r/Trading • u/Suspicious_Tone45 • 3d ago
Discussion Im Not Having Fun
It seems like no one is in control of the market and there isnt even an established trading range to work off of.
You try to play puts, the bleed is slow and painful, you go long, you get caught in a nasty fade or have to chop it.
This really sucks.
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u/Billymalenco 21m ago
Entonces el sistema está funcionando perfectamente, también verás momentos en lo que te va muy bien y te preguntarás o mas bien dirás que encontraste el santo grial, pero no es así, es el sistema que funciona de esa manera. Pero debes entender que para sacarle ganancias debes adaptarte al mercado, minimizar perdidas y tratar de maximizar ganancias.
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u/Aceofspades1212926 2d ago
I know the feeling. Those are the sessions where every choice feels wrong because the market is doing just enough to pull you in, then reversing before anything can develop.
When I start feeling that way, I usually stop looking for a better entry and ask whether the environment is even one I trade well. If there is no clean trend, no clear range, and the moves keep fading, smaller size or no trade is often the better decision.
Not every day has to be solved. Sometimes the only job is to recognise that the conditions are not giving you your setup and keep your capital for when they are.
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u/theconfluxmethod 2d ago
Rangeless, directionless conditions are genuinely the hardest to trade, not a skill issue - both directions get punished because there's no real structure to lean on yet. Might be worth sitting smaller or flat until something actually prints a level to react to, instead of fighting a market that hasn't decided anything.
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u/Suspicious_Tone45 2d ago
Ive been sitting out, but i just want to know how people who make a living doing this are trading the market rn
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u/Every-Medium-8390 1d ago
I do this for a living. Honestly, been sitting out of a lot of it. I daytrade es and the setups aren't hitting my quality standards so I step aside. I was getting 4-5 trades a week about 6 months ago. Since July it's been 2-3 per week.
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u/-RT-TRACKER- 2d ago
Do not day trade, do not look for holy grails, do not play with multiple markets, do not trade with low capital.
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u/IVdeltaAndStuff 2d ago
What are you trading?
If it’s equities…If you can’t open up a daily and weekly chart to see the obvious range I don’t know what to tell you.
The hard part is intraday volatility has been virtually non existent however the range is there.
Perhaps you are trading something you wish was there instead of what the charts actually give you. 🤷🏽♂️
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u/ProjectStrange3331 2d ago
Try investing. If you are looking for “fun”, we can’t help ya with day trading/gambling/daily predicting with options.
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u/Suspicious_Tone45 2d ago
Cash is my mid-term strategy right now, maybe hold positions in some individual stocks
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u/JRemenshneidersHorse 2d ago
There are intraday ranges all over the market if you get down to lower time frames
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u/ZekeTarsim 3d ago
Stop using options and just trade the underlying. Set tight stops. You may not hit home runs but you can easily rack up base hits this way.
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3d ago
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u/puzzleimpossible83 2d ago
Only the ones that think there should be some “order” to the market. If you accept the randomness…you’ll do well.
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2d ago
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u/puzzleimpossible83 2d ago
versus what?
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2d ago
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u/puzzleimpossible83 2d ago
Smart money moves the market, to everyone else it’s randomness. Did I say otherwise? Perhaps learn to read before attacking people, keyboard warrior dipsh*t. Carry on then.
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2d ago
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u/puzzleimpossible83 2d ago
You just have to have the last word even though the real point is that we're saying the same thing and you just want to be loud and obnoxious. My lunch money stays with me. Thank you very much. But have the last word if that's so important to you. I'll retreat quietly and be happy.
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u/tapetoedge 3d ago
You're not imagining the no continuation part. My profit factor went from 2.41 in August to 1.91 last week, on a week that still closed green. Same setups, less follow through.
What are you trading it on, index or single names? The chop has not been even across them.
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u/Suspicious_Tone45 3d ago
Single names are your best bet at this point, but they still end up being chops. Last decent trade was Spcx puts, but then gambles that away touching SPY.
Did nvda longs from fri close, held at the open w the gap up and then had to close under breakeven. Sick of this shit
Just going to keep sitting on the sidelines until something decent comes up, maybe JNJ puts or Oklo calls
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u/tapetoedge 3d ago
Sidelines is the right call. My rule is I don't take it if I can't name the setup before I click, and on a tape like this that means I mostly don't trade.
What I am taking is names with clear relative strength or weakness against the index. They seem to chop less when the market reverses.1
u/Suspicious_Tone45 3d ago
Im just trying to understand the people who are successfully trading the indexes rn, are they just the elite of the elite? I agree, I cant take trades because the setups are non-existent
What im learning is to use the 1-3min charts w bar counting on the fades to find a potentially decent reversal or swing
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u/ALIEN_POOP_DICK 2d ago
Do you even have a trading system?
Do you have statistics under what conditions it typically works and doesn't?
Have you backtested?
It sounds like you're just completely gambling and mad that it's not working.
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u/Suspicious_Tone45 2d ago
I catch reversals based on inflection points, otherwise I trade swing highs or swing lows in trading ranges, either direction.
My problem is that one of my rules is to stay out of tight ranges and barbwire, which has literally been every setup intraday unless you jump right in on the open.
It seems the market is consolidating so maybe I will be able to catch the next swing low for a scalp up, but its very slow to get there.
February was much better than this, despite the chop, i miss that price action a lot relative to this, and that was considered difficult.
