First bar trade...didn't trigger...BUT.....

The rules are simple.....if the low of the first 3m bar is taken out without taking out the high then you short on the close. Simple rules.......
But in the real world, like this morning in the chat room some of us smart guys took a short when it went below the low of the setup bar. Of course, it was a LOSER....yes there are losers in trading....OK.

There were some problems with this trade right out of the box and here they are....now you should do a case study on this and see if you find any solid ideas on how to trade this setup for yourself.
1. The ticks confirmed the up gap.
2. The ema of the trin was pointing down and the trin was .64.
3. The spread had opened green and was getting stronger.

But I take the trade, some days I am the cat, some days the mouse....but managed right I will never be the CHEESE.........

It has to be perfect.....not second best........

While I was in Denver at the workshop the beams came for the second level. According to the contract they were to be big and not cut on the end so we could custom fit them but they came notched. You can see my contractor on the phone to me in Denver as he had called my dear sweet wife and asked her what to do about these beams. After she saw them, she told him to call me and I flew back to straighten yet another mess out.


The beams were about 50% under size and the notch was not even close to the main support beams they were to sit on.


So I drove up to Butler, TN near the Cherokee National Forest and found the right ones, 24-30 inch at the butt and at least 28 feet long. The sawmill cut a flat spot on each log that I had marked and then delivered them within 48 hours. We used the Bobcat to move this monster logs around so the crane could lift them over to the house.


Each beam was lifted over and placed near their support posts, we also moved all the joist for the third floor plus fireplace units and so on. If you look real close, by clicking on the pic, you can see a security guard sitting on the wall watching everything.....we have one there now 24/7, 365. The is even his little security shed, so he can watch the cameras that are all over the place. You can't pick your nose anymore without being followed by a X10 camera......


Of course, the crane operator can't hear anything, well except LUNCH, so everyone has to use hand signals to direct the materials in place. Today, 10-10-05, we had a tree expert from the University of Tennessee who works with the national park and state forest service come over and check out the trees and brush that were damaged during the fire. We lost 6 hemlock, 1 chesnut oak and the worse loss was the American Chesnut tree that was about 11 inches at the butt. We will now remove all the dead trees, logs, stumps and brush over the next week or so that you can see in the background.


So each log was cut to fit perfectly and sit just right on their support post. This took an extra 3 days to complete, but was worth every minute.


You can see the difference between the second picture of the notched beam compared to the ones done on site. This little setback cost me about 9k, but I canceled the balance of the contract with the first supplier. WHY, because he didn't follow the contract(or plan)....and when you don't follow your trading plan, bad things seem to happen. What does building a house and trading have in common.....the same as football and trading......have a plan and stick with it...or it's BYE BYE BABY

There's GOLD at the end of the road!!!!!!!......

IF you have a simple trading plan, with some solid rules you can follow then there is a golden road to happiness. The problem is finding your own road......just remember one thing.

When things get tough, always remember....
Faith doesn't get you around trouble, it gets you throught it!!!!!

A trading friend of ours sent this and other great pics....THANKS.

First bar trade....is it the Energizer Bunny...it just keeps on going...

So we shorted the ER, when it took out the first bar low, held for the gap close and then when it took out the high of the last 3m bar we covered......Not a bad trade since it has not lost money this month yet......according to several in the TradersHaven over on Hotcomm.com Relay chat room.

CSCO trade did not trigger on that setup so we will continue to look for new ones.
NTAP did trigger off....and is up 27 cents in a down market.....go figure.......

Well how about another one ......stocks that is.

I smell a rally here also, so let's see if we get a trigger and get up to 25.14, take half off and let it ride baby........

Haggerty 123 with a .786 retracement......

Stock stuff.......I smell a rally.....

I am always scanning for stock plays and maybe an option play.......
I found this bear crown that I wrote about in Active Traders mag back in Jan, 2004.
So Tuesday, we hope to buy this little puppy since it has retraced .618 from the last cycle high, looking for a first target of $17.85 if we can get a fill. Will update this trade as it unfolds......but looking for a run in this stock, until the second week of November, or a 10% profit on the first half. SO, if we get a trigger, then it rocks and rolls up a buck seventy will take half off, move to BE and see what we can get during the second week of November.....

This should not be taken as trading advice....just track it.....if these trades workout, then there might be a trading service/chat room down the road for those who believe.......

If you feel you were born to lose.....then this is for you baby!!!!!

