TZ, when you can post what will happen and it does and you are almost always correct then you will realize there is a big difference from thinking you know what would work and what actually does work.
While a lot of your posts have merit, at times you throw out the baby with the bathwater because you donât know how to make the cut. I am not being belligerent, just telling you that your approach will ensure you donât make the breakthrough.
I took Hershey to task and offered to trade against him in full view of ET because I saw him fooling new traders into thinking he was some kind of trading God when in reality his ideas are broken.
You are the opposite of the pendulum swing compared to Hershey because you have no idea what works but think you know what doesnât work and act like an inverted guru. Only when you are making the cut will you be able to help others understand what doesnât work for sure.
Personally I have nothing against you, you have never wounded me so please consider this a reality check, as you like to give such checks to others. Letâs deal with your comments and I realize they were well intendedâ¦
· Saying you need SOME kind of past behavior to plan trades is misunderstanding the use of the Keys. Your Personal Journal is only about discovering what works or what would have worked if you were more aware, more clued up. It is ALL about learning from past behaviour to apply solutions in the future.
· Chopping trades too early is a lot worse? I need to clarify what you mean but here's my answer if I understand you correctly. (1)Chop is actually telling you about the quality of the trade and how to handle it. (2) Chop usually follows a quality set up entry and the stop is seldom hit or if it chops for a long time without making progress there are other tells to wash the trade. (3) Chop usually ends with a small quality move that warns you if you are on the sidelines that it is time to enter a trade, as the break is usually very fast.
· You say, âreading the marketâ is too vague. Fair comment and I leave it open because the level of proficiency is determined by personal effort and creativity. If you look at my past posts you will see a variety of styles of reading from below the 1 minute to months ahead, but this comes with decades of practice. However if the Keys are followed a much greater level of understanding will follow so anyone can improve their ability to read the market. "Read the market" means understanding what is happening now that will make what comes next something that can be quantified.
· It takes years to get the evidence that mechanical entries have inbuilt flaws. Some are major flaws and others just cause prolonged distress for a period of time with huge draw downs. They are MY enemies, as are all of these points. They may not be your enemies if you have a successful long-term approach. Attaincapital.com is a good resource for trading system results. Get this in your email for a few years and try to make your own work for some years and you will understand what I mean and why they are my enemy.
Technical Analysis is an incredibly powerful tool for reading the markets way into the future or just looking a few minutes ahead. Unfortunately most of the criticism of TA has been by people who cannot make it work and expect those who do make it work to show their hand.
I have paid it forward on ET but the deepest discoveries remain in my hands and no one has seen them. On ET I called the market bottom way in advance. I might post how I called the Dow bottom intraday to my private list if I have time.
Bottom line: TA is amazing and if you follow my 5 Keys and really work at it you wonât need anyone to tell you what to do.