HJKL. Why does your handle suggest to me Jekyll and Hyde? If you are a gurl, treat the market like you would a man: when he's coming, you're going. Likewise if ewe are a mann. The closer they get, the more you say "Git away!" You must cultivate the yin and the yang. Did you ever walk against the traffic on a London street at quitting time? Wasn't that fun? That's how to approach the markets.
I realise you didn't ask me but in my opinion the simplest explanation is that the ratio of traders to investors is very high. Too many scalpers, daytraders and hedgefunds trying to ring the register every few minutes, obliterating any chance of having any decent trends. Investors, or those with a longer time-frame then refrain from entering/exiting the market since they're slowly getting accustomed to this chop which goes nowhere. Any increase in volume is most likely just from the same ring-the-register crowd as opposed to ''real'' investors. Also why much of the old Ivestors Intelligence and other psychoanalysis tends to work less as those peoples' activity is of less relevance than before.
Thanks for your thoughts risktaker, I trade automated stuff and options and I'm only up about 10% this year. Pretty flat to down the last few months. I think I can trace my problems on bonehead mistakes I made with my systems, but I'm always interested in why other traders think the market is/is not harder than usual. Regards. C
That's a good point. And the problem crosses multi assets, everything behaves anti technically, it's unbelievable. You have to take more risk for less returns. Need to adapt, roll with it, improvise now, more than ever.
HJKL, hang in there, it's only been three weeks. Maybe you could take a few days off or a trip somewhere? That always works for me. I've had a shitty few weeks as this market is tough to trade. Let it go, have no memory(well, not exactly as you are in the learning process). I have to tell myself that all the time. Then again maybe it doesn't get easier.
The first month, indeed, possibly the first 6 months of trading is the most frustrating, painful and difficult. Why? Because you're using parts in yourself you've never really used in such a defined way. Your views, the ones you're uncovering that you have now, will be used to view the market and make determinations in the future as you progress. Not sure about others, but what you described is exactly what I went thru, what most traders go thru when they first start, I think. I could have NEVER made it in forex for the first 6 months had I been trading live money. Like a weight-lifter, it takes TIME to develop your trading wits (muscles) and market senses. Have patience, and try just to become a better trader, over and over again. Don't try to be the greatest trader overnight. Progress as you can. Good luck, thescalper
hjkl You have a long difficult road ahead of you with very few easy lessons. If you can not make money on a sim for 6 months straight you will not make money live. This should be your first GOAL, day in and day out SIM SIM SIM. After 6 months you will be lucky to not lose more then 20% in the next 6 months. All this time you need to be reading as many GOOD books as you can get your hands on.(do not buy any courses or systems 99% as useless) There are many posts on ET for books. I hope you listen to me, I wish I listen when I was told this.
Wow I am rather surprised at your response with your background. However I think it is tough too but I only have a few years of realtime trading to compare it with and I would think a few of those years were considered abnormal anyway.
Most ridiculous thing I have ever read. Why does every person whom has challenges making money talk about the "good ole days", as if there is not money to be made in today's market. There is a ton of money to be made, and I know of many traders who are doing well. You have to learn to trade the market at hand, have a multi-strategy, multi-market approach and take the trades and don't second guess the strategy or your business plan. I have found the risk/reward more favorable in this market than the bubble years. If you are struggling then seek out a mentor that is willing to work with you and be willing to pay the price to succeed. It's not easy, but when you trade and make money it so much better than any other job!
If you started trading three weeks ago and you are down 19%, either you are trading very little money, or you have a very inflated sense of your self to believe that you can walk into one the toughest ways to make money in the world and expect to take money from professionals. The markets body slammed you as they do most that don't know what they are doing. The solution is easy: scale back to 100 lot shares at a time, and try to master one type of strategy slowly. Take a look at the Don Bright threads. nitro I highlite the word trading because people here on ET use the term lightly. To me trading means opening new positions each day, and going flat at no later than EOD. If that is not what you mean, you should say so, i.e., swing trade, multi-day pairs, etc., as imo that affects the advice you get.