Wonder if you belong, think you’ve got it down
Does it still feel the same, now that losing is back around
Born to lose, born to lose, make your mind up no fooling round
Now that I know, I could never be, I would never be more then the losing one.

Wonder how it all began, as if that mattered anyway
There’s few winners you’re always wanting, every single day
Born to lose, born to lose, make your mind up no fooling round,
Now that I know, I could never be, I would never be more then the losing one.

Born to lose, born to lose, make your mind up no fooling ’round
Now that I know, I could never be, I would never be the only one.

I am always testing, testing, logging, more testing, research, thinking outside the box, then back to more testing. This little system had 264 trades this year so far, with that it is only producing 32.58% in the perfect world (no slippage and perfect entries), out of that it lost 118 of those trades, broke even on 60 trades and only had 86 winners.

Worse, then that it had 8 consecutive losers in a row, that is "8" losers. But the dang thing still has a net profit after commission for the year. The toughest part of this business is the between the ears, you know, when you enter a trade...you EXCEPT a positive out come...or why on earth would you take the trade in the first place. Most of us, in one fashion or another have come to trading from the business community and held upper level management positions or were business owners. So we don't take being wrong lightly, if at all. In fact, I believe the more education you have the worse you will trade, mainly because you think you are smarter then the rest of us and that leads to opinions and a bias. Which is a deadly combination for sure.

But if you use the proper money management and trade management you can in fact be wrong two thirds of the time and still reach your objective. Oh yea, just for fun what is the highest batting average in the majors this year?

MORE CONCRETE..........oh yea baby

We had scheduled to have someone come in an dig out for the final set of retaining walls in front of the house. So we only delayed that process by 3 weeks as Clint came in and started digging out the footers.


It didn't take the 4 amigos long to get it leveled, graded and put the rebar in place, 8 feet wide with #8 rebar. While the 4 amigos were doing the retaining walls, the second floor framing was going up also.


I still have nightmares about concrete and here we have two more trucks loads of 4,000 psi concrete being unloaded. The best thing I can say is that we didn't have to have this pumped, which is about 150 bucks an hour.


After the 5 days of curing time, we had went up another 10 feet with the ECO block.


How much rebar can one guy use in a retaining wall.....well don't ask...:) In both sides of the front walls we used over 2,100 feet of the dang stuff. Cut to length, bent were needed and then put in place and tied.


Followed with more concrete, we used a belt truck so we could delivery the concrete right into the forms. It's not as easy as it looks trying to control the end of the shoot.


After the concrete is poured, we had to wait 5 days before we could start to move higher, this gave the concrete time to set and cure about 90% or so......but it didn't take long for us to get to the last row of ECO blocks...the last row forEVER.


Once we were near the top of the wall, we also had loads of 57 run hauled in...17 of them were used to get up the right level. With french drains and spouting drains in place the next thing will be put the footers in for the porch. So the end of an era is here....no more concrete...and no more 57 run........we used 304 truck loads of that crap and 146 loads of concrete.....average 8.1 yards per truck.....Good grief

Check out today's hot trading website.....

When you have time check out some of the work that Globetrader has done.....here is the link:

http://globetrader.blogspot.com/

Enjoy......:)

The mother of all trees.......can we save her?????

The day that we set the 14 tons white pine tree that was 46 feet long and 52 inches at the butt wide, we are so proud. I mean this is a center piece to the entire house, the stairway.


The tree was set on it's pedestal ever so gently, then it was plumbed, leveled and squared to the floor and roof system that was under way.


Then came August 2nd and at 9:14 the first call came into 911, then the second, the third, and by morning everything had changed. When we got back from vacation in Spain, this was how the tree looked. Laying on it's side.


Nothing was left, nothing could be saved, it was a total loss. The bridge in the upper right hand corner did not receive any damage, but everything else had gone up in smoke.


No that is not something from outer space, just Brady giving me the thumbs up about the tree. They had been trying for 2 days to see if this gem of the Cherokee National Forest could be saved. The amount of ash was just unreal, there was ash dust everywhere as they used power washers, air compressors, wire brushes, grinders, whatever they could think of to work some magic.


Of course, Brady's best friend Kim was not in any mood to have her picture taken looking like a West Virginia goal miner, but what a great job they both did.


After 4 days, it was decided that the tree not only could be saved, but during the process it actually developed more character. The tree of all trees is going to be placed back on it's pedestal were it belongs.....and very soon as we will never give up on a dream....NEVER....NEVER.....NEVER!!!!!!

