Mentor Wanted


I have been trading for 2 years. I would like the help of a mentor so that I can be profitable, and know what I am doing. I trade the emini ES contract, but have also traded the YM.

Please let me know if you would be willing to work with me. I am willing to discuss my situation with any serious inquiries.

I have been a member of trading rooms in the past and found them to be of no help. Most just consist of using stochastic or Market Profile to buy when the market is down and sell when it is up. They don’t know how to read trends, and loose whenever one develops.

I have read Dalton’s book Mind Over Markets. I am probably one of the few people who did not find it helpful. Again he basically just wrote about buying low and selling high, and getting clobbered during a trend.

I still don’t know what I am doing. I know enough to be dangerous. I know what doesn’t work. Sometimes I try scalping for a point and sometimes I try holding for the bigger gain. I have not been successful at either approach.

I think my biggest mental block is because I have never seen another trader who made money. The rooms I was a member of were all real good at making excuses, but it was clear to me they made money from the room fees and didn’t know anymore about trading profitably than I did.

Again, please let me know if you would be willing to work with me. I am willing to discuss my situation with any serious inquiries. I am not going to give up (though I have been close to doing so a number of times), but I am not ashamed to admit I need help.

Thank you.
Hi Greg and thanks for your honest post. While I'm not in a position to mentor anyone I suggest you poke around this forum and see if any ideas really attract your attention.

I too suffered greatly ( financially and mentally ) my first two years and while I won't attempt to assume I know you or your situation, this is what helped me.

I used to fluctuate between a scalping mentality and a trend following mentality until I began to trade more contracts. So when we chop around I take a smaller profit and then my runners get stopped out. IF we are lucky enough to trend then I can scale out as needed. I am not a big trader by any means and don't go over 16 ES contracts at a time, per campaign. And that is in normal volatility...I usually use less than half that in this phase of the market. After 10 years in the game I still don't trade size and not to brag by any means but I've seen at least 150 traders online come and go ( blow out). Some at one time where good friends. I'm merely making the point that I personally don't believe that large size and smaller profits is the way to go because most need to trade or have the action so they trade more and make mistakes. Not everyone of course. We all need to solve the core issues of FEAR and GREED ! It's different for all of us. More contracts is what helped me.

You may also try to analyze which time periods work best for you. I'm a better fader in the morning then those who can catch afternoon trends. That's just an example. Perhaps you may excel over lunchtime and suck in the morning. That's important to know.

There's a ton of great minds and information on here and other forums but nobody is going to probably turn you into a superstar. They may be able to help you, help yourself. So don't give up. I hope you find some emotional comfort in knowing that you are not alone and all of us have been there on some level.

Probably not specifically what you want to hear and I didn't mean to make this response about me. I was merely conveying some experiences and some things that helped.

Please let me know if I can assist you in any way. Lots of nice folks with great ideas post daily in the day trading threads too.

Bruce
Greg
We have all been thru it, listen to Brad on the TOS webcast during market hours,it's free, he calls a few ES trades and will give you accurate trading info, he's great for new traders & the good thing is, he's not selling anything! Put the floor trader pivots & the value area #s from this site on your charts. If you use Esignal, chart the nyse & naz breadth & add/dec. Price always follows the breadth. If you dont have that capability keep track of the sectors that lead & the up vol-down vol ratio. Here is the link so you can listen to Brad http://38.98.140.164:8000/
Good luck & don't give up
Bruce,

Thanks for your reply.

I guess what it comes down to is gut feel. Perhaps no one can teach that. I don’t know.

I know I don’t have gut feel in my trading. All I see when I look at the charts (I estimate I have about 5000 hours of that) is random up and down price movement. It could trend. It could counter trend. It could make a false move. It could do anything, and probably will.

I don’t like big stops. What I mean by this is I don’t like a stop that is larger than my target. If I have a 2 point target I like to use a 2 point stop. I know a lot of people will use 3 to 1 or more stop to target ratio, but I have never seen how this is helpful in the long haul. Obviously in the short term you should win a lot more, but then one loss will wipe out all your profit, not to mention commissions.

I guess my question to you, or anyone else who wants to weigh in would be - do you use a strategy or do you just feel out the market as the day goes along? Also do you use any sort of trigger when the market finally reaches your price area? To me price areas are pretty easy to see, but I have yet to come up with a trigger that works.

I know a lot of people use MP to trade. I don’t like this as it is a counter trend/fade method and leaves you blind as to when a trend will start, and open to big time losses, and if you use small stops at IB1 or IB2, or value area high/low, POC, etc., they usually do not hold up well. Actually this morning I think we had a great trade off IB1 if you were willing to give it about a 3 point stop. Unfortunately I didn’t take that trade. Haha


Any thoughts are always appreciated.

Hi Greg
I too completely understand how you feel.In this game you are not along. With the market melt down the number has increased even more. It is hilarious how some money advisers try to cover up client losses with excuses and explanation that's beyond the trading world and the funny thing is that people still believe them like a flock of sheep. I petty them. This is the website that posted the "Bear flag" some where in August, so Bruce is right that you are in good company here.I have been in Trading rooms that sell techniques that make little. My question to all those selling priced trading strategies/ indicators is that if they are making good money why do you sell it, either keep it to yourself or teach for free. The feeling that you have improved another human life is worth a lot of fortune. So friend take heart, financial freedom is within reach but their is no holy grail.
Greg: Tim Morge
quote:
Originally posted by Greg

Bruce,

Thanks for your reply.

I guess what it comes down to is gut feel. Perhaps no one can teach that. I don’t know.

I know I don’t have gut feel in my trading. All I see when I look at the charts (I estimate I have about 5000 hours of that) is random up and down price movement. It could trend. It could counter trend. It could make a false move. It could do anything, and probably will.

