IE its goes against our natural instincts eg cutting your losses short or letting your winners run etc...
Yeah, I personally don't get that. Cutting my losses and letting my winnings run has always just struck me as good sense. Not cutting my losses means I'm more interested in being "right" than in making money. But knowing that even the best traders have losing trades means I can't always be "right", so letting the losers go is the smart move. Likewise letting my winners run rather than "proving" myself "right" by taking quick profits is the other smart move. Maybe I just don't remember my early days before this stuff was second nature.
Yes. numerous traders professing the SLA method are more concerned with being right than making money. They will take profits right away when correct and pay no attention to prudent money management.
Ever notice that traders who come to USA do better, matter of fact seems best traders are not from USA, cause money here is so easier to attain than foreign countries, so foreigners train harder, back test much more, by time it comes to real time they are much more ready than Americans. I see so often some guy opening an account and comes here with no clue but wants to trade, they become bait, hopefully they lose quick and don't come back for long while. As Americans we are shown that more is better, more everything, BUT except not trading, like a guy/gal that runs 26 miles, they just don't start running that far first day, and in day trading, you have to be mentally fit to concentrate all day long, not easy by a long shot. Less trading is best as all studies like volume shows, volume moves price, first 90 minutes, most days if you can't make sensible goals, you be cut down in afternoon, all three sessions are different to trade and if you not educated=bait. Traders fail most times cause no well back tested Trading Plan. The "Edge" is education of price structure. If you know Price, you can trade any market/timeframe. We grow up "hoping for the best", if you hoping in a trade=bait, you hoping to make it back after lunch =bait. Bait brings the skarks.
This is an interesting view. As an American, I agree that there are many people who don't want to do anything difficult. I am speaking generally here, and the following does not apply to everyone. However, on the whole, we would rather watch something stupid on TV than read a scholarly book. We would rather go to a sporting event and shout and scream for 4 hours than visit a museum or take a class to learn something. We would rather take pills or insulin than eat healthy food and exercise. We would rather get a degree in political science and then complain about the economy than enter a scientific/technical program and learn something useful that can further our career. We would rather complain about how the Chinese and the Indians are starting to eat our lunch than admit that they deserve to eat it because they are willing to work much harder than we are. I have many friends and acquaintances who know that I am financially comfortable and that trading is a big part of that. People often ask me to show them what to do. I am completely willing to do this, so I begin by giving them a list of 4 or 5 books that I consider essential. As far as I know, nobody who has asked for my help has read even one of those books. They actually think they are going to be able to learn how to do this in a couple of spare hours on their weekend. Well, we can't blame our genes because in America, we all have vastly different genetic profiles. My guess is that the rise of permissiveness in childrearing may be responsible for the prevalence of laziness. Everyone tries to make things easy and pleasant for their kids. They don't want them to have to do anything that is not enjoyable or that they are not immediately good at. Naturally, this stems from loving people wanting their children to feel good about themselves, and there is nothing wrong with that. But they are missing the fact that accomplishment is also a powerful tool for promoting self-esteem. Instead of taking the easy road all the time, children need some challenges (while you are still there to guide them) so they may learn to feel good about themselves after they get over a hurdle, build confidence, and have the chops to handle difficult tasks when they are grown up and you are long gone. But this is not happening any more, and it appears to me that a lot of Americans expect life to be easy. I find this really odd.