Trade Station was a bust....BUT the rest of it was great.

So we went to Vegas for the Trade Station World Conference and three days of eatin, shows, shopping and the slots. We used to own a 60's burger, shake and fries joint and are always singing those songs.....The kids know them all by heart from being around me. I had decided to take them to see Bobby Vinton while we were in Vegas this time...LIVE.
What a great evening we had as the Wynn was able to get us back stage passes. His backup singers are his 3 daughters and a daughter in law, along with his son, Chris who is the band director.
His mom even came out and did two songs and danced a little and being 79 that was a special treat.
I guess the best part of the entire show was during the 4th song when his oldest daughter sang ROCKY TOP....and clogged. Roses are Red, Blue Velvet, Lonely and for over 90 minutes the songs just kept coming......


One of our favorite groups from that time period was the Coasters, and they were in town also, so off to the Sahara we went. We had known Cornell Gunter of the Coasters even before they came to our burger, shake and fry joint were they always drew good crowds. It was a gas, because we had front row center tickets and when Early came out and started to sing, he looked down, saw us sitting there and gave us a big kiss with a smile ear to ear........as the show went on, he actually came down and sang POISIN IVY to my youngest daughter. After the show, we met up with them, they changed and we all went out for a late night snack.

Not going to post all the pictures but Dolly was at the House of Blues on Saturday and we also went to see KA at the MGM. I guess that is why a 3 day trip turned into 5 days.....we had to come back home because we just couldn't sit down for another meal out there.....I would get up early and look at my charts, take the first bar trade...and when it was over the girls asked me how I did...WE ARE STAYING ANOTHER DAY with a high five, they would reply...MORE SHOPPPING ..... .... enjoying life and spending time with my kids.....hope you all had great trading days and spend time with YOUR FAMILY AND FRIENDS while you can...PEACE

First bar trade.....AGAIN

WEll, I didn't trade today since I had a pile of meeting up on the hill about the house and only have one word about today.......you can choose the words...
1. Dang it not again.
2. NICE.
3. Wish I could just take that trade someday.
4. That trade never works, I went long.
5. Thank you to whoever went long.
6. Good grief batman that was just to easy.
7. YAWN
8. I would have taken it, but the CCI on the 29 minutes chart (trying to front run the 30 minute people) was a HFE and the CCI on the 13 minute chart (trying to front run the 15m people) was a HFE also. SO, I didn't go short because it looked like a 3 minute ghost or vegas trade was setting up, not sure which one that was but since neither didn't work I guess it's a moot point. GREAT TRADING EVERYONE ELSE....:(

Steve Matrox....another one of the Guru Masters....

So I get about 20 emails, offering me the greatest thing since peanut butter wrapped in chocolate. Well, after 6 months of getting these emails about once a week, I decide to check it out......after all just 50 slots are open and I have to hurry or could be left out...RIGHT????????


I mean this guy has finally cracked the forex code and I read everything....you know he is the greatest....he has the best....his system is beyond even his own wildest dreams...on and on the BSski goes....


He even shows a trading desk and WOW I thought....I wish I had that to trade with!!!
Hey wait a minute, I DO......THAT IS MY TRADING DESK.....right down to the UT orange cell phone on the bottom left of the 50" Pioneer monitor. Heck, there is even a UT sticker in the middle of the cabinets just above the center of the 50" Pioneer monitor. I am blown away, here I have the mother of all systems and didn't even know it........SO here is my trading desk.....of course, I failed to chop off the sides...this is the full picture that this ASS WIPE STOLE....I have two daughters, one that goes to Penn State and one that goes to UT......oh yea there is the PSU and UT sports stuff all over the walls.....NICE....and you can see if you click the chart open that the spread is there ......WHAT KIND OF BS IS HIS GUY PRETENDING.


So what else is this Market Guru not telling everyone? I mean if his system called out 15 out of 16 winning trades live and everyone had a ton on money, then why would he have to post a picture of my trading desk he stole from a chat room either from CB or the Woodwinder. I emailed Mr. Matrox about this...and have ever gone a reply.....So what can a guy do, when someone steals his stuff........Oh yea, just one other side note to this......it seems Mr. Matrox had a run in with the CFTC, is that why he is now selling his BSski system using the un-regulated FOREX...

Maybe the Woodwinder and the brown shirts can answer that one? Put down the bottle of wine....and sober up for a change.

