all you need is one stock....

I havent initiated a post in some time but feel like a simple posting of big chart trades on one specific stock would help anyone that was struggling trying to find trades on big charts. Also, I wanted to post exits as well in hopes that your confidence might grow to stay in the trade.

GOOG

4-19 $799 5-17 $909 233 entry/daily exit call
5-22 $889 6-6 $864 daily entry and exit put
6-7 $875 6-19 $899 233 entry and exit call
6-20 $885 6-24 $865 233 put
6-27 $881 7-15 $925 233/daily call
8-7 $890 8-14 $856 233 put


As you can tell the profit margin begins to weaken as the summer ensues. That doesnt mean I dont trade the big chart. It means the same thing any other season does. I trade untill I have exit criteria and I take what Mr Market gives me. Its really simple. It doesnt take a lot of trades to get you going in the right direction.

I just want to reiterate with no disrespect to others:

I do very little home work, what amount I do is done on the weekend and I have at most 30 minutes a week into it.

I do not watch CNBC. I do not watch the European open or close. As a matter of fact I couldnt get remotly close as to what a particular foreign index currently trades at.

This is in no way advice as I am not licensed and do not plan to become a licensed broker. This is a small trade log in response to JTraders request to see trades. I will not give specific profits but feel free to do the math.


BCT

Really great BCT. I feel no disrespect at all and I can't think of anyone who would. I am glad you posted this trade.

Thanks for the post/details BigChartTrader! I don't have time to watch the market closely during the day, so I can only trade off the Big Charts. Very helpful to take a look at your GOOG trades. Do you look at the Weekly chart for trend, or do you just use 233/daily?

I look at the weekly but just to know the possibility of where the stock will eventually end up. The trading decision is either the daily or 233

BCT, Thanks for sharing those great trades.

I have aspirations of being able to trade off Big Charts. Quite honestly, As I stated in a previous post (couple of months ago), I started practicing off big charts. I am embarrassed to say, but I totally forgot about the practice trades-until a couple of weeks ago. I will say this, I had specific and calculated reasons for placing my trades (off big charts-mostly daily). I did not just throw a dart in the air- I used Gary's rules as my foundation. A couple of weeks ago, I noticed in my practice account, all 4 trades were up over 50%. I will not tell you guys how much one of the trades was up-it was amazingly high. I was blown away and embarrased to share this story, but hey, my practice account loved the results. I bought 4 more positions based on what I think should happen. I have been in those positions for a few weeks and again, 3 of the 4 are looking very good and the 1 is looking decent. Again, this is pretty embarrassing because I spent very little time researching or studying the big charts. I know I am not good, but I will start wondering if the results continue to be the same. Gary said just try it. What do you have to lose? It is just paper money.

Bigcharts, you inspired me to start practicing with big charts when you joined 3 or 4 months ago. I hope I am on to something. I am using Gary's basic rules (FP, HRFP, MACD, runing up or down trendlines, using Market Calendar and being aware of my Trading Zone). I am finding areas of support and resistance and trading between those ranges. I am analyzing candle formations and trading based on the evidence of what I am seeing off the 233 or Daily. I am easily distracted, but I have always had aspirations of being able to trade in any market and being good with a few techniques. Thanks for posting.

In response to BCT, congratulations on your GOOG trades!

My question is... what is so wrong with wanting to see someone's performance record and why would one get so offended by another person even asking. I don't care how much $ you made on a trade or how much money you have in your trading account. All I'm asking about are percentage returns. See below for example.

2008: -15%, 2009: +25%, 2010: -10%, 2011: +15%, 2012: +10%

What is so wrong with wanting to see that? That in no way invades anyone's privacy.

JTrader,

Please respect BC's response to your request to see historical data. Your approach at this point feels as if you are attempting to draw another reaction. It is not necessary to continue pushing on this issue.

I know you are new to the forum, but please understand, we have built a strong educational foundation that we value. Bigcharts is one of the only people who shares his knowledge and expertise regarding big chart trading. When I found RTT and this forum, Darcy was already in, but between the two of us, we engaged everyone, and we brought Gary's students alive. We must foster the relationships we have with each other. There are not many of us out there. I feel like we are mutants in a weird way-lol! I really do not want to see any of us-including yourself ever feel we can not respond or respectfully disagree with someone else's opinion.

