1. You're letting winners run and cutting losers short.
2. Based on your numbers, you have a positive expectancy.
3. You haven't blown up in these market conditions.
Doesn't sound to me like there's any problem, apart from you perhaps thinking that everyone else here is doing better than you (with very few exceptions, they're not - most have been slaughtered in the last 12 months).
yeah I agree with Michael.
It sounds like you aren't doing as badly as you think fallenangel. I'm curious as to why you are still referring to it as a punt. Is it due to the win rate? Or aren't you making enough money yet? Or is it because you just don't think you 'know' what you are doing? If that last one is the case, then you might get something out of my comments below.
I am sure you are a smart person with a name like professor how could you not be.
Dunno about that one
technical analysis is probably the one thing that has been consistent
yep. That's why I like it. Whilst a lot of people are running around in a panic, the market remains essentially the same from a TA perspective and quite tradeable in this kind of environment.
I do not profess to know alot about candle reverse patterns or alot about charting I am still learning 6 months in the market is like a new born baby.
that is why I mentioned doing a lot of testing to get yourself to the point where you do know a lot about reversal patterns if that's what you want to trade. And by know, I don't mean knowing the theory about identifying what a doji or hammer is, I'm talking about a practical knowledge that helps you trade - whenever a doji has shown up on WPL in a downtrend in the past, there is a 41% chance that the close will be higher than the open tomorrow and the open will be in the bottom 10% of tomorrow's range. That kind of stuff.
Can anyone give me a clue I am sure there is a multitude of things I am not doing any pointers
If you want to make it as a daytrader, you need to become a true student of the market, observe and record everything that you see happening. This goes for general market movements as well as recording the trades you make.
If you want to trade WPL for example, are you also watching the other oilers, and the oil price throughout the day? How does WPL react if the oil price starts ticking up during the day? Is it also influenced by the rest of our market, how does it react to BHP or RIO moving during the day? Are you also watching the other sectors of the market to see if you can pick up on an overall market rally a little earlier than if you were just watching the company you wanted to trade? Only with continued observation and recording will you be able to truly answer all of these types of questions. And once you start to learn how the market is moving, it'll probably turn around and completely change on you, but as you go along you'll get better and better at picking up on these types of changes and will be able to adapt quite quickly.
One way to do this is to save a copy of the generic news article we all read in one way or another each morning before the market opens. Keep a record of any major news story that impacts the market during the day too. Collect data(or if you can't get it take screenshots) on pretty well everything you can think of - stocks you are following, the local index, major currencies, commodities, overseas index futures, anything else that you can think of. At the end of the day, you should be able to explain to pretty well anyone what happened during the day and what the market is focusing on, which companies/markets are moving together, and which are moving independently. Over time you will start to notice certain correlations that you can start looking to trade off.
Recording your actual trades is very important too. In 2 years time, you want to be able to look back at the RIO trade you took the other day and
KNOW exactly where you entered, where you exited, why you wanted to trade it that day and what you were thinking about at the time you took the trade.
Here's one way you can do this - take a screenshot of the intraday chart with each trade you take, marked with the entry and exit on it. If you were looing at an EOD reversal/continuation pattern, then keep a copy of that too. If there is a news story behind the trade, then keep a copy of that on your hard drive with the annotated chart(s). You can also get audio recording software so that you can sit down at the screen with a microphone and run a commentary as the trade sets up right through to the exit and store that with the chart and news story. Sounds like a lot of work, but isn't that hard once you are in the habit of doing so.
As you go along, you will end up building up a massive database you can then reference for later use to get some feedback on what you are doing. Don't just read about what's going, actually learn how the market moves and how you react to what you see.
Hope this helps.