Scatty On The Markets... your questions answered here!
- Thread starter Scataphagos
- Start date
Not slope per se, but issues spend a lot of time in channels... both large and small. They usually have either a positive slope or negative slope. When market moves to intersect the channel extreme, that usually means something whether it holds or breaks. As a general rule, "fade the channel line test" is good until the channel breaks out. Some of the best and biggest trades are when an issue moves to test a "big" channel.
Of course as a 10 year-old I was proud of my dad for being in the Navy during the war. Of his brothers, he's the only one who got injured... a bomb dropped on his ship and he lost hearing in one ear. He had a Navy book called The Blue Jackets Manual. He gave it to me where I learned the sihouettes of all the ships and planes, nautical knot tying, Morse code and semaphore. I thought it was all waaaay cool!
How?
Lol
But seriously, a good question for any experienced trader is re risk management... how do you set stops? And #2 how do you add to winners/scale in? I'd actually prefer to get dests take on it, but scat and others, good topic.
(mine: for swings I scale in/out at 2day highs/lows, for daytrades, I usually do 40-100ish RTs daily, using .08-.2 hard or trailing stops, doing a sequence of 200-400 shares spaced .2-.5 apart to scale, then sell at 1st sign of weakness in the tape).
Much like trading stocks.
Lol
But seriously, a good question for any experienced trader is re risk management... how do you set stops? And #2 how do you add to winners/scale in? I'd actually prefer to get dests take on it, but scat and others, good topic.
(mine: for swings I scale in/out at 2day highs/lows, for daytrades, I usually do 40-100ish RTs daily, using .08-.2 hard or trailing stops, doing a sequence of 200-400 shares spaced .2-.5 apart to scale, then sell at 1st sign of weakness in the tape).
Where to place stops? Ideally on a long, try to buy near support with stop on the other side of support. Exactly how much to use for a "buffer" to not get sucked on on false breaks is subjective.
I don't make a habit of scaling in, so I have no view on that.
I mean what is your trading style? I know KISS is your motto but other than that - position, swing, day, all of the above? Can’t ask pointed questions if we don’t know what you do.
Good Evening Scataphagos,I just had hip surgery and will be laid up for a while. I can either lie in bed and watch old Gilligan’s Island reruns or do something else. As there are TONS of false notions about the markets and trading, I’ve posited the notion that I might benefit the mankind of market traders by answering some of ET-ers questions. (I did this once before about 15 years ago and answered ~200 questions over a weekend.)
So.. who is Scatty? “Scatty” or “Scat” is short for Scataphagos… Greek, loosely translating as “shit eater”… a clue as to how seriously I take myself and is in deference to the election of Obama.
Why should you bother to listen what I have to say? (1) I’m long-time experienced, (2) I formerly managed a mutual fund timing service where clients paid me to trade their account for them… Much to my dismay I never got into the “big time”, but I was a big fish in a small pond for a while with ~$60 Million under management. I won the 1994 US Investing Championships in 3 categories plus had other “top 5” finishes. (3) I started my investing career with a $25/month bank draft into Templeton Growth Fund and grew my trading account to “8 figures”. (And yes… While some have deduced over the years though I’ve never admitted it until now… I am that "Gnome” guy. If you don’t know the reference, no worries… you won’t hurt my feelings.)
So… I if you think an old timer with those credentials might offer insight into your trading, tune in.
If enough people say they’d be interested, here’s how it will work…
1. I will answer general questions about trading, the markets and Price TA. I won’t answer questions like, “I bought a call for $1.00 and now it’s trading at $.50. What should I do with it?”
2. I’m not an options expert. I know generally enough to have passed the Series 7 securities license exam and have traded some for myself. Options are not my preferred vehicle. These days I trade ETFs and index futures.
3. Questions will be posted with a time stamp. If I answer a question with a later stamp than yours, yours won’t get answered… no reflection on you, just that your question likely has already been answered, is too specific to be of general interest or I simply don’t know or have no opinion.
4. My answers will be factual, at least in my mind. If I’m “iffy” on something or don’t know, I’ll say so. I’m not going to blow smoke up anyone’s skirt pretending to know something I don’t.
5. If you’re on my “ignore list”, I won’t be answering your questions, of course. (You’ll never know what you’re missing out on for being an ignoramus or having pissed me off.
6. If you’re want to “razz the thread”, don’t bother. You won’t get a rise out of me. You will simply be ignored.
7. ONE question per post, please.
First of all thank you for sharing your experience and wanting to give back to us retail traders just trying to maintain sanity on the trading journey.
I believe and trust Price Action Techniques: I have a problem/challenge with holding winners and cutting losses short.
Question:
1. From your experience as a Discretionary Price TA Trader, do you believe that letting winners runs and cutting losses short is "one" of a retail trader best things to do?
Thank you,