Rookie,

I'm not trying to get a reaction in any way. The only thing I set out to do was to meet someone who had been successful trading the stock market over a sustained period of time. I expected people to proudly present their historical gain loss percentage record or to just say they had not yet mastered the craft. I don't know why it brought about any opposition at all.

I still just want to meet someone who is successfully doing this. To me success is not defined by someone doing this well for the last year or two. Someone is successful when they can do it in any kind of market. If there is anyone out there, please point me in the right direction.

So I suppose you are meaning those who have retired using GW's formula's and who has been trading the length of his 5 year schedule provided in 1-5?

I don't think there is anyone on this RTT discussion board who meets that requirement.

I do have friends who have taken all of GW's classes and who have told me GW's formula for retirement has worked in a very small percentage as GW informed them and also informed us (S/O and I) in one of his 1-5 classes.

The way I see this is it is entirely possible following GW's outline of learning this if you follow his outline. However I know there are very few out there who have followed his outline which is and was read all the books. Most of the folks I personally know skipped over the practice part, skipped over the book reading part and skipped over the instructions on how to trade in each zone. That reminds me of the type of person who paid for swimming lessons and jumped in the water after hearing the teacher say..."Welcome students".

For me and I can only speak for myself failure in this area is based solely on the amount of time one has spent trying to learn. I think there are many who thought they could jump right out there and take off trading with little knowledge since according to them...."They have the charts".

The most successful at "doing this" is GW and I feel sure if he can so can I and S/O.

All I can testify to is after believing I knew everything I finally realized I (quoting Crammer) I knew nothing. I then went back and read every book on GW's list and started my own list which is where my TAD book came in. I also developed a different attitude of positive thinking. I am positive if you ask this question of me in 4 years I will be able to tell you...S/O and I are successful according to your standards but according to ours we already are.

Good luck in your trading.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/22/2013 09:00AM by Darcy2.

Dear JTrader,

JTrader Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

> I'm not trying to get a reaction in any way. The
> only thing I set out to do was to meet someone who
> had been successful trading the stock market over
> a sustained period of time. I expected people to
> proudly present their historical gain loss
> percentage record or to just say they had not yet
> mastered the craft. I don't know why it brought
> about any opposition at all.

Although I believe I'm the person you're looking for, or one of them, I'm confused by your background, motives, and, most of all, by your rude demand that said "successful stock market trader" prove their success to you by posting their "historical gain loss percentage record over a sustained period of time." So let's take this one step at a time, shall we? Maybe we can publicly arrive at a better understanding of why you feel it's so important for you to meet someone who is successful at trading, especially options trading. (I have my suspicions, but we'll keep those to the very end.)

A little about me. I first took Gary's Class 1 in Greensboro on Jan. 20, 2003. Why do I remember the exact date? Because that class, along with all my own subsequent hard work, determination, and "never quit" attitude, changed my life forever. I went on to take Class 2-5 in Greensboro, and then did my free retake in Raleigh beginning in April 2003. In June 2003, I quit my well-paying job in NC and moved out of state to a small cabin in the woods so that I could dedicate myself entirely to learning how to do this. Over the next 4 years, I attended the Advanced Class twice (2003 and 2004), 1-5 one more time in Greensboro (2005), and RTP once (2007). I also have his 1-5 CD sets from 2001 and 2003, one of the last copies of his Advanced Class CD set, and 2 or 3 different versions of his 1-5 and Advanced class manuals.

Over the past 10 years, I've listened to the CDes so often I've memorized entire sections of each class. I've read dozens of books on his book list and dozens more I've chosen for myself. I've made thousands of practice trades--options and stock--plus hundreds (easily-why would I bother to count?) real money trades--options and stock. For the first 4 years, my trading "success" was spotty. Since I did a year of practice before trading in the trading leg, I just did W&O for 6 - 8 months before diving into options. But I also had a small vault which I traded fairly well. Nothing spectacular, but, hey, it's the vault. By "investment counselor" standards (i.e. Wall Street), it was damn near miraculous. If Bernie Madoff had known about this stuff, and worked at it hard instead of hatching a Ponzi scheme, he would be a free man today, and his clients would be celebrating him as a stock market genius.

