[Gabe2004]

Originally Posted by Dinerotrader »

Here is a question I would have PM'd Thales:

How do you make screen time the most productive? It is often suggested that you need to spend a lot of time watching price but you can certainly do a lot of that and end up with very little learning occuring. Just curious of Thales' as well as everyone elses thoughts on this.
My own thoughts would be to that you need to try to guess at interpreting price movement and make a prediction/"anticipatory conjecture" of where it will move based on your interpretation. Then I suppose, you would evaluate how correct you are by watching price and if you were incorrect, you try to determine what you missed or chalk it up to random price movement ()

Let me know your thoughts.

I think that using a simulator like NinjaTrader would be most beneficial and will allow you to gain valueable screen time in an accelerated fashion, while giving you feedback by the realistic results you can obtain from real life like trading.

Gabe

[Dinerotrader]

Originally Posted by Gabe2004 »

I think that using a simulator like NinjaTrader would be most beneficial and will allow you to gain valueable screen time in an accelerated fashion, while giving you feedback by the realistic results you can obtain from real life like trading.
Gabe

But what do you think you should be doing while using the simulator on Ninja in order to improve you trading skills?

[Gabe2004]

Originally Posted by Dinerotrader »

But what do you think you should be doing while using the simulator on Ninja in order to improve you trading skills?

The same as you would do in live feed trading (even if it is sim only).
Apply your trading plan to what you see.

Gabe

[forrestang]

Originally Posted by Dinerotrader »

But what do you think you should be doing while using the simulator on Ninja in order to improve you trading skills?

IMO, which is something I think about, would be to take note of HOW you feel win you win or loose.

When you win several times does it drive you past 'confidence' and straight to Euphoria making you take trades you normally would not?

When you loose several times consecutively, does it shake your confidence to the point of trading for revenge, or so scared that you block information out that might normally be useful, and pass on good trades costing you money?

I think the biggest breakthrough I've had with my trading was all mental. Technique is one thing, but my head has always been screwed up. There are some people that believe there are only a few ways to successfully trade, but the reality might be there are a million ways to trade, but only a few who can mentally deal with trading.

I think you probably can trade, as anyone can put on a winning trade, but its harder to deal with wins and particularly losses. I think you asked an excellent question so we'll see what Thales has to say.

If I can throw a question out there that I would pm Thales(as I still have a long way to go towards conquering this), it would be:

"How do you deal with consecutive loosing trades and your confidence begins to falter? Do you constantly tell yourself it is just part of trading, no different than any business that has to pay for upgrades or maintenance to their equipment? How long did it take you to ACTUALLY ACCEPT the reality? I'm sure we all say or pay lip service to the idea, but what types of things did you do before you actually BELIEVED that is just the reality of the situation?"

[thalestrader]

Originally Posted by Dinerotrader »

Here is a question I would have PM'd Thales:

How do you make screen time the most productive? It is often suggested that you need to spend a lot of time watching price but you can certainly do a lot of that and end up with very little learning occuring.

Your screen time will be most productive by doing what you are supposed to do: identify S/R levels, and then observe how price behaves in and around those levels. As I've said elsewhere, price spends most of its time in the middle of nowhere, traveling between S/R levels. Over time you observe that price traces out the same actions over and over across markets and across time frames.

Do not be impatient. As price spends most of its time in the middle of nowhere, most of your screen time will be you waiting for price to arrive a significant level from which you may have the opportunity to trade.

I do not use market replay, so I cannot say how it can be used most effectively. I do print out my charts. Each week produces dozens of charts, and each night the last thing I do before I go to bed is to flip through a couple of dozen charts. I am looking at trades that worked, trades that didn't work, and I look for trades I would have or should have taken.

