You made me laugh hard (land of the free comment--been trying to get my wife to move, now she has recently agreed to visit other countries, atleast thats a good step, we'll see how that works out), I get what you are saying, but we all have our method. You are right, but I believe in diversification, as long as I can get someone else (or group) to take care of running day to day investments, I'm free to trade but protected if the US does something stupid. Also I subscribe to Qwealth, if you like you can look it up (has nothing to do with trading but more directed to the "land of the free...." comment).
I was making a living off trading US Stocks via DATEK back those days, when they pulled that Pattern Day trader, 3 SL hits on the same day in a 5 day moving period and your banned sunny, so I've had a lot of hard work thrown out the door before. Land of the free has more rules than anywhere else ( okay China worse ? ), ironic isn't it! I know others, which made a living in the UK playing drunk rich americans at night on poker, they banned Americans playing people out side of the USA to stop the money leaving the country, smart but also errmmm land of the free doh!! Nothing is for ever, get in, make good $$$'s and get out when it turns against you. Trading is my Plan B, I need it SOON, I haven't got a Plan C currently.
This is why you fell short during trading. Were both heading in the same direction but taking two different paths. You have to commit yourself to trading. Establish a consistent profitable pattern or strategy and stick with it. Set reasonable goals based on your buying power. 1% on $100K account runs a lot of risk. >.005% is more manageable. Which is between $250-500 a day. Put aside half that and build your leverage and in 2 yrs. your playing with real buying power. Get licensed with a prop firm and have 3 account 2 live accounts and 1 paper account to hedge your trades. Studying charts is for amateurs unless your holding over night. For Daytraders all you need is a 3 min. chart to determine which direction that stock is heading in next. Once you get that pattern down, go out and purchase rental property for residual income. That is ultimately what I'm looking to do after I pass the Series 56. When your really good you can manage other people's account. Take in $50K and offer a monthly payout of $1K. Add $50K to your existing account, you should make $1k on the 1st day of trading or at least day 2.
That has been my biggest fear the game changer, changing the rules at some future date. This is why I am trying to get licensed, to minimize the impact. Execute Plan B. this is why you should fall back on real estate or make other wise investment choices. So you don't have to rely solely on trading, however there is no better source of income.
Options trading gives me the choice of being simultaneously long and short,choosing a range,choosing a time frame or multiple time frames, allowing adjustments and having the comfort of limited risk when the market 'accidentally' drops 1,000 points like the DOW,when all future got banged out. FTSE once dropped 100 points- a bogus fat finger trade we were told-though some banks didn't seem to suffer(coughs)
They seem a good idea as an occasional hedge, but using them all the time must really take a good dig into any decent P/L.
Good insight, don't trade options much. If I do, its basic calls and puts. What Windlesham1 suggested seems like a good idea, for markets going nowhere, but don't really know enough to say more than that.
Maybe somebody who is struggeling for years is reading this, therefore I will post one thought: All the people in this thread are talking about systems, entry's, charts, candles, and so on. Nobody is talking about how they feel, think and react. It's really all about changing your feelings, thoughts and reaction to see clearly that everything can and will work, if it suits you. Most people do not spend years learning how to trade. They spend six month's of learning something and are repeating the same process over and over again, no matter what the results are. The feeling is shaped, the thinking is made hard and the results shows it. Negative or positive, it's the feeling that counts for your brain. That is what Ed means with everybody gets out of the market what they want.
He is probably talking about strangles. You have to be good at options to be able to control those well.