But when I actively began trading real money options, I struggled. There were many reasons for that, most of which had to do with my own personal failings. I was definitely my own worst enemy when it came to small chart trades (trades off the 55 or below), and at the time I was trading small charts only. In 2007, I took time out from actively trading (i.e., I traded only W&O every few months), although I still studied the charts every day, without fail. By 2009, I had regained my mojo, and began trading off big charts almost exclusively. I have had very few trading losses since. All of those losses have been small, and don't begin to compare to my gains. And that, JT, is the name of the game.

I continue to successfully trade all 3 of Gary's "trading legs": trading, W&O, and vault. (It gets easier as you work your way from left to right in that sequence, believe me.) As you can see, I'm still standing, still consistently making money in options and stocks, and still loving the gift of knowledge that was given to me both by Gary and my friend P., who "opened the door" for me 10 years ago. (If you really did take 1-5 in 2006, you'll know what I'm talking about when I use that phrase.)

But I'm not going to give you historical percentages of account gains and losses for several reasons:

- it's none of your damn business
- I don't measure my success that way
- it would take too long to figure all that out for each of my several accounts, and you're not worth the effort.
- I would never relent to the obnoxious demands of someone who publicly admits to being a failure and a quitter, then wants someone else to prove otherwise.

BTW, in case you doubt the truth of my story, Gary and I know each other personally. And if he saw this post, my first on the RTT Forum, he would instantly know exactly who the writer is. Of that you should have no doubt whatsoever.

With my story in mind, let's take a look at your record, JT. I really do want to understand why you insist on having someone else prove to you that Gary's trading methods work.

According to the Forum's stats, you joined just 8 days ago, and immediately posted this:

"I took Gary's 1-5 class back in 2006 and I went hard at it for a few years, but I never really had any sustained success. I would build my account up then lose it...build it up then lose it. Is there anyone out there that is consistently making the returns that were discussed in class??? I've never actually met someone who was able to retire from following these techniques. Are any of you out there?"

You now know the answer to that last question is "yes." And I guarantee you I personally know several of Gary's students who have been retired for many years as a result of using these techniques. But when you say you "went hard at it for a few years" what exactly do you mean? Given my background, which isn't all that different from that of other retired, successful students, did you go harder at it than any of us did, or anyone else on this forum has? And did you really take 1-5 just once and expect to become a master trader in a few years? Did you buy and listen to any CDs, JT? Do any practice trades? Read any books? And it sounds to me like you've been hanging out with the wrong crowd if you don't know anyone who took Gary's course but has been unsuccessful at trading options. Sounds like a bunch of losers to me. You should work on that, JT.

Which reminds me of another interesting post you made. On Aug. 16, you made this statement:

"To understand why options lose money even when there is a big move in the direction you expected, you have to understand implied volatility. Because markets are efficients, options will take into account instances where there will be large price moves (i.e. earnings announcements) and their prices will be inflated by the high volatility expected to be caused by the event. When the event actually happens, options will deflate like air being let out of a balloon."

Wow. That was quite a lecture about the technical nature of options and "efficient markets," JT. Unfortunately, besides providing a technical excuse for your failures, it also betrays the ideological bias--er, belief system--that lies at the heart of your failure. Markets ain't "efficient," JT. But since you strongly believe otherwise, I can tell you've been reading all the wrong books. You need to fix that problem if you want to succeed at this.

But then there's this post, from Aug. 18:

"Not to belittle anyone's success but it is one thing to trade successfully for a trading zone, for a year, or even two years and it's something quite different to do it over five years or longer."

Gosh, you don't say. I would never have guessed!

And in that same post, you gave us these gems:

"I question why it is that supposedly you can get rich by watching charts, trading zones, and a basket of stocks. How is it possible that over the last 250 years that the stock market has been in existence that some of the smartest people in the world on Wall Street haven't figured this out. I don't say this with disrespect. I say this because I am looking for facts."

