I managed to stall again today

Stalling it is what I tend to do. Stall One- i think I will wait for the opening movement to slow down.
 Stall two-  maybe I should wait to see which way the market moves first and then get in.
 Stall three-  I am not really sure this swing has ended and will turn.
 Stall Four-  This is ranging and in chop  I need to wait till it moves out and away from this area.
 Stall Five- it is moving in this direction now but it might turn here when I get in . better wait.
 Stall Six.  the market seems confused I better wait to see who will win.
 Stall Seven-  It must be the lunch crowd time, I better wait till the market picks back up.

 I could go on but I am well aware of  the daily (Habit) that I have formed to not have to push the button looking for that (perfect) trade that never really exists

Method search-  I tend to always come back to trend line drawing. I will look more into it as it at least tells me if I am trading against the current price action and it allows for small risk stops. Truthfully I think trading is about just getting in with some repetitive enter method and managing the trade. I need to stop looking for that perfect no heat entry. I also need to get it through my thick skull that even pro traders lose 50 % of the time of more. So I might as well take the trades and get through the ones that didn't go my direction. so I can get to the ones that do go my way.

The market seems to have become a jumble

As I watch the price move on the chart thinking about the different set ups I am becoming aware that as price moves. that I am seeing the set ups with a blurry eye. It is like all the years of learning have disappeared and that the market is just this moving force that seems to violate every observed edge. I seem to be no longer to read the turns.with any prediction. It is like the market knows all of the known set ups and is breaking them.
What I think is actually happening is that I am finally seeing the market as a non predictive monster where each price movement has a 50/50 chance of some direction.  So while i am wanting to find that specific price where the market is and I can enter without taking even 1 tic of heat. I can see that is a futile exercise.
 I suspect that is why pro traders get in somewhat in their area of trade and manage the trade with good exits.  As i have said before this means bigger stops than I am comfortable with for what seem to be a target is less then what is needed to win more than lose.  Or maybe it just means a lot of little scalps with short stops and a runner that may sometime work in ones favor.  I used to think I was fear-full of taking trades but it may be more of the fact that my inner thoughts are telling me that you are trading against crazy people who have less of an idea than you and it show up in the chart movement. I must start to think 2 moves ahead of them.
On a different subject.  I finally ordered and got the Don Miller book   Chronicles of a million $ trader. I have read the first 4 chapters and probably will never finish it.  I think most traders are looking for answers on how to get their  first $300,000 and be giggle pink about it, rather than reading about how to grow it to 1 million.  It is kind of like reading how rich people get richer, and tell you how frustrating it is to lose there third house.  While I was not expecting any mechanical secrets  I was expecting to read about the mental side of his early trading years. I have also noticed that he tends to say a lot of things on his blogs and such, but never seems to really say anything or of any detail. I have come to realize he is a trader in a different league that I probably could never emulate, so I will move on and find my own way.  Sorry Don- I tried.

without health what do we really have

The Qigong was done today but that was about it.  I have decided to get my health back before trading much,  without it life is just not fun.  I did make a new chart of  the different set ups that most use and which ones show better odds. It is interesting to hear my thoughts as I view each (set up) that I have drawn.
 The bottom line is that they all have one thing in common.  One needs to enter with a stop of some distance and let it play out. Price does not move in square boxes but price over laps creating I am wrong I am right moments at every tic,  You cannot possably pick a price and get no heat .  I think that is where most fail.  in the execution.  the waiting for confirmation that once seen  changes with or against you all throughout the price movement,  It is the wanting to get in at the (perfect) price.  The wanting to get in without taking any heat.  It is the fear that this edge will not hold and i lose money. I must review the chart and observe the thoughts that are at each bar and realize the futility of picking direction.
I have also realized that most traders trade 1 box level. with a stop at the next level or breakout. A pro trades 2 box levels reallizing that within those 2 levels one has to be proven wrong twice, all the while adding and subtracting contracts taking small profits out along the way to offset a 2 level lose.  A pro has reallised that he can trade a bigger box than most and take profits out of all the noise caused by beginning trader stops and enteries.  I must somehow learn to take advantage of the constant 2 -3 pt moves in NQ  instead of waiting for the special moment on some distant edge that happens so little.
These are the basic set ups that most see and use.
break out, noise/range scalping, top and bottom picking of s/r levels,  break out and pb's.
So while easy to see after the fact on a chart.  trusting in what ones sees on the hard right edge is another story.
the noise/range is hard to see unless it ranges along time and show up (after) a b/o.
s/r levels are faiurly easy to see and wait for
and b/o pb are usually easiest to see
Yet they all have one thing in common. Do I believe in the level to hold and reverse and head my way. or will it turn against me on the exact bar that I pick to enter even though I have just watched it hold on the last 5 bars in range/box outer edge.  Is a range area nothing more than a area where bars hold at a defined edge only to fail on the exact bar I which to choose to be bold and risk the odds that it will still stay in my favor.

When I can control the fear that surrounds these thoughts I will be move forward to better trading.

Health today

Today I spent the first hour of trading doing Qigong,  May that become a daily Habit for me.  I have learned to not trade on days before and day after the Holidays. It is probable mental, but the markets are usually spiky as the volume is low.  I am still working on deciding which method to settle on.  But seem to be content to just work on the health side, and catch up on a few (other) projects that are distracting me.  Today while not much to say,  it is all about creating the habit of daily journal's.

