Some personal background before I get going:
I've worked extremely hard over the last 4-5 years at becoming a successful trader. Unfortunately, most of my experience was extremely painful, with much money lost and extreme stress. After "sobering up" a bit, I finally started thinking clearly about the market, trends, time frames, ect... I then started to break even on a regular basis with a few relapses here and there. Then after a period of consistent success I funded my accounts, and for the last year and a half or so, I've been working my "regular" job part time, while making up the difference trading the other half of the day. The mental transition what the hardest part, as it took almost a year to have full confidence in what I do. So this is where I'm at today. I am continuously working on refining my skills as a trader, even though I am consistent, I believe I can be better.
I'm here opening this thread because it seems it would be very enjoyable to share, discuss and learn. I'm finding there are a lot of great ideas on this site and it's great to be able to converse about them with other interested folks, as my family and friends could care less about the details.
My approach:
I'll outline my strategy in following posts, as I first want to cover my main thought process. My priority when placing an entry is to get it safely to break even as soon as possible. It's usually not right away, as I do allow for fluctuations, but once it has gone my way I usually set it to even, or at least close to it. If it goes against me immediately, I also like to give it a little time and "wiggle room". My goal in this scenario is to get out at even before hitting my SL.
Many of my entries are driven by a bias from Monthly, Weekly and/or Daily. Some of these entries are placed at the close of these bars, although I prefer to enter on the lower time frames. I posted a bit on Hugh's Daily thread which shares some similarities to what I do. It has also sparked some ideas on how I can refine my own process, which I'd like to share here as well. I've got some thoughts on how I can place more orders from daily charts, which could be nice, as I spend a lot of time in front of the computer now, and don't want that to always be the case.
I trade to attain long term positions, but also spend time during the day in and out of trades on the 15M. I'd like to keep the focus of the thread more to the long term trades, or at least the start of it.
More to come...
I've worked extremely hard over the last 4-5 years at becoming a successful trader. Unfortunately, most of my experience was extremely painful, with much money lost and extreme stress. After "sobering up" a bit, I finally started thinking clearly about the market, trends, time frames, ect... I then started to break even on a regular basis with a few relapses here and there. Then after a period of consistent success I funded my accounts, and for the last year and a half or so, I've been working my "regular" job part time, while making up the difference trading the other half of the day. The mental transition what the hardest part, as it took almost a year to have full confidence in what I do. So this is where I'm at today. I am continuously working on refining my skills as a trader, even though I am consistent, I believe I can be better.
I'm here opening this thread because it seems it would be very enjoyable to share, discuss and learn. I'm finding there are a lot of great ideas on this site and it's great to be able to converse about them with other interested folks, as my family and friends could care less about the details.
My approach:
I'll outline my strategy in following posts, as I first want to cover my main thought process. My priority when placing an entry is to get it safely to break even as soon as possible. It's usually not right away, as I do allow for fluctuations, but once it has gone my way I usually set it to even, or at least close to it. If it goes against me immediately, I also like to give it a little time and "wiggle room". My goal in this scenario is to get out at even before hitting my SL.
Many of my entries are driven by a bias from Monthly, Weekly and/or Daily. Some of these entries are placed at the close of these bars, although I prefer to enter on the lower time frames. I posted a bit on Hugh's Daily thread which shares some similarities to what I do. It has also sparked some ideas on how I can refine my own process, which I'd like to share here as well. I've got some thoughts on how I can place more orders from daily charts, which could be nice, as I spend a lot of time in front of the computer now, and don't want that to always be the case.
I trade to attain long term positions, but also spend time during the day in and out of trades on the 15M. I'd like to keep the focus of the thread more to the long term trades, or at least the start of it.
More to come...