Sorry, JT, but you are saying that with "disrespect." And you are not looking for facts. You're looking for more excuses to explain away your own failure. And if you think the second sentence in that quote is a list of "facts," you really can't do this. [Hints: The smartest people in the world are not on Wall Street, or even in the stock market. But even the dummies that are there "figured this out" a long time ago. They just aren't telling you about it. That's why Gary called his class "Wall Street's Basic Secrets." But, shhh!! Don't tell anyone else!]

I gotta admit that, the more I read your posts, the more questions I have about you, JT. Somebody joins this forum, says he was a WSBS student 7 years ago, couldn't cut it, and immediately starts posting a bunch of negative crap about how hard it is to make money trading the market using technical analysis. In his (I'll assume you are a he) second post, he dumps out a few sentences that display a passing knowledge of technical terms that apply to options, so we can assume the writer has absorbed at least some Wall Street propaganda... er "training" (for lack of a better word)... in trading or investment strategies. That assumption is backed up when the newbie starts babbling about "efficient markets" and all the reasons why dumb people like us (all the smartest people in the world are on Wall Street, don-cha-know!) can't possibly succeed at this.

Ya know, JT, I believe you're a stock broker, or maybe some other kind of "investment advisor" who is far more interested in proving that the "dumb money" like us can't possibly succeed without your benevolent guidance and expertise in efficient markets. Prove me wrong, JT. To do so, I'd like you to post on this forum your employment history for the past, say, 7 years. Give us your name and all business names, addresses, and phone numbers of individuals who can prove you are who you say you are, and that you actually did work at that place of employment during that period. Assuming you can prove you aren't a broker or investment adviser who makes a living by separating fools from their money, only then will I admit that you're not just another Internet troll looking to steer honest, hard-working folks away from successful trading strategies.

>
> I still just want to meet someone who is
> successfully doing this.

Congratulations, JT! You've succeeded, for once. Go out and celebrate.

> To me success is not
> defined by someone doing this well for the last
> year or two. Someone is successful when they can
> do it in any kind of market.

Aw, shucks. Ya see, there you go again, lecturing us. I think you need to prove your investment or trading success before demanding that we prove ours.


> If there is anyone
> out there, please point me in the right direction.

Gosh, I do believe I've pointed you in the right direction, for sure. It's probably not the direction you were expecting, though, and if you've read this far, you probably don't much like the way I did the pointing. But none of that is my problem or my concern. If you really want to be successful in the stock market, JT, stop wasting everyone's bandwidth by posting juvenile demands that people justify your failures for you. This is not a children's game about who knows more about markets or who makes better trades. And the good, kind folks on this forum are not stand-ins for your Mommy and Daddy. In other words, if you want to be good at this, JT, shut up, grow up, and read.

With All Due Respect,

Hologram Trader

Hi BCT,
I am relatively new to the forum but appreciate your post. Do you use an action chart when using the 233 and if so, what is it? Also, what are the indicators that you are using, e.g., MA's, MACD, etc. I would like to trade less and be in plays longer. As we approach the "fat of the year", I want to make sure I ride the trend as long as possible.

I dont use an action chart. Are you a GW student? if so, what level?

I am. I have attended 1-5. I have listened to the advanced class but didn't attend.

THis is a follow up from my original post about only trading one stock (GOOG).

8/27/13 $852.29 ---- 8/30/13 $846.90 Put 233 Chart
9/3/13 $860.18 ---- 9/19/13 $897.45 Call 233 Chart
9/23/13 $887.31 -----9/30/13 $877.87 Put 233 Chart
10/10/13 $866.62 ---10/18/13 $1104.15 Call 233 Chart (through earnings)

These types of movements are why it is only necessary to pick a handful of violent moving stocks and use big charts to capture from pt A to pt B. There are times when a stock of this type can and WILL move violently against you while in the trade as well. So, please practice.



BCT

BCT- Your post is awesome. I feel strongly that you are very similar to my mentor in so many ways. Both of you trade from Big Charts, and both of you have a clear understanding of how to make money on a few stocks.

