Why not also trade with a blindfold, ear muffs and a soft-toy stuffed in your mouth?
It is possible to take things too far.
Though, I almost fell out of my chair laughing at the response, the OP
does have a point.
The OP's point (I am certain of it) is that Charts drive emotional responses to market activity that might be disadvantageous to successful outcomes. In other words, charts drive some people crazy.
I cannot show you the GUI that I trade with, but rest assured, it contains no charts. It is a Digital Panel that keeps me
informed about where the market is headed, where my trade profile is headed and what my capital is doing in the market at all times.
I just don't need charts anymore. The aggregate net/net P/L tells me everything I need to know, because my trade profiles have become rather complex. Trying to make rational decisions about what to do next, given the number of positions open each week for me, is not the optimal way to operate my trades. I have charts that aggregate the Performance of all trades concurrently, but these are not price charts.
Of course, all of this assumes that you are not trading Naked (opened and exposed) with a single pair or singular FX option. I have multiple performance indicators in my GUI, but the most important one is the Net Profit & Loss Total value which is displayed digitally, of course.
Here's what such a Digital Display tells me:
a) I know that typically, I can expect my profile to start off by posting a net loss of not more than -15% (+/-) of my total cost basis (equity in the trade) between Friday (entry) and EOD Tuesday.
b) I know that typically, I can expect to see the Net P/L increase to approximately +50% to +75% (+/-) of expected target for the week, between Tuesday and Wednesday OED.
c) I know that typically, I can expect to see the Net P/L increase to approximately +75% to +100% (+/-) of expected target or better, no later than Thursday or Friday EOD.
If I have a partial target fill for the week by EOD Friday, then there are built-in rules that deal with that scenario. If I have a Net Loss on the P/L for the week by EOD Friday, then there are built-in rules that deal with that scenario as well. Typically, there is no Net Loss, but there can be partial target fills on any given week. So, while I may not strike my weekly target for the entire profile on the week, I don't typically suffer a net loss for the week in the vast majority of cases.
-----------------------
I entered my lat profile on Friday OED 2/12/2010. Right now, I have 17 positions open concurrently.
15 positions are losing money and only
2 positions are making money yet my Net P/L is only -15.47% which is within the Performance Range for
this stage of the profile.
Once I enter my profile (17 positions), I
do not enter a STOP - nor - do I enter LIMIT for any of the 17 positions. I am simply open (but very covered) in the market and I
do not telegraph my Exit in either direction until the very last moment. At the appropriate time, I will insert all Limit Orders and hit the Kill Switch on any under-performing slackers, if my system tells me to, or I will keep them open, if the system so indicates.
So, the system is the auto-pilot, but I am THE pilot-in-command with full override authority at any moment. If the flight is getting into trouble and the auto-pilot cannot compensate, then I intervene only in those areas where intervention is necessary.
All of this can be done whilst not looking at a single chart, all week long. In fact, if I wanted to, I could have designed the GUI to display just the Net P/L value and nothing else - just one big number on screen and I would not precisely where I was in the trade at all times. But, I do prefer to have the digital panel present me with additional performance parameters, so while it has no charts, the GUI does contain more than just the Net P/L.
Now, for clarification purposes:
No. I do not recommend that a total novice go out and try this without understanding exactly what they are doing.
No. My system is not now, never has been and never will be for sale - at any price. (Priceless to me anyway)
No. I cannot post pics of the GUI.
TradeSMART, by Managing your Positions. :smart: