Spydertrader's Jack Hershey Futures Trading Journal

[Bearbelly]

Quote from jack hershey:
Anyone is free to use more or less of this as they wish. QUOTE]

It is mindboggling how much there is on the table. PRV has taken me to a new level by itself. Maks tool is the neatest thing Ive come across in awhile. Every day I become more impressed with volume as an indicator. Most mindboggling of all. Its all FREE!!!!

 

[thenewguy]

Here's my chart for today. Morning started out great, but in the afternoon my annotating got sloppy and I'm got a little lost.

Thanks,

TNG

 

[Spydertrader]

Again, note how the gaussians develop at and around an FTT.

 

[dkm]

my es chart for today

 

[dkm]

and ym

 

[C99]

Here's mine. I got called out of my office around 2:45 est, so nothing after that time. I was a little confused at the end of the day as well.

I'm becoming more impressed w/ volume each day as well. I can clearly see Mak's gas pedal analogy. I'm also starting to move through the day with a much stronger feeling of what I should be looking for next. And to my surprise, quite often I get exactly what I was looking for. And I know if I don't, that something is amiss.

Some q's-

How "hard" are channel lines? I'm talking here of the intraday channels of one to a few hrs duration. Is a traverse that misses the LTL by one tick an FTT?

What can I look for with the current tool set to know I have an FTT and not a flaw before I see the R2R or B2B confirmation?

And along the same lines, should we treat an FTT as a flaw until confirmed, or should an FTT be treated as an FTT until lack of confirmation? If that makes sense?

And Mak- I know I said this already, but the bar by bar is really helping out. I was making what I was looking for more difficult than it needed to be.

 

[dkm]

Quote from Spydertrader:

The system, thus far, has but three rules.

FTT to FTT (reverse)
FTT to FBO (exit)
FTT to BO (hold)

- Spydertrader

Spyder,
Do you recommend that a beginner consider a bounce off the left trend line as an FBO and therefore a reason to exit? (i.e. the end of a dominant traverse) or is one expected to hold through each non-dominant traverse?

 

[Spydertrader]

Quote from C99:

How "hard" are channel lines? I'm talking here of the intraday channels of one to a few hrs duration. Is a traverse that misses the LTL by one tick an FTT?

Assuming a trader correctly placed the lines on their chart, then yes. A miss by a tic is still a miss.

Quote from C99:

What can I look for with the current tool set to know I have an FTT and not a flaw before I see the R2R or B2B confirmation?

If you think you have an FTT, then it is an FTT until you realize it isn't. Waiting for confirmation is not the appropriate place to be. The market confirms or invalidates the observation after you have already interpreted (correctly or incorrectly) the signals given by the market. With the current tool set you should make several mistakes. Learning to immediately fix that mistake is another skill which many also need to learn. It is difficult for most to force themselves to immediately take action. With the current tool set the high number of mistakes provides an environment of multiple opportunities to practice this action. Think of it as when Jack recommended (in the past) the practice of wash trades.

Quote from C99:

And along the same lines, should we treat an FTT as a flaw until confirmed, or should an FTT be treated as an FTT until lack of confirmation? If that makes sense?

An FTT is an FTT until you realize it isn't an FTT. This is what Jack refers to as WWT (What wasn't that?). Some have named this phenomenon as a WTF? (No translation needed). As you gain experience (and add additional tools) the picture becomes much clearer at each turn.

Quote from C99:

I was making what I was looking for more difficult than it needed to be.

Many (including myself) fell into this trap in the beginning.

Quote from dkm:

Spyder,
Do you recommend that a beginner consider a bounce off the left trend line as an FBO and therefore a reason to exit? (i.e. the end of a dominant traverse)

Yes. A Bounce is an FBO, and Beginners Exit off an FBO. Even if price then quickly reverses and rockets skyward for 12 points, don't fret. The whole point of the exercise is to follow the rules. Later, we will determine when it is appropriate to exit, reverse or hold at an FBO, but for now, we always exit.

Good Trading to you all.

- Spydertrader

 

[dkm]

Quote from Spydertrader:

Again, note how the gaussians develop at and around an FTT.

If my understanding is correct, an FTT usually exhibits peaking volume i.e. the volume of the FTT bar is usually greater than that of the bars on either side of the FTT. Within the constraints of the present tool set (i.e. ES Chart: Price, Volume, Channels and the FTT) am I right to presume that we identify a potential FTT by monitoring the prv of the following 5 min ES bar and anticipating lower volume than on the FTT bar?

 

[makosgu]

Quote from dkm:

my es chart for today

NICE! VERY! Don't second guess your self and your lines. Your ARE SEEING them. Be strict and rigid so that we can call what it is, what it is!. Your chart is nearly identical to mine. I reinforced the strict PV lines... You can check every single one of these bars along with the volume. I ENCOURAGE EVERYONE TO DO THAT! We are tuning in to volume surging and receding from the trendlines (RTL/LTL). I also labeled a few extra points based on the hard lines (ie. a BO=BO, an FBO = FBO). Spyder mentioned a super point some pages back which is that as long as you stick to annotating and not second guessing, even the annotations will get you on the same page and on the right side... We are using volume to know the answer of where things are going... As a result, the next bar is not a surprise!

<img src=http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/attachment.php?s=&postid=1321707>

Regards,
MAK