The Trader's Academy - by Traders for Traders | Page 25 | Forex Factory

Options

Go to
Permalinks
Print Thread

Similar Threads

Are you a trend trader or a counter-trend trader? 29 replies

Baby pips style academy for other financial markets? 6 replies

from retail trader to full-time trader 17 replies

Discipline Trader and Voice Trader EA/IND 16 replies

IkonFX Viking Trader or Pfgbest Viking Trader? 2 replies

Attachments: The Trader's Academy - by Traders for Traders
Exit Attachments

The Trader's Academy - by Traders for Traders

  • #481
  • Jan 29, 2016 12:34pm Jan 29, 2016 12:34pm
The Dow H4, See how the 200ema acted as resistance earlier this week, and today it has provided support. This ma now being beneath the price like this should be a bullish sign for next week, although I learnt a long time ago never to make predictions on a Friday about the week ahead. It''s already broken through the H2 200ema, but has the H3 @ 16,450 to get through, and if it gets there and does break through , it has the H4 and 16,600. Dax has just bumped up against its H2 200ema @9,825, and is looking like that may be as high as it goes today.

I'm done. I wish everyone an extremely pleasant and restful weekend away from the screens. Till next week
Attached Image (click to enlarge)
Click to Enlarge Name: Wall Street (DFB).png Size: 46 KB
  • #482
  • Jan 29, 2016 1:12pm Jan 29, 2016 1:12pm
Quoting cat
this should be a bullish sign for next week, although I learnt a long time ago never to make predictions on a Friday about the week ahead. I'm done. I wish everyone an extremely pleasant and restful weekend away from the screens. Till next week {image}
This is extra true today, being the last trading day of the month. Today's demand may very well be end of month profit taking, by shorts who are ready to reload next week.

Have a wonderful weekend, and thank you for excellent thread
  • #483
  • Jan 29, 2016 2:50pm Jan 29, 2016 2:50pm
Fabulous thread Cat, Islander, Medici et al - fabulous

btw - funny how after all the ups n downs this week we are currently (as I speak) bang on where we started the week for the Dax......!
  • #484
  • Jan 30, 2016 8:41am Jan 30, 2016 8:41am
I shouldn't be here on a Saturday, but I had a thought and it's this -

I posted above about the best trading opportunities being the ones that jump in with the trend following a pullback, but that the overall majority of traders don't do this, preferring illogically to attempt to trade against it with the hope of capturing a top or a bottom and therefore a maximum haul of pips, which sounds fantastic in your own mind, but in reality is setting you up for a loss. As I said, there is a great deal of psychology going on with this, because traders have a tendency to think that once the train has left the station, then that's it, they've missed it. So seeing as I'm using a train metaphor, most trains don't just go from A-Z without stopping to they? They stop at many stations along the way. It's the same with price action - there will usually be pullbacks ( stations ) which you can use to jump on board, and if you can time these right, these moves rejoining the trend are the highest probability trades of all, and I'd bet my house that if traders just concentrated on these trades instead of trying to pick tops and bottoms all the time, then they'd see much more positive results at the end of each month. This of course is not to say that timing the tops and bottoms of moves cannot be profitable, because it most certainly can, but it is a much more difficult skill to master.

Right, off for a sunny walk along the sea with my family. See you Monday, and thanks everyone for the positive comments, this thread would be nothing at all without you
  • #485
  • Jan 30, 2016 6:45pm Jan 30, 2016 6:45pm
I thought I'd chuck in a bit of GBPJPY analysis. Apologies for the chart I'm not at my usual workstation.

This is obviously not the only way to read a chart, but it's just basic price-action as I tend to see it.

After the BOJ nonsense we've seen some bearish pole and flag stuff come back into this pair on the M15 TF. We know that the last significant supply kicked in around 172.60 and that level (lower black box) is about to be tested. I'm going to be looking for bearish PA here and if I see it I'm going to be selling on this TF. Target will be the lower red line around 171.00.

The red line is interesting. I think a lot of traders have the tendency to call this support but for me this is definitely not support. I refer to it as a Breakout Reference Line (i.e. origin of the breakout - BOJ nonsense in this case) and for me this is an area where support may form on the retest. In that respect it makes a perfect target for shorts. Once price arrives, if it arrives, price-action will tell us if 171.00 is going to act as a support. If it does, then and only then will I look to be a buyer.

This scenario is only one of many that could play out. The market could open later on today and gap right through everything that's on the current chart and if it does, that's ok. I think the major challenge in trading is to build enough screen time to be able to anticipate what can happen and then act on it if it does. If what we need to see doesn't happen, we just go look for another trade.

