You are welcome Sam-
You are obviously doing fine in trading exactly as you are . You've stayed in and maxed your recent trades. Very Nicely Done! Offered that as a different perspective .
analyzing your fast frame trading 1 & 5 - is a good exercise for me- for my higher time frame- 60 min/daily.
I'm learning from you and some of the other "faster" day traders things that apply to good trading in general.
One of my flaws is exiting too soon- and following too close with stops and getting whipsawed. Therefore I employ an ma, and multiple ema's for reference. You can Experiment with different time frames, The ones I fit on the 5 min seemed to signal well on that chart. May not do so on others though.
While trailing price, I have found it useful to keep the stop lagging until price signals that it's weakening. The first bar that spikes below -or closes below the fast ma is the warning shot, and suggests to raise the stop. I'm still working on where I split some of the position and take stops, and where to take a first profit.
Consider that that chart worked well during the course of the day because price trended up. In a choppy market, it would be a different story, but you'd have to do the comparisom on other equities.
You could also employ on your 1 minute chart an ema that references relative to an ema on the 5 minute chart- Obviously the wider the gap from price to the ema, the stronger the pull on the rubberband- Price will eventually lose momentum and come back to meet that ema, and possibly break through it.
Visually, you already analyze the price moves, and recognize when that momentum is in decline- The only thing a ma /ema on your chart would give you is "how extended the move is, and whether the pullback is significant or within "normal" pullbacks and should be allowed to continue.
As for stepping back for a rest: Good you know yourself-
You seem very grounded to have that awareness.
Allow me- You likely know this already.....
Yes, at some point you will have some turbulent and losing trades- Market will bite you, Maybe it's because of you, maybe it's the market ....Maybe , as you said, How will you handle it when things go against you? Either way, something changes. Personal, Market, combination of both. I tend to think it's commonly that market conditions change and a trader's approach that worked well in one market cease to perform the same in the new.
So, when what works today suddenly doesn't work tomorrow,
consider while you assess what is either you or a changing and perhaps volatile markets; , to significantly reduce your position size as you get accustomed to a different environment and find the way to trade it. Or Not trade it . At that time, it's not as important about making a profit as it is to learn the process of adapting to a different market environment. Or is it something that you did differently? Either way, it's critical not to force yourself upon the market, because the market doesn't care.
Survival and longevity are the key as the market itself goes through different cycles and your trading approach will need to be modified to meet the new environment-Whatever it is. The trader that learns to recognize, survive , and adapt to those changing conditions will likely pay some dues for the learning curve that goes along with those future changes- Don't fear losing, just lose small . If you don't feel you're on your game, don't trade large to make money , just trade SMALL.......to see how the approach works- To get a level of expectancy for your approach in that market.
Sorry if I've ra
Sorry for rambling on-
Looking forward to following your continued success Sam!
); it makes you think from a very different perspective. I really liked this post.