Solid Mom's Journal

[Palatine]

Quote from Solid Mom:

Palatine, I agree that I am trading too soon. I'm hoping that as I get better at analyzing data and also analyzing the trades as a Monday morning quarterback, I'll get much better timing. Thank you for the chart. About adding basic support and resistance levels – yes, I defiantly want to learn more about indicators so I can do that. I looked up some info on support and resistance levels. The kinds of indicators I saw were…
---Fibonacci arcs & retracements
---Moving averages (would the Ballinger bands be considered a way of studying moving averages?)
---Candle stick patterns

Is that what you mean by support and resistance levels? Is that a Fibonacci retracement you used in on the chart? Your chart is exactly what I’m looking for to help me justify holding for more $$$. Thank you for the thoughts on stops.

Out of the links you listed up I merely found this one particularly helpful:
http://www.incrediblecharts.com/technical/support_resistance.php

I know that as a beginner you are seeking an indicator that will give you the answer each time but that is why newbie traders fail miserably. A reliable indicator, or a combination thereof, does not exist. Trading is all about using common sense and objective analysis. Please do not fall into this trap that so many traders before you have, and still do. The only trend indicator that I find helpful is the moving average to identify the major direction of a trend in a given time frame. But beyond that I use none, not even volume. The only thing that pays is price.

By support and resistance I do not mean Fibonacci levels. Instead they are approximate levels that I have drawn in by hand just by looking at historical price activity. Where has price reacted and reversed in the past? Which levels stand out visibly? In the SPY they are roughly at every $2 increments, and in the ES futures at every 20 point increments. These levels are very obvious and it does not take a rocket scientist to figure that out.

If you have read through the article in the link above you will know that the market is all about a fight for control between buyers and sellers. Support and resistance levels are such areas where this control can be lost and transferred to the opposing side. In other words, there is where the pendulum slows down to swing back again and that is precisely why markets move from support to resistance and vice versa. Your job as a trader is merely to exploit these big movements between them.

 

[wmb]

The funny thing about being new is that it is unavoidable and valuable! Learning to trade on a simulator is good but the real thing is necessary. Losing money isnt a bad thing it just needs to be curtailed.

The es and the ym are good for new traders becasue there is alot of action, alot of predictability to a certain degree for a relatively small investment. However, it is only predictable to such degrees after thousands of hours watching the screens, time and sales charts, following the news cycles.


The kids need a babysitter by the way and the charting system needs esignal for an added expense. Use a sitter for a couple hours a week; the same time each day you use. I tried also doing it your way years ago, and it is an expensive lesson. You are working out of your home. Trading takes up too much time to come and go, be discplined and treat it like a job instead of a mothers group meeting.

 

[Solid Mom]

Thanks – great information!

Wmb – Thanks. I’m going to put in those hours! And I’ll look into the es and ym. Yes, I’m okay with losing some money (hopefully not too much!) if I learn in the long run. I’ll just have to trade slowly and read a lot in between trades.


Palatine – Thanks. I am going to spend time looking at support and resistance levels. I appreciate that you mentioned them specifically, because as a newbie, just looking at the list of everything I could possibly chart leaves me wondering where to be begin, so now I know I’ll begin with support and resistance.

Mom