Trader X

No, I haven't found the holy grail, the one indicator that will give good signals 100% of the time (there isn't such a thing in case you don't know that), but I have been profitable! I know it's been more than a month with no updates and I vow to not let it go that long again. I will go back to updating my pivots (support resistance lines) if nothing else. I've been doing that only on Tradestation as part of my morning ritual. Remember those... yes I still do them but of course the info is constantly changing. Back to the point.

As I have mentioned before I have found a chat room called Fooser & Pals on Paltalk. Fooser and his pals are daytraders of the best kind.... profitable! Fooser and his rag tag motley crew come from all different walks of life. Retired, ex-military, contractors, pit floor traders, ex- portfolio managers, and many others that I don't know and to top it all off a chef! Not sure what Foos did in a past life but since he opened the room in May of last year he has racked up about 500 es points. Respectable indeed. No, he doesn't swing for the fences, but he is very consistent. He uses Fib ratios, Gann, and my favorite Support/Resistance numbers for his trading... and then he will surprise us with an occasional CCI or 10 period EMA for fun!

After trading with him for a month I am beginning to get an idea of his style. Support/resistance mostly and trying to decipher the trend from basics like higher highs and higher lows or visa versa. He will often call for a trin number just before making an official call. Under 60 bullish, over 120 bearish. In between neutral. If 160 -210 then look for bottom and reversal and if 30-20 look for top and reversal. Kind of like the Tick, look for extremes and rebounds.

The process is basically this as I see it... and I am sure I am not getting it all but here goes. Determine market direction. Easy enough right. Another very good trader named Blue Mace that frequents the room to give lessons, says to look for the first hour high and lows and then if it breaks out above or below by more than 2 points it is likely to be a trend day. If we have an established trend then wait for market to have an impulse wave (hopefully ending at a S/R line) and then try to enter on the fib retracements of 1/3, 1/2, and 2/3. Seems Foos usually waits for the extremes at the 2/3 point or Gann lines (don't understand those yet, but will soon. Seem like trend lines at certain angles (1X1 is 45 degrees?) to me?) Then he will exit at the next S/R line above or below the one used for entry. Basically I think this is it. Simple right?

The nice thing about this is that the basic process should work in all markets... trend or consolidation. Let's talk about those for a moment.

When there is no trend evident (no higher highs or higher lows, or vice versa, and trin is somewhere say between 80-120) then we use the extremes as entry points (tick works really well for this BTW) by buying support and selling resistance.

Look, the whole idea is to keep this extremely simple and try to trade with the trend by buying pullbacks or just using support and resistance when there is no trend evident. KISS... Keep it simple stupid! And trust me on this one... I'm stupid and need it simple!

So here is the most important thing of all. Not the setups but the camaraderie, these are a great bunch of guys (and yes a more than few gals... who make great traders BTW) that know each other well and give each other a lot of trouble along the way to making money! All of a sudden you feel that you are part of a great group of traders. You feel that you aren't the only one out there in cyberspace trading all by yourself. Very important!

There are about a dozen or so traders that post their trades before or while they make them. Foos will post his entries and exits long before the market gets there so you can do the trades right along side of him.... and yes, make money! Others will post as they do them and so you can see quickly who is on the wrong side of the market (and yes they are consistently on the wrong side which can help you too if you are looking to do a trade and they post that they are looking at the same trade you might want to rethink yours) and who is on the right side (the traders you want to keep in lockstep with).

One other point of importance before I close this lengthy post. Patience... one thing that I usually lack. Foos will teach this by example very well. There have been more than few days that he makes no entries at all, because no setups appear. He doesn't push it. I have learned the hard way to follow his lead on this one the hard way. While others are trying to push a trade because they feel they have to do something, good ol' Foos will just sit there and wait... sometimes for hours or days before he sees something he will trade. Man Oh man... that is the hardest part but everytime I try to push a trade just to have a trade I get burned. I have learned.... the hard way. Don't do it!

The other side of patience is waiting for your exit, and waiting, and waiting... sometimes Foos will get in the AM and not exit until just before market close. Sometime I just have to set my stops (commonly below a support or above a resistance line) and put my limit exit order in and just walk away! Very hard to do since I tend to micro trade if the trade doesn't make money right now! I mean NOW! I have learned this patience the hard way as well by going back and seeing that I would exit a trade at a 1/2 point profit because I was getting nervous just before it moved 3 points! The Foos would always wait and get those points! He leads by example. He is also good at taking his losers off before they do too much damage.

OK, this is getting long in the tooth! Here are some details you will need to investigate.

http://current.fooserandpals.com/

Start here and sign up to get the daily emails and passwords. I haven't spent much time on the website so I don't know what's there because it is pretty new. Check it out!

Trader X