Attached Image (click to enlarge)
Click to Enlarge Name: Screen shot 2016-01-31 at 00.14.15.png Size: 53 KB
  • #486
  • Jan 31, 2016 2:34am Jan 31, 2016 2:34am
Hey, Medici, I asked this on another thread, but I think you unsubscribed from it. Being the persistent pain in the bum that I am, I'm going to ask again here: are you that super-Weegie trader that Compassfx are touting?
  • #487
  • Jan 31, 2016 4:47am Jan 31, 2016 4:47am
Quoting Betchad
Hey, Medici, I asked this on another thread, but I think you unsubscribed from it. Being the persistent pain in the bum that I am, I'm going to ask again here: are you that super-Weegie trader that Compassfx are touting?
As answered there (yes, I had unsubscribed), the answer is no.
  • #488
  • Jan 31, 2016 4:47am Jan 31, 2016 4:47am
Quoting Betchad
Hey, Medici, I asked this on another thread, but I think you unsubscribed from it. Being the persistent pain in the bum that I am, I'm going to ask again here: are you that super-Weegie trader that Compassfx are touting?
I think he already replied here where you posted the same question ?

http://www.forexfactory.com/showthre...72#post8722172
every Saint has a past. Every Sinner has a Future
  • #489
  • Jan 31, 2016 5:53am Jan 31, 2016 5:53am
[quote=simond2002;8722160]I thought I'd chuck in a bit of GBPJPY analysis.....

GBP/JPY analysis always welcome...easily my favourite forex pair.
  • #490
  • Jan 31, 2016 7:21am Jan 31, 2016 7:21am
Attached Image
Attached Image
  • #491
  • Jan 31, 2016 9:26am Jan 31, 2016 9:26am
Sunday afternoon review time. I use this to analyze at least some of my trades from last week, mostly the losing ones of course because 9 times out of 10, these were because of mistakes I made, not something unexpected from the market. It is almost always immediately apparent why I have just suffered a losing trade, but I always do a review in the evening and again on a Sunday.

What I want to say here is that I believe that anyone who is putting their money on the line as a trader has to understand exactly what is causing the price to move one way or the other. If you do not, then that has to be your number one objective. Anyone who says that you don't need to understand why price moves the way it does is talking total rubbish. I try to understand everything and I'm on a continual quest for perfection even though I know such a thing doesn't exist. I need to understand why a certain moving average cross sends the market up and not down, and why the same cross the next day sends it the other way. There is always an answer, and it can be found if you look for it. The trick is recognizing it before it happens so that you are ready to put on the next trade.

Perhaps it's because I'm a bit thick that I have to spend so much time studying what I do, I don't know, I've never been able to compare my talents ( or lack of them ) and my approach to trading with anyone else, but what I do know is that if there's anyone out there who works harder than I do at this business, I'd like to meet them.

What I'm saying, and this is directed mainly at the less experienced traders among us, never rest on your laurels, even when you think you've cracked it, because trading is a constant learning process and no one is ever past the stage of improving no matter how successful they may become. This of course is what is so alluring about trading the markets - you can never completely master them no matter how good you are, but the continual quest to do so should be your ultimate goal.
  • #492
  • Edited Feb 1, 2016 12:10am Jan 31, 2016 11:51pm | Edited Feb 1, 2016 12:10am
Quoting cat
I'd like to share this with you guys - this song it is from the year when I first started learning about the markets, and the lyrics as I pounded away on my treadmill in the evenings gave me real strength during a difficult time. My business had failed, I had a mortgage and a family to support, very little money and a job driving a van all hours of the day and night. When I wasn't working or sleeping, I was studying the charts - it became my life, my obsession, and friends and family thought that I'd totally lost it, that I would ruin my life by...
I'm in a similar situation except that I have no mortgage and a family to support. But I have pending mutual fund payments and bills to pay. Although I have a backup the pressure is immense. When you're a day trader trying to make a living months go by faster than it does when you had a regular day job. Despite how much work and hours you put into you still could end up with a loss at the end of the trading month. (I'm sure its true for most who's got 2-3 years trading the market - and took the plunge to day trade). I thought I had it figured out and decided to hand in my resignation. Little did I know I wasn't ready yet. But when were we ever ready for anything ? On the bright side, I didn't enjoy my job much and was looking ways to quit.

