Hello Nigel, You seem to be very familiar with the 3ducks( which I've been considering), and just want to clarify something in your last post. You say sometimes you don't get a qualifying set-up for a few weeks. How many pairs do you monitor? thanks
Hi itzak, I am sure there are 3 ducks set ups that occur in the markets every day that conform to the rules, qualify, as you put it. However, in my experience trading this method, I have found that not all 3 ducks trades are created equal. As Andy says, the 3 ducks is not a system whereby you tick off boxes and if all the criteria is met you jump in. It requires discretion and some use of your brain to pick and choose which trades to take and which not to take. To acquire that discretion takes practice, many hours of looking at the charts, reviewing trades, comparing winners to losers, identifying common themes, etc. When you do acquire discretion, identifying good set ups becomes like second nature, like riding a bike.
Now when most new traders hear of boring things like practice, work, using your brain, etc, they run for the hills. Off to find the enter when this crosses that, this is above 50, that dot is there, the moon is behind saturn, then go pick up your new Maserati type system.
Some new traders, and I was guilty of this myself, enter the market with an automatic machine gun, shooting everywhere, entering trades left right and centre, making poor entries. It's not working so they reload, and fire even more. Frustration, anger, eventually they are out of ammo, the margin call comes, they throw the gun at the market and leave. "3 ducks is a load of ****" or whatever.
What you want to be is a sniper, sitting in wait, maybe for weeks if necessary, a limited number of rounds to spend, wait for the one direct shot to the head, aggressive, big pips in your account. Quality not quantity. It's much harder work to be the sniper than it is to be the machine gun but the rewards are better too.
Sorry about the long winded answer. In short, I monitor pretty much all the main currency pairs and crosses, but in terms of the trades that I enter, I am very selective. When I have decided on a potential trade that looks good, I am very aggressive. I will enter hard, add positions if I get the opportunity to, and run it for as many pips as possible. I do use other ways to enter the market too, 3 ducks is just one weapon in the arsenal, but definitely one of the best.
Hope this helps. Apologies if you are some massive big balls trader and you know all of this already. I don't mean to patronise anyone. Maybe someone reading the thread will get some value out of it.
Good trading
Nigel
ADD - Can I just add the disclaimer, this is just what I do, I am sure there are traders who trade every day, or even every minute, that are very profitable. There are many ways to skin the cat, I'm just describing what works for me.
. Also, I think it became a valid 'duck' trade around noon today. Currently about +170.
