Today we will work backward from the trade plan back to how to develop a method for that plan.
You don’t have to develop your methods but never just depend on learning somebody else’s method as if all you had to do was follow instructions. You need to understand and make it your own. Even if you don’t want to design your methods, approach this as a learning exercise.
Let’s structure how to go about developing a method. First start with a bassline and then work your way through the process.
Start with a repeatable market structure pattern. You can also use an indicator, trendline, or whatever it is you relate to and can see.
Understand the essence of your pattern and use this as a bassline to develop from.
Structure objective trade rules around that pattern. How are you going to enter, place a stop, manage trade, and exit?
Once you have decided that you need discipline in your trading, knowing where to start can be difficult and overwhelming. There are many pieces to a trading plan, and it’s easy to feel overwhelmed.
You can break the task into manageable sections and master one discipline at a time, or focus on the the discipline you need. This approach makes the process more manageable and ensures that each aspect of your trading strategy is given the attention it deserves.
Trading Plan Components: Each of these sections should have objective rules so there isn’t any escape room: Method Rules Entry Rules Stop Rules trailing Stop Rules Exit Rules Journaling
We take on a discipline to do something we don’t naturally do or want to do. We set some rules that will be uncomfortable and ride out the restless energy.
Keep in mind that a good practice destroys itself, the whole point of a discipline is to get to the point where we don’t need the discipline anymore. That is called transformation and it takes time.
By being consistent with discipline over time, the reactionary impulses begin to die down and you will find yourself more balanced. This is where true intuition can begin to show up.
At some point, you might see where one of your strict rules doesn’t make sense for a trade and if you come from a balanced mindset, you can make a commonsense decision about it.
This kind of thing is testable if you have an objective method. You test your intuitive results against the objective method results. This is all a one-step forward, 2 step back kind of thing and takes time to develop. If you’re in a rush, this tells you you’re not balanced and need to keep the steady discipline.
We have all heard that it is a good idea to go with the flow of the market but what does that look like? It’s not enough to just read about flowing with the market, it must be practiced and experienced. We must acquire the skill of following markets up and down through its changes seamlessly.
A disciplined trading plan will have an objective method and will objectively define entry, stop, and management. Part of any good method is never wondering if the market is going up or down or about to turn, It’s doing what it’s doing. You want to independently know this information without having to check outside sources.
In the video, I show a simple way to practice using a 100-period moving average, but you can use anything you want as long as it is objective and follows the market. This is a letting go practice, a learning to change with change.
We have all heard that it is a good idea to go with the flow of the market but what does that look like? It’s not enough to just read about flowing with the market, it must be practiced and experienced. We must acquire the skill of following markets up and down through its changes seamlessly.
A disciplined trading plan will have an objective method and will objectively define entry, stop, and management. Part of any good method is never wondering if the market is going up or down or about to turn, It’s doing what it’s doing. You want to independently know this information without having to check outside sources.
In the video, I show a simple way to practice using a 100-period moving average, but you can use anything you want as long as it is objective and follows the market. With just a few rules we can use, the moving average to tell us if the market is up and we are looking for longs, if the market is down and we are looking for shorts, or if it’s neutral and we are neutral. This is a letting go practice, a learning to change with change.
In this video, I follow up on the trend line exercise I introduced in the last post. The exercise is designed so that you can learn about markets and price flow in your own experience. There is beauty and harmony in each chart that shows the footprints of the buyers and sellers.
To most people, the price action on a chart looks chaotic. It’s not chaotic, you need to learn how to look, and how to see. This is the beginning of designing a structured method for trading and it starts with some openness and curiosity.
This trend line practice isolates 2 confirmed swings with the same size reaction legs. By identifying two same-sized swings, we have found some organized volatility and behavior. We can then participate in that continued behavior or have a way to know when it changes.
In this video, I set up a trading plan and introduce a trend line exercise you can practice in any market and in any time frame. There is no one right way to draw a trend line, it’s a matter of function and what you are trying to see. We will be drawing a trend line off two relative (same size swings). This will identify the footprints of organized volatility on a chart.
This exercise is designed so that you can learn about markets and price flow in your own experience. Its objectives are:
Learn to isolate relative market structures.
