SAMMYDAVID

Your comments can be hilarious. Well, you're absolutely right, the ST trader would lose, and the LT trader would best have a stop near one of the wider trend lines. The only problem, how can one be sure the trend will often go upward? That's why it's important to check the chart history to see if there is a reasonable chance of a continuing upward or downward continuation, that is less likely to chop through one's stop.

And you're taking the mickey out of me....ah lah...IG would rather delete my posts coz I'm costing them money!😄

I've gone from AU$1,900 to AU$8,500 in about 4 weeks, using this strategy. I tried wider stops, as you mentioned...I end up going too deep in the red when the trade reverses. Closer stops take me out of the trades too soon. The strategy seems to walk the fine line between being in the trade long enough to make good profits, but short enough to get out of reversing trades quick. Not sure if this trading strategy is good when one is not using the leverage of CFDs?

I don't monitor these trades. I just adjust the stop once/trading session to the 15min/300SMA. The only other job is sifting through charts for future trades

The strategy I mentioned provides good short-term profits using the leverage of CFDs. Trade 1. CSL currently 600% in profit over about 3 weeks; Trade 2. Betashares Nasdaq 100 currently about 300% profit in about 3 weeks; Trade 3. short Nissan currently 300% profit in 2 weeks. I could trade slightly differently, as you mentioned, however it may not capture the same level of ST profits that I'm currently getting. I would also get out of losing trades quicker, with the closer stops in the 15min/300SMA

This is a ST swing trading strategy, not a LT buy and hold strategy

Some current trades I have on the ASX : 1. CSL, 2. Betashares Nasdaq 100 ETF On the Nikkei: a short trade....Nissan Motor Co I have other trades, but if you look at the above 3 chart histories using the timeframes I mentioned, you'll see they go for a long run without breaking the SMA line I stipulated. If the trade does break the 15min 300 SMA, I'm stopped out of the trade, often with a handy profit. The key being: only enter the trade if the chart setups are right to begin with. Taking the time to sift through the stocks/ETFs with the right chart setups is worth the return in the end

Forgot: this is swing trading and my continually adjusted stop is the 15min, 300SMA line. You can expect to be in the trades for 1 hour (if your unlucky) to weeks.

I'm making money with CFDs on stocks/ETFs on 15min time frames, with the 300SMA sloping strongly up, and the chart history showing the 300SMA rarely breaking. I also need to see an upward sloping 300SMA on a daily chart as well (history is not that important for the daily, as long as the current daily curve is up). I then check a momentum chart for the 15min and daily. If they look ok, then I take a trade. It's working for me at least (ASX stocks/ETFs worth at least 80cents). Also works for shorting downward sloping charts .

On the matter of how one positions oneself financially, due to this info, is interesting. I have a few accounts with a few different reputable financial institutions - that's one strategy in itself. Don't rely on one financial institution to keep your money safe. I have one CFD account with IG, and all positions have close stops. I have one account with Trade Station, where 50% is kept in cash and 50% devoted to Options. The last account... superannuation with ING - 50% gold stocks, 50% company stocks. The ING account is the one that's got the most risk. The reason...they don't have a stop-loss facility! Still, I'd rather be in the market than out, and adjust my account as news comes in.

Of course, these figures may just be a natural result of the closures due to the virus, along with the caution exhibited by businesses along with it. Nonetheless, I thought the article is worth bearing in mind. I was also listening to what Jim Rickards (a well known financial market expert in the US) pointed out about this situation: 1. There is every reason to believe, due to China's habit of lying, that the Corona Virus figures are seriously understated, and 2. That we should not dismiss the fact that Wuhan Province is home to China's biological warfare laboratories.

I think some of the following snippets from a macro article released 14/2, may be of interest to you all? Due to copywrite, I could only relay the max. 10% from "The Daily Reckoning Australia." Stocks might look fine — everything else does not Large sections of China are closed. Ports are closed. Airports are closed. Trains are closed. Major manufacturing hubs are frozen. Large masses of people can’t leave the country. Schools are closed. Fast food joints and restaurants are shut. The values of copper, iron ore, soybeans, wheat, and cotton are all down between 4.7–9.3% in the past four weeks, when official news said the virus was starting to spread… Energy has taken a big hit. In the same time, Brent crude and natural gas have fallen 18% and 17% respectively. Baltic Dry Index 2015–20 Source: Trading Economics [Click to open in a new window]

I'm not sure TA is useful for predicting index moves. Don't indices reflect the overall moves of their components? If so, then traders trading the indices aren't moving the price using their own evaluation of TA. The indices are moving according to their component moves. Furthermore, I think TA in general, can only be one part of the evaluation of price movement. That's because there are numerous TA reference points on a chart, that it begs the question, did a market move by hitting a TA target, or was it just a coincidental move?

It would be infuriating, but not for me, because I have a system that trades stocks unlikely to chop through their underlying MA. So, I ride the moment but have a close stop. Sorry, but it works! As mentioned, if you look at the recent charts of the stocks I highlighted, you'll see this to be true. Yesterday I was stopped out of Microsoft and collected about 140% profit after about 4 days (using CFDs). That's not infuriating. I'm also currently sitting on 500% profit on CSL after about 3 weeks. Don't short stocks, you say? I'm currently sitting on 60% profit shorting Nissan Motor over two weeks, and 20% profit shorting Royal Dutch Shell B over one week! What your saying about being stopped out would be correct if any old stock pick was used, but not for the stock picking strategy I use. And not when using CFDs, which supercharge short-term profit taking. I wouldn't get anywhere near these same % returns on vanilla shares.

Yes, thanks, Caseynotes. You're correct that I look for trending trades and ride them as long as possible. It's necessary to overcome the losses. I'm not sure that screeners can narrow down completely, what I look for, but screeners may be a good starting point. What's also key is having a stop strategy that's neither too close, nor too wide.