Swing Trading using support/restistance Entry Points help

[AbbotAle]

Use your same strategy on 1m charts, there's real action and opportunity on those. Go sub 1m for FX.

This is a game of fractals.

The only difference between the 1m charts and say the monthly is speed.

 

[trader2713]

It going to be six of one and half dozen of the other, if you lower timeframe you will get more signals and more losses than whatever you doing now. There are work arounds but of course there be more rules, time stops, many more breakeven plus one tick trades, I trade great deal of one minute timeframe, well automated now, but unlike my sixty minute system has like 10 rules, one minute system has 50 rules because smaller the timeframe is more of like profiting off the noise of the market when scalping and more doing of what most should never do which is averaging down.

Again, it is 6 and 6 as far as adding more instruments, whereas how about adding options to the mix, if you are staying in trades longer, learn how to hedge profits and if market is doing a retracement, you can be not losing on the futures via using the options and add more to existing position when buying the support and exit the options. Can do credit spreads instead of buying outright. You seem to have a good mixture. Perhaps add the Bund and Eurodollar, slow movement not always bad thing using 60 minutes on the Eurodollar. Have a separate account to trade Bund, convert US dollar to Euro so every trade you don't have to constantly pay exchange rates, fees are less and Bund trends nicely.

Have you ever considered doing commodity spreads, ie buy March corn/sell July corn

Nice advice, I have traded the Bund before and usually like the clean charts it presents most of the time. I will add it again. I was thinking about adding options to the mix and that was one of my main ideas to keep trades flowing. I have not considered commodity spreads yet, maybe that is something I can start looking into. I do not have experience with trading those types of spreads but have read about it a time or two. Any advice is appreciated on that subject or on option filter/screening stock strategy advice as well.

I agree and I strive to keep the rules simple and to a minimum number so I do not filter myself out of trading anything. My strategy is really simple right now so I was surprised at the lack of trades, I aim for 2-3 trades a week each one lasting 1-3 days ( between all the markets added up together...right now I look at around 7 futures markets, seems realistic) but I am missing that goal. I do know some of my markets can and will run the same direction together such as the yen, gold, treasuries so I look for the cleanest chart with best r/s areas out of those and keep that one my first choice. So in a way it is not always 7 distinct markets. I was simply wondering what others were doing for their swing high/low entries and thinking there was something reliable to help tweak my current trading. I treat the r/s as zones and do the best I can to enter as far off the zone as possible without destroying my reward to risk ratio. I appreciate the comments.

 

[trader2713]

I wonder if GC would typically reach a support level if treasuries and yen rallied with USD falling along with a dovish fed statement and increased inflation expectations.
It's possible large money , desiring large liquidity at a previous support level, to load up without effecting price too much , would throw in the towel, turn the gold market around , and run price up fast due to lesser liquidity at present levels.
In theory this is possible. This isnt fundamentals , its observed price action. Sometimes.

Many times I see gold, yen and the treasuries futures run together in the same direction when money starts to poor into the safe havens. It looks like there was quite a bit of indecision today over the fed statement in those markets today

 

[trader2713]

I have a pretty similar trading style, though I only use support and resistance incidentally, and I trade options over stocks. But I use that method for entries / exits and direction.

As others have pointed out, more horsies in the stable is the answer to missed opportunities. I try not to get too precise with my support levels, because you're likely to miss the forest through the trees. And I use "round" prices (i.e. If calculated support is 150.27, I'll use 150). That's not as relevant to indexes though because it's basis is in interpreting behavior / decisions that just don't get made on indexes (people buy / sell FB at $150, but 2400 on the S&P doesn't translate to people buying or selling the components...at least not so far as I can see).

My options strategy involves the underlying price being in a small range relative to its strike, so I often don't see many opportunities even watching 50-ish symbols. I just keep looking until I see something. Options do give me the benefit of just throwing up my hands and taking an entry even without the signal...obviously not something that works with other instruments.

Another thing, because I view support as fluid, close counts, so a signal near support is as good as signal at support.

And finally, I am more likely to use support in an exit than an entry just because my risk goes up the longer the price lingers (because I'm net short). Though presumably the opposite is true since you're trading price.

Yeah I agree close counts and r/s will change rapidly. I try to monitor this and the psychology of round even numbers close in and around the r/s zones. It is hard not to get wrapped up into the perfect price point due to the allure of a perfect entry that maximizes profits or creating small risk that you "cannot not" take the trade. But the answer may be just widening it out a little (even though I thought I was doing fairly well on that) and adding even more markets (horses). thanks

 

[trader2713]

Do you look for all types of reversal candles... inverted hammer, doji etc or mainly a big hammer candle?

Looking for clues that there was some capitulation and a base formed to trade from. It could be a rounded bottom, triangle, rectangle, etc. From experience I most often encounter 1 or more hammers printing near the same level and often a slower momentum retest - printing a 2 or 3B. If you do it a lot you get a certain instinct for it. I like these trades because my reward to risk can be skewed at extreme levels and every so often you get a home run. A lot of people get shaken out of the S/R swings - including myself, that is why the $/trade mgmt is the most important part of the trade.

I will just have to pay closer attention to the action when we start to get close the r/s levels to try and catch an earlier than expected reversal...

 

[beerntrading]

...the allure of a perfect entry that maximizes profits...

That right there will kill you. I take the OK entry that minimizes risk.

 

[tommcginnis]

That right there will kill you. I take the OK entry that minimizes risk.

Whoops.
I wuz gonna disagree, but I was reading too fast.
(It's the middle of the day, ferchrisakes!)

trader2713 said:
...the allure of a perfect entry that maximizes profits...

and beerntrading said:
...I take the OK entry that minimizes risk.

As the saying goes, beerntrading done nailed it.

 

[murray t turtle]

[QUOTE="trader2713, post

I agree and I strive to keep the rules simple and to a minimum number so I do not filter myself out of trading anything. My strategy is really simple right now so I was surprised at the lack of trades, I aim for 2-3 trades a week .....So in a way it is not always 7 distinct markets. I was simply wondering what others were doing for their swing high/low entries and thinking there was something reliable to help tweak my current trading. I treat the r/s as zones and do the best I can to enter as far off the zone as possible without destroying my reward to risk ratio. I appreciate the comments.[/QUOTE]
%%
PUT it simple, we can enter/exit early or late.
I like late exit$, if they are paying dividends. BUT I will fire[exit] a slop=chop sideways trend + enjoy doing that. Some like a slop=chop trend[barbed wire range[ - I dont......

 

[trader2713]

Whoops.
I wuz gonna disagree, but I was reading too fast.
(It's the middle of the day, ferchrisakes!)

trader2713 said:
...the allure of a perfect entry that maximizes profits...

and beerntrading said:
...I take the OK entry that minimizes risk.

As the saying goes, beerntrading done nailed it.

Yeah I agree with beerntrading, what I was trying to say is that it is hard to "not" get wrapped up in trying to attain the perfect entry when using r/s as swing entries...some price levels can appear extremely attractive and too good to be true...then it is hard to resist not waiting until a hit on the level is made...

 

[beerntrading]

Yeah I agree with beerntrading, what I was trying to say is that it is hard to "not" get wrapped up in trying to attain the perfect entry when using r/s as swing entries...some price levels can appear extremely attractive and too good to be true...then it is hard to resist not waiting until a hit on the level is made...

I tell myself every day. If a trade looks good in hindsight, it was a bad trade.