A recent graduate of the Hidden Pivot course, Paul Hoffman, has developed a regimen of exercises that he has found useful in honing his trading skills. Here it is:
I think it would be useful to the newbie and also to more experienced traders to design a series of exercises to get used to the Hidden Pivot Method. Some of them you have already suggested and I am sure there are better ones than mine. For most traders, and I include myself, the problem is not finding entry spots, but rather, trade management and follow-through with judicious, pre-planned stops and exit points.
Here are some of the training exercises I’ve been using:
Day 1: Go thru all the charts, determining what opportunities, if any, each has to offer. This can be done by putting them in a directory, setting the display as images, and then using Windows to display them one at a time as a slide show.
Day 2: Review the charts again looking for “big picture” ABCs
Day 3: Review at least two weekly tutorials in the recorded archive
Day 4: Using a tick chart or other low-level time frame:
— Determine the current impulse and C-D legs.
— Hypothetically initiate several trades at ‘X’
— Determine a stop-loss
— Practice “time” stops, counting down 15 seconds from entry before re-setting the stop to avoid even a nominal loss
— Allow yourself to be stopped out or to exit at ‘P’
When I did this on a five-minute chart I netted $10 profit after commissions. The basic stop was a three ticks on the E-Mini
Day 5: Repeat Day 3, but use only second signaled point ‘x’ entry prices after ‘C’ has been stopped out
Day 6 : Repeat, except that instead of exiting at ‘P’, use a trailing stop from point ‘P’ and above
Day 7: Repeat, using a dynamic trailing stop as the target is approached
Day 8: Repeat, using a higher time frame to identify the opportunity and a lower time to initiate on ‘camouflage’