Adaptation

"Adaptation is the change in living organisms that allow them to live successfully in an environment. Adaptations enable living organisms to cope with environmental stresses and pressures. Adaptations can be structural, behavioral or physiological. Structural adaptations are special body parts of an organism that help it to survive in its natural habitat (e.g., skin colour, shape, body covering). Behavioral adaptations are special ways a particular organism behaves to survive in its natural habitat (e.g., phototropism). Physiological adaptations are systems present in an organism that allow it to perform certain biochemical reactions (e.g., making venom, secreting slime, homeostasis)." Wikipedia

Uncle Rain (RR) told me I need to adapt my trading to the current market conditions. He thinks I don't listen to him so let's keep this between us.

He told me this as I was on a multiple post rant on the lack of signals for me in crude oil. Ok maybe multiple post doesn't quite cover the extent of the rant. "The Thrill is Gone" does summarize it nicely though.

Anyway where was I, oh yes, adaptation. The question is do you change your trading plan to fit the current market conditions or do you sit on the sidelines and wait for the market to come back to you?

Hmmm.

Changing your plan could also be described as curve fitting. Continually looking backward to find parameters that would have worked and then hoping they still work when applied to the hard right edge of the chart.

Sitting around for days and days doing nothing also doesn't sound like intelligence in action. Or does it? The turtles used to play a lot of ping pong according to Curtis Faith. This is trading, trading is not normal, normal behavior doesn't work in this business. We all know that, if it did there would be more success stories.

I am a human. I have taken my human emotional brain and created a machine to trade with. The machine does what I told it to do. I told it this based on hundreds of trades and my experience in those trades.

The plan is the result of that work.

But, the market has changed since then.

The 5 day ATR in crude is pathetic. Since there is less range you should be able to use smaller stops and smaller targets and still maintain the 3:1 RR target.

The problem with that is I based my ATR, EMA, LSMA, ADX criteria on levels where we see rapid price movement. If I accept lower levels we have more sideways price action. In other words I don't believe the smaller stop would work.

Let's go back to that humanness. This is February 4th. January of 2009 was a pretty good month for me. LOL It sounds absurd now that I have written it down.

ITS FEBRUARY 4TH MORON!!

Four days into the month and you want to change what was 5 days ago a great plan and system.

Oh my.

I think I have my answer.

The best part is the less I trade the more I can come up with annoying posts in the EIT's trading room. I know how much they love that. They can't get enough of my witty banter.

I'm glad we had this talk.

I feel better now.

The Thrill is Gone

The thrill is most definitely gone. No signals, no trades.

I may never trade again.

Thomas J Barrack

More rational thought on the credit crisis from Tom Barrack.

Click and watch.

Bored Traders

What do you do when there is nothing to trade?

If you are an exceptional Irish trader and an exceptional Irish painter.

You paint.
If you can't paint?

You look for strange you tube videos.

That is, of course, after you finished lining your office walls with aluminium foil so the FBI cannot spy on you.

Of course.

If I don't get a trading signal soon we will be going back to the rather disturbing, The Shining, videos.

Although shuffle board does look like alot of fun.

"Make me a Trader II"

Hopefully I will have better things to do than watch videos today. I will trade the plan, I will follow the machine's orders, I will bathe in the warmth of my positivity.

"Make me a Trader"

This is an interesting piece of television, a British reality show on trading. Watch the emotion in these rookie traders. That very normal and oh so human emotion. I wonder if there is some way to surgically remove it?