The SLA can be mechanical if one isn't fearful. And those who aren't succeed with it. Those who are, don't. A chief problem is that those who are fearful can't tolerate any counter-move of any sort after they've entered. Any pullback of any extent is cause for panic and a quick exit, after which, more often than not, price continues in the desired direction (determined in large part by AMT).
Too many people use lines and levels and indicators and bar intervals and so forth as talismans to protect them from the consequences of not having done the work. And that course will not achieve the desired result.
I'm not trying to beat anybody up, but to use one of your questions as an example, wondering if one should "exit simply because price drops by a point below a level [one] outlined or below the low of a previous bar" is a question that can be asked only by someone who hasn't spent sufficient time observing charts in replay. One who has knows the answer and needn't ask it. Trying to answer such a question by trading in real time is next to impossible since working through the smog of fear short-circuits every rational cognitive impulse.
Trading what "looks good" in real time and hoping that it works is not "doing the work". Worse, it (1) is a waste of time that would be better spent in replay, since fear is not an issue in replay and more useful analysis can be done and (2) a step or two or several backward into mental chaos.
If one absolutely cannot eliminate his fears, his only choice -- if he is to keep trading -- is to develop an automated system. But even there, he must do the research and testing. There's just no way around it.
Too many people use lines and levels and indicators and bar intervals and so forth as talismans to protect them from the consequences of not having done the work. And that course will not achieve the desired result.
I'm not trying to beat anybody up, but to use one of your questions as an example, wondering if one should "exit simply because price drops by a point below a level [one] outlined or below the low of a previous bar" is a question that can be asked only by someone who hasn't spent sufficient time observing charts in replay. One who has knows the answer and needn't ask it. Trying to answer such a question by trading in real time is next to impossible since working through the smog of fear short-circuits every rational cognitive impulse.
Trading what "looks good" in real time and hoping that it works is not "doing the work". Worse, it (1) is a waste of time that would be better spent in replay, since fear is not an issue in replay and more useful analysis can be done and (2) a step or two or several backward into mental chaos.
If one absolutely cannot eliminate his fears, his only choice -- if he is to keep trading -- is to develop an automated system. But even there, he must do the research and testing. There's just no way around it.
(the torture also comes from being aware well in advance Db's clairvoyant market "call", yet inability to get into that short for the 40 point drop)