Reader question:
Sir,
With due regards, I am trading with Indian bourses, NSE NIFTY index futures.
Today in spite of my best efforts I couldn't profit.
What strategy would you recommend for days like this?
Regards,
RR.
AttachedChart:
Response:
Hi RR,
I don't have access to Nifty charts, so I'm lacking a little context. I assume from the chart that this is a quite narrow range day in comparison to others? Please correct me if I'm wrong. Either way though, the congestive price action and significant candle overlap would certainly make this a tough session.
There is an obvious answer in this case to the question, "What strategy would you recommend for days like this?"
And that is, "Stand aside and don't trade".
There are ways to trade a market such as this (traps at the edges for example), but the far better option is to stand aside.
It's unrealistic to expect to profit on every single session.
So instead of thinking about how you should trade this market, you should be thinking about how you can learn to more quickly identify a poor market environment. The faster you can identify this, the faster you can halt trading and stand aside till price offers something more suitable. Or just take the rest of the day off!
And the key to quickly identifying an environment unsuited to your trading style… the market structure journal (see here).
Expect to have losing days. But work to keep your losing days smaller than your winning days, through quick recognition of an unsuitable trading environment.
Regards,
Lance Beggs.
PS. See also the YTC Newsletter signup bonus ebook, “The LOST Files – 150 Lost YTC Blog Posts” for the following post: “Sometimes Containment of a Loss is a Good Day”.
The key parts of the blog post:
Compare the opportunity available on Thursday and Friday, with today (Monday).
Do not make the mistake of comparing one session's results with another. Rather, grade your session results against the potential that was available in that session.
Sometimes a breakeven session is a great result.
Sometimes containment of loss within normal loss limits is also a great result.
It's just part of the game.
Expect tough days. And learn to just manage and contain the risk on these days. Because better days are coming. And containing risk will ensure a mindset more likely to outperform on these better days.
Lance Beggs