Can someone help me to use this?

if you are trading stocks, i believe the most important element in your skills inventory is - how to scan for high odds plays.

you will hear advice about proper money management and psychology and other "soft" factors. really, my experience has been due to not having the right method in scanning stocks.

i need a mentor myself too ....

 

Although there is sincerity in your post, there is also an implied assumption along these lines:
"Trading is easy once I learn some of the insider tricks"

From my personal experience and those of other successful traders with which I've interacted - this assumption is flawed. The number of newbie traders that believe they can be successful if they can just get xxxxx (fill in the blank with any number of magic insights) is legion. A question which is probably appropriate (more or less), which I've heard from more than one successful trader is:

"Would you expect a surgeon to show you how to operate in a few days?"

I suspect that there are some Trader Savants somewhere who have managed to fall into a successful trading process from the start (or nearly so) ... but I've yet to find one of these mythical creatures. However, there are a handful of traders, who have busted their ass (big time) and managed to create a level of success within a fairly short period of time. Through their level of effort, determination and probably some innate natural abilities - they were able to shorten the learning curve. Likely - these few people are the exception rather than the rule.

Assuming that the photo of your trading station is real, you've shown that you have the money to spend to start with equipment most beginners can only dream of. Sadly, this approach is likely to have a negative correlation with success. It may just mean that your expectations are not realistic and you'll lose more faster.... (Do you have the mental acuity to process 8 screens of real-time information? I don't. So far, I've found that more than 4 screens has not been helpful and takes away from my focus. Even scanning that much physical area has proven to be more of a hindrance than a help - for me anyway).

If you are indeed being truthful and are willing to work:
- spend more time here on ET reading threads. After a while you'll start to discern the helpful from the bullshit. There are many helpful, genuine people here. There are also many fakes, crooks, losers and fools. If you've been successful in your real estate business, you've probably already encountered most of these types and can recognize them. There is also a lot of information on different approaches to trading, various trading vehicles, and much more ...
- be prepared to spend more time reading quality books and sitting your butt in front of a screen and studying price action than you now anticipate. There is little to substitute for either.
- most people who throw money at expensive courses fail. Typically they either are unwilling to put in the time/hard work or the course material is flawed (or some combination).
- most successful traders gravitate to a methodology & timeframe that suits their personality / risk profile
- While I won't pretend to have read the entire thread (or even most), Anekdoten appears to be genuine & sincere in his efforts to provide a functional methodology and assistance to traders who are willing to study, listen and bust their ass working to learn... Reading his AHG thread is one possible starting point ....
- I recommend that you sim trade until you have a proven methodology (consistently produce profits). Once you're consistent, start with small amounts of real money and work up. The sim trading will do little to help prepare you for the mental aspect of trading (which is huge) but at least you won't create major psychological damage while you lose money with poor or unproven methodologies...

Best of luck in your efforts...

R

 

Let me assure you that both the picture & my sincerity are genuine.

Here’s a quote from a book I’m reading (Technical Analysis - Kirkpatrick/Dahlquist 2007) “…most technical & fundamental methods, by themselves, are not profitable over time either…Traders’ and investors’ greatest misconception is that the market has order and that by finding & acting on that order, profits will be consistent and large. It presumes that a magic formula exists somewhere that can predict markets. This belief is not true….there is no magic order to the markets beyond the fact that they sometimes trend and, more often, remain in trading ranges. The money made is based on the use of well-controlled entries & exits, especially those that limit the amount of loss that can occur and that will react to changing conditions in the market. A system will aid the investor or trader in timing these market entries & exits.”

Among my beliefs are:

1. Markets are constantly changing, precluding the ability to use a static system and generate consistent profits. A system that worked great last year may not work this year.

2. There are exploitable patterns to be found, at least over short time frames.


If these thoughts are true, then what I would like to learn would be:

Specifically how should I search for these edges & patterns?
i.e., Would a mentor be able to tell me…hey, don’t use that indicator look at this one, look at this type of volume, look at the vix, check this time of day, watch this market then that market, look at this oversea exchange, read this report, try these different averages & pivots……….and this is how you find those correlations & exploitable edges

 

If you are looking for a mentor to tell you how to trade, that might be your first mistake. There are some good mentors out there, but they are better at steering you in the right direction more than saying "here, look at this, when you see that, do this".

