[Soultrader]

	Quote:	ant
	I think this depends on how aggressive a trader is. For example, if a trader is looking to fade a key support/resistance level, does the trader enter while the market is moving towards support/resistance or after the market turns? Take another example, let's say a trader is looking to play a reversal from a downtrend, does the trader wait for the higher high and higher low to be in or does the trader anticipate that the higher high/low is coming based on somthing else? I don't think one can make a blanket statement here. I believe it comes down to experience and intuition as opposed to a mechanical or discretionary style. I'm a discretionary trader for two main reasons. First, there are too many variables that I look at to capture in a mechanical system. Secondly, a mechanical system tends to be too rigid. For example, let's say that the market is a tick away from an entry/exit and then turns around, the entry/exit would not trigger on a mechanical system. I don't think that trying to "program" a discretionary style into a mechanical system makes too much sense. Think of the complexity. Of course, one of the advantages of a mechanical system is that it is consistent in the way it executes. Discretionary traders need to make sure that their trade decisions are made in consistent and systematic way so that they can continue to replicate in the future and determine what has been working over the longer term. Discretionary traders should not let too much subjectivity into their trading, otherwise they don't have a system. Maintaining a trading log and journal are critical to success for a discretionary trader, IMO.

Thank you Ant. I have yet to go on a mission to designing a pure mechanical system. The methods I have learned and apply in trading are far too complicated to program. How would one go about programming tape reading? Pretty impossible I'de say. At the same time discretionary traders need to approach the markets in a very systematic way: Trading off setups, controlling losses, target points, etc...