sOb ... hey man, you aren't the only man having a rough time in this market, there's some really bright professionals having their heads handed to them day after day after day ... so what I'm saying is, at this very moment, it's more important to survive until the markets get easy again.
You do remember how much fun (the laughter, the camaraderie, the hijinks) we had last fall when the endless stream of money flowed in? Moves like that aren't common, so don't expect it everyday-- what you should expect is a non-trending sloppy market at least 70% of the time.
Tricks of the trend:
* The direction-- up, down or is it sloppy?
* The strength-- gauged by the ADX.
* The level of volatility-- high volatility days are common at turning points; a strong trend tends to have low volatility.
How do you trade sloppy markets?
* My preference is to use a Stochastic indicator and a set of Bollinger Bands.
* Buying the dips and selling the pops.
* Look for simple patterns like double bottoms.
How do you trade a trend?
* Use moving averages, I like the 20-35-50 combo, its one of my favorites.
* buy into strength and sell weakness, "buying the dips" is not trend following.
* And above all else, watch your ADX indicator.
Anyway, I'm not sure if there was a question in there-- but if there was I'm hopeful there was something tangible in my response.
Take care.
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