I am amazed this is still here. I thought it would have been deleted by now. Here's another nice little non-SCT trade for you, times Pacific. No channels, no volume, no reference to any other issue, no DOM, absolutely none of the 37-odd criteria which I recollect from full-blowed SCT. No nothing but a simple little 70 line piece of code. No sweeping, no ambiguity, no thinking, low risk (3 ticks). And with a chart you could comfortably display on a cell phone. Now tell me, when was the last time you saw ANY SCT trader post a trade?
Trading Without SCT
- Thread starter Joe Doaks
- Start date
There are many reasons not to trade SCT. I have adumbrated (in both senses of the word) all of them over the years, and will out of compulsion continue do so until I either die or get it. So you can imagine that I get a lot of love letters from the SCT crowd. They are all pretty much of a piece: "You seem to be a pretty nice guy for an asshole, but I don't understnad why you have such a boner for Jack and SCT."
One of my main reasons is the time frame. I have entries and exits down to a fine art, see today's posted trade (if only I could afford to fund that second car, I could get rich). But it takes a ten-second chart to do that. So I have a real problem figuring out how the SCT crowd gets good entries off of a five-minte chart. I mean, they are so busy drawing and redrawing channels and crayolaing volume, and watching up to 35 other things depending on the level of SCT they trade, how the hell do they see what are perforce ten-second-timing trades on that five-minute chart? Call me stupid.
One of my main reasons is the time frame. I have entries and exits down to a fine art, see today's posted trade (if only I could afford to fund that second car, I could get rich). But it takes a ten-second chart to do that. So I have a real problem figuring out how the SCT crowd gets good entries off of a five-minte chart. I mean, they are so busy drawing and redrawing channels and crayolaing volume, and watching up to 35 other things depending on the level of SCT they trade, how the hell do they see what are perforce ten-second-timing trades on that five-minute chart? Call me stupid.
The purpose of the Journals forum reads: "The place for keeping a daily journal of wins, losses, and anything else related to your quest of becoming a better trader." But when I read the Iterative Refinement thread, as periodically I do despite my better judgement, I never see any trades, or even comments that HINT at trades. So if my thread is truly titled "Trading WITHOUT SCT", theirs should properly be titled "Not Trading WITH SCT".
I read several days back before going blind and brain-dead, looking for some evidence that the thread is more than mental masturbation. Something like "Here is the timing of my trade, how did you take it?" Or "I got whipsawed right here, how did you handle it?" Or "I made X.Y times the daily range, did anybody do better?" In other words, evidence of the things that really happen while in a trade. Nada. I can only conclude that SCT is entertainment and nothing more.
Examining SCT in my own "quest of becoming a better trader" was a very useful effort, not because SCT works, but because challenging its premises takes you to unexpected places. Heuristic, as I have often said.
For example, the alleged P-V relation is a phony artifact of the bizarre choice of five minute charting. If you look at other time frames, and perform statistical or cybernetic analyses on them, you reach far different conclusions about the relationship of P and V.
Similarly, moving away from useless naming of various types of peaks and troughs within wholly meaningless channel constructions, and asking WHY price behaved as it did leads to useful analytical tools.
Examining in short times frames the validity of the Always-In principle leads to a different set of entry rules, and proves the wisdom of occasionally standing aside.
So SCT is entertainment for commitment-phobic wanna-be traders. The Count on Sesame Street comes to mind: "Hello! I am the Count! 1...2...3!" Endless interative refinement postpones the day of reckoning when you must face the reality that you are not REALLY a trader, just pretending to be one. If I were wrong, they would rush to humiliate me with trade anecdotes, entry/exit analyses, execution reports, real-time calls, etc. But they won't, because they can't. Endless analysis does not make you a better trader. Only trading for real does.
I read several days back before going blind and brain-dead, looking for some evidence that the thread is more than mental masturbation. Something like "Here is the timing of my trade, how did you take it?" Or "I got whipsawed right here, how did you handle it?" Or "I made X.Y times the daily range, did anybody do better?" In other words, evidence of the things that really happen while in a trade. Nada. I can only conclude that SCT is entertainment and nothing more.
Examining SCT in my own "quest of becoming a better trader" was a very useful effort, not because SCT works, but because challenging its premises takes you to unexpected places. Heuristic, as I have often said.
For example, the alleged P-V relation is a phony artifact of the bizarre choice of five minute charting. If you look at other time frames, and perform statistical or cybernetic analyses on them, you reach far different conclusions about the relationship of P and V.
Similarly, moving away from useless naming of various types of peaks and troughs within wholly meaningless channel constructions, and asking WHY price behaved as it did leads to useful analytical tools.
Examining in short times frames the validity of the Always-In principle leads to a different set of entry rules, and proves the wisdom of occasionally standing aside.
So SCT is entertainment for commitment-phobic wanna-be traders. The Count on Sesame Street comes to mind: "Hello! I am the Count! 1...2...3!" Endless interative refinement postpones the day of reckoning when you must face the reality that you are not REALLY a trader, just pretending to be one. If I were wrong, they would rush to humiliate me with trade anecdotes, entry/exit analyses, execution reports, real-time calls, etc. But they won't, because they can't. Endless analysis does not make you a better trader. Only trading for real does.
Oh, yeah. Why should you bother to read my rants? Because I TRADE. Admittedly small, and admittedly scalps. But for real. Here was my last trade before the power went out for the day. Shitty service to trailer parks here. Make us pay in cash at the beginning of the month.
Just what I like. A quick easy low-risk Ben Franklin. Wish I could get off as many times as I can trade that it a day. Times Pacific.
Just what I like. A quick easy low-risk Ben Franklin. Wish I could get off as many times as I can trade that it a day. Times Pacific.
I might be inclined to think you are not a very astute reader. But I do not know you and would be misplaced to make such an assumption. I have modified some stuff though to read more accurately;
I believe that is a more accurate statement...
Not sure what to say here, except who doesn't love the count
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Perhaps they are not interested in humiliating others or perhaps they are just not that interested in you (I do not know)
I have to agree with you here. As mentioned, Analysis is only one part of the routine, the second part. Perhaps you went blind or brain dead before getting to that part in the journals.
Nice scalp.
OK, here ya go Joe,
Unfortunatley, I too have not mastered the always in, 3X ATR. But hey, I'm a newbie at this stuff and I have a weak bladder too which prevents me from staying in the trades longer.
Anyways. Here was my morning:
2 EHE trades (beginner stuff... 94% ATR for the period of MADA)
Nicely done! At least ONE of you trades! How come you don't post over THERE? Unwritten rule not to embarrass the paper traders, haha?
I post this particular trade (one of many pissant little scalps today) not because I am proud of it. No, the entry was so late it missed a third of the move. But the exit was exquisite. NQ traders, do you recognize the exit? If so, keep it to yourself. Don't help anybody else. This ain't the iterative defilement thread, ya know! Times Pacific.