Plan the Trade

Daily target reached...52 ticks trading the NQ at 1 contract, $250...

Nice going. Are you sticking purely with Market Structure? as i don't see any profiles on your charts.

Great result though.

Thank you, CG. Yes, purely market structure...pullbacks, 123s, 2bs. I also look on the TPO profile chart to find turning points in the market. I guess I trade the same way as Divergence ;-)

I try to mark my trades on the chart next time

It would indeed be really helpful if the SC users would please turn on their chart trade markers.

Well, wasn't a big one, but just enough to turn my ($50) day to +$86.52 net of comms - I had almost $60 commissions today.

I made the screenshot just before the second contract stopped out :



PS. Dig the psychedelic colour scheme

I too came back to the table later and couldn't resist the reaction off of the HOD extreme after small 5w set for a +25, had a BE earlier too;

Mistake # 1 : DO NOT start marking up chart while session underway;

Mistake # 2 : if feeling rattled by jumpy market, stand up and take some deep breaths, do a few T'ai Chi moves, regain focus.

IF ALL ELSE FAILS, START VAPING*



(* only kidding)

What happened next (great exits, right?) :



That EMA is a 34 period, btw, although I frequently
change it : I often feel that I should just hold the second contract until it's broken : it's amazing how often it would result in a 50+ tick trade; the reason I don't is that there would also be a lot of 20+ tick giveback to zeros...

tough going so far:

well I decided to use 512 tick chart today I will return back to 400 tick I ended up with 2 losses and 2 15 tick wins but if I just stayed on the 400 chart heres what it looked like

Seems to be a pattern emerging here. Stops simply too tight for days like this, but managed to get one away in the end;

4 x +1's, -6 & +35



Definitely uncomfortable holding through any pullbacks waiting for it to really get moving, but this one adjustment alone is what has made the difference recently.

Was looking for the Gap close line, but no way i was going to give her much room once we got close;

better than me H:

Hello all. Trying something just a little bit different today, as I still am finding my way with all of this. I am drawing my dynamic supply/demand areas off of a 6 range chart. Looking for at least 4 strong bars in a row at the turn point to then draw a line there. Then if a good 123 on the 233 tick chart I take the trade. Managed a slightly positive day, but a few mistakes along the way. It is incredible how there was a reaction at almost every line I drew. I will continue to look into this to see if it shows any real promise. It definitely keeps me very focused as I am constantly drawing and removing lines. Here is an example of the last trade I took today.

what I have found is when switching back and forth between charts is very distracting at least for me first 1 chart will influence another chart and in my mind I get all turned around soooooooo I will just stick with 400 tick charts it reduces the candle size and depending where suppy or demand is and its a big pullback will use jt little trick of using the bottom of the body on those pin bars

I agree switching chart periods can be distracting & is generally not to be recommended, but I find I naturally change & experiment as the months flow by. I like to know where the H1 SR areas are & I also switch between volume, tick & range, all three of which have there own little facets than can sometimes be of help.

Current NQ workspace looks like this :

so you draw areas from left charts and trade with right chart at those area?

Sort of ... I take note of H1 Closes, especially where there is a confluence, & use mostly for target exit levels. I take trades from both fast charts - sometimes one shows a clear setup that simply does not appear on the other -but recently switched the range chart to primary.

The range bars are now slightly taller than usual @ 8 ticks as my preset stop is 9 ticks, so will be just 1 tick beyond my setup bar. I now draw 8 tick high rectangles, rather than simple horizontal lines, as my key zones, both before the Open & whilst trading, & move or delete as I see fit. I’d show a chart now, but I’m relaxing in front of the fireplace sending this from my iPhone... will post one soon. As I think you know, I no longer use pivots or any of the MP lines.

Edit: ... & having said all that, I don’t think any of the above is the key to success. I really do agree with Douglas that it’s 99% our psychology, specifically in our ability to come to terms with & manage the emotions which simply sabotage all that we study so hard to learn. Method, of which there are many (you alone, dear H, have introduced me to several variations on a theme ), is the 1%. But we can’t , don’t, won’t address the emotional stuff by showing charts on a trading forum. Having spent a great deal of time working in different ways on “my trading self”, I’d say that either I’m a particularly intransigent case (quite possible, but nevertheless perhaps not !) or it is much, much harder than most of us would like to believe.

Now, where’s the whisky (I am Scottish, you know) ?

I like to keep the bigger picture in view, so I have one chart for trading and one as a perspective with Volume data profile for the previous week;



Today, after that crazy out of hours action, opened below extreme, but reversed immediately on open.

All we actually did, was drop out of 'Value' (dotted green lines) and then head back into it! Much easier to see with the larger view. If you look at the reactions to the various profile lines (especially 'Gap close'), they are fascinating!

trading aint easy don't let anyone tell you it is. our biggest obstacle is our fear of losing once you have that under control its just our job then to plan the trade and trade the plan and let the chips fall where they will.

So, if we take the weekly chart, we can see the same pattern playing out, only on a larger scale.



A move that rejects being above value and a 123, which forms, triggers and retraces, Imagine being able to take a position on a smaller scale with usual stoploss, but then hold it on the larger scale... there was 40 odd points to the fresh low, that's 160+ticks...