Early entry is probabilistically low, but the risk is low too. From last week we entered short at the bear signal bar below. The risk was 12 pips with a profit of 20 pips. The early entry bar had not closed below the prior bar, a signal rather than an entry bar. But it was a trend bar, and it did close below the support marked by the yellow ellipse.

5-minute bars

With 5-minute bars, a decision sometimes has to be made quickly; this is tricky for the beginner to do as they have not seen the hundreds of examples that give them the ability to recognise “spatially contiguous chunks” of bars.

Early entry but only reservedly

Many day trading seminars encourage early entry or signal bar entry. Suits the beginner because the risk is low. But it is entirely the wrong thing to do. Day trading experts, on the other hand, take an early entry infrequently. Okay, the risk is lower but so is the probability. A Signal bar entry, such as mine below, ought to be made reservedly.

The on-market exit was more manageable ‘live’ than the screenshot suggests.