Some might think that this is another new great idea.

I have, for years and years, been trading the first 3m bar, but some might think it's new....well here a post that was sent to me that I did in late March....Enjoy.

First Trade of the day...everyday 3-28-05
Far far away and long time ago there lived this guy who had dreams of great wealth and all he had to do was trade the futures. But before long, as we walked through the forest of indicators, oscillators, market gurus and elliot wave he stopped trading. The stress of taking the next trade, hoping it would work, praying that this one was not another loser and there were losers...lots and lots of them, "Robert the trader" (name is being withheld to protect the next to kin)turned into "Bob the analyst". Sitting in front of 8 screens with 12 different time frames, 9 different markets, 11 different indicators, 6 oscillators plus the wave count. Was that a 5 inside a bigger three...or the end of a 2....SCREAMmmmmmm.
Checking charts and filters just to make sure it was the perfect setup, but by that time the market had moved and he ended up buying the top.

See "Robert the Trader" had turned into "Bob the analyst" not because he wanted to, but because his defense system in his brain would not allow him to take trades anymore because of the stress and pain involved. The brain had shut down Robert ability to trade because of one thing.....FEAR AND GREED.

Then came an idea, what if I went to Chicago and watched the floor and out of the forest and into the windy city Robert and Bob went. What they saw was amazing, people screamming at each other, spiting, steping on each other. It was called order flow. Here was a room full of people trading without charts, indicators and oscillators and elliot wave. They just watched price and order flow.

So back to the forest Robert and Bob went, but they decided that tomorrow they would wait for the first bar to close and sell the low or buy the high. The chart below is from today.


Bar #1 is the first bar of the day on a 3 minute chart with the high of 618.20 and a low of 317.20.
Bar #2 is an inside bar, which just means that neither the high or the low of the last bar was taken out. Setup is still valid.
Bar #3 the price took out the 618.20 high of the setup bar (the first bar) and we went long, placing a stop under the low plus a tick. (617.10)
Once the price closed above the entry bar we trailed the stop.
Bar #4 this is where the bar went below the low of the last bar and we take half off and move to breakeven.

So the rules are simple, even if you are from Alabama.
1. The first bar is called the setup bar.
2. When the high of the setup is taken out without taking out the low of the setup bar. Go long......if the low of the setup is taken out without taking out the high Go short.....
3. Place a stop at the low of the setup bar or a tick or two below the setup bar.
4. When the close of the current bar closes above the high of the entry bar trail a stop.
5. When the stop is hit, take half off and move to breakeven or cover the entire trade.

What happened was that Bob left the world of trading and started selling indicators, oscillators and elliot wave and Robert got the monkey off his back and is building a new castle up on the mountain......

Just one more side note to this, remember the article about Bor"sell"ino and at one time he was doing 10% of the volume in the S&P500.....Thanks Lewis, I enjoyed you being my order flow.....ROTFL.

Email are coming in by the hundreds now......ok maybe just this one.....ROTFL

Oh I got an email from a fan......and of course......they don't understand the first bar trade.....you only need price to take the first bar trade....why can't everyone understand that there are 3 types of trades that I use in my trading plan.....
1. First 3m bar.
2. Ideal setup.
3. Scalpers setup.

Here is the email from a fan....I THINK

Date: Sun, 2 Oct 2005 07:14:33 -0700 (PDT)
Yahoo! DomainKeys has confirmed that this message was sent by yahoo.com. Learn more
Subject: Your Blog
To: dbolze@yahoo.com

So you say that you don't need a secret coded sidewinder system, you don't need indicators...you just need price bars. Over and over and over again you preach to keep it simple.
I concede that you may be one of the most profitable traders on the board, but simple it is not. Dennis, you are a big fraud.
You use Trin and Tick and Ticki and Prem and CCI and double-smoothed Stoc and UVOL and DVOL and Keltner and LSMA and Ergodic and Fibonacci and a sweet wife who will stand up to your bullying ways and ensure that your trades are covered objectively according to your trading plan and not your whims.
You get no takers on your trading challenge because it is obvious that the contest would be rigged in your favor
To convince me that it is a good-faith challenge, the contest would have to involve a single product such as the Russel (which you presently trade) , just price bars alone without accoutrements, and no sweet wife to ensure discipline (you frequently preach that discipline is the most important part of trading).The contest should be a demonstration of trading skill and not a battle of indicator crutches. And to cut down on the variables of slippage, commissions, and deep pockets, a specific amount of contracts to be traded en toto, perhaps no more than 50 ( that is per session, not per trade)
I enjoy reading your blog, especially about your home-building experiences. I would also enjoy reading your thoughts about trading with just the price bars, and perhaps no more than 1 or 2 other accoutrements.

