Riding the waves....

Hello,

First of all, I have been battling the worse form of Vertigo. I had to be transported to the hospital by EMS a bit over a week ago. Those of you who have had this condition to the point that your world gets turned upside down, you know what I am talking about. I am finally able to get around without assistance, and I am gaining my balance back.

Trading stuff.... Although my world has been spinning like a kid on a merry-go-round, my mind has been in tact. My vision has come and gone, but when it chose to allow me a few minutes to see straight, I have been on my charts. I have been trading big charts for several weeks and have had ok success with it. I have had some good trades, but I have had some bad trades and lost money. I lost nearly $1000 on one trade, and that was painful, regardless of the fact that I made about $2000 a few days prior. I see the value in trading big charts. Wow, when I am right, I find myself heading to Hawaii. When I am wrong, I go to the "Po House" for a while. If you do not mind me breaking it down a bit, I will talk about my specific issues I had with Big Charts. Well, you have no choice be give me permission to express- keep reading-lol! I find that my punches to the gut come during the morning after I enter the trade. If I could survived the turbulence of that day, I could have escaped the Po House. I know big charts and others say, it not about looking at my account. I am totally with that, but when I see that I am off $5, that little man inside says, "You know you want to look and see how much you are losing. Fool, open up your account and look at the amount you have lost". I have in my mind how much I expect to lose, but my curiosity gets the best of me, and I open it up. Usually, I am like "How in the hell did my account drop that much off a $5 move on AAPL. Oh, heck no, I am getting my money out of this, because I could lose the entire position by tomorrow morning". My problem is, I DO NOT HAVE THE PATIENCE TO TRADE OFF BIG CHARTS! I needed to go through the process to learn that about myself. I am a heck of small chart trader, so I need to stick with what I do best. Yes, it is stressful, but I found it more stressful trying to sleep at night when I know I could wake up the next morning, and I have lost nearly half my position. I would wake up and watch my wife sleep so peacefully. I am thinking, "I just invested $5000 in this trade, and if I lose too much money, you will not be sleeping peacefully for long. You will become a Zombie as I have". Again, I had to go through the process of giving it a shot before I backed off.

I am what I am. I dove back into small chart trading. This is where I belong- nickel and diming my way to the top. I am back batting a 1000-Well, I have only had a handful of small chart trades. My best friend and I traded FB and AAPL. I traded one for real money. He is still practicing. He picked a great trade in FB calls. It had all of my indicators that I use before entering a trade. It rose up for most of the day, but Happy In Seattle for my style of trading was shortly after lunch (usually earlier). At that point, no reason to get out, but HIS. Look at AMZN today. All indicators are there. My favorite chart is the 13. I know, this is not a chart that we are taught to use for entry or decisions. Well, it is my "bread and butter" chart. I have about 10 indicators I use. They line up everyday on one are more of my stocks. They also run in the direction of the anticipated trade-everyday. The problem that some would have is, the 13 is a small chart, so the runs are short and not as profitable. Well, I went from being broke to having a really solid, solid basket by using the 13. Gary say, "Up a buck and out". Well, I have taken that concept to a totally different level. I adopted that concept in training and found ways to get that buck-everyday (or almost everyday). I am accustomed to gaining on the average of $350 a trade-using this "up a buck and out" mentality. My trading size is $3500-$4000. If I gain 10%, job done for the day. That is all I want is 10%. I close up shop and trade the following day. My trades are not about news politics, meetings, etc. They are about indicators lining up. If they line up, it is a trade-PERIOD. I have risen and will be back posting because I will enter almost everyday.

Sorry guys, but the big mouth of the forum is back!!!!

Rookie30

Very nice to have you back.
Traderva

Thanks traderva.

I am not promoting the basket of stocks I am about to list. I have a reason for giving you this list.
AMZN, NFLX, AAPL, GOOG, DECK, LNKD, V, FB, MA, VZ

Now, if you get some time, take a look at these stocks and identify what happens with at least one EVERY SINGLE DAY! To make it really simple, take a look at the time frame from 10:00-12:00- ONLY! I really do not want to sound as if I am promoting one chart or the other, but for practicing purposes, pull up your 13 chart and focus in on this time frame. Newer students, please do not allow my strategies to confuse you. Do not get side tracked because to be really good at small charts, there are a lot of technicals that you need to understand that takes time to test. Most of the people who have practiced or stopped but now starting back will quickly see why I do what I do. Again, most would not be interested in a nugget that only brings a buck or two a day. That takes a lot of time and work for a small gain. Ha, but if you are not just starting and can invest 3000 or more in a trade, that 10% 4 days a week work quite nicely. Have a good night!