I am still learning about entry and exit from a big chart perspective. I will go and take a look at your trades and try to identify what you saw when entered and exited.

Thanks for the post.

BCT - I also want to thank for your post. Question - When you are taking calls through earning.s did you adjust the size of the trade or based on GOOG history you decided to take a larger position through earning. I realize that you made significant returns on that trade but it could have gone the other way if earnings missed. Unlikely but possible.

Reviewed the charts - Can you explain you exit criteria. The only thing I can think is that you had significant run-up, Friday so you did not want to gamble over the weekend, and the charts were outside the UBB. The indicators would say to stay in the trade would they not? Just want to make sure I am not missing something.


CZ

When I go through earnings I typically I will cover the position in case they miss. My exit criteria is typically when the auto forms. In the case of GOOG through earnings I would exit that trade when it is so far out of the TBB. I have found in options that the market will pay a greater price on news first thing in the AM than it would later even if the stock might be higher in price.

BCT

BCT,

I noticed you didn't use the 55 min chart on any of your entries. Are you not able to see the market during the day, or was there just no play on the 55? Super nice trades by the way:-)

I have the priveledge of having access to the market intra day. WHen I make a big chart chart I do not analyze anything less than the 233.

BCT

BigChartTrader Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I havent initiated a post in some time but feel
> like a simple posting of big chart trades on one
> specific stock would help anyone that was
> struggling trying to find trades on big charts.
> Also, I wanted to post exits as well in hopes that
> your confidence might grow to stay in the trade.
>
> GOOG
>
> 4-19 $799 5-17 $909 233 entry/daily
> exit call
> 5-22 $889 6-6 $864 daily entry and
> exit put
> 6-7 $875 6-19 $899 233 entry and
> exit call
> 6-20 $885 6-24 $865 233
> put
> 6-27 $881 7-15 $925 233/daily
> call
> 8-7 $890 8-14 $856 233
> put
>
>
Just curious, did you happen to retain the actual call/put option values associated with these trades? That would be helpful.

BCT - how did you know to stay out of GOOG on 10/1?

THe autowave on the Daily had not completed to the down side and I do not trade against the auto wave. Example: If I make a 233 trade both the 233 and Daily auto wave must be going with the trade. I do not have to have the weekly auto going with me in that example though. The trade chart and next largest time frame is my only concern. THe same thought process could be applied to small charts.

BCT

BCT- Do you use Briefing as your news feed- or Yahoo Finance?

neither. DOnt consider the news.

Wow! Absolutely amazing to me..... You are the first person I am familiar with who does not study the news. You truly motivate so many of us to work hard, so we can reach a LIMITED LEVEL OF STRESSFUL TRADING. I am sure you have put in the time, and hardwork to get to this level. Most likely you have lost some funds along the ride. Thanks again for your contribution to this forum.

Yeah, Gary even says that the news is irrelevant to a Big Chart trade.

I don't trade off the news MUCH...but Lehman Brothers PUTs sure were nice to my $'s. I also use news especially in Pharma for my Peak plays.

We all have our way of trading. I have a friend who only traded stocks who tried to move to options and stunk at it. She went back to stocks and is happy with her profits.

So for those of you who trade big charts I salute you and for those of you who trade smaller charts I salute you. I am glad there is something for all of us.

BCT you impress me!

Not too difficult to list big chart entry/exit candles. Add entry/exit option prices & you got urself some impressive examples.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/23/2013 11:01PM by RaleighTrader.

Thanks Raleigh Trader for posting some of your trades as well. You big chart traders have gotten my motivation up. Well, with my issues, there are not many things to do not get my juices flowing. I was dreaming that this fire would get in my belly that would drive me to really learn how this works from a big chart perspective. The biggest deficiency that really hurts me is, I have a very limited ability to be patient, and I am so optimistic (just being honest). While trading from small charts, I only have to sit in a trade for 2 hours or less. Big chart traders do not look to exit a trade in an hour or two.

For those of you who are trying to learn how to trade off big charts, I have a few things to inform that I have found on my incomplete journey. Please understand that these comments are coming from a person who started doing this from being very, very broke. I broke the first rule when starting. Gary said, we needed to trade money that we can afford to lose. Well, I traded "bill money". You can see in some of early posts, I paid for those mistakes. Anyway, the few things that I found that I think are very relevant.

