Don't read books (or websites or blogs, etc) from so-called market superheros; just learn and observe on your own. -- I haven't read a single trading book. and hardly know who these people are, nor care to know. (it's good to start off from a clean, neutral slate...all from your own experiences and observations) learn from a variety of mixed sources...don't put anything, or anyone, above all else on a pedestal.
"Too long". I've been involved with trading (part-time: I've done other things, like a couple of degrees, at the same time) for ten years now - I started "too young" - and have been making what most people would call a good living from it only for the last three years of that. I come from a trading background and had available both facilities and support which few people have; I've done my thousands of hours of education, reading, research, training and practice; I've put in my thousands of hours of screen-time; I'm very Asperger-ish (which helps in several ways); etc. etc. - and it still took me many years to manage it. In short, about as far from an overnight success story as you can get. I think the realities of trading predicate that - with hindsight - it's nearly always one of those "If I'd only known earlier what I know now ..." things, but here's the thing: nobody ever does (not even people with all my undoubted original advantages on the playing-field).
Take those ideas which resonate with you. If Al's ideas make sense, use them but you will never trade like Al. Not because you are lesser than him but because you are not him. There are as many trade plans as there are profitable traders. Early on I studied Pesevento, Ross, Raschke, Sperendeo, Bill Williams and others. It wasn't until many many hours of watching price development that patterns began to emerge from the noise that could be used by ME. Then, I began to test different time frames, MA's and other studies to qualify and filter signals. It began fairly complex and got stripped down over time. Simple is best. Understand that even when you have designed and tested a strategy, nothing will work consistently without the ability to manage behavior in the heat of the action. The entire process takes time...often a long time. Don't be in a hurry. If it were as easy as digesting someone's book(s) or going to an expensive intensive seminar, then everyone would trade...and succeed.
I find it surprising that Baron of all people shut that thread down because he was one of the main ones who tried to paint me as a lunatic or a whiner when I made a thread pointing out how this forum had become nothing but people fussing at one another about what method doesn't work.
Al Brooks may be a good read, but I don't think it will be your final destination if you are to become a very successful trader. Well, being opposed to Al Brooks isn't the same as being opposed to TA. TA is a wide field with the common denominator being that price history is used as input to predict future price movement. Al Brooks approach seems to be an intuitive chart reading approach. Fairly subjective and vague. There are many other approaches to TA. And I take it you're very successful as a trader?
DDR, you helped me remember. My mentor was a great athlete and used many sports analogies to explain trading. Vince Lombardi could talk about one play for hours. It was the off-tackle play. One play and its variations. I noticed after awhile I was doing the same thing with flags, those that worked and those that didn't. I see them in any market, any timeframe. I don't have to trade them, but I'm aware. Next, if you look at pro golfers, most have coaches and were taught to swing. However, a few have never taken a golf lesson. My friend used to say, if you want to play golf, go play golf and hit balls. Till your hands bleed. Over and over. Mickey Hoffman used to say to aspiring floor traders that it took a thousand trades to become a trader. Now I believe that's a low number. When I got stuck as a daytrader I would just get in and get out and not worry about win loss or direction. Lastly, in a book called The Butterfly Hunter there's a guy who's in a wheelchair who coaches football kickers. He's never kicked a ball in his life, but he's taught some of the best_including Adam Vinatieri. It's his life's work and passion. When he talks about kicking its other worldly. You get to minimalism after throwing a lot of junk out and keeping a little.
Happy new year, kut. Its an allegory to TA. Why do 98% of everyone who have stat credentials believe that market patterns have no predictive ability? Plus whenever ta patterns are properly tested, zero edge is revealed? Seriously, why believe ancedotal evidence when all the real evidence is against it? I just don't get it. Peace. Surf
The best criticisms of Brooks are that his for-profit teachings (not just books, webinars, expos, courses, **donations!!**) are somewhat derivative and he does not adequately acknowledge the contributions of his predecessors Edwards, Elliott, Magee, among others other from the 19th and 20th century. Brooks does not offer practical accounts of real-time trade management (always vague and after-the-fact) and is devoid of warm bedside manners (seems to not care about students' failures). Aside from derivative teachings there is not enough new material addressing HFT/algorithms, considering his books were released with the rise of AI trading in 2008, there is a circumstantial case that the books are possibly more of a retrospective account from a successful trader from the 1990s-2000 era than groundbreaking works in deciphering 21st century algorithm-based price action.