Id rather have a shot gun than a sniper rifle

yeah man spray and pray, led in the air and hope in the heart.

Hedge, its funny you say that, but I really am implying that on some level, If some of these new traders would just break down their trades into smaller increments on the current method they trade they would be more profitable. I am not necessarily implying that you should, it is just saying that the average "new trader"cannot handle that level of patience or identify the exact entry with in a reasonable %risk. If the person would ever really grasp the concept of consistency and compounding no matter how small you would laugh at the "circus" of these traders high %ror expectations.

I do want to clarify that if you can not restrain yourself in any capacity and have a haphazard approach then nothing can fix your trading until you fix your self.

I am on both sides of the fence on this one: There are in the trading world all These Gurus that preach mental strength and having an emotional checklist. Some times there is no emotional fix for a bad "system"; however some things are just a trick away from being overcome.

proper expectation
market timing
exact entry pnt

T2l, I promise that over the weekend when i am not just typing whats on my mind rather more of a calculated post Ill put into detail the approach

1. find a trending currency (needs to have at least 2 swing lows on an up trend and two swing highs on a downtrend) all this on the daily charts. connect with line (doesn't have to be exact)
2. subtract the difference between the trend line and the last swing high or low(even if that last swing dose not touch the TL) and add 1/2 the average daily range divide by 3.
3 first entry is @ or near the TL and is 44% of 3% of your account
4. second is right around half of the first current position last swing high or low and 33% of 3% of your account.
5. third position is right around the last swing high and 22% of 3% of your account
6. 4th area is your stop loss


these levels are all aprox, can use in conj. with fibs, ma, pivots, mid TL, etc.

its like Bruce lee said be like water conform to the market, your comfort comes from the large range you are with in. also the math and the money man are approx as well (just keep it all in check)

you may make money right off on your first entry(which is good) on your trade, but the real money comes when your second or third entry is hit and you ride the trend. so in essence you actually rote against yourself. always sell in to up pressure and buy into down pressure.

TAKE PROFIT. on this you can find what works best for you, but I try to take the third position @ the first entry and manage the second entry with the thirds profit to let the 1st entry and possibly the second run with the trend. very hard to explain but i will try to do more later.

This works in all markets (for now avoid ranging or large swings) I am sorry, but while there is pair correlations to verify and other things to know this is the basics and should let you scan for opportunities. It will keep you in the market more so be careful do not have more than one trade group at one time. In the time frames less than 1hr no one knows what is next with anything other than TA probabilities (ie. no long lasting certainty)

I have lurked here @ ff for a long time and spoke to myself answers to some of the post here. Now that i am posting i feel fragmented and unable to feel like i can convey what i know.

http://cdn.forexfactory.com/images/misc/progress.gif

LISTEN UP ALL!!!

As i read through allot of these threads I realize what i already know. I am not (nor do i probably want to) change the heard mentality.

So many people here have the Get rich quick mentality and are on a "overleveraged lottery". If you do make it you had better bank it because you WILL give it back..

Hi Mr-T, I'm interested in your method but I'm afraid I don't fully understand the 6 steps you mentioned. Would you mind posting a chart to illustrate more? Thanks.

I spoke with Mr-T over the weekend and actually went to meet with him. He proceeded to tell me that he decided to not post anymore, because he just dont like to argue with people that arent going to listen anyway, or hang on every word looking for a system in other words an easy way out. Thats why its an approach, not a system. All he was trying to say is that new traders need to realize that the market is heading a certian way for a reason and in order to live long enough to find out the reasons you need to follow the main direction and break your risk into smaller positions to give our lack of knowledge time to mature. He also told me to read all of darkstars and twoblinks post and follow the rabbit trail until enough intuition can be acheived.

I really do not want to speak for him, but I will tell you that he and his dad are very kind people and frankly have nothing to prove, as matter of fact the proof is very visible.

One of the benefits of forums like these is that ideas can be tested, most traders welcome challenge because it either exposes flaws and weaknesses or reinforces their beliefs. There is no right or wrong way in trading, only profit and loss, and to state with authority that his way is the only one with longevity while everyone else's approach is destined for failure is foolish.

His scaling-in, averaging, spray and pray method (call it what you will) might work for him and that's fine, another trader might trade differently and be equally profitable, every system and approach has it's merits and it's failings, no-one has the monopoly on profitable trading strategies!

A trader should be able to sustain a debate and support his opinions with reason and logic when challenged.

I dont think so

Mr-T, thank you for taking the time to share with us. A number of us really appreciate it and just quietly pay attention and take notes. We would very much like to hear the rest of what you were planning to share.

Unfortunately the brightest and best often do not stick around FF very long! I hope you do.

Hi fellas I just spent all day with mr-t and asked him if I could post here. I think he is going to post every now and then so Ill let him do the talking, but I ask you all to please be respectfull, because he has no obligation to do anything, as he said to me "I was trading before FF and will be as long as there is a market". I think between him and my infatuation with "orderflow" approach I feel more confident than ever that i am atleast heading in the right direction,

Also one note: This is not a system thread nor A steak and potatoes (deep) microstructure thread, He told me that he just wants to get new traders to last long enough to get their zen, IE screen and learning time. something you cant necessarily teach.

Hi T2l,

I know what we talked about, but as I think of it I get more nerv. trying to think how to say what i am trying to say more than when i was first trying to learn how to trade.

every word is analyzed and then the "trolls" (as i heard some one call it) want to criticize everything to the pnt that I just throw my hands up and say "forget this". Ill just teach you and you see if you can teach them.

