In an effort to correct the general confusion about Marketsurfer's trading, market and life philosophy, I thought it a wise move to clarify on this thread. This is not a static list and it will be updated and even changed completely over time. 1. Successful trading takes far more than studying past price, price, volume or any derivative related to past price for the retail trader. 2. The past does not repeat but it can rhyme with the future but not in a predictive or consistently profitable manner. 3. Luck is a tremendously powerful force that can be used for both success and failure in the stock market 4. Embrace randomness in life. it is a sure way to find success 5. Price charts are extremely deceptive and should only be used for descriptive or illustrative purposes-- for this they are perfect. 6. Beware of Technical analysis. It is very seductive due to the way we are wired. It is only effective for describing what has happened or explaining concepts to investors who prefer pictures. 7. Look for causes, not effects when attempting to make trading decisions. 8. Price is the effect, not the cause of every move therefore "price action" and other price based methods are fatally flawed from the start. 9. Beware of anyone who says the same method has been profitable for a number of market cycles, who uses scientific words without support, who makes claims based on fatally flawed premises. 10. Trade what you think based on research into cause, not what you see as the market is designed to deceive. To be continued..... surf
11. Markets are always evolving. Fixed systems are doomed to fail over time. One must change with the market to make consistent profits. Change is the only constant in markets and life. 12. In 25 years of active trading from small personal accounts to a hedge fund as well as meeting and socializing with countless retail traders, I have never run across a successful retail trader who only uses charts to make decisions. Some successful traders use charts as a part of a profitable method-- but I maintain that their success is despite of the chart, not because of it due to the inherent logical flaws. 13. Learn from proven success. Do not believe any claims on the Internet or books. Success in the market and life shows itself. This business has a tremendous number of pretenders and phony educators who hide behind anonymity to fulfill psychological needs. There are real educators but they are very rare due to the nature of the market.
Subscribed. Good idea starting this, let people come here and discuss if they wish. I'm sure I'll have something to say as I do not agree with you 100%, but too busy right now.
===7. Look for causes, not effects when attempting to make trading decisions. 8. Price is the effect, not the cause of every move therefore "price action" and other price based methods are fatally flawed from the start. ==== imho this is not about trading, its about investing and the difference between trading and investing is simple: investing is value speculation trading is price speculation for trading the cause of the price movemnt is absolutely irrelevant
Yes, yours is the generally believed paradigm of the market. You are correct about investing but I firmly believe that the same idea can be applied to shorter term trading. That's what the price drivers try to do. We have quantified many of the known factors that move price, weigh the factors and reduce it down to a bearish bullish pressure scale depending on what is happening that day. news readers and software like psych signal are part of the mix. The purpose is to get a read on changing sentiment before the market knows to move. It's a work in progress but the results are consistently improving. surf
What are the traders looking at who are making money if they are not looking at charts? Level 2 DOM only? Fundamentals?