I did enjoy the crack about my wife and my bullying ways......I guess you never met my wife then. I watch the markets which includes a number of stocks and we do a few options from time to time besides trading the futures. My wife and I are a team and we enjoy working together for a common goal.....

About using the internals......and stoch along with some other toys.....those each a cetain function.....the scalping type of trade, I use mostly the internals.....

But for the ideal setup I use time and price squaring (fib numbers) along with the ECO higher time frame, the stoch to find a good safe low risk trade.

As far as a trading challenge, and it being stacked in my favor......WELL HECK YEA....you spend all day waiting for the perfect setup..stacking the odds in your favor don't you.......why won't a trading challenge be the same way, I am not going to waste my time playing game........ANY MORE.

About being a big fraud......well just one thought on that!! Why do you continue to read the blog.....why haven't you put my nickname on ignore.....what indicator did I sell you....what system did I sell you....what books did I sell you....what data provider do you have to subscribe to, that I require to be part of the gang..... I have only shared a "few" ideas about trading and gave that all away to anyone who found value in them after they "took the time to study them". If it doesn't or didn't work for you that is fine.....MOVE ON TO BOB.......his number is 888-272-7652.

This morning my first bar trade again kicked butt.....and if you didn't take it that is fine with me.
If you took it and made some money, that is fine with me.
If you counter-trend trade it, that is fine with me also and thanks for the order flow.

When I finished my new house, there is a 3,000 square foot conference room for us to get together and trade live for 3-5 days, if you like. COST.......there won't be any cost except for your motel room, gettin here and buying your own dish of banana puddin......OH YEA .....PEACE BRO....

The "Golden Boy" of Chicago ..........times are a changing

NEWS ALERT: IMMEDIATE RELEASE: WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 28, 2005, CHICAGO, IL:
The Chicago Mercantile Exchange said Tuesday it fined Lewis Borsellino, one of its most combative characters, $50,000 and ordered him to sell his membership for allegedly trying to avoid making good on several losing trades.

The action means Borsellino, 48, won't be swinging his fists on the trading floors anytime soon. He was known for getting into scrapes with others in the pits and his track record at the Merc includes several minor infractions, mostly along the lines of "conduct that impairs the dignity'' of the exchange.

In 1999, Borsellino published a book about his career titled The Day Trader: From the Pits to the PC. It actually contained little about day trading and more about his pugilism and the challenges he faced growing up as the son of Tony Borsellino, a reputed mob hit man who himself was assassinated.

Duked it out for prime space

The trader's tales of winning slugfests to gain coveted standing areas in the pits irritated Merc bosses, who were intent on burnishing the image of futures trading in preparation for making the exchange a public company.

In its decision posted Tuesday, the Merc said Borsellino tried to avoid responsibility for several trades in 2001 and 2003 and impeded an arbitration that eventually led to restitution. In ordering him to sell his membership, the Merc barred him from reapplying for three years.

Borsellino, who agreed to the findings without admitting wrongdoing, said the decision won't crimp his style much. He said he's been retired from futures trading for two years and won't come back. He now spends time developing retirement communities Downstate.

Also, Borsellino is pursuing a lawsuit against Gerald Putnam, chief executive of the Chicago-based Archipelago stock exchange, which is being absorbed into the New York Stock Exchange. Borsellino accused Putnam of cheating him out of an interest in the business that became Archipelago.

He's claimed that he used to account for 10 percent of daily volumes in the S&P futures pits. But that business has migrated from open-outcry pits to computers.

Borsellino admitted he's not fond of the transition.

"I don't even look at the markets anymore," he said. "I've done it for so long, I'm done. And there's no volatility.''

Asked if the penalties were the Merc's payback for past actions, Borsellino said, "I don't know what motivates the individuals in the compliance department. It is a source of revenue now and it has a big budget.''

A Merc spokesman declined to discuss the case, following the policy for disciplinary announcements.

Borsellino remarked that the old Wild West-image of trading is obsolete and mused about the day when the Merc builds a display to show what open-outcry was like.

"I'm sure they'll make me a dummy in the wax museum,'' he said.

