Unless it wasn't obvious from the post above, I'll add that it's the consistency which is hard to maintain in this game. You really have to bring your A game every single day. No room for errors or miscalculations. Stay the hell out if you don't know what's going on. I still struggle there. Racking up a few winning days or even weeks I'm sure most can do. But being a consistent net winner is incredibly hard. What changed for me over the last 2 years is that I'm running some big winners home, both on a trade-by-trade basis and on a daily basis. In the past I could do 25 small winning days in a row and lose it all on a few big down days. So, maxing out your winners while protecting the down side is most certainly key in order to have a fighting chance.
The thread continues to blow up so I'll continue posting. I'm an engineer as well and trading has been more difficult than anything work or school has ever thrown at me. At work or school, it isn't like if you make one tiny mistake you hit the delete button on everything you've learned up until that point, rendering it useless. The more time you spend the better you get and the more you have to show for it. With trading, every wrong decision has the potential to put you back to zero because you can't afford to make mistakes. If the rest of the world worked like this nothing would ever be accomplished. Congrats on the upward equity curve. I'm currently at the point where I'm aiming for the same thing: intraday swings. I realize that the market is going to do whatever it's going to do, and the intraday noise will usually cost money, so better to just go along for the ride on its next wave up or down and ignore the in-between. My problem is that I can't correctly trade these moves, but at least I can identify their significance and potential. I'm beginning to think that trading is more about what not to do (avoiding mistakes) than what to do. The "to do" is just riding intraday waves, while the mistakes to avoid are bad timing or bad risk parameters. I could be wrong, however. I wish you continued success on your trading journey and thank you for your well-thought out and detailed response.
I want to make money. Doesn't everybody? However I can get it and with whatever tools or strategies I need to use. I don't care if it's 0.5 or 5, so long that it's an upward equity curve over the long haul. You think 8 points on ES a day is unreasonable? Intraday swings are sometimes double that, and it can move 40+ points a day. I mean, unless you're scalping a few ticks at a time, going for larger moves seems to almost be the trade to take, does it not? The intra-day swings? Thinking out loud.
One thing about trading is that it really makes you question what is real and what isn't, and this has made me a more critical human being. I'm constantly thinking about what is true and have come to realize that almost everyone I meet in the real world is completely full of shit on almost every level. Everyone parrots what they think is true rather than fact-checking what is. Trading has made me more of a hermit because I'm more unwilling to tolerate the bullshit others perpetuate in almost every area of life, and have tended to shy away from society at large. Whether this is a good thing or a bad thing has yet to be determined, but at least I've gained a certain self-respect where I'm willing to call people out on their nonsense and try to look between the lines. I'm beginning to think that the majority of human interaction is ultimately based on deceit, and it's really opened my eyes to the way things are truly done in this world.
I was giving ES as an example. I actually prefer NQ or CL. Is there something else you would recommend? I liked futures due to lower margin requirements, but am open to anything.
Hello Rutro, The question you are asking is basically the same questions below: 1. Can someone please show me how you pay your bills on your 5 bedroom mansion? 2. Can someone please show me how they make their wife VERY happy, so she does not sex another man with more money than me? Or she does not leave me cause I have no money and trading and I am loser trader? 3. Can someone please show me how you are paying your kids college tuition every year? 4. Can someone please show me how you pay for all your vacations and hobbies? 5. Can someone please show me how you eat steak 3 times a week and smoke expensive cigars 6. Can someone please show me how you afford to have 2 young pretty girlfriends and have sex with them as you please and pay their bills? 7. Can someone please show me how bought a fancy new car every 2 years? Read my post again here. Again, NOONE on this planet is going to show you or give you no answers how they are making millions of dollar a year trading. Forget about it. Not happening. I am not even telling my own kids until they are 40 years old and SERIOUS. If they not serious, I am not telling them either. https://www.elitetrader.com/et/threads/anyone-here-actually-profitable.373538/page-3#post-5790771
You could check out the posts from this guy. He gave some pointers on how he's trading and appears to be doing very well from what he shared here: https://www.elitetrader.com/et/members/1eyejackal.537046/ I think you're dead on regarding avoiding mistakes. The easiest trades - at least for me - is when the market is trending. When the market is in a range - it's easy to get chopped up buying highs and selling lows. So, if you can learn to just stay out of those ranges and wait for a clear trend to present itself you can do well. Obviously, use a multi-time frame system and be aware of what's going on at the daily chart, 240-minute, 60-minute and all the way down to your entry chart. It does require patience and discipline being able to stay out and only trading when everything lines up perfectly. That can easily mean skipping an entire trading day. At the end of the day trading is an expectancy based game, so you either need a very high win rate and usually small winners relative to losses, or you need to make sure you make at least twice what you risk and can then get away with a lower win rate. Know your math here. Most people lose because they make less than they lose. Period. Add to winners, ride them and lock in breakeven entries as price moves in your favour. Never add to a loser and cut losses ruthlessly. This is a good way to make sure you always take losses on your minimum size with the potential of a few outsized winners. You're welcome. And thank you.
Hello hilmy83, Lol, its the truth. Why would I share with someone how I can go get 2 young ladies to do EXACTLY what I say tonight, as exactly as I please? And go buy a new Benz at the end of the month cash money. I said ANY woman I want. I am man, why would I tell another man how to do this for? This is the trading GAME. You either a LION or a SHEEP. Eat or get KILLED. Make MONEY or STARVE to death with a really HARD penis, cause no woman is going to sex a poor losing trader. The winner millionaire trader, get all the ladies. And NOONE is going to help us. We are ALL ALONE.