Hey everyone, I have a couple questions I hope weren’t answered yet…it mainly had to do with a daily checklist.
now I know ICT has been giving us all of the information we will ever need to become successful traders, and I like to believe that for the most part I understand all of these tools separately. But when it comes down to making a checklist of things to consider and look at during the beginning of the day I have problems with it. The way I see it sometimes one tool will override another tool ( for example : market structure and market flow, sometimes one contradicts the other as in a very long term OTE is forming to go short, but at the same time all market flow is pointing up) and this is mainly why I can’t seem to be consistent lol =. In the PTC Videos I always find myself thinking “ahh its so obvious now” =P …but during the action im trying to sort out to many things to follow…so before I start rambling (lol) , has there been one “set in stone” way to go about using these tools step by step? Or have these all just been laid out and explained to us, and its up to us as individuals to figure out how to best apply them???
Sorry if its a confusing question its just that I can’t figure out the best way to look at the day ahead of time =\
And with all of that said, how about some helpful post from fellow followers on about how exactly they go about there trading day? Maybe some personalized checklists you all have made up? I think it would be nice to see how others are going about it and it may help spread some good ideas to add/subtract in our own!!! I would start off with mine but im typing from a cell phone and writing this novel here was hard enough.
Alpari UK’s servers are always 1 hour ahead of UK time ie. they are on Western European time. So they are GMT+2 at the moment.
You would have thought they would call themselves Alpari Europe to avoid this sort of confusion.
Bones I’ll cover a bit of what I do but I’m nursing man flu so if I collapse at the key board you’l…
I’m very happy about how I have my charts set up now. MT4. I have 2 EU charts, 2 GU charts, SMT and USDX on tabs next to each other.
First default chart on my pairs is 4hr with traders trinity, EST pivots and blue rectangles for areas of interest. This gives me my daily bias and I’ll use this on higher TFs as well.
Second default chart has GMT pivots, mantas market flow table and S/R levels I’ve identified as key. This is my entry chart. Probably a bit busier than most but I like my current set up.
So bias check on first chart, looking for where I would like to see price go on second chart. Checking the SMT through out the day, same as the USDX on which I might have a couple of rectangles in areas of interest.
Then I check out my favorite news calender.
My favorite trade is nesting O.T.Es but I don’t enter on a high TF O.T.E, I just identify the level and hope one forms on my lower TF chart in a KZ.
There’s plenty more I could and should do, and sometimes do do but the above is my basic morning analysis.
I would be interested to hear what the other guys do to.
No no, it is me that is confusing things by saying GMT +1 TIME ZONE!
You are absolutely right…the server is currently 2 hours ahead of GMT. I always think of GMT as the UK time zone, and then +1 as Europe. BST is just BST! (pardon my language
To save confusion let’s just refer to P4L clock from now on. Alpari UK is currently one hour ahead of the London time that is showing, right? My two hour LO time zone is just about to end at 10am UK time, and 11am Broker time.
Hi Bones, heres mine word for word and also my trading plan to boot!
I only trade the NYO so bear that in mind…
ICT presented us with the tools but, yeah, ultimately your gonna have to put something together that works for you and fits in with your current life style/trading style.
With regards to the tools contradicting each other, they always will to an extent. You just need to wait for trades to come along with enough tools lined up to put the odds in your favour. Dosnt have to be the same tools every time, just a solid combination of at least three, preferably trading in the direction of the four hour/long term market flow.
Hope that helps
Check list:
News
USDX monthly weekly and daily chart noting probable direction and key SR levels
SMT Lower Lows, Higher Lows Divergence = UP, take the lower lows currency
Lower Highs Higher Highs Divergence = DOWN, take the higher highs currency
Traders Trinity
Daily ohlc small or large range day and long term market structure (OTE’s)
Directional probability for daily, 4 hour and 1 hour
Plot Asain range highs n lows
SR levels on monthly, weekly daily charts closest to the current market price
Check monthly and weekly pivots
Daily pivots the market is respecting
Buy/sell zone
Kill zones noted
Buys or sells based on intraday direction after HL has formed for the day
Has ADR been filled?
Weekly COT
NYO Trading plan:
Should really have OTE
Must have confluence of at least three tools
Only trade in direction of LO HL
RRR of at least 2:1
Trading 1% equity
Weekly target of 1-2% account balance
If I win the first trade im done for the day
Stop after two trades win or lose
Stop trading if I lose a maximum of 5% equity in a week
I too am dying of the Black Plague like Jaroon so I’ll keep it short.
Fibs, Pivots, traders matrix, institutional levels, ect are all “implied” levels of S&R. Where market stucture, flow levels and normal S&R are actual present levels on the charts that everyone from Toyko to Minsk can see all at the same time so these have more weight to them than implied levels. (Although smaller TF OTE’s within higher TF OTE’s are awesome)
My checklist is:
Daily charts: Look for previous small/large ranging days, overall trend, market structure, S&R and Fibs.
4H : market structure, Flow, S&R, fibs and Monthly pivots.
