turtle trader
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After spending much of my trading life trying to become an 'expert' in one or two markets in which I could specialize, I've recently tried applying my favourite setups to a broader range of markets with very encouraging results.
My previous goal was to become so accustomed to my 'pet' markets (YM & BP Futures) that I could reasonably expect to be profitable most days. Obviously these markets trade in very different ways from one day/week/month to the next, so I would need an array of tools (setups) that I could apply as the situation demanded.
The trouble with this system is that there are an awful lot of different sets of market conditions, which (for me) makes it difficult to decide which of my setups should be used on any given day. To try to overcome this problem I decided to take my 2 favourite setups (which require specific conditions to be met first on a daily timeframe and then on a 15 min or hourly timeframe) and see how they performed on other markets. (The theory being that with a wider range of markets I would usually be able to find one or more that met my criteria, thereby avoiding the need to try to fit my trading style to a market that wasn't suitable).
I've seen suggestions on these boards that a trader should specialise in a particular market in order to be consistently profitable, but my (albeit recent) experience suggests that, for me, specializing in a particular setup and applying it to whichever market is most suitable at the time, is considerably more profitable - my recent results far outperform any earlier period.
So what do you think - do you find it best to learn the ins & outs of one market, or do you scan many markets to see which fit your style best? Or do you have the ability to look at any market & find a way to take money from it as you wish!?
Simon
My previous goal was to become so accustomed to my 'pet' markets (YM & BP Futures) that I could reasonably expect to be profitable most days. Obviously these markets trade in very different ways from one day/week/month to the next, so I would need an array of tools (setups) that I could apply as the situation demanded.
The trouble with this system is that there are an awful lot of different sets of market conditions, which (for me) makes it difficult to decide which of my setups should be used on any given day. To try to overcome this problem I decided to take my 2 favourite setups (which require specific conditions to be met first on a daily timeframe and then on a 15 min or hourly timeframe) and see how they performed on other markets. (The theory being that with a wider range of markets I would usually be able to find one or more that met my criteria, thereby avoiding the need to try to fit my trading style to a market that wasn't suitable).
I've seen suggestions on these boards that a trader should specialise in a particular market in order to be consistently profitable, but my (albeit recent) experience suggests that, for me, specializing in a particular setup and applying it to whichever market is most suitable at the time, is considerably more profitable - my recent results far outperform any earlier period.
So what do you think - do you find it best to learn the ins & outs of one market, or do you scan many markets to see which fit your style best? Or do you have the ability to look at any market & find a way to take money from it as you wish!?
Simon