In the end, it is simply a matter of coming to recognize that price moves in repeatable and repeating pattens. The patterns that are significant are those where price rests between making higher highs and higher lows (uptrend) and where price rests while making lower lows and lower highs (downtrend). While most consider me to be a breakout trader, and while nearly all of my entries involve buying a breakout above resistance or shroting a break down below support, the majority of those trades are done with the context of a trend of some degree. The trend is indeed your friend. I am constantly perplexed when I see folks try to short fierce rallies or buy precipitous declines (though at the same time I am quite thankful for such folks, as there actions feed the rally or decline in my favor). I much rather buy breakouts to new rally highs or short break downs to new decline lows. If you print your charts and study them, you will very quickly learn to see why I prefer to trade in that manner.

Best Wishes,

Thales

[thalestrader]

Originally Posted by forrestang »

I think the biggest breakthrough I've had with my trading was all mental ... If I can throw a question out there that I would pm Thales(as I still have a long way to go towards conquering this), it would be:

"How do you deal with consecutive losing trades and your confidence begins to falter? Do you constantly tell yourself it is just part of trading, no different than any business that has to pay for upgrades or maintenance to their equipment? How long did it take you to ACTUALLY ACCEPT the reality? I'm sure we all say or pay lip service to the idea, but what types of things did you do before you actually BELIEVED that is just the reality of the situation?"

I agree with you that the most important aspect for a trader to conquer is his emotions: Without emotional control, there can be no success. As Wyckoff admonished in his Studies in Tape Reading, there must be "calmness before, during, and after the trade." Of course, that is often easier said than done.

When I lose, I tend to get reckless. I guess I become what folks refer to as a "revenge trader." I will try to get it all back on one trade. I have known myself to increase my position size beyond all good sense in order to recoup what I had lost on earlier trades. I have a friend who also has known himself to act similarly. He instituted a practice that I myself adopted after my last bout of reckless loss chasing: I quit after two consecutive losing trades.

Lose twice in a row, and I log off my trading platform. If I am particular angry, I will turn off my computer, and I go play with my children or hang out with my wife or read a novel or anything that does not involve anything trading related. I usually am not all that upset any more, so I will often continue to watch the market. But I will not place another live trade until the next day (for stocks) or until the next major session open (for currency futures et al).

When I day trade stocks, it is not unusual for me to have three to five entry orders in at the same time. I usually will cancel any outstanding unfilled entry orders once I have opened three positions. If two of the three positions result in a loss, the third must close profitably or I am done for the day.

I know myself enough to know that I must quit after two losses. If I do not, and I get that third loss, I am likely to get losses 4-10 as well before the day is out. If I stop after two, I can start the next trading session fresh and without any thought of the previous session's losses.

You need to find what works for you.

γνῶθι σεαυτόν - Know thyself.

[thalestrader]

Originally Posted by Gabe2004 »

Some trades over night and this morning.
172 pips. 19 pips/unit on average.

Gabe

Excellent!

And how does that compare to your typical results from, say, four to six weeks ago?

Best Wishes,

Thales

[Gabe2004]

Originally Posted by thalestrader »

Excellent!

And how does that compare to your typical results from, say, four to six weeks ago?

Best Wishes,

Thales

Actually because of my NO REASON TRADE I got down to 112 pips for the day and it reduced my average to just over 11 pips per unit, but this is still 4x as good as it was in late September (this is on a 100 trade moving average - a trade could be a partial exit of a position).
Another thing that I a paying attention to is the size of my trade.
I used to double up after a loss and even if I was uncertain about the odds of my trade I would go in with my standard size.
No more (or atleast I am trying). When in doubt I reduce my position size to a minimum. I have doubled up only twice in recent days. Once when I was profitable and once when I was not but I was convinced that my setup was valid but I may have entered too early. Both cases worked out in my favour.
Overall there is a definite improvement in my trading but I would have to wait about 4 months to be certain since I had twice in the past positive runs lasting 3 months after which I gave back all my profits and then some.
The difference now is that I have a trading plan and I am fully devoted to my success in this field.

Gabe