1H : market structure, S&R, patterns, fibs and Weekly pivots also now Traders trinity.
15m : S&R, previous interday H&L’s, patterns, Daily pivots, session H&L’s, KZ’s, OTE’s ect.
5m : Patterns and SMT at levels or KZ to enter.
Thanks for the info Shaunnd, initially I’m just going to try and have it set up for NY Midnight Pivots.
I’m on a demo from a strange broker so it’s confusing me a bit. I think it’s russian, and I should probably change.
The time on the charts is set to russian time, so 1 hr ahead of my swiss time. Then, when I manually calculate the pivots, it seems to be spot on with the Macros.
Does that make sense?
Yeah, exactly, thats how this beast works…S/R level, rally, pullback, go…
The rest is just money and risk management.
lol, 1101.6 pips in three days says everything. OK, with very low leverage, but there is no reason to be greedy. The point is to survive and make money in longterm period.
Just read a short article on the longer-term correlation between the S&P (used as a proxy for all stock indices) and its positive correlation to the GU. As fine country that is Great Britain’s GDP is so heavily made up of financial institutes, compared to say Germany’s, which is a manufacturing society…/???
Also - you ought to read the babypips school on this - look for the risk on/risk off sentiment of most traders. When everyone thinks the futures bright, they’ll buy shares and other risk assets to cash in, when every one’s shaken up, they dump shares and buy back into the USD. It means the dollar goes up when there’s a risk off sentiment but it also bit more complicated … aarghh…
How’s everyone’s trading going? I’ve been busy with other stuff and missed a few sessions… Clarkfx! How’s it going?
Just to make things clear:
GMT is GMT time, currently as I’m typing, it’s 18:00 GMT
BST is London time, which is 1 hour ahead of GMT, currently at 19:00 BST.
If Alpari is GMT+1, it would be also at 19:00, but it’s currently 21:00. Doesn’t that make it GMT+3
My mistake, I’m using Alpari (US) not UK.
My pivots, killzones, trader’s trinity indicators are all lining up perfectly… everything except the ADR… =/
Sorry autodidact, that I picked your post, it has nothing to do with you. Im just trying to help, because other people helped me before in my trading. Im really looking forward ICT is back with his videos, teaching and hints, he is really able to explain and describe things much better than any other “guru”…
but why I write this stuff…In my humble opinion if I go through the posts in this thread I see one major problem I was fighting with as well some time ago…guys, you are trying to predict and analyze the market. This is not a trader job, this is TV analyst job and they dont trade. Trader has to trade: you have your plan, you are absolutely sure it works in longterm, you see your pattern, you take a trade…you win, ok, nothing exciting, you lose, ok, nothing exciting. Next hour, next day another opportunity comes and the whole loop repeats. This is trader job in my opinion. Not to analyze or predict what is going to happen in the future.
I like this:
[B]“Back in 1994, early in my trading career… I read a successful trader’s remark concerning trading systems and methods. This trader mentioned the ideal Trading Plan and or method can be written on the cover of a matchbook. Think about the size of a matchbook cover and it’s limitations in space. The point is short and sweet is possibly the best approach.”[/B]
EDIT: sorry, maybe I drank too many beers today, but I had to write this post
I’m doing well thanks. Just moved into residence for university a couple weeks ago, been living off of beer, pizza, burgers, fries and more beer for the last little while. Trying to manage my trading schedule with classes and studying as well as my precious sleep. Haha, I just need to get used to it up here and then I should be good.
Something similar to ask along these lines. I have the PivotDailyMacro set for -8 hrs (as I’m on PDT) and the MT4 I’m running is on GMT. The pivots completely change when I adjust to -5 (EDT).
I have been watching video’s over and over again and I noticed that in video “ICT Pro Trade Review: 03/14/11 Video” and I believe 03/15/11, ICT talked about having a webinar for going over how to setup your day and what steps he takes each day. He said he recorded it and was going to post it but I haven’t found it.
Also in video 04/02/11 at the end he announces that on 04/24/11 i believe he was going to show the London Close trade setup. I don’t see a video for this either.
He has awhile back when i was reading the thread stated something about him having a webinar on how to make 20 pips daily. Not sure if anyone has any insight on this.
It would be greatly appreciate if anyone can help me out with these missing links.
Also is ICT still planning on doing the Asian and London Open trades like he did for the NY open when he gets back.
If I may step in here, and say the way I see it. We have our technical tools, we have seen them work over and over again, we know that we don’t require any more. Like you said, it becomes boring and routine, just as it should be. I know that I can’t predict the future, and that it would be foolish to do so. It is all about probabilities, and not prediction.
So then where do we go? Well I for one am interested in the macro-economic picture and how all of the markets are relating to each other in the world today. I don’t want to use this information to tweak my trading plan - why mess with something that is working? It just adds a bit of colour to the overall picture. If you can maintain a ‘separation of church and state’ so to speak, then I say go for it!
This thread is all about the ICT technicals, however, so maybe we should take our other interests elsewhere.
I would start off with mine but im typing from a cell phone and writing this novel here was hard enough.