step away from the "chop!"...

[jack hershey]

Quote from alfonso:



Trader99,

Perhaps you need to

a) be aware that there is such an aspect to stock price movement called "noise"

and

b) realize that attempting to trade through this "noise" is, for all I can see, an exercise in futility.

If you would willing to step back a little and trade the larger intraday moves I am sure you will come to think quite differently about days like today.

The two best reasons for doing so:

1) You can place your stops where being stopped out will actually be MEANINGFUL (it becomes quite unlikely that you will stop out on a random "noise" move)

2) You can actually have a GOOD REASON to hold a winning position through a pull back -- rather than just hoping blindly that it will keep going your way, or arbitrarily cutting winners short simply because they happened to move your way and now you're scared you will lose them (understandbly so, if you're trading amidst the noise).

Use volume to keep you out of the noise.

 

[bobcathy1]

Quote from omcate:



No. You should take nitro's advice. You mentioned in another thread that after some Serious EXercises, you only have energy to pop in TV dinners.

Well, there is no sex in this boat until I make back the money I have already lost this week........sob, sob, sniff, sniff.........:eek:

 

[trader99]

Quote from alfonso:



Trader99,

Perhaps you need to

a) be aware that there is such an aspect to stock price movement called "noise"

and

b) realize that attempting to trade through this "noise" is, for all I can see, an exercise in futility.

If you would willing to step back a little and trade the larger intraday moves I am sure you will come to think quite differently about days like today.

The two best reasons for doing so:

1) You can place your stops where being stopped out will actually be MEANINGFUL (it becomes quite unlikely that you will stop out on a random "noise" move)

2) You can actually have a GOOD REASON to hold a winning position through a pull back -- rather than just hoping blindly that it will keep going your way, or arbitrarily cutting winners short simply because they happened to move your way and now you're scared you will lose them (understandbly so, if you're trading amidst the noise).

Alfonso,

thanks for the advice! I know all of these things intellectually. It's just that on noisy days or time of days, I lose some emotional control. And keep trying to make back by trading like a madman through the noise. This is not rational.

Oh well. Today was different better. I didn't get chopped to death. In fact, I had a few decent moves. And held through some of the noise. I guess I can always take off half and ride the other half if I don't want to sit through the pullback noise which could turn out to be a reversal.

trader99

 

[trader99]

Quote from bobcathy1:



Great...meet us down at Dockside Bar in Boot Key......best place in the world to get really drunk, if I am going to trade all night, might as well do it nice and relaxed

Boot Key sounds nice. The next time I'm in Florida I'll take you guys up on that offer.

For now, I'm glad I didn't trade the chop today. Though today there was definitely less chop. My goal is to avoid the chop as much as possible for an entire week or month. Only trade when it's easy. If I can do that then I will be proud that I kicked this bad habit.

good luck bobcathy1!

 

[trader99]

I've been shorting all day and I'm still down?! WTF?!

I keep getting stopped out. I should have just held to my original short in the morning and just held.

how do you guys deal with this? It seems like your timing has to be almost perfect in this environment.

You can be right, but you can sitll lose $$. WTF?!

this doesn't make sense! is this even worth it anymore?

Sure we can all have super week like last week. But it's the grind that wears you down...

trader99

 

[dbphoenix]

It's called "creep". In a downtrend, if the trend is reasonably strong, the price should not retrace enough to penetrate the last reaction low, or, if it does, it should retreat immediately and resume the downtrend. When it penetrates the last reaction low and means it, you wind up with a very gradual trend, even with an occasional higher high. This encourages you to widen your stops so that you don't get caught by these retracements, at which point, of course, there is an unexpected rally and you get taken out for even more than you would have if you had just left it alone.

To weather creep, you have to get in early in the trend and just leave it alone. This is very difficult for most traders to do because there's so little "action".

--Db

 

[dbphoenix]

By the way, I've been reading your posts, and for some reason you're allowing the market to victimize you. Unless and until you take back control, you're going to get tossed around like a catnip ball.

--Db

 

[trader99]

Quote from dbphoenix:

By the way, I've been reading your posts, and for some reason you're allowing the market to victimize you. Unless and until you take back control, you're going to get tossed around like a catnip ball.

--Db

dbphoenix:

I took control back! Screw you market! hehe. Well, I realize it was choppy like hell today and lowered my trading activity significantly. So, my loss was nominal. basically a small scratch day. In the past, I would beat my head against the screen and trade away and be down HUGE. I'm smarter than that now.

 

[funky]

Quote from trader99:




dbphoenix:

I took control back! Screw you market! hehe. Well, I realize it was choppy like hell today and lowered my trading activity significantly. So, my loss was nominal. basically a small scratch day. In the past, I would beat my head against the screen and trade away and be down HUGE. I'm smarter than that now.

same here...i missed the morning yesterday, and then took huge losses in the afternoon trading chop. today, i learned from my mistakes and kept my losses to almost nothing.

 

[stock777]

1- 'They' control the market. ever see Outer Limits? Same folks.


2- Price moves in such a way as to cause the weak minded to abandon positions that shortly thereafter would have produced generous gains.

3- It's alway been like that.

4- It always will be.

PS That's the guy (upper right) that shakes you out. Ugly bastard.