Sandwich

I'm a programmer by trade, and got into this industry by a friend who brought me in to learn how to trade and then learn how to automate trades. Now that I'm in it, I have no intentions of looking back whether I'm in the software side or the actual trading side of things. Currently I work for a software company that produces futures trading software, which gives me the ability to have plenty of time to watch the markets and work on my technical analysis techniques and signals that I use to scan the markets. I have no interest in fundamentals, and while I have a general idea of what they should do when they are released, I don't really care one way or the other. I'm on the sound belief that while not always true, price action and volume can give you indications of how the big players are playing the market and I am more than comfortable trading in the same direction as them.

I like to use fairly simple tools when I do my analysis, similar to what Dolemite uses and explains in his info section. I think there are three pieces to making a good trade, mainly the target price area, the signal, and confirmation. For the target price area I usually look to trend lines, fib retracements / extensions, previous peaks and valleys, psychological levels (round prices) to indicate that an area of price is important. The best is when multiple of these line up in a small window of price at a small window of time. Secondly the signal, I look to divergence between oscillators (mainly MACD) and candlestick formations (engulfing, hammers, shooting stars). When it comes to the signals I usually incorporate volume to confirm that the signals are genuine. So if I feel I have a signal off of a target price area I usually act upon my trade. I then set my "know I'm wrong" and "know I'm right" areas tightly, and wait for confirmation of my trade. If I'm wrong, I get out immediately no questions asked. This is the basis for how I trade, and this is how I usually like to present my trade ideas.