1. Learn to Cut Losses Short & Let profits Run. With random entries, no timing required. Brave the discomforts & Break Em'. Beings are pessimistic with gains, And optimistic with losses. 2. Learn to Scale Up, Scale Down. With random entries, no timing required. Try to make money buy losing small & winning big. That's the only reason why a minimum of capital's needed. To be able to start by cutting size, then adding to it. Average Up & Down. See how it works. Make it a habit. Don't forget #1. 3. Learn to recognize a bear from a bull. To trade only when the odds are in your favor. This is the non random part. Trade only the right side. Keep it simple. Don't overfit. 1 or 2 variables are enough. With a little advantage over Random & #2 you should be fine. !! It has to be an improvement over the previous step !! If there ain't no significant improvement ... Then keep browsing for an edge. 4. Size matters more than price. But timing still matters. That's why I trade the open. I don't time price but volatility. I don't know where it will reverse but I know what brings volatility. You better avoid chops ! With that & #1, #2, #3. You should be alright.
Be careful about Trading Advice -- because there can be a just as right opposite answer. Nothing should be etched in stone, or followed religiously. it takes a skilled, seasoned trader to realize this -- and adapt and adjust accordingly.
Maybe. But it won't cost me a leg to be "wrong". By the way ... The opposite would be to let your fatty losers run and take quick & small profits. To enter randomly in expecting choppy ranges....
Nice list! Starting with #1 risks damage to psychology. In downtrend guaranteed losses will swamp any gains, or you could learn to cut winners short which is the wrong lesson. In chop, cutting losses short will cost some extra commissions, but can be doable when betting small. Though with high cost to position size ratio and possibly high amount of guaranteed losses. Gains in uptrend may be negated by adding, so hard to do. #2 is just smoothed version of #3, and may smooth pnl volatility. #3 often leads to overconfidence and too large bets. Where to draw line in sand, #1 and #2 may help. #4 is ideal entry, but larger context may swamp the obvious "turn". Markets does not always provide ideal entries. Good directions though requires major understanding of market structure and price action to make use of it. Its like the hungry snake eating its tail thinking it gets well fed. In the end the real meal is somewhere else, but basic idea is sound, at least when successfully combined. The trader, the snake needs to see how to successfully feed regularly and consistently on the market and stop nibbling on itself.
Say you get your timing perfected, meaning, when you get filled, price moves in your favor very quickly - for say, 7 out of 10 trades on a daily basis. What would you do differently then? J_S