You need to look at a mentor more as a coach. He can help steer you in the right direction if he is good. But no matter how good the coach is, he could not make me a pro basketball player. Some things can't be done. But a good coach can take what you have and improve on it.

Read a few books, and take plenty of notes. Then try to make some trades using what you have learned. Paper trading is preferable for some people, others don't like it. If you don't want to paper trade, then at least be smart enough to trade very small amounts, like 1 futures contract or 100 shares of stock.

Trading small will give you the experience you need to learn this business. If you can't get profitable on small amounts you will never get profitable on big amounts. Prepare to spend a few months or years getting to the point where you are ready to trade with real size. It may happen sooner, later, or not at all. But at least you won't blow through all your money before you get this business figured out.

Have realistic expectations. You will not take 25k and turn it into 1 million dollars this year. It will not happen. thats not realistic for anyone with half a brain. Yes, there is a 1 in 200 million chance you can do it, but the reality is that powerball is a much lower probability than trading your way to that amount in a year.

think in terms of percentages, not dollars. It will make it a smooth transition later when you scale up into larger trades. you can stay at 1% a month and up your trade size by 10x and its easier psychologically than going from 10k a month to 100k a month.

Trading in itself is not that hard at all. the hard part is learning the discipline required to become and stay profitable. Thats the part that takes some people years to master. And many take a lifetime and still cannot master it.

Screen time is critical. If you just pick a few markets and watch them and you will start to notice things. Then you make a few trades on what you observe. Its really that simple. Maybe an indicator or two will make it easier in the beginning. Maybe not. It depends on you.

You said you want to know if a mentor could tell you "hey, don’t use that indicator look at this one, look at this type of volume, look at the vix, check this time of day, watch this market then that market" well EVERY method ever mentioned works. They might not work for you or me, but they work for someone. You have to find what works for you. Simple is usually better. I have a friend that trades commodities and all he uses is a single moving average. He is not a full time trader, but he makes about 30-50 trades a year and in 2007 he made 23k after taxes on those trades. He couldn't live off that, to him its just extra cash. but if he wanted to he could scale it up and do it full time. For him its free money.

If you still feel you need a mentor, make sure he shows you hard proof of his success. That means trading logs and tax returns. If he won't show you that, it means he is not the person you want to teach you. Any profitable person that will accept you as a student will show you these things. If they won't show you proof, it means they have something to hide.

The most important thing to remember is to treat trading as a business. That means keeping detailed records, and reviewing them. You wouldn't open a sandwich shop or a car dealership and expect to be a millionaire right away. Every new business in the world is a race. A race to get profitable before your money runs out. The longer you can run, the better the chance you will learn what you need to get profitable.

good luck.

 

This guy must be laughing at all the posts everyone makes. Am I the only one who realizes this?

He definitely has an edge, otherwise such a setup will not be conceived. He wanted to boast about his system, hence the thread. My 2 cents are worth more than your 1 cent.

 

What a great post, you obviously speak from experience.

But really, looking back at where you started can you honestly say you wouldn't have been better off with a mentor, I know I would have been.

If I knew then what I know now I could have saved myself a small fortune in lost time and money. What I learned over the years wasn't anything spectacularly revealing, in hindsight most of it was common sense as, like you say, trading itself isn't really all that difficult.

Instead of starting with a blank sheet surely it's got to be better to have at least a few of the blanks filled in, have a framework even if it's just the basic elements of trading, and a basic strategy. That way the student has a sound basic understanding of the markets and how to trade them which he can work with initially and avoid some of the more obvious pitfalls, then in time find a good fit for himself.

 

not true

 

Got a mild case of paranoia there twofacedjoker?

I'm not sure why anyone would want to fabricate such an elaborate story but who cares, it's an interesting discussion anyway!

 

Did I not state my 2 cents are worth more than your 1 cent? lol

 

You'll be wanting some change then