Letâs be perfectly blunt â this ainât workinâ as I had hoped it would. Iâve been sucked into bad trades, and faked out of good ones.
So Iâm sitting here last night just going over and over the charts, and something pops out at me. Itâs something Iâve seen before â lots of times. In fact Iâve even tried to trade it, but with very little success. Tons of small losses, and way too many breakeven trades.
But there it is, right in front of me, and it just wonât go away. There is obviously something to it â but how do I make it work?
And then it dawns on me.
You see, thereâs this weird guy on the board who trades something he calls the Seat Of My Pants indicator âSOMP. I asked him once to explain it to me. He did. Well, I had to go sit down and fan myself. He was trading without charts, on a âfeelâ for the market.
Holy mother of God!
But it works for him â most days. And thereâs a lot to the method that I like. Plenty of action, and a short trading day (fits into my nap schedule nicely).
But his M.O. ainât for me â my mind doesnât work that way.
So weâre talking last night, and he says: âIâve never heard the term âshort skirtâ, but it turns out that thatâs basically what Iâm doingâ.
What did he say? Howâs that possible without charts, and on his ultra short time frame?
BINGO! The proverbial light bulb goes off over my head. I go back and look at the chart again. Now I am a visual kind of guy â strange for a man legally blind in one eye, and who doesnât see so good out of the other â I need to see things. Things like set ups â entry points.
And there it is â right there on my charts! Itâs the SOMP indicator â just as plain as the nose on my face!
Now there ainât nuttinâ new under the sun. And all successful trend following systems basically use the same methods. The difference comes in determining what constitutes a trend, and the time frame one looks at to make that determination.
So today I decided to switch from Lindaâs âshort skirtâ method to Mr. Subliminalâs SOMP indicator. I mean, why not? Theyâre basically the same thing. It just depends on how you look at it â right?
So howâs it going? Not too bad.
For the morning session: 5RT/ +5 points (should have been +9 ¾, but thatâs another story)
4 wins â 1 loss (a quarter of a point)
So what exactly is tampaâs SOMP? Well let me trade it for a day, or two, maybe three. Then Iâll spell it out. It isnât really anything special, and it sure as hell ainât no secret. Itâs simple, uncomplicated, and it works.
Thanx, Subbie â you may have helped me turn the cornor!
...oh my! Look at the time! More later, but it's nap time around here...