fro the black background and all the colors. On the bar below the magenta arrow, you will see a little magenta line - that was the fill for the sell order to go short.

On the bar above the blue arrow, you will see a little blue line - that was the fill for the buy order to cover the shorts.

3100 area has been in play for so long that anyone reading this thread would have gotten this trade today had they been watching. It's been mentioned here by many on several occasions and is even in the examples fortydraws and Db have been posting at the end of the day.

Gringo

 

[Crude Man]

Quote from masterm1ne:

Would you mind linking or explaining why you think this?

Yes DB, could you please explain why you say this, what makes the NQ a better contract for retail traders, thanks.

 

[Gringo]

Quote from Crude Man:

Yes DB, could you please explain why you say this, what makes the NQ a better contract for retail traders, thanks.

NQ gives clearer and consistent signals as compared to ES as far as trading with price is concerned. The moves are longer so it's easier to see what's happening whereas ES has more value but shorter moves which makes it a bit tougher to decipher the intent.

Gringo

 

[dbphoenix]

Quote from masterm1ne:

Would you mind linking or explaining why you think this?

The ES is traded by every professional on the planet, 24hrs a day. Even if one doesn't consider all the arbing and hedging and all else that goes on, the fact that you're competing directly with the best and that many of the best entries surface outside of New York hours makes trading the ES difficult. And unless you're expert at trading mean reversion, you have another strike against you. If you want to trade against the best, then do so by all means. But why bother?

I've never understood the fascination with the ES, unless it has something to do with a perception that one isn't a "real trader" unless he trades it. I suggest that anyone who trades the ES by default look at other instruments and characterize each to determine, in the context of his goals and objectives, which is most likely to increase the bank account and which is most likely to drain it. As for the difference in the tick value, this evaporates once one gets beyond trading one contract.

 

[bigmoose]

40d, I see your rationale for entering on the 9:53 bar at 3099. Where did you have your mental stop? I could see one at 3100.25 or 3102.00 trying to learn which is "right." ... if either.

dbP said to enter on the 9:50 bar. If using that was the entry on that bar as is dropped from 3101.00, or did that still trigger the entry on the 9:53 bar at 3099?

--respectfully bigMoose

 

[fortydraws]

Quote from deaddog:

How do you get the arrows on an IB chart?

The arrows are MsPaint. The small hash marks showing filled orders are a feature of IB's charts, and I just changed those colors from whatever IB uses as a default to the magenta/cyan colors that DbPhoenix uses in this thread. I put the arrows on because the hash marks are small and difficult to see, and I don't feel like futzing with the IB charts to figure out a way to make them bigger/more noticeable.

 

[fortydraws]

Quote from bigmoose:

40d, I see your rationale for entering on the 9:53 bar at 3099. Where did you have your mental stop? I could see one at 3100.25 or 3102.00 trying to learn which is "right." ... if either.

dbP said to enter on the 9:50 bar. If using that was the entry on that bar as is dropped from 3101.00, or did that still trigger the entry on the 9:53 bar at 3099?

--respectfully bigMoose

I have a 5 point hard stop as part of the trade platform configuration. I don't have a firm figure in mind as far as a mental stop. If price is doing what I thought it would do, I stay in. If price is behaving other than I had anticipated, I get out. I would guess that I would have taken myself out of the market had 3102 traded, especially if trade went above there and did not pull back below it. My mental stop for a short would be a higher low or higher high. My mental stop for a long would be a lower high or a lower low.