VEGAS TRADES GOLD IMAGE

VEGAS TRADES GOLD IMAGE
Showing posts with label confusion. Show all posts
Showing posts with label confusion. Show all posts

Friday, June 22, 2012

MARKETS REST; TRADERS TOTALLY CONFUSED


                               Hey, Let’s Look At The Charts

A very boring Friday with enough confusion so everyone can lose some money. Nothing like the “Flying Wedge of Death” in just about all markets to let you know nothing is a sure thing when it comes to trading. Squeeze the shorts and hit a new high for the day, then plummet to a new low and jettison the day trader longs. Rinse and repeat.

For those of you not familiar with the FWD [Flying Wedge of Death], directly below is today’s chart from EURUSD.

                                     Welcome To The Squeeze

No matter where you are at in this trade, you really can’t feel comfortable. Odds are, your stop is in there some place and will get hit; and that is the whole point from those that have the money power and can shove the market.

Really, I could have picked any market today and it would resemble this bucket of slop. Have I mentioned before just how much I hate Friday trading? Except for the mini-scalpers, this type of action is probably the most frustrating; and with good reason because you never know until it is over if the FWD is going to be a FWD or if it’s going to keep going.

If it keeps going [which is the most probable scenario] and you don’t get out, you face some unacceptable losses; if you get out, congratulations you bought the top or sold the bottom; if you flip your position around, you get the double-edged sword of being wrong on both sides of the market. Only the mini-scalpers win.

As most of you know, I have been trading since the dawn of the modern trading era. I would give you the exact year, but it would age me unmercifully. To give you an idea how long that was ago, people mostly still used a black rotary phone to make phone calls. [Don’t ask what a black rotary phone is.]

When I first cut my trading teeth on the trading floor, older floor veterans would talk in hushed tones of this dreaded formation; it was one of the very first things you prepare to avoid in order to be successful.

I don’t know what this means, but in the last 4 months I have seen the dreaded FWD more times than the prior 15 years combined. Now, in some markets, like Centrally Planned gold , it makes sense since the major objective of central planning is to kill the spec trader at every opportunity. Let me just add they are doing a great job of destroying the gold market.

I can remember times in the past [usually a few weeks to a few months] where we had action like this; most professional traders responded by cutting leverage and/or reducing position size and moving to the mini-scalp strategy to pay the bills until market action improved. Problem is that you miss nice moves like yesterday’s big reversal down move, and end up sitting there looking like an idiot.

When does the FWD end? When it does; how’s that for scientific analysis?

Welcome to trading; if you’re not humble about this process, you soon will be.

Have a good weekend everyone.

-vegas

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

SCHRŐDINGER’S CAT MEETS PAVLOV’S DOG



                                     Yea, Something Like This

Many traders think [especially newer ones that start losing money] that by being in a trade the market has a 100% certainty to go in the other direction.

“Geesh, if they would just pay me a decent salary, I’d trade my hunch [and lose money of course], and they could take the other side and make millions.”

So, in a perverted way, by being in the market, the dynamics of everything has shifted to screw you. It’s there until it isn’t and you’re in it. Funny how the universe works sometimes isn’t it?

                                     Who’s Controlling Who?

At the same time, most traders are conditioned like a lab rat to technical chart indicators. People in the marketplace make the trades that get them to react to their trades. And you don’t think the dealers and large hedge funds are paying attention? [I hear the laughter in my head, I swear.]

                         I Thought This Was Supposed To Be Easy?

So, you start your trading career with 35 different things screaming at you from 5 different directions, each telling you to do this or that. Layer on top of this clusterfark the opinions of the talking heads to really play into your bias, and you got enough goin’ on in your head to keep an abnormal psychology department at the local university in business for at least 10 years.

How many times have you looked at a chart and in your heart there was nothing but dread?

“Ohhh God, c’mon man, pleeeeeeeeeze don’t get me short. OK, I’m short – see, this is what I’m talkin’ about!! For cryin’ out loud, can’t you at least give me 5 minutes in the thing before you hit my stop?”

So, while they got you comin’ and goin’ like a hamster on a running wheel, you can’t even know whether your account is dead or alive.

Now, do some fancy exponentiation of this scenario, and you have new floor traders fresh from orientation hitting the trading pit.

“I swear, I’m just gonna follow this guy. People talk and say he knows tops and bottoms. Man I hope so; I never been sooooooo lost in my life.”

“How’s it possible for this guy to be swimming in money while I lose $500 for the day? I feel like I’m on a raft out in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean trying to find the Port of New York. THAT’S IT!! No more RSI for me; nope I’m goin’ to 1 minute MACD ‘cause it worked last week once.”

Lab rat, please take your cheese; and by the way, nobody knows or cares if you are either alive or dead. To the market you are both!

Today’s Action & Wrap Up

We came into the day in “buy mode”. Our first buy signal was at 2:55 AM [Chicago time] at 1649.50. Stop was placed at 1646.00, right below the most recent low at 1646.05. At 4:20 AM [Chicago time] we got a confirmation top [discussed in the manual and Appendix IV] at 1656.50. Gain on this trade was $ 7.00 / oz.

Ka-Chingggggggggggggg!!

 [My old friend, I have missed you these last few days! Please stay awhile and make yourself comfortable.]

So, net gain on the day is $ 7.00 / oz.

                                      My Old Friend Returns

Eat your heart out Skeptic Cat. Fact is you can see the signals right on your screen. Everybody that has the algorithm can see them. You don't, I'm sorry; don’t confuse your skepticism for truth.

Have a great day everyone!

-vegas

Important Update: Today I can add. The circus job I'll put on hold.