I don’t like big stops. What I mean by this is I don’t like a stop that is larger than my target. If I have a 2 point target I like to use a 2 point stop. I know a lot of people will use 3 to 1 or more stop to target ratio, but I have never seen how this is helpful in the long haul. Obviously in the short term you should win a lot more, but then one loss will wipe out all your profit, not to mention commissions.

I guess my question to you, or anyone else who wants to weigh in would be - do you use a strategy or do you just feel out the market as the day goes along? Also do you use any sort of trigger when the market finally reaches your price area? To me price areas are pretty easy to see, but I have yet to come up with a trigger that works.

I know a lot of people use MP to trade. I don’t like this as it is a counter trend/fade method and leaves you blind as to when a trend will start, and open to big time losses, and if you use small stops at IB1 or IB2, or value area high/low, POC, etc., they usually do not hold up well. Actually this morning I think we had a great trade off IB1 if you were willing to give it about a 3 point stop. Unfortunately I didn’t take that trade. Haha


Any thoughts are always appreciated.




Greg,

I'll try to address your questions as best I can.

I'm not sure that "gut feel" is necessarily a good thing for new traders. It is for seasoned traders but since you have only been doing this for 2 years you're still new to it. Read the book "Trading in the Zone" by Mark Douglas for more info on this.

The only reason I say you are new to this is because as Bruce pointed out "We all need to solve the core issues of Fear and Greed" 2 years was not enough time for me to do it. I'm not even sure if its something that you ever really master but something that you continually work to improve and strive for. I have spoken with others that have said it took them four years or longer and I would guess that their are others that never do.

I too don't like to have stops larger than my target, that is why I always predetermine what my possible profit potential is before I enter a trade and it needs to be at the very least the same as my stop. Like you the idea of having a stop larger than my target never made any sense to me.

Your question "do you use a strategy or do you just feel out the market as the day goes along?" the answer is both. I always use a strategy but I use different strategies for diff conditions. What works in a range bound market doesn't work in a trending one.

Your question "do you use any sort of trigger when the market finally reaches your price area?" I use a trigger that is comfortable for me, its not the best by far but it allows me to be less stressed when putting on a trade. What I look for before pulling the trigger is a candle pattern setup in an area that I'm interested in that shows exhaustion on either the buyers or sellers part. This can come in many forms but one that I take without hesitancy is a Hammer candle either up or down at a point where I expect a bounce. The problem with this method is that my fills are much worse than those that took the trade based on price, and that it keeps me out of some winning trades, but I need that extra conformation for myself to be able to be in my comfort zone. I hope to improve this and I'm always on the look out for ways to improve this but for now its what works for me.

Although I have nothing against Trading Rooms and I have a couple of friends that run different ones, the thing is that what may work for some won't work for others. We all need to figure out who we are as a trader and what is comfortable for us, everyone is different.

Lastly, I have learned to build my trading upon three axioms (which I will very briefly explain):

No one can predict the Market - Therefore I must assume I am wrong, take profit when its there and protect myself with stops.

The Market does not travel in a straight line - Allowing opportunity in either direction.

People are predictable - People are creatures of habit. Its not important what I think whats important is what they think the market will do.

Hope this was helpful.

Greg,

The big question you need to answer is what "mentor" means to you. Do you want to watch some one else trade? Do you want someone to teach you their method? Do you want some to evaluate what you are doing and then give suggestions in how to improve? You have to have a clear vision of what you are looking for before you start looking.
I can tell you from my personal experience that every time I have mentored someone I've been betrayed(betrayed is too strong a word but it has always come back to bite me in the proverbial rear). So, I have come to the realization that anyone that is mentoring traders is not providing them with successful and unique strategies....just , the same stuff you can get from anyone of number books which you have probably have already read. Granted some learn better from personal contact than others and that can be an added lure; but , be very cautious and specific in your search.
quote:
Originally posted by ak1

My question to all those selling priced trading strategies/ indicators is that if they are making good money why do you sell it, either keep it to yourself or teach for free.



I've often pondered this question... I guess if I could make more money from selling my strategy than day trading, then I guess I would sell my strategy. But then, why would I need to sell my strategy if I make a lot of money using it to day trade? Hmm...
That is exactly why I say "no one sells a successful strategy" and thinking you can buy one for $100-$10,000 is a fool's errand!!!
Greg,

I finally figured out how to post charts so I added this to show you an example of how I use candles as triggers.


Click image for original size
No Description Entered
Interesting post H. Would you mind sharing some details regarding your trading approach?

quote:
Originally posted by hiteshshah1

Hi Grey,

I have been trading for 1 1/2 year now. I was in similar situation as you are now. I spend time learning by taking various courses on Emini Trading. I also went through Coaching where the coach was able to use the Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) techniques to break my mental blocks (www.robindayne.com) and help me step by step to change my identity. Today I have a solid Trading Plan and I stick to it and take all the valid trades as I see them. After learning various trading techniques I designed a system that fits my personality and I can trade with ease.

My suggestion to you is to find out what your personality is and try to trade according. for eg. find out if your personality may be good as scalper or intraday swing trader where you hold the position for several hours, if the market is moving in your direction. You may also want to check your stop loss. If you having too close of a stop loss and the market takes you out that is something you may want to change.

I am willing to help from what I know. I am also a student of market and trying to reach my goal of being a successful trader.

Attach find the chart of my system.

Best,
Henry

Market Profile Nos. link
http://www.mypivots.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=3681
Woodies Pivots link
http://www.mypivots.com/dn/?symbol=139


Click image for original size
No Description Entered


Click image for original size
Chart from Jan 6, 2009