Swing/Scalp vs Schedule

In some ways it's good if you can only trade first 2 hours of the open. As Al would say, there is usually a swing entry in the 1st two hours on enough days...so he would say to take those trades, set your stop, and your profit target at 2x-4x and walk away. From  personal experience, you will do better that way than being in front of the monitor 🙂

I'd say it would depend on your personality and skill set, but I think swing trades are best as well. 

set your stop, and your profit target at 2x-4x and walk away

I would like to know how this works. I think Al says Expert traders often exit before the stop is hit, reducing the loss. Also sometimes the 2x profit maybe doesn't happen and/or it the price goes to 4x profit but the stop order exits at 2x and misses a lot of profit.

It works in the context of a beginner, learning to trust his chart reading.

Trading such a small amount, one doesn’t care if their stop is hit.

Making profits at this stage isn’t a goal. Focus on learning trade selection and proper execution. Probabilities are one will lose more often than win at this stage of the learning process. 

Agree, but this type of trade is unique because I cannot be around to trade after 2 hours of the open so I have to put everything on stop orders after 2 hours then go to work.

I could set the protective stop, but I think Al says experts usually don't let this get activated. They exit when the premise is no longer valid which keeps the losses smaller than the protective stop.

For profits, I'm guessing there could be an order which exits portions of the position at different levels. Example> 50% exit@ 1x risk, 25% exit@2x, 25%@ 3x.

However, none of this is based on price action. So there could be big profits that get missed because of early exit, or a missed opportunity to exit with a larger profit which does not trigger, and then reverses into a loss. Example> 25% almost exits@3x but instead reverses @2.9x.

Also I would need to know what happens if the trade goes in the middle and some/all of the position never exits.

Your goal now is to find how you like to trade, a way that fits.

If finding a different work schedule is not possible, then a different way to trade may be required.

Al says experts usually don't let this get activated

That is usually when one buys late in a trend or if is buying in the middle of a triangle. Usually Al likes getting in once he sees the breakout. We are talking about taking entries on the signal bar. In the first couple of hours, you will get a H2/L2 signal bar where you can take the trade, set the protective stop below the signal bar, set your profit target and let it go.

Some examples in recent days - Bar 6 L2 on 7/21. Bar 18 L2 on 7/22, Bar 5 on 7/13. I am not saying these will all be winners, but they are the type where you don't have to actively manage the stop.

I will suggest go back and look at charts of the past 6 months every day, and see how many such entries you could find that you could realistically take.

As Avi says, once you start trading (small), you will discover what you like, don't like, what are your tendencies etc, do you take good entries. Till you do that, the theory is only so much useful. I will suggest trading just 1 share of SPY ( no scaling in) for a couple of months. You can try various techniques - taking a swing trade and forget; take a swing trade and actively manage for however long you can etc. This will inform you of your tendencies which can direct next course of action.

In the first couple of hours, you will get a H2/L2 signal bar where you can take the trade, set the protective stop below the signal bar, set your profit target and let it go.

In the videos, he says the protective stop goes below the prior major LH (Bear) HL (Bull). He says do not set it below the signal bar.

How to set the profit target? MM, 1x, 2x, maybe trailing stop@10%? 3x-4x seems too risky, what if it goes 2x then reverses to a loss

Your goal now is to find how you like to trade, a way that fits.

If finding a different work schedule is not possible, then a different way to trade may be required.

Right now I'm still in the course. After a while, I will do some chart mark ups like Rajesh says.

When I start trading 1SPY, I need a "set it and forget it" method (after finding a good entry) for my work schedule. That's what I'm trying to investigate now with this post. Seems it will be more like scalping, try to capture a high win%, but unfortunately miss some bigger profits.

After more time in the course,  I will get 2 full trading days open. Then I can find a trading style & comfort zone. Go for bigger swings.

We are talking about taking entries on the signal bar. In the first couple of hours, you will get a H2/L2 signal bar where you can take the trade, set the protective stop below the signal bar, set your profit target and let it go.

Some examples in recent days - Bar 6 L2 on 7/21.

Bar6 L2 on 7/21

Sell 1 tick below low.

Stop 1 tick above high.

Stopped out on bar 7.

 

 are talking about taking entries on the signal bar. In the first couple of hours, you will get a H2/L2 signal bar where you can take the trade, set the protective stop below the signal bar, set your profit target and let it go.

Some examples in recent days - Bar 6 L2 on 7/21. Bar 18 L2 on 7/22

7/22 bar18

Sell 1 tick below low.

Stop 1 tick above high.

7.25 risk.

Profit Target?

2x risk= 14.5 but the move was around 50 points, missing a lot of profit.

We are talking about taking entries on the signal bar. In the first couple of hours, you will get a H2/L2 signal bar where you can take the trade, set the protective stop below the signal bar, set your profit target and let it go.

Some examples in recent days - Bar 6 L2 on 7/21. Bar 18 L2 on 7/22, Bar 5 on 7/13.

Bar5   7/13