9/14/2017

Look for structural setups

In your trading journey you will have significant breakthroughs once you learn the language of setups. Profitable traders think in setup language while novices think in individual stock term.
Novices dream about holding stocks forever. Novices think in terms of killing it in market without knowing how. Novices are suckers for stock picks.
In a day you will see several posts by members about individual stocks. Something catches their fancy and or they know about a particular stock and they are enamored by it and want to know whether it is good buy or not.That thinking is not much of help.
Setup oriented thinking is about finding a basic strategy with significant edge. Setup oriented thinking is about timeframes, holding periods, size, risk management.
Setup oriented thinking is process based thinking. It is how do I find this kind of stock again and again kind of thinking. It is about ways to catch fish.
Setup selection is key to successful trading. Setup selection allows you to condition your behavior. It allows you to develop your procedural memory. It allows you to automate your thinking. Setup selection will bring clarity to your thinking
When it comes to setup selection your time frame is very critical. A setup that is good for day trader may not be good for swing trader. A swing trading setup may be extended setup for position trader.
First step in setup selection is to decide your timeframe and then look for setups in that timeframes. If you want to be position trader , then study position trading setups.

Look for " Structural Setups"

Structural setups are inherent to how markets operate.
Momentum burst is structural phenomenon
Range contraction is followed by range expansion is structural
Mean reversion is structural
Momentum is structural phenomenon
PEAD (earnings b/o) is structural

Setups I trade

EP
4%
$ b/o
Low threshold b/o
Anticipation

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