Trading NQ via Price Action

[k p]

I don't get what that means in that first sentence, but I suspect if you leave ego out of this then there is something of value in those posts, particularly if there were posts I clicked the like button on. The purpose of a "dig" on someone is to get them to think, not to make them feel or look bad. It's to bring light to truth so it can be known (by you).

If anyone is confused at this moment and not understanding something, then that is me. I have been multi tasking and I prefer we just move forward rather than bringing light to the truth that I don't understand so it can be known by me. But if there's something you feel I must learn then I am happy to revisit all the details that I've already left in the past.

I don't have any ego in this conversation. It's important everyone learn to judge the merits and intent of others. That is the primary reason I have nothing further to say about that heads up. I have a secondary reason but it is definitely a tangible valid reason that again has nothing to do with ego. That secondary reason is something everyone gets to learn on their own for themselves also.

I appreciate the tone of your post so I would like to address it. It refers to this post here:

http://www.elitetrader.com/et/index...via-price-action.281995/page-141#post-4064182

"QQQ because your journal is titled “NQ via PA”... lol. It’s not very difficult to understand.

I’m not an investor, but my point is you are trying to be a trader, yet you’re not even able to beat an investor.

It’s a simple set of probabilities, but apparently you can’t EVEN understand that."

This post of samuel's, highlighting the important parts is incredibly destructive. He isn't offering anything useful and he is actually causing more damage. If trading wasn't difficult to understand, everybody would be making money. Continuing with how I'm not "even able to..." and then how I can't "even understand that" is highly demoralizing.

Frankly I don't care because I have no idea who he is, but I just want to point out that given those lines, I see no value in any of his posts. Maybe I'm just sensitive, maybe I have a self esteem issue, maybe.... etc. But I would hope that some of the people out there reading could understand where I'm coming from based on how I presented this the way I interpreted it.

I too am willing to get past this as my only goal is to become a successful trader, but what I am trying to do is be as open and honest as I can be and leave something for other to follow and learn from. And on that note, I would still appreciate knowing what you mean with your tease, but if you want to drop it, that is fine as well.

 

[dbphoenix]

Oh gosh.. I just looked up a simple explanation of MACD and I don't like what I see. I don't like that the crossover of the lines is telling me to buy/sell. I mean if I can't trust myself, my own testing of when to enter a trade based on something that is in the market, giving control of this trade to two lines crossing seems misguided. It would perhaps be a much easier job of doing a statistical analysis of when this crossover results in a profitable trade but I honestly feel that its distracting to look at.

I certainly like the idea of looking at this from a different direction, but I think the better course of action here is to figure out why I'm not doing what I should be doing. If its fear because I'm not sure of what to do, then I must backtest more. If its fear of losing money, then I need to test it more to prove to myself that a series of trades will result in a profit since I fully accept that the result of one trade means nothing. If anything, by being completely free and open, the fact that the trade didn't work should make me start thinking DTDB or a possible re-entry, and if I don't know, just standing aside.

My two bad days, Thursday and Friday, I know exactly how they could have been good days based on the chart. Yes I didn't quite arrive at this in real time, or didn't do anything about it even when I knew, so I have to explore why. But its right there on the chart and I can explain it with confidence... I just need to learn to do this in real time.

All of which takes you right back where you started. And while those who are providing advice have your best interests in mind and are being more than sincere in their efforts, they may not have read your journal and may not know that you know all that and have been through it before. Repeatedly.

Therefore, I suggest, again, that you seek clarity. Get rid of all of it and begin with a blank chart. Find where price begins trending. You can do that without even defining "trend". Look at what price was doing before it began trending. It will have either been trending in the opposite direction or it will have been ranging. Review your charts with only this in mind. This is not "starting over" because you have by now viewed thousands of charts. But it will re-center you.

 

[k p]

There are nuances embedded within slugar's post that you're not considering. For instance how are you going to re-enter? Instead of complaining it's not defined for you, simply realize u need to define it your self.

"get really good at taking small loses". You must get out of this mode where you're unable to see the brilliance in that, and then follow thru by developing rules that implement it. Please stop the rebuttals to everything that's being offered to you ... and begin ...

And none of this is any different than what Db has already said many times and been more specific with anyway. Doesn't anybody think that I realize I need to do more work to realize this? And doesn't anybody realize that when others keep saying the same thing over and over again that it becomes almost a taunt, especially when they claim how easy it is yet they haven't demonstrated it themselves yet?

 

[k p]

But it will re-center you.

Yes.. I very much like this.

Therein lies the difficulty. Knowing that I have looked at so many charts, knowing that I know the rules, and yet also having absolutely terrible results. So a re-centering is obviously very much called for, yet its not like starting over again and having to think that nothing has actually stuck after 10 months.

 

[dbphoenix]

I'm posting this here for those who have been following this discussion and want to play along.

Where is price trending?

Where is price ranging?

How would one explain to a five-year-old the difference?

 

[k p]

I learned this the hard way. Now I'm having to unlearn my bad habit. You've got some unlearning.

Take a break and I wish you the best.

-JS

Thanks for your post JS and I certainly do admire the sincerity of your post. And yet, for me, I am going to do the exact opposite of what you say. Not because your advise is bad, but just because its bad for me. I feel as if I'm too close to take a rest now. Perhaps I'm still very far away, but if anything, the past 10 months has been spent not working very hard. Sure I've put lots of hours into it, but it hasn't been "working" smart. Some days I do feel as if I need a break, but then sometimes I find a moment of inspiration that completely reinvigorates me and I find all the energy I need in that very moment.

