February 6th 2008
Trading Ideas That Probably Won’t Work
Well, today I got smacked around like a rented mule. Yesterday’s post featured four trades that I thought stood a reasonable chance of setting up. Well, they didn’t. This is actually normal. I don’t know why it’s bothering me tonight. I’m not in the business of predicting what is going to happen. I have a method, I filter for trades based on that method. If the stock sets up, it sets up. If it doesn’t I move on.
What allows me to do this day after day is to trade small and trade consistently. Trading the same way, day after day. I may not trade every day, but I trade with the same rules and the same setups on each trade.
Before, I sit down to write a post for this blog, I have an extensive “process” that I go through to sort out the next day’s trading opportunities. It’s arduous. It’s manual. But it works and I’m not going to change it.
I’ll write it up someday and share because I think it’s interesting to talk about. For now, I’m going to share a few more trades that won’t work.
Here are three for your consideration.
I don’t really like much else. I expect there will be some better trades in the days. I just need some consolidation.
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5 Comments »
DSB on 06 Feb 2008 at 5:38 am #
Enjoy your site so much. Doing the same setup day after day I agree is the key to consistency, I would enjoy reading more on the subject.
Thanks
Jonathan on 06 Feb 2008 at 8:21 am #
Thanks DSB for the vote of confidence and the input. I’ll will make it a point to address consistent trading in futures posts.
Jeff White on 06 Feb 2008 at 9:18 pm #
Jonathan,
You hit the nail on the head with the “not in the business of predicting” comment — isn’t that the nice thing about trading from the charts? I love that, and I trade the same way for the same reason.
I also think the decision to be consistent is a must. Taking the setups as they come, and ignoring all else when they do not come, is the only way to truly know if what one is doing is actually working. The trader who chases every tick and jumps in and out of 50 different stocks just hoping to catch a wave somewhere isn’t likely to know what works and what doesn’t. At the end of the month (or quarter or year), what aspects of his trading should go? Which ones should stay? Your choice to trade the same way each day provides you with that info - the only way to go in my opinion.
Finally, I can certainly relate to the “process” of finding trades. It might not be fun but it’s a necessity for those of us wanting the best setups.
Keep up the excellent work here!
Jeff
My Daily Routine on 07 Feb 2008 at 5:08 am #
[...] over at A Trade A day, sparked the idea in my head to inform readers of my daily routine. This doesn’t include when [...]
Jonathan on 07 Feb 2008 at 2:14 pm #
Hi Jeff. Thanks for the kind words and for stopping by!