The Foresight Thread

Statistically you may be right. But statistics don't help me when I have to make a trading decision, such as yesterday morning or this morning. As for other PATs, it all depends on the individual tactical sets though the strategies remain the same (reversals, breakouts, retracements). The chief advantage of PAT is that it's adaptable. It can't help but be adaptable due to its nature. Personally I see no need to change markets. I just wait for the best entries and trade less often. I don't want to be spending a lot of time trading this time of year anyway. :)

And, yes, I can believe that this is a tough market for those who've never traded one like it. That's one of the primary advantages of experience (I don't think anyone has 20-year-old replay files). I've seen all this before. It doesn't throw me. And there is always the issue of preparedness. Your current exchanges with whozis are a perfect example of those who are eager to trade but are in no way prepared to do so, either financially or psychologically or experientially or any other way. But people will either listen or they won't.

When people complain about the market, I have to remind myself that many were in preschool when you and I were trading the internet bubble, so, yes, it all seems so new and so different. But then that's where the "old" have the drop on the young. :)

Yeah, I'm one of those that has had a personal diary since age 10 and it didn't seem unusual to begin a professional diary in my early 20's...a ton of info I've documented and that's help me often even in today's trading environment. My old man an ex-floor trader thought it would be useful (documenting each trading day info beyond just trades) if trading became more serious for me.

Funny thing is this, by the time we decide to adapt...markets change again. :eek:
 
Revisiting this business of the changing market, I began noticing toward the beginning of April that traders' behavior intraday was becoming very much like a car with a bad transmission: lurch ahead, stall, lurch ahead, stall, lurch ahead, stall, roll back. Tons of congestions, including hinges. I didn't much care about why, except in an idle curiosity way. But retracements clearly were not the order of the day anymore. So even though I avoid reversals and breakouts, it was either that or take the quarter off (or the summer), and I spent considerable time and effort brushing up on all that.

Now that we seem to be in the process of bouncing off the lower limit that trend channel, retracements may shine again. If they don't, then the "composite operator" is more concerned than is apparent on the surface. In the meantime, it's reversals and breakouts and a different tactical set.
 
Yeah, I'm one of those that has had a personal diary since age 10 and it didn't seem unusual to begin a professional diary in my early 20's...a ton of info I've documented and that's help me often even in today's trading environment. My old man an ex-floor trader thought it would be useful (documenting each trading day info beyond just trades) if trading became more serious for me.

Funny thing is this, by the time we decide to adapt...markets change again. :eek:

The principles of successful stock speculation are based on the supposition that people will continue in the future to make the mistakes that they have made in the past.

-- T F Woodlock


To a large extent, that's what PAT is all about. The map may change, but the territory is the same.
 
In the meantime, it's reversals and breakouts and a different tactical set.

That was essentially the reason for my breakout trade question a few days ago. Very often one does not get a retracement or one would be able to bank some points on half of the position.

In terms of the behaviour of breakouts and reversals itself, I believe you are very rigid. So if they don't move quick and steady you are out? What I try to define are the difference in terms of risk tolerance and setup. So a retracement trade would differ from a breakout - which you maybe try to avoid. But for others it seems to be an option specially if one limits its trading to a timeframe around the open plus two hours.
 
What I do isn't particularly important, especially as what I do today may and probably will be different from what I did yesterday. Or last week. Or last month. The market in June is not the same as the market in January. The market in 2015 is not the same as the market in 2014. The advantage of PAT is that it is self-correcting and self-adapting, unless one is exceptionally stubborn. And deaf.

Whether you have something flexible and free-flowing or rigid and mechanical is entirely up to you. The SLA allows you to be the trader you want to be, within a structure. It doesn't tell you what you must be. I suggest, again, that you read the appendix on Fear.
 
Don't see the end of the world here, but it doesn't matter one way or the other if one knows what to do whether price rises or falls.

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Worth noting that the NQ is much stronger than the ES or YM, one of the many reasons why I like the NQ. (None of the most heavily-weighted stocks in the SPX are in particular trouble; that of course could change for a few of them in a matter of days)

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Markets having a tough time recently. To help with understanding the market context of what is happening, accordingly to Bloomberg...we haven't seen this type of price action since 1990'. They say its been the "Tightest Weekly Range Since 1994".

My own personal stats has the S&P 500 Index weekly about 6 weeks of price movement LESS than 1 percent...very similar to Bloomberg's data. I see it as a slow snail like decline. Slow enough to confuse many regardless if day trading or swing trading.

Take a look at most of the traders posting live calls on Stocktwits, Twitter, Othernet/FinancialChat IRC and even here at EliteTrader.com...its been a tough several weeks of trading regardless to the trade method being used. One of my favorite traders that's been posting live calls since the birth of Stocktwits.com and a Wyckoff/AMT trader and a verified/audited trader that has competed at the Duels de Trading (Salonat.com trading competition) in front of a live audience real money competition...

Trading just is not easy right now. It's tough on now even on those that are consistently profitable.

How do you handle this type of trading environment ?

1) You can sit it out until better trading environment returns (essentially you'll be waiting for volatility and range to expand)

2) If you want to trade through it...lower position size and/or lower number of trades

3) Keep learning/studying the markets because this is a very rare type of range price action to gain valuable insights that should be helpful if it continues (eventually you'll need to adapt) or returns again in the future

P.S. I feel sorry for any newbie trader beginning their trading careers in this type of trading environment (poor volatility, problematic range and many global concerns that's spooking many traders)...its going to be a costly learning experience for newbie traders. Hopefully they'll be able to recover when market conditions improve because the professional traders are going to hit it hard when volatility with range begins improving again.

Go trading European markets, plenty volatility.
 
Conflicts with my personal (family) time schedule. Yet, Eurex DAX futures / Euronext CAC40 futures / EuroFX 6E futures / Hang Seng HSI futures are my preferred markets to trade. Maybe I need a clone. :D
 
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