Sun 12:30pm Couple of quick notes before I head back. I finally met up with Linda Raschke [hers was the first and only presentation I sat all the way through] and had a good chat. I give her a lot of credit for speaking for trying to squeeze thoughts into a 45 minute presentation, and then for putting up with answering questions to the throng afterwards ... been there done that.One reason I didn't mind attending her talk is that we share similar philosophies on the market such as the use of multiple timeframes, TICK, scaling out, etc., so the risk was pretty low that my brain would be filled with new market variables that might affect how I trade. She's also stood the test of time which is so much more than can be said for the sad number of fly-by-nights that come and go.
All in all, it was worth the time and expense to make the trip [including the cost of my wife's shopping] as it gave me an updated view of the trading industry. As I mentioned yesterday, there definitely seems to be a thirst for "real knowledge", and while I still feel many of the exhibits and presentations are looking out for their own interests and selling pipe dreams, I had enough discussions with people who I respect in the industry to believe that we may be evolving into a new era in trading ... one based on current and prospective traders desiring to take personal accountability for their income and portfolios, and being able to filter out the truth from the noise.
Perhaps that's one of the reasons that traders have been gravitating toward this diary and similar resources, for maybe there is indeed a place and purpose for what we so modestly started here last July.
The journey and diary will continue on Monday.
Enjoy the rest of your weekend.
Posts
9 comments:
Don, I am SO glad everything worked out this weekend. Looking forward to your discussion at LBR Group.
Steve
Don,
Wanted to ask a few questions dating back a few days ago, during the comments secion on first starting out & realizing a fare amount of failure & displeasure. When you first started out trading 10 years ago after quitting your corporate safe & secure Job in telecommunications. Was a major part of your technique & system self taught through trial & error? or did you have a mentor or trading coach to guide you through certain strategies. For instance your discovery of looking at multiple timeframes, using the vix, nyse tick chart, scaling contracts, fading reversal trends, fading extremes, buying dips, fading pull backs in the direction of the trend depending on trending vs. range bound days e.t.c. Was most of the above strategies taught to you, read through a book, or simple & painful trial and error strategies over the course of 10 years? Last, This may be a little personal. You mention how it was nice to see alot of old friends that you used to teach with or wrote articles in trading magazines for. Since you are kind of well known with some of the presentors,magazine publishers,teaching pros, whether they are famous for their trading strategies or not, for instance Linda Raschke. Did you get your foot in the door becoming well known with these old teaching aquaintances & writing for certain prestigious trading journals, by failing at the beginning of your trading career with a good degree of losses that you decided to get well known in the "teaching industry" to supplement your income during the initial start-up failing days of your trading career? I find it very interesting how you became well known with certain key teaching pros and magazine editors & you never really wrote about how you got your initial foot in the door as a teacher in the industry. Whether it was because of initial failure that you decided to teach? or a friend of a friend got you in the door through a contact to becoming well-known in the teaching community. Thanx for the feedback it is very educating and insiteful to all of us in the painful journey into becoming successful traders.
Don,
According to the different time frame charts that you use. Do you keep in mind the previous days Close, which could be the next trading days resistance line as was the case on friday, the previous days Low which could also be the next days resistance line or perhaps an Intra-day support line or resistance line for a reversal fade trend. Dont want to sound or get too confusing but basically do you keep in mind the previous days as well as the overnight Close, Low, High and then set intra-day resistance & support lines on your charts as a Intra-day template/foundation for possible fading reversal price points to keep in mind while setting up for a trade? Or you dont bother pre-market at all with setting up support/resistance lines on any of your charts to aid in possible breakouts or price triggers to exit/enter a position? Over slept 2 days in a row in Long Island so unfortunately was unable to meet with you at the traders expo. Was going to print out the draw down "mindframe" fiction chart for you to autograph so I can hang it up in front of my pc while I trade.
GIGO -
Wow ... you've got waaaaay too much time on your hands and may even be more skeptical than me ... and that's a darn tough accomplishment!
Some quick answers as I sit in Penn Station awaiting the 5pm to Providence.
First, I've been around the investment community for far more than ten years as a former accountant, CMA, MBA, etc ... it's just that I didn't make the jump to full-time trading until about a decade ago.
Like many starting out, I exposed myself to a variety of methods and also experienced trial and error in discovering my comfort zone and individuality.