The past few months I have learnt so much more than I did the past 2 years when I had a full time job. I feel like I'm almost there, but I'm not. Everyones input on fear was great, but for those of you who have figured out a methodology to trade, a pattern and a set of rules that proves to be profitable but still lacks the emotional stability and a confidence to trade the plan on a consistent basis is I think is - time pressure. I often find myself trading setup thats usually not desirable by my method but I take it anyways for several reasons but mostly because I missed the move and I have quota to meet daily. But these kind of trades often end up a loss. And when a desirable setup occurs I hesitate thinking if this one will be a loser as well. All kinds of thoughts appear in my head. I tell myself I can't take another loss. All the while the price moves away. I am aware I'm on a destructive path if I am to keep doing this. But I'm working on it. One of the resolutions I've come to was to trade lower TF at a set time and concentrate on one or two pairs. And if there's no setup and there's none. I walk away.

This applies mostly for the bunch who's taken the plunge and but still new to full time trading.
My question for those of you who's made it past this phase. How did you handle the pressure ?
...
  • #493
  • Feb 1, 2016 12:37am Feb 1, 2016 12:37am
Quoting Piquant
{quote} I'm in a similar situation except that I have no mortgage and a family to support. But I have pending mutual fund payments and bills to pay. Although I have a backup the pressure is immense. When you're a day trader trying to make a living months go by faster than it does when you had a regular day job. Despite how much work and hours you put into you still could end up with a loss at the end of the trading month. (I'm sure its true for most who's got 2-3 years trading the market - and took the plunge to day trade). I thought I had it figured...
I think it will be hard to handle the pressure without ancillary income.
1. Get a job of some sort to relieve performance anxiety.
2. Take EVERY set up that your system calls for.
3. Get rid of daily quotas.
4. Focus on process.
If you are good at something, never do it for free--Joker
  • #494
  • Feb 1, 2016 2:41am Feb 1, 2016 2:41am
Quoting Piquant
{quote} This applies mostly for the bunch who's taken the plunge and but still new to full time trading. My question for those of you who's made it past this phase. How did you handle the pressure ?
It's a key question which I've tried to answer in posts above.

 

  1. Make sure you have an edge
  2. Trade it
  3. Put your trading and your life in some kind of perspective - you have your health ( hopefully ) and you are fortunate enough in this world to have the freedom to choose exactly what you do when many are not. Your trading is important but it is not everything, certainly not risking your health and your happiness. Loosen up, trade as if it doesn't matter too much in the grand scheme of things if you fail, and if you do truly have an edge, this should get you through.

  • #495
  • Feb 1, 2016 2:49am Feb 1, 2016 2:49am
Quoting simond2002
I thought I'd chuck in a bit of GBPJPY analysis.
Back to normal charts today and just wanted to follow this analysis up with current price.

The market has crept through the supply level at 172.60'ish and price has gained support on the other side.
A test of the next supply at 173.21 looks on the cards. Will wait and see what happens there before
deciding whether or not to trade this pair but under current circumstances this is a no-trade for me.

Attached Image (click to enlarge)
Click to Enlarge Name: GBPJPYM15.png Size: 36 KB
  • #496
  • Feb 1, 2016 3:04am Feb 1, 2016 3:04am
Quoting cat
because trading is a constant learning process and no one is ever past the stage of improving no matter how successful they may become. This of course is what is so alluring about trading the markets - you can never completely master them no matter how good you are, but the continual quest to do so should be your ultimate goal.
You raise an interesting point here. It seems to me the longer you trade the more you realise you have much to learn. This is part of the beauty of the discipline of being a trader. It does of course raise the interesting dichotomy of if you understand your knowledge is incomplete should you be trading, if you do not trade you will not learn much that you need to know. A trader must understand his or her limitations and trade within the boundaries of their own current knowledge but should seek enlightenment along the way. In practice this means when you develop a new thesis or strategy on the markets you must be prepared to spend many weeks testing, learning, proving and altering your own mindset to adapt to this new way of trading before you risk your capital with it. It is a big commitment to change from something that works to a new unknown and unproven method and should not be undertaken lightly so why do it? Traders in their early years (decades) spend much time jumping between systems, all of which work to a greater or lesser extent but they do not have the patience or drive to stick with one and master it thus opening the possibilities of trading consistently to themselves. Master one system first. There does come a point where stagnation sets in, a trader goes off his game and for one reason and another loses confidence and trust in themselves. This may be a catalyst for change. Another may be personal circumstances. I can only manage a couple of hours at a time with no guarantee of when that may be so need to be able to trade for one hour and be able to get up and walk away. This has meant an overhaul of what I do in trading. No matter what your system is you must have the knowledge to deliver results with it on a consistent basis. This means understanding every element of it, their inter- relationships, how it performs in different market environments and probably most importantly when not to use it. (See Medici earlier post).