I will say this though, some people on this site run off alot of good traders, That leaves the blind leading the blind. You can judge me by my performance and keep it to yourself. If you are so worried about new traders following some under qualified person then the policing that these self proclaimed saviors (trolls) do runs off the teachers (free might i add). I guess its just job security. Plus you still have the whole internet as the rest of your jurisdiction.

How are you able to do this scooby? Do you work at a bank?

1. how much attention are you paying to your phsycological state when entering and exiting trades?

Every trade is like my first - which consists of a non emotional and strictly disciplined system.

2. If you loose do you increase your next trade or decrease?

I stay the same.

3. what is your "expectancy" are you preprogramed to loose? or do you expect to win and supprised when you loose?

I expect to win - but no surprise if loss


4. what is the most powerful mathmatical law?

Murrys math levels (S/R levels)

Nice job, mr T. Hopefully you stick around and post more. Your posts in this thread are some of the best here at this forum. Too bad most people wont' get it.

I just want to say thanks to Mr. T, people, I cant say enough about scaling in to your trades. this method has allowed me to weather the storm with reasonable dd and add to positions basically risk free... you will not always be right, but when you win you win big its just patients and giving a trade room to breath,,, I cant imagine now i see trading any other way...

again thanks

good job t2l, If i helped one trader then mission accomplished. the pm's that i have been getting are in reference to a system or my exact entries, I just want to say that its no secret, just use the daily trend and enter on a pull back. the amount of the first entry is key.. if you are right on the first entry; then great, dont get caught in the trap of " if i would have put more than i would have gained more" because most of the time even as a seasoned trader you will have dd, the more you trade the less you try to fight it, and imho the best way is to average in up to a pnt. never letting your total position (including all the entries and their draw down) equal more than 5% of total account,
inaddition, the power of this approach can come in several ways, you can look at the position in an overal trade which means that your profits come from your latest entries. or you can use your later entries to reduce risk meaning taking profit as you go letting your initial trade run, (again never letting risk accrue more than 5%). there will also be more opp. to enter with the trend later...
the beauty of this is that if you study daily trends and the effort it takes to truely reverse them you will realize you have put some odds in your favor. where most people miss the boat is not being able to stay in the game due to overleveraged positions,


let me know if you would like for me to go on?????

Yes, please go on,,,, Im always interested in low leverage, semi hands off, lower risk trading that uses a chart longer than 4hrs and allows me to get away with a few mistakes. Im not interested in 20 pips at 20:1, I want the 20 positions at 4:1 or less with pip counts in the several thousand when I close. Possibly becoming well to do in 5 to 10 days isnt my game, but surely becoming well to do in 3 to 5 years is. Go on man,,, theres plenty of high risk make it or break it in less than 1000 pip methods on this forum, always good to hear from the low leverage side, longer term side.

I also believe in scaling into trades on daily time frames. I feel trading on shorting TFs is to easy to get chopped up on small by the professionals. Everyone says it but I am starting to believe "The trend is your friend", and when you scale in you are more likely to give your trade a chance.

Note: I am note profitable yet. But I caught the EUR/USD trend in the early stage and re-entered on retracements. This one trend has wiped-out previous losses. Patience is key though, and I have not mastered that.

I agree, it would be great if u continue

well, it sounds like there is some of you who are atleast getting to the pnt of realizing that you can make just as much money with alot of longterm trades "risk adjusted" as opposed to shootem up win some loose some hopefully keep my shirt trading.

we are in a really funny time right now some really big money is shifting tide, that being said if you had already joined in it is a sweet ride. I wouldnt suggest any entries at the moment across the board. if you are already in with the prevailing daily trend good job, hold positions.

I came back on for a brief moment to hopefully take some time over the next few days with this thread and better explain some of my views. especially while there is very little opp to trade at the moment.

I want to also input that this moment in time is very uncertain and what you see on the charts is the beginning of a very significant change in the whole financial structure. patients will prove the ultimate virtue. to quote a friend of mine "you only have to be certain of one thing to make a pile of money in the markets" when the market shows its hand over the next several months be ready and prepared to hold positions for months and yrs.

Hello mr-T
I took 2 trades last week, as Im still testing this approach I use just small risk 0.3% all entries combined (instead of demo). I would like to know your opinion if I understood your method right.
First trade was EURAUD. EUR had na nice pullback to daily TL, trend is obviously down so I took first entry near the TL at 1.4850. 2 other entries were 100 pips higher each and SL at 1.5150. I thought that round number 1.5 would be significant, and there was also 50% fib ret from the last swing high. The area was good to me to take short entry. I was stopped out in 1 day as momentum was strongly upwards. Potential target was at previous low, 900 pips from first entry so RR was 3-1 just on first entry. Didnt work somehow.

Second trade I took was on EURCAD. I realize that pairs are correlated but was risking very small % so it was acceptable. I had first entry near upper TL of the channel at 1.3300 and other 2 entries 100 pips higher each(SL 100 pips above last entry). Second entry at 1.34 was triggered third was not and price finally dive. I took 2nd entry off for 400pips (RR 1-2 as this entry use 200pips SL) and Im letting first entry in the market with potential target at the bottom of the channel.

I probably just don't understand how u determine your SL and 2nd ,3rd entries so I positioned them 100 pips apart.
We would appreciate if u post some of your trades so we can learn how you look at the market, and maybe I wouldnt take such a EURAUD trades anymore.
Thank u
alter