Vegas was once and open town for interesting behavior then the corps took over....seems the CME (a public company) is going the same route.....times they are a changing.......the first ones now will later to last.......PEACE BABY

We all live in loops.....

We have decided to stay another day in Vegas since we are having a great time seeing shows, shopping and of course.....THE FOOD. So many places and so little time.

I was thinking, not sure why, about loops....not fruit loops but loops....ROTFL. In Trade Station when you want to trigger a trade that has setup, but then you got an inside bars, well you have reference back "X" number of bars...as long as it is printing inside bar after your setup bar.......that process is called looping.

But I got to thinking about the prop trading room I was in on Friday watching and talking to some of the traders there. I am been in trading rooms in Boca, Ft Lauderdale, Orlando, Chicago over the past year or so and there is a common thread amoung all of them and it's has to be looping.

Well, you know what goes around comes around....my circle of friends....the circle can't be unbroken...and on and on. In our business, it's easy to get into a loop or circle...and endless circle at times. Those of us in TradersHaven for example, are a tight little group trading one way so to speak, then you the Duke of Wood who has his followers trading another way and there are hundreds of these rooms on Paltalk, MIRC, Present Express, Hotcomm, Yahoo and on that goes. Each believing they have it all figured out. But in the real world, a big as the Woodchipper was before "THE CHEESE" blow his doors off....only 10, maybe 15 ever heard of the room must less anybody else....they were in their own little loop with their own fellow friends or traders.

Back in early 2003, I found the Woodwinder, by accident, I already had developed my style of trading, had my trading plan in place along with my money management and trade management but I had ever looked at the indicator because it was available in every software package out there ...and for FREE.....but the idea of using this indicator AFTER you entered a trade against price was a God sent. You have the perfect setup, it triggers and you enter the trade......then WHAT. Well, if the price doesn't move while the CCI moves.....then the odds of this being a successful trade goes down big time. So by using it to just measure the momentum coming in against price worked like a charm. Now I don't like the Bollingers Band at all, but it can also do the same thing. Once I had figured out what was actually going on, I had to personally back away and as time has moved forwarded, what I talked about in April of 2004 has become clearer then ever and many others have also moved into other loops.....

I currently have several loops that I travel in every day....my family, the church crowd, couple of charities, couple of little people and their moms, contractors and workers, UT sports, music, and those who I know trading. I also believe that it's important not to find yourself in just one loop,......it's important that you don't just watch the news, sit at your computer trying to trade and don't go outside and met people and be involved in other things. First, I think you might become a little paranoid...and second you might obtain a false bias or opinion that you will try to express in the markets....that is deadly for sure.

BobCathy was right in one sense, except she really didn't know me personally when she told me to get out and talk to people.....but that is OK. I'm sure the information she had at hand might also have had a slant on it or a hidden agenda.

Everyone wants to know how to find the holy grail.......but the HOLY GRAIL is not in your charting package.......It's entirely something else, and once you find it....NO ONE CAN TAKE IT AWAY.....

Double YAWN.....

Ever wonder why it seems that people (using a fake name...well duh) bust on me all the time. Well, it's easy to explain in a sense, take the first bar trade. You don't need "ANY" indicators, you don't need any certain trading platform a secret coded sidewinder system or the galaxy universal world super daytrading system.......you just need price bars. So what would they have to sell? What deals could they arrange if all you needed was just price bars. WELL ZIP!!!!
So they spend their time giving me crap so I maybe I will go drift off into cyperspace. WELL,..........by now you should know the answer to that one.

The first bar today had an inside bar during the 9:34 to 9:36 time period, just meaning that neither the high or the low of the first bar was taken out. The rule is after the first bar has printed, if the low is taken out without taking out the high then go short. Since neither were taken out....It's still a valid setup.
Of course, the next question is always, Well Dennis how many inside bar until the setup is voided? ANSWER: Until the market closes. The most I have ever seem is 7 inside bars.......

As far as "your" data not being the same as mine....so your chart are a little different I can only tell you this:

1. Not all computers are the same.
2. Not all computers have the exact same software open during trading.
3. Not all computers process data the exact same.
4. Not all internet providers tranmit the data the same.
5. Dail up doesn't provide the same data as cable.
6. Cable doesn't provide the same data as DSL.
7. If everyone in the neighborhood is on their computers then the cable is different.
8. DSL doesn't provide the same data as a T-1.
9. Not all data providers send the exact same data.
10. and so on.