Learn to set yourself aside and follow price no matter what price is doing.
Allow the practice and price flow to teach you.
We first need to make some objective swing definitions:
Confirmed Swing High/Low: A new high confirms a swing low and a new low confirms a swing high.
Balanced/Relative Swing: Same size reaction legs.
One Line Practice Instructions:
Identify two confirmed relative swings
Anchor a trend line at the two lows and make observations (not expectations) about how price interacts with the line.
Always follow the last two relative confirmed swings with the trend line.
Draw a box across the top of each swing and observe how price interacts with the boxes.
By identifying two same-sized swings that confirmed new highs, we have found some organized volatility and behavior. We can then participate in that continued behavior or have a way to know when it changes.
When you make a trading rule, it’s not a suggestion or an option. Mostly, when we want to be flexible with our rules, it’s an emotional impulse pulling us to make some unbalanced trading decision. Make sure to keep closing every escape route you have. If you are not ready to commit to rules then don’t make them, you will just be setting yourself up. Wait until you are ready, then have a go at it.
In my posts, I have been doing an exercise of trade planning for 30 trades. This is a complete plan covering every aspect of the trade. Today I will do a review of the trades done so far.
Components of a Trade Plan:
Objective method
Trade entry, stop, and exit
Position sizing and risk management
Documentation and review
The review is simple, I ask 2 basic questions.
Did I make a clear plan ahead of time?
Did I follow that plan?
These questions demand honest, yes-or-no answers. They force me to confront my trading discipline head-on, without room for excuses or escape. At first, the rules may seem confining, but after a while, you will see that trading can be very relaxed.
I understand that rules for every aspect can be overwhelming. You can do it in steps tackling one thing at a time. For instance, you can work on only entries, stops, or management until you master that one thing. Setting the foundations of discipline and consistency won’t offer immediate gratification but it will serve you in the long run. What’s important is that you keep moving forward toward your objectives with awareness.
There are 5 basic ways to trade a Gap or any line. In this video, I discuss two ways to enter the market using a Gap. The Gap entry techniques by themselves are of little use, but if we make a few distinctions in market structure and the process of a swing cycle, they can become functional.
Swing cycles have a process that they go through. As long as we understand that process we can view Gaps in the light of where they happen in that process. I’m going to focus on these two Gap entry techniques in the lower portion of the reaction leg at the bottom pivot of a swing. The Gaps are what make up the pivot portion of the swing.
If you observe markets and swings you will often see this distinct pivot portion of a swing, it looks like a U at the bottom of a reaction leg.
This is the first in a series of posts on Gaps. Gaps are the expansion that comes after a contraction. It’s a sudden supply/demand imbalance that shows up in the price bars of a chart. Gaps show us a significant area of buyers/sellers that take control and when they lose that control.
In the video, I discuss and define a Wide Range Bar (WRB) Gap and show how to mark it out on a chart. A WRB Gap is a bar larger than the last 3 bars with a space between the previous bar and the subsequent bar. We will be marking the base of the gap. If it’s an up Gap, mark out the bottom 1/3 of the bar, if it’s a down gap, mark out the upper 1/3 of the bar.
We can then make observations about how price interacts with the base of this gap when or if it gets there. Then we can notice where in the swing process the Gap is happening. Don’t make conclusions, just observe and learn.
There are many ways to trade Gaps but first, we must first lay out some foundations and then come up with objective ways to see them. For now, simply look for the biggest ugliest bars on your chart and mark them out, and observe. These are footprints we can follow and track
When it comes to learning about markets and trading, finding the right path and committing to it is the hardest part. The right path has little to do with any technical analysis method. It has to do with structuring our mental framework so that we fundamentally change how we experience markets, trading, and loss.
In the video, I show some Median Line and Action/Reaction work but this work is useless by itself. No tool is good or bad, they are just tools we use to comprehend markets. The problem arises when the tools start using us and we think there is some kind of magic to them.
The essence of our strategy should be to structure our methods and mindset toward functionality. The journey we should commit to is one marked by fostering accountability and responsibility in all our actions. The swing trade Idea I show takes a method and structures it into function.