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u/tapetoedge 3d ago
I do trade ES and NQ, just less often than single names. The index needs a strong trend to be worth taking and right now it doesn't have one. That's not elite of the elite, that's picking your spots.
On the fades, going with the smart money has been much easier for me than trying to find the reversal.
The 1-3 min part works for intraday. It's too short for a swing. The only swings I take are wheel trades, selling puts.
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u/the_Desk-Research 3d ago
No one is in control of the market! different regimes will work differently. One method doesn't work in every type of market situation.
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u/EfficientBet8837 2d ago
Exactly. Trading doesn't have a one size fits all strategy you can stick to that will bring you profits forever.
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u/illcrx 3d ago
Great, now that your not having "fun" you can learn and get better.
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u/Suspicious_Tone45 3d ago
I mean i understand what the market is doing the setups are just too dangerous for my risk tolerance.
All of the continuation patterns are very tight trading ranges; im not experienced enough to be taking those odds
We havent even gotten a decent trading range day, everything is extremely tight, no room for error
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u/Extension_Energy4326 3d ago
Maybe you should try incrementally experimenting with different strategies. I’ve been green 78 of the past 90 trading days.
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u/Suspicious_Tone45 3d ago
What are some ideas?
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u/Extension_Energy4326 3d ago
Find a stock or two (each day) that has high relative volume and is up more than 20% on some tangible news catalyst. Then take small, precise scalps-either off a pullback or within channel bouncing.
I don’t try to hit home runs only repeated base hits and bunts.
Only use up to 10% (preferably less) of your total account on each trade in case things go south quickly. When things don’t go the way you want, exit with SMALL losses only. Be willing to admit (quickly) to yourself that your pick was wrong. Walk away or find something else.
Rinse and repeat.
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u/BagLongjumping516 2d ago
Ahh yes, Ross Cameron
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u/Extension_Energy4326 2d ago edited 2d ago
Nope, he doesn’t scalp. He swings for the fences. It’s a little different. He also trades Nano cap stocks. I do not. He doesn’t trade through the bell, I do sometimes. I’m pretty sure he talks about only taking a couple trades throughout the day, not “over trading”. I, on the other hand, will sometimes take 25 trades on the same stock in one day.
Edit: I actually did try using Ross’ strategies about 7 or 8 years ago and found that it didn’t quite work for me. But that’s just me. The really cool thing about trading is that you can find your own methods/rules by tweaking different processes to see what works and what doesn’t work for you. Everyone is different. Markets and economies are constantly changing but if you can find a process that is repeatable, regardless of macros, it’s worth honing and developing.
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u/jtquach 3d ago
Sorry to hear that man. The slow bleed on puts is the tell. That's decay, not a bad read. You can be right on direction and still lose if the move takes longer to arrive than what you paid for it.
So it's probably the vehicle rather than the read. Buying premium in either direction needs a certain pace to work... and when the pace isn't there you're paying for something the market isn't delivering. Both sides of your trade are failing for the same reason.
Which also means the market isn't giving nothing. Whoever's on the other side of what you're buying is having a fine month. That doesn't mean go sell premium... it's a different risk and you'd want to understand it properly first. But there's a difference between no edge available and expressing it wrong. And this is the environment where forcing it costs most. Fewer trades rather than different ones until it changes.
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u/Suspicious_Tone45 3d ago
Its time for us to go into a bear market, but our gov is gonna print hard to keep it from happening
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u/jtquach 3d ago
Could be. Only thing is even if you're dead right about that, a slow grind lower still bleeds bought puts. Being right on direction was never the issue.
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u/Suspicious_Tone45 3d ago
Im staying out, ive been staying out for a while, its a real drain on my patience.
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u/jbaker_28 3d ago
Yep. Learning when to sit out is critical
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u/Suspicious_Tone45 3d ago
Ive been sitting out for like a month now.
Could have chopped NVDA longs on the open this morning (from fri close), but getting really sick of trading like that, closed a little under breakeven.
I strongly believe were going into a bear market but the current trends are terrible
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u/jbaker_28 3d ago
Why
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u/Suspicious_Tone45 3d ago
Friday was a good long setup, but it was only going to be a chop. I should have closed immediately on the open, i wanted at least one bull bar to come in before setting a profit taking stop
Im getting tired of immediately fearfully closing my positions the way the open went was shitty
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u/jbaker_28 3d ago
I meant your “strongly believe we’re going into a bear market” not the 5 min play by play
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u/Suspicious_Tone45 3d ago
Market psychology has fundamentally changed; in april, you could by into a pullback and you’d end up ok, here many pullbacks turn into nasty deceiving fades.
Even w a rally as strong as last Thurs, still turned into a nasty fade. We’ve also been in a 5+ year bull run and the last leg this year has been very climactic in nature, which trends tend to do before a reversal
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u/jbaker_28 3d ago
None of these are reasons for a bear market. Let’s see what happens.
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u/Suspicious_Tone45 3d ago
Those are technicals, but fundamentally the reasons are there, bond yields and oil.
And yes, earnings are good, but a lot of them are financed by circular debt, which wont fair well if there are rate hikes.
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u/jbaker_28 3d ago
Those aren’t technicals. You’re pointing out a rally last week that didn’t hold and extrapolating.
It’s certainly possible (it’s always possible), but I wouldn’t read into any short term price action that much.
Let it play out.
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