practice, and practice. Repeat, repeat, and repeat again , do setups

How do you define Trading skill development:
A systematic program of learning that emphasizes pattern recognition, an understanding of market movement across time frames, intermarket relationships, sound execution of trade ideas, and risk management.

Am I deluding myself by following his assertion that successful trading is predominantly based on mindset--and that this is the key--this is all that has been missing from my previous trading ventures? I have spent years and thousands of $'s trying to educate myself as to trading systems, books, and methods. I thought that all I really needed to do was find a trading method that suited me - (my psychological makeup), something I could follow with a degree of self-confidence...Is there any hope that this might become a possibility?"

Let's try an experiment: Read the first two paragraphs of this post again, but this time substitute the words "play chess" for trade and "chess playing" for trading. Now read the paragraphs again and substitute the words "play golf" for trade and "golf playing" for trading. Do it yet again, imagining that our writer is an aspiring Broadway star, and substitute the words "act" and "acting".

Of course, the re-readings sound ludicrous: we know that there is far more to success in chess, golf, and acting than "mindset" and prefab "systems, books, and methods". The missing element? Skill development. Training. A systematic program of learning that emphasizes pattern recognition, an understanding of market movement across time frames, intermarket relationships, sound execution of trade ideas, and risk management.

The bottom line is that the answer to successful trading cannot be found in any coach, book, or system. Success is something that is cultivated over time, with directed effort. There is hope for our reader if he can identify his strengths and systematically learn to apply them to markets that capture his interest and motivation.

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In your opinion, what's the best way for a newbie to get up to speed, concentrating on the books in your recommended reading list or through online/live training? If the latter, do you have any specific recommendations?
Thursday October 22, 2009 12:03 Ed
12:05

Mr. K answer
You can read thousands of books, attend hundreds of seminars, subscribe to dozens of stock advisories and newsletters, but the best way to learn is by practice, practice, practice and then more practice, practice, and practice. Repeat, repeat, and repeat again.

The more setups you work on, the more practice trades you do, the faster your skill development. There's just no substitute for this and the time spent in that endeavor will do far more to build the skills you need than anything you can buy from others.
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asr: do historical setups with tradestation/esignal with ATR/Stocastic and do repeat of it.

Esignal simmulator - this seems good ( seems no equivalent in tredestation?)

features


One way to simulate the trading decisions we might have made at that time is through the use of eSignal’s bar replay mode. For those who haven’t used this handy tool before, check out the eSignal Central section on bar replay in November’s issue of the Exchange. We could, then, step through this trade advancing the bars, day by day, and play out the decisions along the way. At each critical juncture, we’d ask ourselves these questions at each step:

* What conditions are needed to trigger me into a trade?
* What’s my target price for this trade?
* Where will my stop be set?
* What would my limit order be for entry?

Some of these questions are better answered by using smaller charting intervals for better timing or even by using tick data for simulated bid / ask quotes. That brings us to another aspect of replaying data in eSignal.
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asr: as shown in these URL screens, keep DAILY chart and 30-MIN chart next to each other and play 30-min chart , place trades using Mr. K. "ATR no violation/Stocastic OS" . Also use "Vanate point VP" charts and "Innovo RMI" charts side to side screen to make better decision.
- since Innova is esignal add-on, it will work with bar by bar so no issue there. for Vantage point move back on data and see one day at a TIME
- also you can keep one more screen for 3 to 5 EMA ribbon also next so that will also help. In this way you can also have Track n Trade that provides Bar by Bar simulation with Bulls N Bears system .
- we can also have TradeGuider VSA on side with showing back data only (with scrolling ) to add decisions.

- the Key as Mr. K said it is identifying "historically repeated EDGE" patterns ( trend channel , ATR/SToc OS ) and practice on many charts , over a period of months data and find see if you are able to place correct trades ..
- to find historic BIG advance/decline stocks and DATES use the barchart.com link
-http://21cvision.blogspot.com/2009/09/historic-top-gain-loss-for-day.html
http://www2.barchart.com/pdecline.asp?date=051209 -- once you get these , you put on chart and see if any "ATR/stoch OS" and "trend channel" and how it bounnced in last 4 months etc.
- also we can ask Mr. K if he has old emails of "news letter" so that we can request those emails and get symbols form it .


The purpose of this tool is to give you a way to move to a previous point in time and have the chart react as if that point is current. As mentioned above, it lets you test your formulas and strategies with a full day’s worth of data.
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setting Alerts and acting on It

Q: If the market is moving fast and you have a lot of preset alerts going off on your stocks, what do you look at first in order to decide what you want to do next.
Thursday October 22, 2009 12:07 Tom K
12:09

Mr. K answer:
You're right, price alerts tend to come all at the same times because of large-scale movement in the market. The key here is to do your work when you set those alerts. You should have a file/database that you can refer to when those alerts are triggered with exact instructions on what to do at that point to avoid confusion, double-think, over analysis, and paralysis when the time comes.

In other words, I'm reminded of the saying that every war is won or lost by the preparation. And that is true for trading. If you're waiting until the alerts are triggered to then figure out what to do, you're dead! That's why having the game plan ahead and following that plan when the alerts occur is very important.
Thursday October 22, 2009 12:09
12:10
The time to think about the trade is when you set the alert, not afterwords. There are alerts I will set to remind me of a specific technical event (like a breakout or breakdown, moving average crossover, ATR violation, etc.) but when those events occur, I already know what I want to do with that signal (i.e. buy, sell, move a stock up to my short-term watchlist, and so on).