Plan the Trade

pullbacks are not working at all. classic SD would have destroyed an account today

I can't wait to be where you are at. making money consistently every day, the biggest problem being to end up with 20 ticks rather than 40 lol

AMEN! You are an encouragement H because you remind me it is possible to do what everyone says cannot be done!

What's that saying....the man who says it cannot be done should not interrupt the man who is doing it..... :-)

Ha, well that's better than my usual trick of hitting buy instead of sell (or vica versa!) - i've added separators between all options and still manage to do it occasionally!)

did that multiple times this week lol. the sad thing is half the time i made money!

The pennant has already been mentioned earlier, but just posting this to shed some light as to why EW is not really enough, the vast majority of times;



The pennant will be either a 'B' wave or an 'X' wave (it matters little how you label it at this stage). The other position they occur is 4th waves, but taking into account the size and position of it, it is certainly not a 4th wave. Knowing this, we can presume lower in another similar size (or often bigger set) to follow, however...

It is virtually impossible to just take the break and let it run. Look at the pullbacks! This is where needing more detail is req'd. I personally was expecting a choppy day today. I had a go at getting a trade away earlier, but resulted in -3. I will take a proper look now and start trading in a mo.

All trading is probability at certain spots in PA. MY main rule is to get to BE as soon as possible though I get a bunch of +1s it still removes risk. Was able to make 110 ticks this week

How did your afternoon go CG?

Hi caps!

It was a positive session. Moreso, for the education and a little more experience banked. I'm really finding that marrying my EW view together with the pullback method and discipline of 123 trigger and retrace is paying off, but i still get lapses in concentration and moments of madness.

It is very very frustrating when you have a strong opinion about direction due to EW, but then do not get a 123 and retrace to get onboard.

This is causing me no end of problems! However, it is resulting in fewer losses and considering that is the reason for all those -12/-15 days, it is proving to make a big difference.

Now i know there are not many Ellioticians amongst us and i will be honest, i even began to think it was a curse not so long ago (that i could not view the market in any other way), but slowly i am finding the way to use both methods in tandem.

I will write my findings. Some may find it interesting nonetheless!

Firstly, here is a chart showing a pullback trade that i decided to leave. Immediate prior trend was long, but because the pullback looked to be of a different scale to what went before, (not within the blue channel lines), I viewed it as likely in a different phase and thus, possibility to drop further.



In this circumstance, i am expecting there to be higher to follow, but reset to looking for a small 123, trigger and retrace. Unfortunately, when it came, the retrace was not as deep as required and i got no connection. Missed trade (but also didn't lose by going long in second red circle - something i was doing a short while ago).

So now the question is, have we returned to the uptrend proper? (to new highs) or is there more of the correction to follow. We could go short at the natural retracement zone, but by resetting to wait for a smaller 123 trigger and retrace, we get a confident trade. Anytime that there is a 123, trigger and retrace trade somewhere, where you are already expecting a reversal to occur, it gives a strong set-up;



I have spent a long time going around and around in circles taking 'freestyle' EW trades when i have an opinion on the next direction, but it has never proved successful enough on it's own. By combining the 123's and trigger (the very basic you need to call a potential trend underway), it has the effect of achieving a higher success rate. Waiting for the pullback after such, reduces the risk...

In effect, EW creates my own set of profile lines on the chart, places where if i get a set up, i will expect a next cycle to occur...

*Edit* I wasn't trading at the time, but to the left of the charts, there is a lovely 123, trigger and pullback reversal trade to the Long side! Worth taking purely on the size of the prior drop and you could in actual fact draw a set of tight trendlines either side of PA from the top and see that we have broken out of them, by the time of trigger. Again, this is suggesting that we are in a different phase, no different to my highlighted trade.

The next set-up was a beauty!

I noticed a wedge for what would be a corrective cycle. The important factor here is that (indicated) wave D does not make a fresh high over wave B;



I have included a pattern (purple circle) that would be more likely, if the last high was breached - it would become 'abc' of a larger wave B and thus wave C to follow would make a new low. But...

It didn't and in all likelihood, it would be a wedge. I set a buy limit order a tick above the line, with stoploss a tick below (as it will not be breached). Risk of 2 ticks and potential huge gain.

I got filled and was rubbing my hands together when my auto SL at +8 moved my SL to +1. Then this happened;



Yep, i got taken out by a nasty little retracement candle and immediately it shot North. I hesitated this time when there was another chance to re-enter as a 123 had set-up. I decided to wait for the trigger and retrace. The retrace never came and i couldn't find a way to get in safely. Result +1 and a very very frustrating period from which i could not recover from. I stopped there. Why didn't i quickly move my stoploss back to a tick below the line?!)

Something else that i need to correct, but i have always been open and honest that i am too emotional a trader. Someone else will brush it off and go again, whereas i have to stop and go away from the screen for a little while! Maybe i will mellow more in time, but i think it is more a reflection of character. I had to take Summer off due to personal circumstances and am just getting back up to speed now.

Hey Ho, +20 for the session, with 4 comms, but i still think i need more time yet before switching back to live trading.

I usually add the (normal market) closing price to my charts. Incredible how strong a profile line they can be;

123 brweak

hvn pb +1

123 setting up at hvn

this might be a tough week

I got a minus 15 but I know what I did wrong... I entered onetick too low

will sell at 25.25 if pb

+1

at least I feel like I learn something new every day.