Pro Traders...please tell me what I'm doing wrong - how can I change it ?

Quote from neveral0ne:

Hey Guys,

I have a major problem. As some of you may know I started trading as prop 3 months ago...been trading for 2 years retail ( swing trading mostly). Anyway I'm here because I am constantly stressed out and missing out on ALOT of right calls that I made, simply because I get in too early or because I get out too early.

To get in, I always take liquidity on EDGA or BOSX ... thinking that if I add, ill get filled mostly because Im on the wrong side.
When I get out..I usually add liquidity, and end up taking very little of the potential big winner I could've had.

Now I am NOT asking for any secret formula, or a codex, or any of them, but I know there are several successfull traders here, that maybe you could point me in the right direction what I need to change.

Below I will show you a picture of Micron, on a 5 minute Chart from Friday , and a typical scenario that happens to me many many times daily, and weekly. The 2 MA you see are the 5 and 8 period MAs to help out seeing a constant trend..

I got shaken out because right as I tapped out @ 8.40 ... I was watchin time and sales and level 2... and i saw soo many red prints just printing non stop, level 2 on the bid got soo thin...i was 100% positive they gona to take it out ....and I didnt want to lose additional pennies.....next thing you know the stock rocketed up 30 cents.

How should I be entering my positions ? Should I be adding liquidity at the bid, or a few cents lower at a clear support level ?

How should I tier in to my positions ?
[/QUOTE


You're dead in the water more than you can understand.

Quit now.

Looking at five minute charts with ridiculous moving averages?!
On a five minute chart?!

Increase your time frame & lose the indicators, for starters.

GL
 
Dude I just started, I'm not quitting anytime soon, Ive been trying this out for 3 months, Im in the process of doing my masters part time, and I have the resources to survive for a while.

I dont get why some of you people post negative shit like that, you act like you going to change my perspective or plan or something bro. If you got something constructive to say then you can add it, saying shit like " Quit now" will make me tell you to go f*** yourself.
 
Quote from neveral0ne:

Hey Guys,

I have a major problem. As some of you may know I started trading as prop 3 months ago...been trading for 2 years retail ( swing trading mostly). Anyway I'm here because I am constantly stressed out and missing out on ALOT of right calls that I made, simply because I get in too early or because I get out too early.

To get in, I always take liquidity on EDGA or BOSX ... thinking that if I add, ill get filled mostly because Im on the wrong side.
When I get out..I usually add liquidity, and end up taking very little of the potential big winner I could've had.

Now I am NOT asking for any secret formula, or a codex, or any of them, but I know there are several successfull traders here, that maybe you could point me in the right direction what I need to change.

Below I will show you a picture of Micron, on a 5 minute Chart from Friday , and a typical scenario that happens to me many many times daily, and weekly. The 2 MA you see are the 5 and 8 period MAs to help out seeing a constant trend..

I got shaken out because right as I tapped out @ 8.40 ... I was watchin time and sales and level 2... and i saw soo many red prints just printing non stop, level 2 on the bid got soo thin...i was 100% positive they gona to take it out ....and I didnt want to lose additional pennies.....next thing you know the stock rocketed up 30 cents.

How should I be entering my positions ? Should I be adding liquidity at the bid, or a few cents lower at a clear support level ?

How should I tier in to my positions ?


If you want to collect on the random walk that occurs during the day you are better off looking at Options, collecting the randomwalk and turning it into cash which goes in your pocket.

Scalpers and daytraders work too freakin hard for little in return.

Now if you like the whole playing the game and trading all the time then forget what I said.
 
good point on X... one of the worst f'ing stocks to trade... ugh

Quote from NoDoji:

I agree. RIMM seems to trade a lot like X, with backwash that can easily take you out of a good trade unless you know what you're doing. X churned quite a bit of my money until I learned to take my ritalin before trading it :p

I think I've only sim traded SPY, but it's very well behaved!
 
Quote from GCSICLRBC:

Looking at five minute charts with ridiculous moving averages?!
On a five minute chart?!

Increase your time frame & lose the indicators, for starters.

GL [/B]

8- and 20-bar moving averages on 1-, 3-, and 5-min charts work great for me in capturing quick profitable moves with very limited exposure. I can ride a trend by getting in and out instead of risking a sudden sharp reversal and watching a profit stop out at break even.

This is what works for me. There are as many ways to trade as there are traders, so what good is telling someone your way is the only way?
 
The truth is, for the most part, all you see on level 2 and time & sales is designed to part you from your money (or stock) at exactly the wrong time. Sure once in a while you'll catch a runner and take a few hundred shares of a stock that never looks back.

But for about 90% of my trades (hint: I don't scalp), they are underwater if only temporarily within the next 0-60 secs. The larger the position you take relative to avg daily volume, the more likely this will be. What keeps you in the trade is conviction vs everything you see on your screen. The test may only be for a few short seconds, but 90% of the time they WILL test you.

What does this mean for you as a trader? You better know what you are doing, because the trades that are right and the trades that are dead wrong often look exactly the same (wrong) for some period of time. It's up to you and your experience to separate between the two.
 
Quote from KINGOFSHORTS:

Scalpers and daytraders work too freakin hard for little in return

Wrong, if you're working hard daytrading and/or scalping, and accepting little in return then you are a loser, not a scalper or a day-trader.

If this your case, then either there is something wrong with your system or approach, or this career is just not for you and you need to accept that and move on to something else.

Not saying you will make millions, but your time and effort in any career must be compensated fairly or you are just wasting your time being stubborn in a field you have no business in.
 
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