In some of the big, quality stocks that we all have in our basket show some very similar movements either during specific times of the week or month.

Some of the Big Boy stocks also will move in a specific direction if specific indicators form. This sounds pretty general, but I do not think you really understand what I am saying. If certain indicators set up, this thing will move in the direction you anticipate. The most interesting point about this that is very different from small chart trading is, there are not as many indicators to study that will confirm that movement. For an example, I found a "Nugget" that does the same thing every single time specific indicators line up, but the big problem is, the darn indicators do not line up in that formation or process often. I am finding once and very rarely twice a month. I found it every single month. The problem with that is, if you miss it, you are SOL for at least another calendar month. Now, this has something to do with a report, first/end of the month progress or lack of, or news. I am not sure. I just know it happens. For me, this is not enough to quit the job and say, I have a nugget that will assist me in retiring really soon. My little "Peabrain" assessment is, if I had two or three of those "nuggets", I could trade two stocks and ride this pony. If I found a nugget that happened more often within my expert stock, I would be fine. Anyway, enough on this point now on to the next.

Do not get disillusioned by the fact that Big Chart Traders have grown to a point that they do not have to place as much effort as others in finding 2-5 trades a month. My respect for that group of individuals is out the roof. Almost where my respect is for Darcy-lol. Just so you know, I have been picking on Darcy and her S/O's brain for over a year now, so those are my gems that I will always respect. I would be probably living in some cardboard box without their guidance. Anyway, it is early and I need my meds, so I will continue with my initial point. Big Chart traders have busted their rear ends as much as anyone else- may be more, but they trade a style that requires them to be right only a few times a month. Small Chart trading requires traders to be right several times a month. What I clearly understand is, I thought I had to work hard to learn how to trade small charts, well, I am understanding really fast that I have to put in as much and sometimes even more time into studying big charts.

Big Chart Traders have a plethora of "nuggets" for the most part. It seems much easier for them because they have tested, made money, and built confidence in their nuggets. You can call it whatever, but the bottom line is, when they see that "thing" set up, they have gotten to a point that they do not salivate as I would. They simply wait for the entry, and pop, there it goes. They know when to exit, so when that run is over, they exit and keep it moving on. They do not rush or jump trades. It is either a trade or it is not. They do not guess or think it is a trade, they know it is a trade. How do they know it is a trade? They have done that same damn thing month after month after month, so to me that is a "Nugget". We all know how long it takes to find nuggets. They might call it their trading strategy, but I call it their trading nuggets. Why do you think they typically trade the same stock? They know the nuggets that form and approximately how long they anticipate their runs. As long as the stock runs enough each month for them to he satisfied with one stock, they ride it until the cows come home.

I have also found that when testing these big chart trades, if you miss the trade, you can get butchered like a South Georgia Hog. Oooowee! I have been practicing and made a good entry, but stayed in one night too long. Oh my! scroll over to the next candle, and "BAM". There was my head on a platter. This is the biggest problem I am facing. If I stay one day too long, it could be over- all of the profits and a 3rd of the position-gone and not coming back in the forseeable future.

As I crank down to more specifics. Google has something going on that is attractive to the big boys. I have studied this stock and found some things that are pretty interesting. I see a nugget, but again, it does not happen often enough, but if I found others, and find a way to trade 2-5 trades a month. Imagine trading a stock and every time you exit, you gain in excess of 70% on your position. I would love investing 10K in a trade 3 times a month for and average of 70% on the position. My math tells me that is 21K a month. It is more than worth it for me to get this down, so I can live a normal life for awhile. I might be bit high on my 70%, but honestly, I do not think I am off my much. I know BC traders do not talk money, but can some of you please share with us what percentage you average per trade/per month? I hope I am not asking you to divulge to much information, but those numbers will be as much motivation as any for some of us who are trying to work through these processes. Again, I appreciate, BCT, Raleigh Trader, and others who trade big charts and have chosen to share some of the insight and motivation needed for so many new and aspiring big chart traders.