I use a T-1 full 24 channels to run my FT and TS. There isn't any chat room or chat rooms, browsers any other software packages on the computers that could even be open during trading hours.

Today I was at a prop trading firm in Vegas and as I walked around looking at what those traders were using.....all but 2 were out on the internet playing at some guru website. One trader was short and when I asked him why he said it was because of the all the bad news in the world the market had to sell off.....I didn't take the time to even ask his name........he is just order flow since he was short from yesterday and had moved his stop up a couple of times instead of taking the direct hit.

The rest were also playing around and no one had any logs to take notes and no one really had a clue of what they should be doing........SO I wished them well and went over to the Trade Station World International Universal Cruz Conference and ate a blueberry muffins and washed it down with 3 day old coffee.

There were only 14 booths at the conference once you took out the CBOT, CME, Traders Press and the rags. It took me almost 4.3 minutes to walk around the entire exhibit hall. It would have taken me less time, but I spotted another blueberry muffin and just had to give it to my "BELLYYYyyyyy".

After nine years of day trading, it was interesting to see and hear the pitch as you walked by the booth. Nexgen had 6 people to serve you the best curve fitting "after market" software out there. The charts had over 17 different things on it to give you the EDGE........so call today and I am sure they will send it out.....looked like they could use some business....ROTFL.

YAWN...........

Well, as I get ready and finish packing for the Trade Station Conference in Vegas....anyone want to meet me out there and trade live.........I'll be at the Wynn.

The first bar trade again was just a yawner right to the ATM machine.....took out the low of the first 3m bar........my indicator got oversold on the 70t...half off moved to BE.....and then trailed the stop using the 3m high of the last bar......and as I write this I am still short.

The prem spike this morning after 9:42 this morning was again to the down side, so hope no one is buying this.....well at least until "YOUR" ideal setup ......sets up....
You all have fun now..........

First bar trade did it again...and so did the first prem spike print....

The first bar trade is a simple idea that everyone seems to have trouble with. The chart on the right is a 3 minute ER chart and the chart on the left is a 70 tick chart of the ER. The chart in the middle is the prem, tiki and tick on a 1 minute chart.

The market opens and I wait until 9:33 and then will take the breakout of the first bar. Today was a classic because it had two inside bars after the first bar printed.
That just means those bars did not take out either the high or the low during each of their 3 minutes.

When it took out the low, without taking out the high on the same bar, then I shorted and used 652.5 for a stop. Why there???? well the first up spike in the tiki was at the time and price(POINT "B") .....so why just use the high of the first bar or a fixed stop......keeping the risk small is important.

Then around 9:42 again we had the first bar after 9:42 outside the KC which again was to the down side.....and look how the day unfolded......

The interesing point was the 50CCI had a nice ZLR on the open. However, with the spread being in the green I had to view this as a type 3 trade setup or a scalp instead of an ideal setup. But that is OK....

If you are using some kind of RSI, STOCH or some other OSC........then when it is oversold....move to breakeven take half off and use the 3m high as a trailing stop......that is how I have fun every morning....GREAT TRADING.
Develop a trading plan, and then just stay true to yourself....simple as that!!!!

So what does football and trading have in common??

Last night the Tennessee Volunteers entered the Death Valley.....Otherwise known as Baton Rouge where the LSU Tigers were waiting to tear up Ole Smoky and for 30 minutes Tennessee could not do anything right. The score was 21-ZIP. Have you ever had this in your trading????

The second half was a totally different game, as the defense for LSU was just plain exhausted and were standing around on one knee between plays, hanging their heads with their hands on their sides trying to get as much air in them as possible between the plays. They came up to the ball slowly, were not focused and missed their coverage. Several times, if the receivers could have actually put the ball away it would have been TOUCHDOWN TENNESSEEEEEEEeeeeeeeeeeeee.

Then it was 21-7, then 24-7, then 24-14, then 24-21, then with time running out it was 24-24 and into overtime we went. In the end, it was Riggs driving in from the 1 yard line to score the winning touchdown as shown in the pic. It was the end of the struggle in Death Valley, what will the end be for you......defeat or victory?????

During the Spring and thru the Summer months, Tennessee was in full gear, 5 days a week, for 6 hours a day......Running, blocking, kicking and doing their tackles and drills. So they were able to stay with a game plan and DID NOT GIVE UP....they didn't go out and buy another indicator from BOB....they believed in themselves as shown by the end of the game interviews. They stayed focused on what had to be done and not playing in a chat room or with their cat, or even talking to the President. They stayed true to themselves.......what does football and trading have in common....everything. THINK ABOUT IT FOR A WHILE.

