Price rules. With all the indicators and stuff we're always trying to second guess price. Indicators are okay if they help you make a decision, but otherwise they're just going to mislead you. I'm always experimenting with indicators to make it easier for folks to trade (and I think I've got a good one... but more on that later) but whenever I'm playing with the indicators, tracking my trades, I'll replay the market and just trade the support and resistance levels. Almost without exception, the SnR lines will outperform the indicator; HOWEVER it does take time and some practice to learn to trade SnR, hence the need for indicators and short cuts.

I love the story about the kids though. Shows you how easily we analysts can muck things up! LOL. Stops are king. Knowing where to put them, without stopping yourself out too early or ruining your account if you're wrong is a big deal. I've learned a lot of hard lessons playing with stops. For me, I give the market the previous day's high/low to cover the trade. In most cases that's enough of a hit for me if I'm wrong. Besides, I want the market to get going when I get in! If it doesn't then something's probably wrong. That's the Reader's Digest version anyway.

The last piece of the puzzle is trading size. This is not an easy one to answer, especially for the small spec as it's impossible for a trader with $10k to only risk 2% of their account on a trade. I'm working on different scenarios for the small spec in regards to this. I'll let you know if I find anything that works well.

Great thread. Thanks for posting Brian.

Erich