Permabull: that's me, the dum dum dummy goin' for the mon mon money...would you prefer the standard line of BS? There are only about three hundred books and a thousand posts on this site alone u can choose from.... Metooxx: You know it's funny- I used to believe that to some degree, but I don't anymore. 'Smart' and 'smug' don't have to be synonyms, though they easily could be in many cases. Figuring out what you need to know, what you don't need to know, and what you can't ever know in the first place, are the three categories of vital importance. Judgement calls are key, and good judgement requires knowledge. Knowledge is available to anyone willing to work hard at attaining it- be they smart or dumb. And big egos hurt whoever has 'em when they get in the way of judgement- smart or dumb again. Laziness and pride don't discriminate.
Please understand that "simple" is not "easy" ...and wherever you trade, retail or professional, many of the basics apply. That's the main point I like to get to those who are taking trading seriously. Regardless of where you "plunk" down your working capital, it makes sense that you'll do better if you find strategies that fit your own sense of trading...we can't teach extremely "risk adverse" people to make good short term traders, and we can't help "kamikaze cowboys" learn proper risk management right away....but this is a game of probabilities, and the higher your batting average, the better you'll do in the long run. I just spent a few hours with some highly "technical" types, who had open minds, and they listened to some of the more "simple" things to look for and seemed to be almost amazed at the simplicity. Then we went into more advanced strategies to give them a TA "fix" .....there is no holy grail, and we must all "Adapt or Die"....be open to many concepts..... I've tried to share as much as I can on the boards here, with some pretty good success...and I hope that others will share some of their strategies....we don't "give away the farm" here, but an open mind can pick up a lot from others,,,,I know I do.... Don
Im with you on this one! The way will be found in action NOT thought, there comes a time when you have to just let the Poppers and Platos do the thinking... Dark this really is a "simple" game we play, we are not neurologists or quantum physicists The simplest, yet the hardest thing I have yet attempted to do! PEACE and good trading to all, Publias
It's simple once you understand. The instrument panel on a jumbo jet is 'simple' to the pilot but not to you or me. Confidence stems from conviction and peace is born of understanding, which takes hard work to get. It's easy to rock a trader's world when he doesn't have a grip on it. Proptraders and daytraders may need a high batting average, but the biggest and best traders in the world would argue that the batting average statistic is essentially irrelevant, or at least not relevant in the way you would assume it to be. Since the sum of money won by just five of these guys is greater than the sum earnings of all prop and day traders who have ever existed anywhere, they may have a point worth considering. As Soros says, 'it doesn't matter how often you are right or wrong- it matters how much you lose when you are wrong, versus how much you make when you are right'. Maybe he's full of it, but he is a multi billionaire so hey who knows. I am a guy just voicing my opinion with no financial gain from it whatsoever, just the enjoyment of sharing my thoughts and perhaps getting a little more self clarification in the process. You are a prop trader with a prop trading business to promote and run. Nothing wrong with that, just saying that 'be open to all concepts' means ALL concepts, including ones that may be hostile to your vested interests, like the possibility that strategies that once thrived in cash rich environments may very well die in cash poor ones, or that the viability of entire strategies comes and goes as the environment shifts and changes. Do what you want, play how you want, just make sure you KNOW what you really want and that you're playing in the BEST way you know how to get it.
You guys are correct in that trading is simple; hell anyone can go long and go short, just click or press away...making consistent money; that ain't simple.
Once you are no longer concerned with "right" and "wrong" and can focus totaly on the big picture, things just seem to fall in place... ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Eddie Felson; Boy you don't leave much on the table when your wrong do you fat man? Minnesota Fats; Thats what the game is all about no? The Hustler PEACE and good trading Professor Dark, Publias
There in lies the complexity of it all.....not being concerend with being right or wrong is not a simple task to overcome....
There is a pretty wide gulf between being pro real world experience and being anti thinking things through....I am as in favor of real world experience as anyone...it's an unnecessary conflict, kind of like the reason/emotion battle is an unnecessary conflict.... Then again, maybe I am just a voice crying out on the wilderness- on a different path as you might say. I post here for myself more than anyone else, odd as that might sound- so it's completely cool. (I am also open to requests that I go away, if anyone share's permabull's sentiments ) WAR, sickness and bad trading darkhorse