There is more to life than trading. Seeking perfection will not produce more profits. Maybe ulcers. Stress motivates some, hinders others. Seek courage NOT perfection. Faster chips and bigger hard drives will not produce more profits. We actually have reached the point where upgrading computers are at the point of diminishing returns. Windows XP still gets the job done as example, How old is that? Scalping as a strategy can be an insanely profitable strat in the right hands compared to taking less trades per day. A persons own scalping strat can not be defined by others because there is no "single" definition outside of the pits, a pit local with membership is not the same as some retail guy claiming to be a scalper. Increasing size matters if you can handle it, the number of trades is not the answer. The strat and tactics matters. Forget research, all the answers are out there in GOOGLE. What is not available on GOOGLE is how you as an individual improve your own performance...........if you are going to do any research..............RESEARCH YOURSELF. The only problem with age, is remembering the things we used to do, like chasing skirts, letting her catch you, physical stuff. The advantage of age is you work less for more, you use your brain first, you avoid the scams and the impulses that were fun at a young age but wasteful and foolish when older and wiser. ( for you guys that only chased trailer park bimbos, the real sexy great chicks are the ones that are even smarter than you are......they are the ones that float your boat and they KNOW what they want, Bimbos are just seeking you as a meal ticket, that is no fun) Another advantage of age for a trader is knowing the new blood will keep coming in because this game is such a fantastic draw to become rich...............that is what keeps the game going...........a steady flow of losers to keep throwing in their chips. Older guys that have been around know this is a losers game. The key to winning a losers game is to find your niche and just milk it. If you try to defeat a losers game you will only defeat yourself. Youth is great, do not waste it, the difference between most younger people and older people is the older people "have been there and done that." Do not fool yourself, the quality of life for everyone on this planet has been going downhill. Sure, some can improve their individual status but as a whole...........things are not as beautiful as a few decades ago. Many will not understand that,..................not yet anyway.
Who cares what she says! If you still have her around you are blessed! I learned to enjoy my wife's remarks and her little theories of "why we will have an up day tomorrow" . It's the part of my daily entertainment. She loves what I do and I love that she has no clue what it is! Life is beautiful! MAESTRO
I'm no where near being able to take the poll...Interesting to me though that the best thread I've come across in a while happens to be dominated by the old timers.
Love this thread. I'm approaching the age of being an oldtimer, but I'm just getting started in trading. I find it all very interesting.
When I first started trading professionally back in 1978, I used to look to the old guys, the guys in their 70's and 80's who still were in the grain pits. I showed them some respect, listened very carefully to them, and learned how to trade from guys that started in the pits in the 1920's-30's who had seen it all. Young guys should always look at the old guys for guidance, especially the grizzled old veterans who have 30-40 years under their belt. Despite the electronics, automation, etc, the markets are still the markets.
Lets see; in the past 30 years things have speeded up considerably. Iâve gone from getting my quotes from the morning paper and phoning my broker who charged 3% to execute a trade; to getting quotes with an automated phone system and placing trades with a touch tone phone for only $39; to a direct access broker with lightning fast execution that cost less than a penny a share. If it gets any faster I wonât be able to keep up. The criteria I use to trade hasnât changed and still seems to be effective after all this time.
I was never a retail investor and have been an exchange member since 1978 and speed was never an issue with me. Certain things have gotten faster, but the markets are still basically the same. Perhaps the fringe players have easier access to dump their money, but I'm not smart enough to find much more. Perceived speed and access does not make it easier to consistently grind out profits year after year, especially from a retail standpoint.
That's pretty impressive, especially considering this is the worst investment market of our lifetime. Congratulations! I'm only 63 +7 months, so I didn't vote. I average about a dozen turns per day, mostly automated. The biggest change as I have gotten older is that I am much more risk-averse. I think that's a natural progression, because it's a lot harder to recover from a blowout when you're unemployable. I never was much of a gunslinger, so slowing down is not a problem. My mental ability is still pretty good provided that I get my after-lunch snooze.