Keep in mind this is a fairly small and close-knit industry in some circles, and given the large rate of failure, word of decent performance (speed bumps and all) tends to spread pretty quickly, even without intention.
As a result, various brokers and teaching venues began asking me to help teach, and before I knew it, I was inadvertently approaching a fork in the road I never expected and my career as I mentioned in a recent post.
Let me be clear on this point though ... I NEVER taught or wrote to supplement trading losses ... that would be a substantial ethical crime in my view. All of my brokers, publishers, and educational partners, including Larry Connors (who I worked extensively with and who co-wrote Street Smarts with Linda) have always had 100% access to my records ... any day without question.
And whenever I did teach or respond to interviews, it was always with a realist slant that I felt was sorely lacking in the industry in terms of sharing the good and bad.
So that was then and this is now. When I chose to back away from public life and return to trading for a while (to complete that unwritten chapter in my life), it did leave a gap with people that I had grown to know ... some very closely.
And so this weekend and this blog have been a nice way of recpaturing some relationships that I value and that always makes life worthwhile.
Don
GIGO -
On your second post, I do often show horizontal chart lines from prior day key points, which supplement the next day's activity, although I still personally prefer using the continuing trend support lines from prior day which naturally follow through to the next day.
Don
Steve -
Yea, Linda can tell you about the throng of 30 people she had to first respond to who were barely letting her move or breathe before we could find a few quiet moments to chat alone.
As I was waiting, I had a good talk with Damon about Photon, clearing, etc., and plan on following up with him.
"Talk" to you soon.
Don
Don,
You left a few things unclear that I would like to know if you could clear up regarding the horizontal trend lines. 1st when you wake up in the morning how far in advance to the market opening do you do your research and plan out your day and get your charts ready. Do you get to your pc 1/2 hour before the market opens at 9:30 or are you there 1hour 2 hours in advance before the market opens? You responded and said that you do often show horizontal chart lines from the prior day key points. Are these key points the prior days Closing, High, Low & overnight High/low price points for drawing your horizontal lines? If not can you share what key price points you use that you draw horizontal trend lines on your charts? When you set up your charts do you set them up the prior night or pre-market before the market opens? YOu also said that "you prefer using the continuing trend support lines from prior day which naturally follow through to the next day". Do these previous trend day "support" lines that "naturally" follow through to the next day, are you using previous intra-day support lines and/or the previous days "low price point" support lines to draw your horizontal lines and since you used the word "naturally" do they tend to work on trend or range bound days or both. And yes trading coach Don, I am 27 and have way too much time on my hands because of the lack of job opportunities available because of the severe recession/depression we are faced with & I lost 90% of my trading portfolio before I came across your blog, which saved me in so many ways. In 6 more weeks I will be back on the golf course caddying to save up more capital to make another go at this next fall. Thanks for answering the questions as I am in mi-nute detail learning mode & on the simulator untill the first break of warm weather where I get back to the golf course and start another season of work. And of course keep track of your blog.
GIGO -
Well, I found the Amtrak outlets this time.
No harm meant with the "too much time" comment :-).
The 15 & 20 MAs from the prior day automatically flow from day to day (I ignore the overnight session), and any horizontal lines I choose to draw are often at key support or resistance points as defined by textbook technical analysis (i.e. breakout from prior range or support/resistance), of either the current or prior day.
Yet please keep in mind this diary is not intended to teach or coach ... never has and never will as mentioned in the FAQ. Trying to trade based on a blog would be a ticket to disaster, and if I begin to sense that, I'll revert back to a private diary. Plus, my way isn't THE right way (no such thing) ... it's just "a" way based on how my particular brain is wired.
Many ways to do this.
Don
GIGO -
Responding to your private post, I again did not attend looking to change anything and purposely closed that part of my brain years ago.
From what I know of Linda's work, we share several common philosophies, but still have individual differences as is the case when comparing any two traders.
Yet there's no need for me to reevaluate anything unless for some reason results go south for a prolonged period of time, which hasn't happened in a long while. For when I don't trade well it's because of #1 thing ... lack of focus. Other than that time and probability will do their thing.
One learns in this business that you never mess with what works ... again a lesson Seve Ballestaros and "Golf is Not a Game of Perfect" taught us all.
No time to look at charts tonight ... will be back at it in the A.M.
Don
Post a Comment