The ACD Method

Quote from Maverick74:

I don't like to fade the number line although I'm sure there is a way to do it. Why buy weakness when you can buy strength and vice versa?

Also, I had a confirmed monthly A down on oil with a very neg number line. Once we made the weekly A up which was right near the monthly A down, I would leave the trade alone. Again, I think you and I are very different traders since you obviously are focused on one product. To me, I'm not "looking" for trades. I'm not trying to find a long or short everywhere. I want trades to fall in my lap. I want them to be easy. I want them to be smooth. I want to understand them. I'm sure one could day trade CL and make 100 trades a day. That's just not how I trade.

See MBF, here's the thing. I know you don't trade stock, but that BMY trade could have made you 10 times more money then CL with 1/10th the stress. It's a cleaner trade with almost zero noise. I look for those trades.

I've been trading for about 15 years. And I'll tell everyone this, if you want to stay in this game for the long term, you need to find a way to reduce the noise and lower the stress. Over time, the noise and stress become unbearable. Not when you are Johnny one lot and excited as hell to be swinging trades all over the place, but as you get older and you derive most of your income from trading, you are going to want to trade smoother moves and products to keep your sanity. Again, just my words of wisdom here. Not trying to tell anyone they are right or wrong in how they trade. I've been in this game for awhile and I saw 98% of the guys in my prop group blow out. I know this game. I know the rules. I see what happens. Just sharing my experience.
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I can relate to the comment about letting trades fall in your lap and staying out of the noise. I find some of my best trades are the ones that I anticipate and then just wait. If they show up under the right conditions you hit em', if not then you don't do anything. I get in trouble when I look for excuses to trade, I get fooled by randomness. Many times it is just not possible to anticipate and trade a product profitability. Don't be fooled by randomness and wait for opportunity, truly a great mindset to adopt.
 
You know, in professional golf they have a saying, "drive for show, put for dough". This implying of course that the deep long drives off the tee are the sexy shot and the ones guys like to show off with, but the real money is made on the green putting.

So my trading quote will be "scalp for show, spread for dough". :)
 
Quote from Maverick74:

I would warn guys about trading the products that give one the most "bang" for their buck. I have talked about this on here relentlessly about avoiding crowded trades. The heavier the traffic, the harder it is to trade because the noise level is unbearable. This includes stuff like the CL, the Euro, ES, AAPL, FAS and FAZ, etc. And certainly Gold.

I made a very very nice living trading listed stocks that no one on this thread has even heard of. Sitting there all by myself with the specialist catching smooth moves. Newbie traders will never make money trading noisy products no matter how much bang for the buck you are getting. And professionals know better.

Just my opinion of course. I'm often wrong.
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your input is very informative and i'm sure we all appreciate it very much - I sure know i am grateful. Someone with 15yrs experience sharing so much wisdom doesn't come around that often.

So if your not looking for a short/long or looking at the products that most people are looking at - then what would be the best advice you'd give traders that do not trade ''trades that fall on their lap''?

Speaking for myself, i read price action very well but do trade the noisy products and do relate to what your saying very well, so i wonder, how can i make my life easier? ACD is a nice, though i'm far from applying it properly at the moment, but like everything else, it's a work in progress.
 
Quote from amsterdam:

your input is very informative and i'm sure we all appreciate it very much - I sure know i am grateful. Someone with 15yrs experience sharing so much wisdom doesn't come around that often.

So if your not looking for a short/long or looking at the products that most people are looking at - then what would be the best advice you'd give traders that do not trade ''trades that fall on their lap''?

Speaking for myself, i read price action very well but do trade the noisy products and do relate to what your saying very well, so i wonder, how can i make my life easier? ACD is a nice, though i'm far from applying it properly at the moment, but like everything else, it's a work in progress.
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I think ACD will help you find cleaner traders. It should be used to reduce your noise level. If you trade stocks, it should help you focus on only the strongest and weakest stocks. If you trade futures, it should keep you from over trading all the random noise all day. I don't know what you trade or what your style is so I can't comment specifically. The idea is use ACD on top of what you are already doing.
 
Quote from Maverick74:

I think ACD will help you find cleaner traders. It should be used to reduce your noise level. If you trade stocks, it should help you focus on only the strongest and weakest stocks. If you trade futures, it should keep you from over trading all the random noise all day. I don't know what you trade or what your style is so I can't comment specifically. The idea is use ACD on top of what you are already doing.
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fyi, i trade futures.

I had a general idea that ACD would allow me to find cleaner trades and make my life easier, which i'll take in a heartbeat in this game.

Thx again Mav
 
I have just recently added ACD concepts as I get back into shorter term trading. It has been very helpful in selecting WHAT to trade and WHEN to trade it, but not HOW to trade it. As has been mentioned before, it does what it is designed to do very well (the what & when), the how is up to me.
 
Quote from Shanb:

Words of wisdom...and with 15 years you are one of the survivors. I haven't met many traders who consistently stay in this game for that period of time! That alone means something, getting in the game and staying there .

BTW you say you are "often wrong"...i'd beg to differ. LOL
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Shan, I'll make an effort to highlight when I'm wrong going forward. LOL. It happens enough. :)
 
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