BerniceMn
05-06-2016,
Hello everybody,
After virtual trading and studying price action (https://futures.io/wiki/trading-wiki/Price-Action) for about 6 months now, I've come a long way from the days of trading with no idea as to what to do and losing consistently. I've been keeping a trade log and journal, reviewing every night, writing down / testing my short-term market forecasts, and working to understand/fix all my shortfalls. But the last one is much easier said than done and one of the shortfalls that I would really appreciate help with is trading in between the 1-3 strong trend days that allow for easier trading. It's not that I incur terrible losses during these days; the issue is that my performance is absolutely unsatisfying (I average a 1-2% return trading stock options during each of these days as opposed to an average 13-17% return on strong trend days).
I make it a priority to review my trades during the "in-between" days like trading/trending range (https://futures.io/wiki/trading-wiki/Range) days where price action is choppy, difficult to understand, and prone to reversals and breakouts (https://futures.io/wiki/trading-wiki/Breakouts) which are preceded only by very subtle hints (or subtle to me at least).
My current approach to these types of days is to do the following:
-Reduce position size and scale in (https://futures.io/wiki/trading-wiki/Scale-In) when the trade shows better signs.
-Put emphasis on observing price behavior around S/R (https://futures.io/wiki/trading-wiki/S-R) levels and the moving average (I use the 20 period EMA).
-Enter trades using bar counting with scalp (https://futures.io/wiki/trading-wiki/Scalp) targets if they are not at an extreme of the range. (I never take high/low 1s in trading/trending range days and I never take high 2s near the top of a range / low 2s near the bottom).
-For trading range (https://futures.io/wiki/trading-wiki/Trading-Range) days, I fade (https://futures.io/wiki/trading-wiki/Fade) range breakouts that I think lack adequate strength.
-For trending range days, I look for entries with-trend and I fade moving average tests.
-I keep an eye out for developing patterns like sym. triangles, wedges, pennants.
-I keep track of bar size and try to recognize climaxes / vacuums
Although the list goes on, these are more-or-less the dominant elements of my trading strategy for the in-between days. If you have any feedback or advice, please do not hesitate to tell me.
After virtual trading and studying price action (https://futures.io/wiki/trading-wiki/Price-Action) for about 6 months now, I've come a long way from the days of trading with no idea as to what to do and losing consistently. I've been keeping a trade log and journal, reviewing every night, writing down / testing my short-term market forecasts, and working to understand/fix all my shortfalls. But the last one is much easier said than done and one of the shortfalls that I would really appreciate help with is trading in between the 1-3 strong trend days that allow for easier trading. It's not that I incur terrible losses during these days; the issue is that my performance is absolutely unsatisfying (I average a 1-2% return trading stock options during each of these days as opposed to an average 13-17% return on strong trend days).
I make it a priority to review my trades during the "in-between" days like trading/trending range (https://futures.io/wiki/trading-wiki/Range) days where price action is choppy, difficult to understand, and prone to reversals and breakouts (https://futures.io/wiki/trading-wiki/Breakouts) which are preceded only by very subtle hints (or subtle to me at least).
My current approach to these types of days is to do the following:
-Reduce position size and scale in (https://futures.io/wiki/trading-wiki/Scale-In) when the trade shows better signs.
-Put emphasis on observing price behavior around S/R (https://futures.io/wiki/trading-wiki/S-R) levels and the moving average (I use the 20 period EMA).
-Enter trades using bar counting with scalp (https://futures.io/wiki/trading-wiki/Scalp) targets if they are not at an extreme of the range. (I never take high/low 1s in trading/trending range days and I never take high 2s near the top of a range / low 2s near the bottom).
-For trading range (https://futures.io/wiki/trading-wiki/Trading-Range) days, I fade (https://futures.io/wiki/trading-wiki/Fade) range breakouts that I think lack adequate strength.
-For trending range days, I look for entries with-trend and I fade moving average tests.
-I keep an eye out for developing patterns like sym. triangles, wedges, pennants.
-I keep track of bar size and try to recognize climaxes / vacuums
Although the list goes on, these are more-or-less the dominant elements of my trading strategy for the in-between days. If you have any feedback or advice, please do not hesitate to tell me.