Emini said something a few weeks back in Db's thread that provided some of this inspiration. I showed a chart with possible trades and he provided the reason why one trade was no good, to which Db replied with a simple thank-you to him. The necessary part of the explanation was that the buying and selling waves were equal, so at this point, neither side had the upper hand, and when neither side is showing being in control, its best to wait on the sidelines.

So there is a certain amount of momentum that I have built up and if I do feel the need to rest I will, but that moment is without a doubt not now.

 

[jsmacksem]

Thanks for your post JS and I certainly do admire the sincerity of your post. And yet, for me, I am going to do the exact opposite of what you say. Not because your advise is bad, but just because its bad for me. I feel as if I'm too close to take a rest now. Perhaps I'm still very far away, but if anything, the past 10 months has been spent not working very hard. Sure I've put lots of hours into it, but it hasn't been "working" smart. Some days I do feel as if I need a break, but then sometimes I find a moment of inspiration that completely reinvigorates me and I find all the energy I need in that very moment.

Emini said something a few weeks back in Db's thread that provided some of this inspiration. I showed a chart with possible trades and he provided the reason why one trade was no good, to which Db replied with a simple thank-you to him. The necessary part of the explanation was that the buying and selling waves were equal, so at this point, neither side had the upper hand, and when neither side is showing being in control, its best to wait on the sidelines.

So there is a certain amount of momentum that I have built up and if I do feel the need to rest I will, but that moment is without a doubt not now.

Sure thing. Just my 2 cents.


-JS

 

[slugar]

Here is slugar's post again:

"My opinion kp is many are making this way more complicated than it has to be. Define your edge. Have an entry rule a stop you place in case of an emergency. A target of where you think the market will go. How you are going to manage your trade and a point where your edge is no longer valid and you get out. Take every trade where your edge is valid and get really good at taking small losses. You can always reenter."

He sums up the entire world of trading in several sentences... how on earth is this helpful at all? I even gave a better account of the entire market where I brought into it the idea of a trending and raging market. Seriously... I never said he was wrong, I just said the advice wasn't helping and I didn't want to reply to it. Ending off with "you can always re-enter" is of course an option that covers every possible scenario. Everything that he says has to be tested and better defined, so in a specific sense, none of this is useful. His post is the equivalent of mine on how to bake a cake.

1. Buy some ingredients.
2. Mix them.
3. Put in the oven.
4. If it doesn't work out, you can always start again.

So seriously, no disrespect to slugar, but to say its easy and reduce trading down to 3 lines is a bit incomplete. Once he throws money at this and is consistent for a few weeks then I am more than willing to discuss trading with him some more, but I'm sure at that point, he will also have a huge set of rules of what to do and not do and when and where, which will make this initial advice highly incomplete.

Never once said it was easy but you know kp I won't post ever again on your journal .You keep doing what you believe and I will do the same. By the way if every moment in the market is unique and every outcome is random and we have no way of knowing what is going to happen next why do you need 100 examples of every trade you want to make .

 

[dartmus]

I appreciate the tone of your post so I would like to address it. It refers to this post here:

http://www.elitetrader.com/et/index...via-price-action.281995/page-141#post-4064182

"QQQ because your journal is titled “NQ via PA”... lol. It’s not very difficult to understand.

I’m not an investor, but my point is you are trying to be a trader, yet you’re not even able to beat an investor.

It’s a simple set of probabilities, but apparently you can’t EVEN understand that."

This post of samuel's, highlighting the important parts is incredibly destructive. He isn't offering anything useful and he is actually causing more damage. If trading wasn't difficult to understand, everybody would be making money. Continuing with how I'm not "even able to..." and then how I can't "even understand that" is highly demoralizing.

Frankly I don't care because I have no idea who he is, but I just want to point out that given those lines, I see no value in any of his posts. Maybe I'm just sensitive, maybe I have a self esteem issue, maybe.... etc. But I would hope that some of the people out there reading could understand where I'm coming from based on how I presented this the way I interpreted it.

I too am willing to get past this as my only goal is to become a successful trader, but what I am trying to do is be as open and honest as I can be and leave something for other to follow and learn from. And on that note, I would still appreciate knowing what you mean with your tease, but if you want to drop it, that is fine as well.

Samuel is not trying to persecute you. He's trying to inspire you. Buy and hold QQQ is a tangent that came out of his first post in which he says sim trading for the knowledge is preferable to not having the knowledge that can be gained from sim.

If you believe something is true then it generally grows bigger and becomes true. Carefully pick the directions you want to nurture because you will have more of that category in the future. I recommend you invent the possibility u can and will find the solutions to all the detailed nuances required to implement the more general suggestions or concepts that need to be filled in with precise metrics. Such as how to define that trend you mentioned and the specific way you can enter in it's direction, while simultaneously maintaining the precise metrics needed to satisfy all the other requirements. A way to keep losses small, a way to re-enter .. Then you will have something worthwhile.

This is a problem worthy of being solved. The other stuff doesn't matter. If you like, I can click the button that undo's my earlier like of Samuels posts but I assure you in his own way he has your journey in his heart as his own and is just offering his way of inspiring you so u don't have to suffer the lessons he and all of us have had to suffer.

 

[k p]

I'm posting this here for those who have been following this discussion and want to play along.

Where is price trending?

Where is price ranging?

How would one explain to a five-year-old the difference?

View attachment 147552

Since this is my journal.... I get to go first!

Outlined on my chart are actually two sets, with two different time frames. The red blocked areas show both a ranging environment first, and then two trending areas. Contained within, we have ranging environments on two lower time frames outlined in blue.

In terms of words, it would be a case of HH's and HL's for an up trend, LH's and LL's for a down trend, and roughly equal highs and lows for a ranging market.

And sadly, this looks to be be the NQ chart of the past few days with an ample amount of opportunity!