Do you stay true to your trading plan.....as a linebacker stays in his position and covers his areas of the field or are you runnig all over the place looking for the ball. Do you have a plan that can check off receivers and look for opportunity or do you chase trades and try to throw it out there like Ainge did last night and have it shoved down your throat.....see football and trading are very close.......There are only WINNERS AND LOSERS.......

Where you find the end of the rainbow.....is it really going to be the holy grail???????

Each day we search for the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow....the holy grail...the mother of all systems only to end up back where we started. Is your trading going into the dumper slowly each and every day? No matter what you do or how you try......then maybe we can walk down a different path since the yellow brick road you are on now is just painted yellow and isn't really gold......and thanks Leon for a great picture.....:)


Lagging indicators fill your screens, as you try to figure out a nice safe winning trade without any risk. The gap today on this time frame made the 34 period moving average worthless for 16 long minutes. So you either made up trades or just sat there reading the chat room text and hoping either way a bad way to spend your time.


Click on the chart to make it larger
In Denver, I talked about using the first spike in prem to give you a tradable trend right after the open......Before I go any further, I do have a first bar trade and today I was able to get enough money for a cup of coffee and then got stopped out at BE and I will do a piece on that trade this week. But this prem trade, is also a goodie if you can lock it down. Today, the first spike was to the down side, so I just shorted it and the market rolled over, you can see by the Ninja order entry system that I was short a 50 lot, real money, real time and when we had the spike down in prem to a new low and the ticks to a new low at support....remember we also had support and timing down there.......and like I talked about in Denver, when you find yourself at an extension (fib) with spikes in the internals....just pull the trade and be thankful........which I did, and which I am.
So watch this trading idea, in real time, and decide. Then paper trade it for a while, then and only then should anyone try a 1 lot and test it with real money...just don't throw money at any idea without doing research first......simple as that!!!!

Comments are back on.....Who cares about a few sore fools

But keep it clean and no foul language

There were a lot of questions after Katrina ran over LA and MS...a lot of them

Katrina, the perfect storm, really put a job on LA and MS as it came ashore and it seems like everyone was trying to figure out how to help.....what can you really do to help, just send money....but to whom. Who would be able to help out the most?
That was the problem I was having....who.....who should I get in touch with to help in some way? Then I was talking to one of the guys working on the house and he told me that he was not going to be there the rest of the week, but would be back in about 6 days. When I asked why, he told me that his family was from the Gulfport area and his church was sending down supplies. They had talked to a sister church down there and got a list of things that were really needed..... Tooth paste, tooth brushes, windex, 409, filters, pampers, shoes and so on. He asked me if I could help...


They were given two trucks to use from church members who had extra equipment setting around....and U-Haul allow them to use a trailer to haul as much as they could into Mississippi.


When they arrived at the church this was all that was left. The sign and a parking lot....everything else was gone.


That is Nelson on the right, a great honest hard working man, that put this all together unloading the trailer.


The pastor told them that he wanted the rest of the supplies to go further down the road to another church that had a greater need, so the trucks headed deeper into Mississippi.


Into another parking lot, where supplies from all over the country were going into. I could not believe the stories that Nelson told to how much damage was done to this area...the smell....the miles of endless destroyed homes, schools, nursing homes, stores and churches . And how gracefully people were to see the outpouring of fellow Americans in their hours of need.

The interesting part to this whole story I guess, was my trading last week and how the market just seemed to hand money to all of us. Why, because when Nelson asked me to help....he wanted a $100.00 donation. I asked how much he thought it would take to fill the two trucks and trailer. He responded with about $46,000.00 and I then asked how much they had raised. His response was about $31,000.00 from several churches in our area. So I told him to buy whatever they needed and fill everything that they could haul to Mississippi and I would donate the shortfall. The amount is not important, but last week while they were helping the victims.....the markets, for the first time in a long time, just seemed to hand it to us....What a great week, if you were in TradersHaven you saw it first hand....trade after trade after trade.

Ruth 3:13, requires a lot of responsibility in order to maintain the level of blessing you receive. No matter what level you are at.....everything is provided when the time is right......when the need is the greatest...but you have to understand from where it is coming and where you need to go.