Quote from Matcha:
Hi, PO!
Yeh, the major move of the day often happened on the first hour...sometimes later days we get trend resumption or reversal but it's not that easy to catch them for beginners-at least for me, sometimes it's just happen so fast. If one day I can "magically" catch them successfully in my later " trading career". I am planning to only trade the first 60-80min then pursue something else I am interested in.Life would be so wonderful!
Great idea. For me, I sometimes go take nap during lunch or do some housework during lunch break.
But I found 20% of the time, there were some breakout or continuation of trend that happened during those low -volume time. Depends on the type of days...
I do look at multiple time frames. if you look at Al's trading video on youtube and free webinar on his site. He actually looksat .15min, 60 min, daily chart to do measured move and see where the trend is currently or where it might ends etc, just like everyone else. But he is not taking trading set up based on larger time frame. Sometimes he scalp from 1min, 2 min and 3 min if he fades the move on Tranding Range or taking some counter trend trading.
My experience with his method so far is I began to understand his book more. I think there are lots of great information. The charts he listed are wonderful examples. I stare at them while studying too. But, just like any best text books, great/perfect chart examples are there for people to learn. In real time trading world, those great charts are barely show up. So to apply his method successfuly require a lot, a lot , and a lot real time practice. I found his post market bar by bar analysis on his website is very sophisticated either for beginners. A lot information to learn more than the book talks about. They are only for people who are passionate and seriously want to master his method.
The other great achievement for me so far from his material is to be more aware on Trading Range.... Before reading his book I just jump in all the setup without recognizing what kind of tone the market is settling in. Trend? trading range?
But it doesn't mean I can trade now...sigh....
It's just a guess, since I just started to take advantage of his daily bar by bar analysis. I think he scalp more than swing in this market.
Thank you Matcha for your reply.
Yeah! Someday you will trade only the early morning hours and be consistently profitable and life would be wonderful. I actually heard some people do trade only a couple of hours profitably in the morning and then they are done for the day.
I feel a bit more relaxed now taking a lunch break and only focused in the morning and afternoon sessions.
I spent some time watching Al's trading videos on youtube. You are correct that they are for more advanced traders. I think he is a very good scalper. He probably makes most of his profits scalping more than swing trading. He often said that making one point a day trading 100 ES contracts can make 7 figures a year. It make sense to work towards increasing the size rather than to increase the number of trades.
Marcel Link also mentioned that [page 33] "The best day traders try to hit a lot of singles in their trading and keep booking modest profits. When you swing for the fences, you tend to strike out a lot more; it's better to hit 3 or 4 singles in a day than to go for homers. Going for the smaller waves is safer and usually more profitable.".... I have been re-reading this paragraph and think it suits me quite well even though I love to have those home runs. It is not just letting profits run but knowing when to take the profits is just as important.
--po
