Quote from 8833broc:
My midlife crisis, a few years ago, I quite my job and day traded the eminis. Gave myself 6 months or so many $ to decide if I could make a living. 6 months later after losing by budget I went back to work.
I'm sorry to hear you experienced such a loss. However, in the future (no pun intended), you'll find that experience invaluable.
What you need to do now is
forget what you think you know. Forget all the negativity from your last adventure. Forget all those tests you ran on equities. Forget everything you ever read in Journals One and Two (for now). Focus on improving your ability to recognize an FTT. Start with equities first, draw in the channels as recommended by Jack in the Channels Document. Watch what happens to price as you see an FTT form. For practice, use
any chart of any equity, future or forex pair. You'll be amazed at what you find.
Quote from 8833broc:
My wife said that I should of bought a Corvette instead.
Learn the FTT, and you can buy two - one for you
and one for her.
Quote from 8833broc:
There are alot of sharks out there.
I agree. Learn the FTT, and you'll be one of those sharks.
Quote from 8833broc:
My question is what does 3 minutes of the futs mean?
If you scroll down to the right hand corner of the chart above, you'll see the time clock from my computer. Note the time (4:11 PM Eastern Time). Now, check which candle you see forming. Wouldn't you agree it would be a difficult task to annotate all the lines in hindsight, take a screen shot, add all the icons and circles or arrows
and upload the chart within three minutes of the futures market closing? It was my attempt to show you how the channels are drawn in advance of the coming bars.
Quote from foible:
Of course. I am mere flotsam in the ocean of money. But I'm fairly disciplined, I have a lot of time to devote to learning, and best of all I know that I have a lot to learn. You certainly won't offend me by telling me so. I am grateful that you are so willing to help, even if your answers take a while to sink in.
Take your time. there is no rush. Learn to recognize the FTT in Equities first. Once you can effortlessly 'see' the FTT develop on the daily time frame, you can move from 'Long Only' entry, to shorting equities as well - a handy trick to have during a market sell-off. Take a look at GMXR over the last week or so. Can you spot the FTT's both headed up and headed down? A few people traded GMXR in
both directions. Even if they traded small size (they didn't
), they banked a tidy sum of cash - simply be recognizing the FTT and knowing how the market moves from an FTT and beyond.
Quote from foible:
My equity trading is progressing satisfactorily, and I'm looking for something to keep my mind sharp during the day.
This is very good to hear. Keep up the great work. However, feel free to move 'outside the box' in an effort to search for other equities which may have formed an FTT. Once you grasp this concept, you'll be able to trade off an FTT in
any market.
Quote from foible:
I look forward to it. Perhaps I'll save my questions for later, after I've logged some more hours.
It wasn't the fact that you asked questions that showed me you had more work to do. It was the specific question about stops.
If only three possible outcomes can materialize after an FTT, and all three move price away from the FTT point, errors result from execution (incorrect analysis, too late recognizing or too slow to take action). As a result, losses do not occur out of a mathematical probability, but rather, out of execution failures. Fixing those errors requires mental homework and practice. Setting stop losses has no effect on improving performance. Once you recognize the error which caused you to take action (hold, exit, reverse, enter or wait), you
immediately reverse course in the direction in which you were headed previously (effectively eliminating the initial action by taking an opposite action).
By example, if you were short, and thought you saw an FTT (reversed to the long side), but realized a few tics later that you did
not see an FTT, you need to immediately reverse again to place yourself back on the correct path. You only take action in three cases (FTT, FBO, BO). Since you took an action without one of those three cases existing, you need to 'fix' the situation.
Hopefully, you can begin to see where this logic might end? Say it to yourself. Posting it here might see one labeled a heretic, or worse yet, a consumer of mass quantities of Kool-Aid.
Quote from OpenTrader:
Spydertrader, have you changed your mind about trading on the American Exchange?
No. I decided to keep the symbols in my Universe in an effort to accommodate those who still wish to trade on the Amex. Besides, I can always use the practice drawing in trend lines.
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I apologize for the length of this post, but I wanted to impress upon everyone the importance of understanding the concept of the FTT. This isn't a 'system' for placing trades. The FTT occurs in all markets (with sufficient liquidity) on all time frames. As many people reading these pages already know, learning the FTT provides an almost (dare I say it) 'religious experience' once you 'get it.' I realize reading those words, some might consider such comments as the ravings of a madman. However, do yourself this one favor. If you forget everything else I have ever written, at least learn how to trade the FTT. If you
never go beyond this level of knowledge in equities, you'll make a very nice living.
Good trading to you all, and I hope everyone finds the above information useful.
- Spydertrader
