Great vid. I think most super successful (non algo) traders use discretionary trading with mechanical trading elements to create an if>then trading process... which is ultimately still discretionary but discretion with a checklist.
I don't believe fully mechanical strategies work. They are very prone to be overfitted, and if they did exist, everybody would be using them. I think a person should learn to read the markets themselves and gain a deep understanding of how the markets move. It will require a lot of trial and error, because there are actually many flavours of simple concepts like support and resistance. Some people use daily highs/lows as support or resistance, some people zoom out of their charts and look left to see where price has repeatedly reacted, or some people zoom into their candles on current market structure and just trade breaks and retests. Many flavours of support and resistance zones.
Mechanical strategies can work, the Turtles are legendary mechanical traders: www.investopedia.com/articles/trading/08/turtle-trading.asp But I also believe that it's easier to find and use a discretionary strategy.
Discretionary strategies can still be automated. Here’s a news trading example. Enter short 2 minutes after FOMC meeting. Stop loss 9 ticks. Take profit 6 ticks. In pseudo code, this *might* look like: if time = 4.02am (my local time) then enter short. Stop order at 9 ticks above entry and limit order (take profit) at 6 ticks below entry. Given news trading can be extremely risky, some traders will not use a stop loss and instead use 5-10 ticks as a take profit.
@@TradingHeroes I think that can be programmed, however you need to be creative and think outside the box when defining it. For example, as a short term support level, this could be defined as: if 10 bars to the left (including current bar) have lows within a range of 5 pips, this could be referenced as a short term support level.
I think discretionary strategies are just flawed mechanical strategies. Run away from “gurus” who only take trades when they “feel” it because it opens up a can worms like why is it they don’t feel something or is it that they keep another set of rules (their edge) in their back pocket. Also, who really wants to trade their hard earned cash based on what they are feeling? It smells like blind luck and if you feel lucky, just buy the lottery. There are successful discretionary traders but my guess is they just have not discovered the rules that they are implicitly following. If I understand the trader mindset, most would be dying to know what these rules are and make their strategy more mechanical, so that they can seriously follow these rules and get a higher win percentage.
As you say, there are plenty of successful discretionary traders. So that proves that it's a valid trading method. If you prefer mechanical strategies, then that's great. But it doesn't mean that discretionary strategies are wrong, because the obviously work.
Great vid. I think most super successful (non algo) traders use discretionary trading with mechanical trading elements to create an if>then trading process... which is ultimately still discretionary but discretion with a checklist.
I don't believe fully mechanical strategies work. They are very prone to be overfitted, and if they did exist, everybody would be using them.
I think a person should learn to read the markets themselves and gain a deep understanding of how the markets move. It will require a lot of trial and error, because there are actually many flavours of simple concepts like support and resistance. Some people use daily highs/lows as support or resistance, some people zoom out of their charts and look left to see where price has repeatedly reacted, or some people zoom into their candles on current market structure and just trade breaks and retests.
Many flavours of support and resistance zones.
Mechanical strategies can work, the Turtles are legendary mechanical traders: www.investopedia.com/articles/trading/08/turtle-trading.asp
But I also believe that it's easier to find and use a discretionary strategy.
Discretionary strategies can still be automated. Here’s a news trading example. Enter short 2 minutes after FOMC meeting. Stop loss 9 ticks. Take profit 6 ticks.
In pseudo code, this *might* look like: if time = 4.02am (my local time) then enter short. Stop order at 9 ticks above entry and limit order (take profit) at 6 ticks below entry.
Given news trading can be extremely risky, some traders will not use a stop loss and instead use 5-10 ticks as a take profit.
They can be partially automated, but never 100%.
@@TradingHeroes What's the reason for that? I'm curious to understand your point of view.
Many things like support and resistance cannot be completely programmed into a computer. That's why the trader has to use their own discretion.
@@TradingHeroes I think that can be programmed, however you need to be creative and think outside the box when defining it.
For example, as a short term support level, this could be defined as: if 10 bars to the left (including current bar) have lows within a range of 5 pips, this could be referenced as a short term support level.
Cool, go for it.
one bad the other good and that depends on the day and the markets
No bad or good, just depends on works for the individual.
I think discretionary strategies are just flawed mechanical strategies. Run away from “gurus” who only take trades when they “feel” it because it opens up a can worms like why is it they don’t feel something or is it that they keep another set of rules (their edge) in their back pocket. Also, who really wants to trade their hard earned cash based on what they are feeling? It smells like blind luck and if you feel lucky, just buy the lottery. There are successful discretionary traders but my guess is they just have not discovered the rules that they are implicitly following. If I understand the trader mindset, most would be dying to know what these rules are and make their strategy more mechanical, so that they can seriously follow these rules and get a higher win percentage.
As you say, there are plenty of successful discretionary traders. So that proves that it's a valid trading method. If you prefer mechanical strategies, then that's great. But it doesn't mean that discretionary strategies are wrong, because the obviously work.