Glad you are feeling better and back in the saddle.

good to have you back too- looking forward to learning more.

Good morning family,

I bought Calls on NFLX this morning. I bought shortly after the open . I noticed it was charging pretty hard, so I dove in off some critical indicators that confirmed a good trade. After seeing the DOW and NAS dropping in the opposite direction of my trade, I knew my trade would not be long lived. I started to focus on my 13 chart and waited for a reason to leave the trade. Well, shortly after 11:00, I saw a turn developing on the MACD and a negative candle started to paint. At that point, I could care less what happened after that reversal signal- I WAS COMING OUT OF THE TRADE-ON THE REVERSAL SIGNAL! I only look for 10%, but this trade brought nearly 30%. I closed up shop, and could care less what happens in the markets the remainder of the day. I will be back tomorrow morning, looking for another sniper trade. This is will be the story of my life for a long time. I will nickel and dime until my nugget disappears. So far so good.

A few things.....
Ideally, I would have traded one of the stocks in my basket that was charging down, but I "felt" the NFLX trade along with a few indicators. As I look around my basket, there were a ton of stocks that would have given me $3 going down.
I never look past the 55 because I am looking to be in the trade for only a few hours.
If you notice, NFLX could not sustain that charge against the market for very long. I felt strongly it would plunge, and I desperately wanted to play it going back down, but that approach would have been totally against my rules.
If I would have ignored the reversal signal on the 13, I would have given some of my position back-possibly all, if I would have stayed until after lunch.
The beauty of my style when trading small chart trades is, my work is over by 11:30-12:00-about 90% of the time.

Keep working and gain mentorship from someone who trades the style that fits your personality. My mentor and I have not talked for over 3 weeks. He has very little in common with my style of trading. He is a Big Chart trader. I have reverted back to small charts, so his style clouds my approaches. We are still friends, but it has been less of a priority for each of us to connect. I assume both of us are trying to make money.

Trade well.....

rookie30:
can you elaborate a bit for me (and us) on what else you look at when you are watching your 13 chart? Do you use a 55 for confirmation and/or do you use the E charts (10/8/5 etc.) for a moving average convergence for an entry?

I did a fairly detailed analysis on your charts you suggested last night. I printed out all of the 13 min charts for the list and analyzed each move that occurred (if one did) between 10 and 12. I made a list of the supporting items I saw for a trade. I am not exactly sure what you use for additional indicators on your 13 chart? I have all of the standard GW indicators set up- I dont have anything else on my 13 or 55 chart (like MF, 8MA, etc.)

Can you tell me how you have your chart set up and how you go about looking for a trade? Is is all completely off the 13 as your decision- or do you have supporting charts (trends) and action charts?



Thank you in advance !

Rookie,

I am sorry to hear about your problem. I am sure that it is very annoying. Our family will add you to our prayer list.

I do not trade much from Thanksgiving to Christmas. People getting out of losers and into winners, people selling their profits at the end of the year make the charts look whack-o for small charts.

I do look at my charts and listen to CNBC and so this morning when I heard MA was splitting 10 - 1 I knew what I would be doing. I bought Dec Wk2 $800 PUTS @ around10:09 - 10:10. It was a Peak play. I was out around 11:46 when the candle on the 5E chart started turning white. It was coming back into the Bollinger Band. I cleared $979.36.

S/O bought MA calls yesterday and sold this mornng on the open. He cleared over $1,180.00. I'd ask him about it but he left this morning to get our tree and do some shopping. Needless to say I certainly didn't want to bother him on the shopping thing! I did give him my list!

About trading off small charts. Your reason is the same as mine...but once you get enough $$'s to do more trades especially in Sept or Oct buying out in time and sitting on the piano isn't so hard because you can trade small charts while the longer chart is working. I still like small charts and will most likely always stay with them BUT I did buy AMZN Jan Calls in Oct off the daily when it bounced up off the 50 moving average. If it goes through the 20 moving average on the daily I am selling.

During the Holidays I generaly only trade maybe 3 times. S/O doesn't stop but he has found it a little more difficult to find good trades on small charts from mid Nov to mid Dec. We have noticed the charts changing over yesterday. The moving averages are beginning to spread open some now but I still am sitting out for a little while longer.

TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF!!

Darcy & Rookie30:
Can you guys explain your chart set up for looking and and determining if it is a trade?
(unless it is the same as noted in the other posts)- which I understand to be:

21 FP or HRFP
with a 55 FP ro HRFP (if FP, MACD must be one)
move to:
E charts 10/8/5 (20/10/5 MA's) plus a MF indicator

Is this the correct set up? If not, any tweaks you would suggest?
Thank you in advance !

NMR Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Darcy & Rookie30:

> 21 FP or HRFP
> with a 55 FP ro HRFP (if FP, MACD must be one)
> move to:
> E charts 10/8/5 (20/10/5 MA's) plus a MF
> indicator
>
> Is this the correct set up? If not, any tweaks
> you would suggest?
> Thank you in advance !

I use the 55, 34, and 21 GW chart and have within these charts a 5 and 10 moving average as well as the 20, 50 and 200 moving average.
I use a 10, 5 and 3 E charts.

Rookie uses something a little different that I do.

My S/O uses a 55, and 21 Gary chart and within these charts he has the 5 qnd 10 moving average. He also uses a 10 and a 1 minute like GW's set up as well as a 10 and 5 moving average. The he has a 8 and a 5 minute E chart. He has to move one of his charts to expose a 34 GW chart but he seldom uses that chart.

As soon as we see a HRFP or a FP on the 34 (me) or a 55 we begin to look and see if ALL of our charts line up for a trade. If they do we are in.

thanks Darcy for the information. It really does help!

I traded puts on V this morning. Went shortly after the open and just sold ( 40 minute trade). I made nearly $2 and close to 30%. I am happy with that. I was very close to buying NFLX again because I felt that stock again, but I felt I could snipe V going with the market opposed to NFLX going against the market.

I have a made a slight change since coming back to small charts. I have 6 charts set up- one beside the other. 4 of those charts are set to Gary's settings. The first 4 charts listing from left to right are, 13, 21, 34, 55 (Gary's settings). The 5th chart has only 3 moving average lines- 5,10,20 and also Directional Movement and Money Flow. This chart is set on a 10 minute time frame. I look for the "E to develop". I have my watch list that is running live during the market as my 6th chart. Honestly, I have nearly 20 stocks on that list. I have added a 8MA on my first 4 charts. I chose to make the line black with a thickness setting of 3. Sounds busy, but I need to see all my lines at the same time to execute my trades.

Again, I simply snipe daily for 10% or more, so I must have a large basket of stocks, enabling me to find a stock that lines up with all my indicators. I am only trading on technical analysis. I realize this not the way we are taught, but it works for me. I do not look at news or listen to others on the internet. I find myself getting more confused when I read books regarding different trading strategies. I like reading mind frame books.

Darcy, I am with you. The only trades I am finding are really, really short runs. If the trade size is not fairly significant, it is not worth the time. I could not trade this style if I had to use $1000 trades.

I heard something that was very interesting while looking at some things online. These guys were talking, well, one was interviewing the other. This big wig who is Guru of trading was talking about the importance of having a written trading plan. The plan should be precisely how you trade. It is important to review that plan a couple of times a year. Well, the "Big Dawg" was asked a question. The commentator asked him, " If someone stole your trading plan or had access to copying it, could they make money-if the know nothing about trading?" What do you think his answer was? Well, he said, YES, the person could have a tremendous amount of success by gaining access to a successful trader's trading plan. If the person took time to do basic research and basic understanding of how trading works, they could easily teach themselves how to implement the same strategies that are written in the plan. I tend to agree with him. There is no question in my mind that if someone gained access to a plan that is extremely specific and clear, they could implement it and make money.

I have started to teach my oldest son how to trade, but I will not give him my plan. He will need to learn how trading works and develop his own plan. Like most young men, he wants the specific strategies and a clear concrete plan. As I extended some tough love, I made it clear to him that nothing is given to anyone in life. We pay and learn. Of course he cannot pay, but he can learn. Good thing is, he calls me often, asking me to explain some things he is hearing on the CD's. Now, that is how he will learn. I am his mentor-not his savior. I love my boy, but I will not feed him. I want to teach him how to fish, so he does not have to beg for food (figuratively speaking).

Have a good day- Trade Well!