Method day 3- health habits

Truthfully I have thought little on (the) method of choice today.  I have health issues a good part of the time and while my mind tends to take them farther than they really are, there are days where it becomes all consuming.  Rather than remind myself what ills I seem to have, I will remind myself of what relieves it.
Trading is rather stressful and it tends to create (other) issues.  To combat this, I must remember to daily do the following.
Get my trading desk up to a standing level so that I can trade on my feet rather than sitting which in turn shuts off my brain my breathing and half of my organs over time. Raising my desk to standing height will also allow me to practice  Qigong  the Chow method.  While I am not sure why it helps it just seems to help me both physicially and mentally.  I have realized today that I need to do it for at least 2 hours a day, so that it will in turn cure me of many of the illnesses that seems to creep up on me.  It also relaxes my mind during trading so that I am not as fearful but have a feeling of (in) control.  I am now committing to do this more than picking methods, taking trades or basically anything else in my busy crazy life.  For without doing it I will die an early death.
 I must make Qigong my Habit for life.

Method Day two

I thought I would take the (same) one day 11-29-14 with the same time frame if possable and create a chart showing the different trading methods I have learned or tried to learn over the years.  In doing so I have come to a few conclusions.  I have grown comfortable with naked charts (price action)  I find the indicator methods flawed (lagging)  I some I just don't want to work that hard at learning.  lets face it. It is not a helicopter. that can move left to right, backwards or forwards, or up and down.or hover.  Price only moves up or down a little or alot. It only appears to move forward because we are time based creatures that live in a universe based on time. I only need to be right about two directions rather than six. up or down. as hovering it not really a market at all.
In my quest for picking one method to trade. I see that while many will work. One can only trade one method well.  What one is looking for is a method that shows low risk areas that either work or don't quickly. With an opportunity to win more than risk. A method to take the most out of the swings that are presented each day.(As a day trader)  I am learning more towards those methods that allow me to see weakness and strength at the current price, as I look back at viewing previous swing areas. As FT 71 says, where has it been  where is it going and how well is it doing it.  If price truly looks for sellers (supply) as it goes up and buyers(demand) as it goes down to chance price direction or balance, the better I can find those areas of (turns) the better.
I am well aware that picking the method is the easy part. it will be the execution part and learning to be ok with being wrong and not perfect that will be one of my hardest obstacle to overcome.

method search day one

Today I reviewed Market Profile or should I say Volume profile as (the) method of my choice for trading.
I am not sold on it yet, though I quick glance at a birds eye view of a chart shows where price likes to be or has been and is now. Or as they say - The balance areas/ imbalance.
I am looking at this Supply and Demand thing also, but I think the (art) of finding the levels may take some time and still remains (art) which is something I was hoping to avoid.

This is a list of the (other) methods I need to consider or not.
Tim Morge- Median Lines -Andrew forks
Ryan Watts-  as scalping method that worked when the market had more swings per day
Alexander Elder-  3 time frame channel/macd  method
Tim Deel- box trading- price action
Trisha  -easy emini  she seems to change her set ups alot her newest thing is footprint
Sam Seiden -  supply and demand
Tony - T channel a indicator method that as usual dint work well in chop
Al Brooks- price action-
I am sure there are more but do I really care- not really
It is always about price - it goes up or down or ranges. I find the indicators lag . while they tend to divide the market into above or below, they usually signal entries in the middle of a move.  finding a way enter at the end of the swings would be ideal, but then that is looking for perfection.   I will settle for something that make the wins more profitable than the losing trades.  Then again it is not the entry method so much as the execution and management of the trade when in.
And while I can read the price action  and prefer using it only, it too is an (art) But I have noticed that pro traders use past human behavior along with there confidence in that (art) to be successful at their trade. I must learn to be confident in my own read and what I know I can do.  I must mentally take the amount of fear that I have and transform it into confidence. Till I ooze with it.
If trading is 90% mental  then that is where I will spend most of my time and only 10 % on the method.

Restarting-Again

It is Thanksgiving Day 2014,  As I look back at my attempts to be a profitable trader, I would have to say it has not happened yet or even close. As I want to make this happen I need to get serious about it. As I sit here  and think about what I need to do to move forward I ask myself what do good traders do that i am not. Here is the list.
They keep a daily journal  of -  trades- thoughts- goals - things to improve upon
They trade with one method - that they have created themselves from a mix of what other are doing.
They spend more time working on the mental side than on the mechanical side.
They have a plan and they stick with that same plan
They seem to teach others what they do instead of spending time reading  what other are doing.
They are highly confident in their method and execute it properly.
They know every way there is to trade but have dialed it down to just using one or two methods.
They keep their charts and screen set ups always the same, never changing
They continue to learn but only add when it has proven to be helpful with the current method.
They have learned to execute their trades when the method shows itself without fear controlling them
They have realized and truly believe that trading is a probabilities game.
They are able to manage there trades with control so as to lose small yet win more.

While there are probably more things a pro trader does to be who they are, I will try to copy and work towards the above to help me obtain my own goals in trading. These are the beginning things I will accomplish to get me moving forward.

Assignment #1
I will pick one method that I will use to find trades- I will have picked that method by Dec 1, 2014
As I have learned many ways to trade is is a matter of just picking one and sticking with it only. As the trading method itself is not really as important, (notice that everybody trades all kinds of different ways) but picking one that I can mentally do or learn to do within my personality set.

Assignment #2
I will journal here every day regardless of trading days or not. But if nothing else but to form the HABIT of writing a daily journal.  As trading is mostly a mental endeavor, Most of my journal should focus on that part of it rather than the trade win /lose score.

Starting with these two assignments is a good start and one that will keep me busy yet moving forward with goals that have a need to be done due date.