You've already pretty much said you don't have a plan already. You're condescending towards pretty much everyone who's posting in this journal. I don't journal publicly myself since I have no interest in sharing specifics about my method, nor am I interested in the opinion of others. That's why I find it very strange that YOU are keeping a public journal and get super defensive when anyone asks a question or makes a comment. If you don't want public opinions, keep it private.
In trading business, the people who knows how to trade, usually does not talk; the people who talks, usually does not know how to trade.
This is not in line with what I have been keeping on my own, it is a new fresh endeavor. 2015 Complacent? I do not think so. I (We) have enough security/money to quit work and maintain lifestyle and a decision was made to stick with it. I could not see the future. Too much risk? Some trades were down 1k before closing out for a profit. Perhaps I come across as condescending, so be it. But my intent is to pay attention to success and nobody qualified themselves as successful. Don't others ignore more people in life than they listen to? I do the same in the markets. Why should I listen to anyone here?
I think a good rule for those who start journals, from what I've seen here at ET, is that if someone has an opinion and thinks they are "helping" you, they better damn well show trading skills themselves. We have so many experts here at ET, and if you could poll them all, I'm sure that in the same instant, half would be short and half would be long. So collectively, all this advice isn't all that helpful. Everyone here has an opinion of what someone else is doing wrong, and yet, when it comes to showing what they are doing right, its utter silence. Human nature unfortunately makes it so alluring to point the finger at everyone else and say what they are doing wrong. I think most ET personalities come to the journal section just for the thrill of putting someone else down. So @nursebee , I commend you for being highly selective of what you will listen to. Yes, there are some on here who know their shit, but given how low the percentage is, it is more likely that most advice in this journal will be utter crap for you and your method.
If you're only willing to listen to those that are "qualified"...please give your definition of such or at least explain it. They can then decide if your journal merits them proving themselves "again" just for you in this journal. Yet, would you even listen after you made a comment to ChrisMac that you doubt you would listen ? Thus, what exactly do you want to occur in this journal ? Seriously, you have a profitable trading record for most of your trading years although you lost most of your 2015 profits but still ended the year profitable. In addition, 2016, you were profitable in January and so far in February. Simply, why would someone be giving you trading advice when it should be the other way around...what am I missing here or am I reading your performance record incorrectly here at ET and at your blog ? Therefore, maybe that's the real issue here. You don't want others coming to your journal and telling you how to trade or that it ain't gonna work when you are a profitable trader. If that's the real issue...get use to it...most get confused when they see someone that's profitable via a way they don't believe in or it makes them uncomfortable. I've seen such many times before at this forum. I remember someone had a journal in which most of his trading days were profitable and he posted his broker statements and an occasional real-time trade. Yet, the advice came from every where about how he should be trading...crazy thing to see and made me think that people get a little uneasy in their seats when someone is profitable. P.S. Qualification ?
Every person posts for their own reasons, to fulfill something they "think" is missing in their life, but as usual, most of it is nothing more than social behavior of human beings. No one is right, or no one is wrong, but one person made a very accurate statement that applies to any person who decides to trade any market, and it just so happens, he is not always right, but he always makes "good" money, the dumb ass The rest is nothing, but chit chat. J_S
Ha -- I agree...that's what I always mumble to myself when I read financial/market news articles. -- with their smiling faces on the bottom of what they wrote and their bios listed. (...when it's all said and done, they probably have piss poor performance.)
A-B-C Always Be Closing, each post written is the same of ABC, the reader is sold if he agrees to the post or the reader sells to poster if he disagrees to the post, but there is a sale either way. It is like seeing same commercial four times an hour, they want to ram it down your throat to force you to remember them when you buying groceries or auto insurance. Or another way is tip toe through the tulips and write something poetic in Valentine's Day card or it can be a long day.
Of course its a good rule as suggested earlier. Yet, its not a realistic rule because surely you don't expect people to enter your trade journal and start proving themselves in your trade journal ? Doing such will make your trade journal about them...how they're doing it...their trades...not about what you're doing nor would such correlate with the thread title of your journal. Seriously, nursebee would need to change his thread title to attract traders he's only willing to listen to. Therefore, reality is that you expect such to occur prior to someone entering your thread. In addition, you would have spelled out such a requirement in the beginning and not after the fact. Also, the forum owner (Baron) has ignored such a suggestion for many years that there be a section created just for traders that have proven themselves. Traders that have shown proof they know what they're talking about...walked the talk into profitability. That's understandable considering as you stated...only a low percentage would qualify but the low percentage will be counter-productive for the Baron because this forum is a business to him and the last thing he wants is to label certain traders with some title in which members themselves should do themselves via their own "following" list that Baron specifically created for such. The other reality is this...just because someone has proven themselves to be profitable does not imply the advice they have is suitable for your trading style and objectives...there's a few journals here at this forum as proof of such in which the thread starter in his/her journal got consistent advice from proven traders in which the advice was contradictory to each other and made trading worse for the trader after he/she listen to such and then applied it. This is why I strongly believe its the OP responsibility to be clear upfront about the purpose of the journal and whom he/she wants to listen to. For example, there are several traders off the top of my head that are trading exactly the way the OP is trading involving small stocks. None of them have posted in this journal...not one. Getting past all of that...I've only seen a few journals here were someone was very selective about whom he/she wanted to listen to. They were upfront (very first post) about such via specifically "naming" the user names that have been helpful in the past along with identifying those traders that "qualified" via whatever they needed to know about someone they're willing to listen too. Yep, those journals aren't as popular as other journals but the thread starter seems happy with the content being posted in his/her journal considering the messages often get "likes" from the thread starter. May seem ridiculous at first but those journals sure didn't go this way as this journal. Another option is to do what others are doing after the forum owner (Baron) redesigned this forum...make a private thread here and than "invite" specific traders you want to listen to for viewing your journal. As you can see, there are ways to get exactly as you and I suggested. Its not the fault of the readers when such was not initiated by the thread starter nursebee. That's why I sometimes call these types of journals an ambush. Not a big deal considering the OP has another journal of the same content as a blog elsewhere.