Many have mentioned that they are interested in doing whatever it is that I seem to do. There is a side to trading that attracts.

And I’m not referring to the gambling types but those that genuinely want to learn a craft based on a desire to learn a strategy, a method and discipline. A good start is to read the books by Bob Volman.

What follows is copied directly from our daily Skype chats. This is something I will probably post more regularly so others get a feel for what happens day trading in real time.

Buzz 07:48

Worth a look at my statistics for yesterday. A Monday and often a slow day. A total of 14 trades of which 6 were winners (5 actually as one win was small). However, my gain was £642 for a £270 loss. All the profits were scalps as a ranging day. I’m trading tight with my stops. On one occasion I was out only to re-enter the same direction, and on another, I was out and bet on the opposite direction within a bar or two. The most important thing to me is context. Once I’m happy with that, I find that I’m closely watching the detail (individual bars).

For clarity, my planned stops are not tight, but my manual rejection of the trade (my actual stop) is close. I would still not trade without the planned stop in a proper position and for the reward/risk to make sense; this is only one technique. I think trading as Bob does in book two works well if done consistently. My outs are more in line with Bob’s writing in his first book.
08:06
I made the conscious decision yesterday to try the tight stop regime. But that was in a range. A trending market might show different results. Also, I figure that the more I practise the tight stops then, the better I ought to get at it.

Nick, 08:33
Its interesting to note your average times in winning and losing trades. 20 minutes for winning trades, and your out of losing trades in an average of 3 minutes. Thats good practise that I need to learn.

Buzz 08:37
An example from this morning – which I missed. The entry short for me would be on the pullback on bar 3. Quite near the top of bar 2 actually. My planned stop would have to be above the high but my actual out (manually) would be at the tight stop arrow – as price goes above the top of the bar before bar 1.