Quote from Red_Ink_inc:
You should listen to the post above very carefully. It's the best advice you will ever get.
I suggest you cease all discretionary trading at once. There is no kind way to put this........ you're not very good at it.
No.Heat is on the money with his advice.
And I agree with Red-Ink here. You need to learn basic technical analysis.
ESI never once even peeked its head above the falling 20-bar moving average Friday. There was NO long signal. At all. The only effective long position on ESI was scalping tiny dead cat bounces off each downthrust and to do that you need take your profit and run if price can't break through the 20 MA, because that means the trend is still on.
Someone asked me in my journal the other day for advice on what they need to do to day trade successfully. Here's my reply:
"...I don't feel qualified to give too much advice yet, since I'm learning something new every day.
My basic advice is to look at how price behaves in relation to a 20-period moving average in your time frame. If that moving average is rising, look to buy when price dips down to it without breaking through. When it's falling look to short when price rises up to it without breaking through. (If it breaks thru but quickly recovers, that's a false breakout and you can still enter with the trend). If the moving average is flat it's either in a range or consolidating, which is where I often paid commissions for very little reward, and so I no longer trade in that zone unless I'm looking to get a position in place for a continuation move.
If you watch price behavior in relation to a 20-period moving average on a chart in any time frame you'll see how solid it is for entering a trend, counter-trend trading overextended moves, and catching the start of a new trend.
Following a rising or falling moving average is really the same as buying a higher low or shorting a lower high.
If price is trading in a range and it's a wide range, then I use stochastics to trade from one end of the range to the other.
Stochastics are worthless in a strong trend."
Neke, if you integrate this core advice into your trading, you just can't fail. Why? Because it appears you recently instituted good risk management (taking your max loss), and you have a part of the mental game mastered that is holding me back. I struggle to trade with the kind of confidence you have.
Just look at any chart and how price behaves around a rising or falling moving average. You don't have to try catching a falling knife or picking a top; just follow the direction of the moving average until it reverses. And that usually doesn't happen until at least 3 legs of a trend are completed.