Observations (an example)
- Thread starter fortydraws
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Thank you sir, I missed that post somewhere I guess.
I did not realize that, as you are a disciple of Wyckoff. But, there are many ways to skin a cat. It appears to me that you have put together a very specific approach to locating, executing and terminating your trades; that this approach meshes well with your temperament, and it is very successful for you. There is little need to tinker with success.
I use volume and appreciate it, as it often gives insight as to the strength of a move, whether a trade in a given direction would be more or less likely to have a breeze at its back or in its face. It is just one tool, albeit an important one for me, but I can understand one being able to do very well without it.
Confidence, specifically self-confidence, is not something you will gain by osmosis, imo. Another person's confidence in his or her own abilities cannot and therefore will not translate into you suddenly having that same confidence in yourself that you yourself now have those same abilities in like quantity or quality as the one observed. The world does not work like that. Human beings do not behave like that. The source of self-confidence is the self recognizing within itself the foundation for confidence. That foundation, with respect to trading, will be your trading plan, which you know will yield consistently profitable results because you developed it and tested it through your own observations, but more importantly, your self confidence will come from, be bolstered by, and reinforced continually by your ability to follow your trading plan.
What does a trading plan look like? There is no standard, as far as I know. NoDoji's is 60 pages complete with illustrations. Mine is a few lines and a picture in my head, DbPhoenix can communicate his with just three chart images, and another poster has two chart print outs under a clear desk protector in front of his workstation - one with his rules for going short, the other for going long, and the rules for how he'll set his stops and profit targets. What your trading plan looks like is, imo, unimportant - it needs to look like whatever it must in order to give you the rules you will follow when you trade to assure yourself that over the long run, you will have consistently profitable results. That is where you will find the source for your self-confidence as a trader. Without it, there can likely only be recklessness and fear. And there is no way that someone else's self-confidence will overcome your own fear.
What does a trading plan look like? There is no standard, as far as I know. NoDoji's is 60 pages complete with illustrations. Mine is a few lines and a picture in my head, DbPhoenix can communicate his with just three chart images, and another poster has two chart print outs under a clear desk protector in front of his workstation - one with his rules for going short, the other for going long, and the rules for how he'll set his stops and profit targets. What your trading plan looks like is, imo, unimportant - it needs to look like whatever it must in order to give you the rules you will follow when you trade to assure yourself that over the long run, you will have consistently profitable results. That is where you will find the source for your self-confidence as a trader. Without it, there can likely only be recklessness and fear. And there is no way that someone else's self-confidence will overcome your own fear.
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What the Iwannasitnexttosomebodys don't understand is that the trades and trading they're observing -- if they were ever in a position to do so -- WILL NEVER OCCUR AGAIN. EVER!! There are plenty of people who've been in trading rooms for years, and though they may be exceptionally lonely and have tons of discretionary income, they ain't learnin' how to become independent traders.
The world does not work like that.
Trading without a trading plan = recklessness & fear
I wasn't trading to today, but I was watching, I did do step one and identified the range, and at the very end of the day, I had a great moment where I saw the climax and the secondary reaction near the close and realized I would have exited my shorts much more quickly than I have in the past.
This behavior has often been the source many of my trading errors. I do not know why. I've studied Wyckoff's course, and studied DbPhoenix's materails and hundreds of his chart examples, and I have had no problem recognizing it after the fact. But for whatever reason, I tend to hold these trades too long, both giving up short profits and substantially limiting the long profits if not missing the long altogether.
DbPhoenix posted a chart on Friday that really just shook me from whatever was blocking me from recognizing this behavior in real time. Today was a great day for me as a trader, and I didn't even place an order.
First, DbPhoenix's "wake up" chart:
Then, step one for today:
Then, some points of interest (not to be confused with trades - I did not trade today):
This behavior has often been the source many of my trading errors. I do not know why. I've studied Wyckoff's course, and studied DbPhoenix's materails and hundreds of his chart examples, and I have had no problem recognizing it after the fact. But for whatever reason, I tend to hold these trades too long, both giving up short profits and substantially limiting the long profits if not missing the long altogether.
DbPhoenix posted a chart on Friday that really just shook me from whatever was blocking me from recognizing this behavior in real time. Today was a great day for me as a trader, and I didn't even place an order.
First, DbPhoenix's "wake up" chart:
Then, step one for today:
Then, some points of interest (not to be confused with trades - I did not trade today):
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