[phantom]

Originally Posted by TheDude »

It has been proven that TA holds no significant value. im sure if we are all honest here, we all went through the phase of spotting a head and shoulders pattern, trade it, just to watch it turn into another chart pattern - like a triangle with failed breakout, a trading range/rectangle, etc. it's all BS.

Dude,

You've GOT to be kidding???
TA has no value?
You've been trading professionally HOW LONG???

Just because you don't know how to trade technically doesn't mean it can't be done.
Just like the fact that just because you cannot perform brain surgery doesn't mean it can't be done.

Just WHO proved that TA holds no significant value??? It sure as heck wasn't you.
So stop spreading BS on this website until you KNOW WHAT YOU"RE TALKING ABOUT!!!

I'll put my TA against you're whatever any day of the week. I'm not managing 1/2 MM dollars because of my good looks.(Although, I'm pretty good looking).

Get a life.

[joshdance]

Originally Posted by MightyMouse »

Only take range base trades if the overnight of a particular instrument is only a particular number of ticks and there is no major news pending.

Over night means from Chicago open to almost up to the NY open before a major news announcement.

If there is major news pending, then try to get positioned for a move one way or the other before the news.

If the overnight range is more than a particular number of ticks for a particular instrument, then do not take range based trades; instead, take directional trades and try to add.

Thanks MM -- these are really not rules, but rather guidelines. They are general enough to be flexible, but specific enough to give guidance, and this is what I think traders do well to have. A "rule" would be so specific as to be programmable, and could not contain a notion of "trying" to do something, or defining exactly what a range base trade is, or would seek to objectively state where to add, and how much, etc... so, what many traders call rules are actually guidelines, and I think the danger lies in blindly following the rules all the time. It's as if the rules were sent down from the gods and are guaranteed to make money if followed to the letter. They perhaps don't consider that the rules themselves are rubbish and that it's like following a road map off a cliff.

[onesmith]

The idea behind qutting for the day when you're losing might be viable. It depends on your rules and must be retested if your rules change. It's a serial correlation test. If sc>0 then serial correlation exists else if sc<0 then what does that mean? What should I do if sc < 0 ?

[MightyMouse]

Originally Posted by joshdance »

Thanks MM -- these are really not rules, but rather guidelines. They are general enough to be flexible, but specific enough to give guidance, and this is what I think traders do well to have. A "rule" would be so specific as to be programmable, and could not contain a notion of "trying" to do something, or defining exactly what a range base trade is, or would seek to objectively state where to add, and how much, etc... so, what many traders call rules are actually guidelines, and I think the danger lies in blindly following the rules all the time. It's as if the rules were sent down from the gods and are guaranteed to make money if followed to the letter. They perhaps don't consider that the rules themselves are rubbish and that it's like following a road map off a cliff.

There is a certain " If "A", then do "B" to it.

When the range is small if i am going to take a trade, I lower the contracts, and change to a higher risk, low reward, high probability trade.

I call it discretionary; however, the intuitive part of discretionary trading is really just someone combining past events and projecting them onto current or future conditions. It's brilliance when we are right, and just another bad trade or lack of discipline when we are wrong.

[ratmpower]

Originally Posted by joshdance »

I think the danger lies in blindly following the rules all the time. It's as if the rules were sent down from the gods and are guaranteed to make money if followed to the letter. They perhaps don't consider that the rules themselves are rubbish and that it's like following a road map off a cliff.

Well, the danger is not in blindly following the rules. It is in blindly following bad or incomplete rules.
Let us say you do NOT blindly follow the rule, but you use your judgement or rationale or gut-feeling or whatever you call it to make your trade decision. Even in that case, you are still sub-consciously following a rule inside your mind. Its just that they are so complex that they cannot be expressed in mathematical or programmatic terms on paper.