Markets are just plain boring right now.

Quote from kiwi_trader:

Stay up a bit and trade HSI in the evening ... hell, sleep in tomorrow morning.

I was actually considering that, but it looks like DAX on crack.
 
Quote from whitster:

personally, i concentrate about 90% of my trade volume on one market (YM).

(i do investing, but that's investing not trading. when i trade, i mostly trade YM)

if you are going to concentrate on one market you must either

1) be able to adapt to different market environments
2) or only trade those days that meet your criteria for trading

iow, many traders like to trade "breakouts" and relatively low volatility/narrow range days like today tend to chop these type of traders into little bits.

but that's because they are trading the wrong way

i LOVE days like today. they are VERY VERY VERY tradeable. you just have to recognize the character of market (i find market profile very helpful for this) and trade the market AS it is, not as you want it to be.

for example, on a lower volatility environment, fade plays are generally preferred, and one can use larger size and smaller stops than one would use in a high volatility environment

thus, risk and potential profit are the same regardless of market environment

if you use a 10 pt stop with 6 contracts in a low volatility environment, you are risking $300 for a stopped out trade. in a higher volatility environment, i might use 3 contracts but a 20 pt stop

you have to trade the market in front of you.

and fwiw, on average only 4-6 days a week qualify as "trend days" (which so many traders seem to like). one man's "chop" is another man's profitable ATM

whitster, a couple of questions if I may ask?

1. You really find MP helpful, huh? I have heard alot of great things about it, and looked into some basic educational materials on it, but from what I have seen on MP charts I could just as easily tell it was chop on a candle chart as on a historical MP chart? Does that make sense? I understand the real basic of POC, VAH, and VAL, but it looks like another set of inflection points or S/R lines? How does MP tell the character of the market?

If it has ability to tell me when we are going to chop vs. move directional that would be awesome. That's the biggest problem I have. When the left side of the V bottom was getting formed on a 10 min ES chart today, who knew that was a V at the moment? It could have just as easily stalled and continued lower. If MP can help me glean info on that I will read and absorb all I can on MP.

2. Did you mean 4-6 days a month or 4 days out of 5 are trend day?

TIA and good trading to you. :)

Dan
 
My brothers your focus on volatility drives me up the freakin wall. It's bad enough buying paper stamped with companies names on it but when you simply directional trade... I don't know it's a living but please guys enough with the morose how boring life is. You have willingly chosen this hyper focused life, strapped to your chairs. I'm no better but I recently went to a concert JVC Jazz fest and to see those backup musicians doing there thing, real New York working musicians to see what they do, the joy they get out of it, their talent is humbling, their smiles unnerving when is the last fucking time I smiled doing my work? Sure I take a triumphant jig around the table now and then but it's not the same, it's a greedy little jig, insular, not really human. The life of a musician leads... they have a lot more fun I'm sure. That's living it's not about fame it's about working. And loving your work and creating. How much of that is in high finance? There's quite a bit but you have to search for it.

In reality we have had 2 short sharp mini corrections in the span of however many months (brief) We have notched an high as world markets hit a crescendo of highs. All in the face of despite of $72 dollar oil. What is going on here? The next level of wealth creation?. I'm not a rah rah guy but when you take the time to really run the China, India numbers... combine all this low financed borrowing... with Private Equity now, curiously, going public? With money being used in ways it has never been used before, and on top of that with lots of leverage... A stock market that has just now returned to where it was 5 years ago and broken out... is the volume enough? Are we for real? These are big exciting questions. Could we all double our money in the next few years and then get annihilated by a nuclear briefcase?...

Oh My! Commscope is $47 dollars! Have you had one of these "Aha" moments lately? I was sitting there content as could be when I saw that quote come across the screen and it really struck me hard. Jesus maybe I'm NOT doing that good. Is beating the market enough in these times? Should I be making bigger bets? HOW MANY FREAKIN TIMES DID I TRADE Commscope AT $15 and $18 in the past!!... just when the hell did it go to $40 something... and then you see these piece of shit like HLIT and others that have never gone anywhere and never will and you say "I'm right there is a lot of crap out there and you have you pick and choose. " It's perplexing but some names have gone up a lot some names I'm not in.

But first the crash? This feels an awful lot like 1987 to me boys.... To say things are not exciting is silly talk. Lets keep it real. ~ stoney
 
"1. You really find MP helpful, huh? I have heard alot of great things about it, and looked into some basic educational materials on it, but from what I have seen on MP charts I could just as easily tell it was chop on a candle chart as on a historical MP chart? Does that make sense? I understand the real basic of POC, VAH, and VAL, but it looks like another set of inflection points or S/R lines? How does MP tell the character of the market?"

i find mp incredibly useful. it helps as a filtering tool (to filter out some trades) and offers some very useful information as to the character of the market - where is value (ON ALL TIMEFRAMES). how is the market moving around high volume nodes. where do I see price rejection.

i had a trade (i mailed this idea out to several clients) that i got filled on in premarket this morning (when I was asleep) that netted me 40 pts. and i had set my limit order 5 days ago.

it was based on a MP level. it did not go against my fill by more than 2 frigging ticks. Simply put, MP is very powerful. also, a tiny percentage of retail traders use MP. they use squiggly lines and lagging indicators. a hyooge part of my edge is fading retail and following institutions.

i can't give you a seminar on MP (for free! ) :) but there is some good literature on it at www.cbot.com


"If it has ability to tell me when we are going to chop vs. move directional that would be awesome. That's the biggest problem I have. When the left side of the V bottom was getting formed on a 10 min ES chart today, who knew that was a V at the moment? It could have just as easily stalled and continued lower. If MP can help me glean info on that I will read and absorb all I can on MP."

sure it can. MP helps me decide when to
1) fade a move
2) go with a move
3) stand aside.

which is critical info. i can and have traded w/o MP. i have found that MP offers occasional (like i said i had to wait for a week for this trade) trades that offer wonderful risk/reward and on a daily basis (and to a lesser extent intraday) help me understand market character and what the institutions are doing.


"2. Did you mean 4-6 days a month or 4 days out of 5 are trend day?"

4 to 6 days a month. easily verifiable if you look back. most days do not qualify as trend days, in the YM
 
That's the biggest problem I have. When the left side of the V bottom was getting formed on a 10 min ES chart today, who knew that was a V at the moment?

V bottom top or bottom cannot happen too often due to nature of price action. (And it doesn't.)
 
Quote from whitster:

[B4 to 6 days a month. easily verifiable if you look back. most days do not qualify as trend days, in the YM [/B]

Now you've done it!!! No doubt, you've just inspired another 300 page "trend doesn't exist" thread based on your comment! :eek:


:D


st
 
Quote from stock_trad3r:

This forum is getting boring

Yeah, people and their questions and answers and reading...if only the world were cookies and playtime like at your day-care huh? :p
 
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