"What makes Successful Traders"? Can't get away from this "Buy low, sell higher" and yet we spend years trying to do this exactly. It sounds so easy, but to be able to come out ahead every week, month, year, one has to take opportunities that the masses over look. Need to find reoccurring patterns that one will buy when market is dropping and sell when market s rising. Need to pass on the feel good trades and take opposite positions of the retail trader. Find the ways the masses will get trapped and give them the opportunity to get out at a cost, when they figure out trend has resumed, they will jump in late-pushing the market higher and fed them your instrument for you to take profit. ahh...Life s good.
In trading, unlike many endeavors, you have to start loving what you hate to do. I love the feeling of making large overleveraged bets, even though a series of them could ruin me. I hate grinding it out everyday, but it keeps me in the game
It depends, instinct and inspiration can provide direction At times you can have an inspiration, as a "nightly" conclusion to your home work. So far I've got 3 and all turned out to be winners. Last one was last weekend, I dreamed of CAD goind up and it just did that since yesterday. I should have listened to my "inspiror" and taken the trade yesterday. Nevertheless I did it today 100+ pips later. Now profitable, but on demo.
The parts that I now love about trading is not actually trading itself, but I now love studying about the market in terms on how to reduce risk. You see it as "making large overleveraged bets" and I try to build concepts on doing the same to start then making the risk almost null risk. My mind thinks so much of the day and evening on ways to make near zero BUT still have plenty of upside and part of the times even more. Chances of ruin are zero, learned long ago to stop placing myself in ways to mentally and physically ruin me, you just get old enough knowing it gets so much tougher to rebuild at some point. When you learn to grind it out, expand your knowledge to longer term, if you have Mastered day trading my friend, you can do longer term much easier than day trading.
The topic was discussed before here and here. The best answer done by Spydertrader (IMHO): I posted this just over four year's ago in response to a similar question as yours..... Perhaps, you'll find it helps you on your own journey. In a word........ Discipline. Having the discipline it takes to keep after your trading education after putting in long hours to study, prepare, test, analyze and review the rules, software, trading vehicles and systems before ever placing your first trade. Having the discipline to start with small sizes as you continue to learn and trade. Having the discipline required to wait to trade real money with maximum leverage until you achieve proper capitalization for your trading goals. Having the discipline required to remain patient while waiting for the most opportune time before entering a trade. Having the discipline to exit a trade and take a loss when the market tells you you were wrong this time. Having the discipline to exit a trade when you reached your target by not permitting greed to influence your decision. Having the discipline required to control your emotions before, during and after a trade. Having the discipline to follow your well tested and proven trading system rather than override it simply because "you know better." It's rather easy to find the Holy Grail. Maintaining it is quite another thing. I know I fight the battle each and every day. Good Trading to you all. - Spydertrader http://www.elitetrader.com/et/index...makes-u-successful.174550/page-2#post-2556615
Here's a story. Usual Sunday routine, late lunch, quiet day, and early to bed. On the Monday increase the account by 4% with almost perfect trades and start the weekday routine which entails much the same as the weekend except the meals which are later in the evening. Come Tuesday bad trades, come Wednesday, bads trades, but Thursday brought it back online and made an almost perfect trade. Everyone has an opinion, very few have the information to make something work. So what changed to make Thursday as successful as Monday?
Try to operate somewhere between "Buy low and sell high and buy high and sell higher." Tops and bottoms are a bitch.
Low ... High ... I am not sure they are good friends. Whatever the altitude. It can goes equally up or down. It's like tellin' that for going to Roma. One has to put one foot in front of the other. Sure .. Profit is a positive difference. As a step forward is a positive one.
I think that what many traders fail at is to Identify the Important Factors. The factors that are most crucial for the future performance of the system they are to design. Markets in average are random. Since they don't have the "right" Priors, Their trades will be as random as the market in its average. Add Psychological Weapons of Mass Destruction ... Gambling with losses & Fearful with profits ...