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Strategies & Market Trends : Systems, Strategies and Resources for Trading Futures -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: peter n matzke who wrote (17932)	3/8/1999 1:57:00 PM
From: Patrick Slevin	Respond to of 44573

Words of wisdom, eh? Probably not I am afraid. I used to rationalize that I would cover half at such and such or if this or that happened and put a breakeven on the other half. Now I usually just cover on spikes, I would rather have a profitable trade in 10 minutes than a better trade in 2 hours. Besides, a spike USUALLY will come back and give you a second chance if you want it. But my nerves aren't what they used to be, so I just normally take the money and run. One, two trades a day....maybe three. I do find that whenever my times are hitting well I tend to tough it out for the time and re-evaluate at that point. I general though, I cannot give advice about how long to stay in a trade. Camp once told me that ... if I am sure about the trade ... back off 4 5 minute bars on the chart and put your sop at the furthest point away. There are times I nailed double digits doing that. The way the swings are these days it certainly viable....if you have the correct direction read. There are also times you can get busted up badly doing that, if the market spikes back on you and your stop is overrun. So for day trading I would not be able to suggest how to maximize gains. It's a purely subjective issue that you have to decide on before you take the trade. I read one fellow who decides that he will trail a 2, 4 or 10 point stop before he enters. Depends on his degree of confidence in the trade. Something like that may work for you. Me, I'm just risk adverse. I would have to say that I am more concerned with not losing than I am with how much I'm winning.

To: peter n matzke who wrote (17932)	3/8/1999 2:42:00 PM
From: Patrick Slevin	Respond to of 44573

You know, there are methods to aid you. I used to use a Range Program that triangulated points using a blend of Fib numbers. If such and such a number was exceeded then the target was the next one and you did not cover. I found it too cumbersome to refer to, as I do not type fast enough. Then, I sometimes glance at a fast RSI on a 5 minute chart for extremes. Usually, I get on guard (on a Short) when RSI touches the low 30s. Breaking the low 30s I hang on until I get the usually inevitable spike down. Then there are points that I decide on early in the day that should be pivots. Once you decide on a pivot, if you do it right, often you will see the market hesitates there before exploding one way or the other. Today I had the pivots at 82.40, 81 even and 76 even. I really was not watching closely but it appears it revolved around 76 somewhat and was just repelled by the 82 area. Determining the pivots requires more art than skill; usually I just try to pick the early High and Low and throw one or two others in from near the Open to get the Initial Sense of the Positional Day traders. Then you could also keep an eye on Oscillators, I have one on a 10 minute chart, and MACD with Moving Average Con/Div on 5 and 3 minutes. Finally, you can look at moving averages, whether exponential or arithmetic or whatever and look to exit on extreme divergence. I don't look at stochastics because I read them differently than George Lane and it's bad enough that I do not fully agree with Wilder without picking an argument with the guy who invented Stochastics. But something there may help you if you look at stochastics enough to get a feel for them. I think Lane has a site somewhere, probably you can do a search on "George Lane" & "Stochastics". Nothing will be perfect but it's a shot.

To: peter n matzke who wrote (17932)	3/9/1999 10:45:00 AM
From: Patrick Slevin	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 44573

You know what is funny, I had that conversation about when to hold 'em and when to fold 'em in my mind so I bought the mini on Globex with the thought to hold if the "up" pattern kicked in, and day trade the Large. I'm here holding the damn Large since 10:06 at 1279. I have to break out of this buy 'n hold mentality, it just never works for me. At least I'm moving stops up to keep it profitable. I think one of the reasons I tend to exit quickly is because I have a natural tendency to get greedy. If I'm up 16 points I don't want to exit. Perhaps that's why I just like the quick hit, 4 points or whatever and I'm finito. Nice trade thus far though. However, straight up or no I won't be in this much longer. The small contracts can stay on, though.