I commend to you the quest for knowledge, it brings trading alive.
Katte, kabuto no o wo shime yo. Size doesn't matter, leverage is the killer
  • #497
  • Feb 1, 2016 3:31am Feb 1, 2016 3:31am
Quoting revoli
{quote} . It is a big commitment to change from something that works to a new unknown and unproven method and should not be undertaken lightly so why do it?
Easy, don't do it. If something works, why abandon it? I've never changed my system, I've developed it and improved it, but never completely changed it. I've evolved with it one could say.
  • #498
  • Feb 1, 2016 3:58am Feb 1, 2016 3:58am
Quoting cat
{quote} Easy, don't do it. If something works, why abandon it? I've never changed my system, I've developed it and improved it, but never completely changed it. I've evolved with it one could say.
I agree. It is important to map your strategy to your abilities though. This must include how often and when you need to be attending to trades even if just checking in. My new shiny strategy enables me to walk away from my desk without the need to return to keep tabs. Important for me.
Katte, kabuto no o wo shime yo. Size doesn't matter, leverage is the killer
  • #499
  • Edited 4:46am Feb 1, 2016 4:26am | Edited 4:46am
Quoting Piquant
{quote} I'm in a similar situation except that I have no mortgage and a family to support. But I have pending mutual fund payments and bills to pay. Although I have a backup the pressure is immense. When you're a day trader trying to make a living months go by faster than it does when you had a regular day job. Despite how much work and hours you put into you still could end up with a loss at the end of the trading month. (I'm sure its true for most who's got 2-3 years trading the market - and took the plunge to day trade). I thought I had it figured...
Thank you for sharing. I'd like to add to Cat's point on putting things in perspective.

First of all, it's not about the size of your current account, assets, or liabilities - the psychological challenges are if not identical then essentially the same, as the example of Jesse Livermore shows. He had a working system, he was a talented trader, yet he made and lost millions many times over. The challenges you describe - fear of losing, and fear of missing out - are universal.

As the short video with Terry Griffiths that I posted last weekend suggests - trading is a moral and psychological equivalent of war. And one may draw inspiration from the stories by the WW2 fighter pilots that I am now reading, thanks to Cat, or from the old samurai warrior philosophy.

As the samurai manual Hagakure states (quoted before):

Quote
The calculating samurais must inevitably turn into cowards. Their calculation deals with whether they can gain profit or suffer loss. They cannot stop constantly referring to the idea of loss and gain. They think of death as loss and life as gain. No wonder they dislike death. That is why they become cowards.

maybe it's about losing the fear of losing. What warrior goes to battle not knowing that death could be the outcome? Indeed, Hagakure also says that the essence of Bushido (The Way of The Warrior) is choosing death, and that choosing life turns you into a coward.

So, if trading, psychologically at least, shouldn't be about winning and loosing, then what is it about? Maybe Don Juan in Carlos Castaneda's Journey to Ixtlan was right:

Quote
To seek the perfection of the warrior's spirit is the only task worthy of our temporariness, our manhood.

Which, more prosaically put, means that it's about developing the guts to take a loss, hold on to a winner, take the setups, controlling your impulses, etc - rather than worrying about what the market might do next, or about wins or losses. And if you are able to do that, then maybe, just maybe, the wins and losses may take are of themselves.

Also, it ties in with Cat's point about constantly sharpening the sword.
  • #500
  • Edited 5:19am Feb 1, 2016 4:30am | Edited 5:19am
Quoting Piquant
{quote} I'm in a similar situation except that I have no mortgage and a family to support. But I have pending mutual fund payments and bills to pay. Although I have a backup the pressure is immense. When you're a day trader trying to make a living months go by faster than it does when you had a regular day job. Despite how much work and hours you put into you still could end up with a loss at the end of the trading month. (I'm sure its true for most who's got 2-3 years trading the market - and took the plunge to day trade). I thought I had it figured...
When you start out with our personal responsibilities it's going to be psychologically tough. My view is to work with a strat that gives at least RR 1:2 with a win rate of 50% or better that provides a lot of trades a day risking 1-2% per trade. This will enable you to grow the account to a significant size. jmn is right in saying that we need to take every signal that our method generates and not double guess if the current signal will work out or not, truth is we don't know, we just have to find out. Here I took a trade on EJ got to my tp and onward to my next trade. It becomes mechanical as you pull this type of trades every day on the 1M chart, sometimes I win sometimes I lose but the superior RR helps to put me on the +ve P/L at the end of the day, don't think too much about individual trades.

http://i.imgur.com/UELFzAw.png

edit : another catch on CADJ and onward to the next (as examples of intraday trades)

http://i.imgur.com/gxK8ZFB.png

And agree with cat that once we are entrenched with a system that works for us, we should not change it, maybe tweak it to upgrade for better outcomes at best.
0 traders viewing now