The most important rule(s ) for intraday trading success

[Now is Now]

Quote from Chuck Krug:

how do you forward test a strategy?
i read somewhere it's getting out-of-sample results
care to elaborate a bit, please?

Backtesting "results" can be manipulated to convince the trader that the system "works" and the outcome is sufficient to warrant trading real time (money...real money ;not simulated trades.)

Forward testing is ,of course, real time where the trader can continue to test the method under real time conditions, which will highlight price slippages,current market conditions that are not easily identifiable in backtesting, and the opportunity to streamline stops and profit levels.

The only thing you are doing by forward testing is losing time, but getting the satisfaction that the applied method will be suffiently profitable to commit.

 

[gifropan]

Quote from Jayford:

Don't over trade!

The vast majority of traders do not possess the skill to scalp tics 50 times per day like Frank does. They still over trade much of the time however.

Wait for the best setups with the best percentage of winning and R/R ratios. At least for me, once I learned to do this, my results improved dramatically. It does involve lots of boredom however.

Also requires to know what a best setup is. Not all setups generated by the same rules perform the same way. Some generate loosing trades and some winning trades. How can one predetermine which setups are better than others given that they are generated by the same rules?

 

[Trayo]

Quote from fearless9:

If you are a scalper then ....
Always fade the entry.

What do you mean by this?

Thanks

 

[Tums]

Quote from gifropan:
There is a lot of trading literature which professes to outline rules for successful trading. A lot of these are very general statements which sound good but lack anything specific to be of any use to a novice or even an experienced trader. One such example is "cut your losses quickly and let your profits run" There is no quantitative measure that by how much and how quickly you should take and cut your loss and for how long you should run your profit. Should you risk loosing half or all your profits on a trade before closing it for example? I am putting up this post to ask the Elite Trader members what are the most important trading rules that contribute to your success and perhaps give some quantitative examples in each case. Below are some examples of rules that I have come across in the trading literature. It is by no means meant to be an exhaustive list and please feel free to add your own unique contributions.
1 Cut your losses quickly and let your profits run
2 Never let a profit turn into a loss. (Q. How much profit is a profit?"
3 Go with the trend. (Q When is a trend a trend)
4 Don’t try to catch a falling knife.
5 Try and be a contrarian (Q. Catch a falling knife??)
I am sure there are a lot more that you have heard or can think of. I hope this can trigger fruitful debate here.
Bob

The most important rules for intraday trading success are:

1. Hold your LONG until it is time to go SHORT.

2. Hold your SHORT until it is time to go LONG.