Characteristics of a Successful Trader

Discussion in 'Professional Trading' started by EricP, Dec 13, 2008.

  1. <i>"Some of the same principals can apply to communication and/or knowing how to communicate or not communicate with a "know it all"</i>

    Yes that's true, but there is something to be said for having a mental joust with someone you know for a fact is on the losing side of that debate. Period. :cool:
     
    #141     Dec 17, 2008
  2. <i>"Conversely, by following your plan, you have eliminated emotion from your trading. Over time, you can modify your trading approach to reflect your increased understanding of the market and to build in the lessons you have learned from your previous winning and losing trades. However, you will modify your trading plan when the market is closed after carefully reviewing your reasons for the change. You will not be giving in to emotion by changing your trading plan 'on-the-fly' during the trading day on a whim."</i>

    Exactly the evolution of a trader. Guys like rcanfield > traderzones will never reach this stage of the equation. They are too busy fixated on systematic back-tests and all that false gibberish which looks good, feels good, smells good... but leaves them floundering in the Dead Sea
     
    #142     Dec 17, 2008
  3. Well, kinda. But a even more successful trader is he who knows when to flip trades faster than he would flip a burger. At the very least, he needs to acquire a stamina to call it quits when called for.
     
    #143     Dec 17, 2008
  4. Persistence is the key. When I just started it wasn’t easy at all because I had never been close to anything related with markets. Then when I started my Forex training it wasn’t a perfect path, I had a lot of losses that made me think that this wasn’t for me, but I persisted and I’m already trading my own money with acceptable success.
     
    #144     Dec 17, 2008
  5. Thanks for responding..

    All the best.
     
    #145     Dec 17, 2008
  6. Ericp, what do successfull traders think about indicators? :D
     
    #146     Dec 18, 2008
  7. EricP

    EricP

    Not sure if that was a serious question, but the ones I know think indicators are extremely overrated.
     
    #147     Dec 18, 2008
  8. ericP is that to say that most successful trader's you know are price action/volume people?
     
    #148     Dec 18, 2008
  9. If you're not using canned indicators then you're creating your own I suppose.

    Don't you need to base your trade decision on something? What else is there?

    If your saying stock A is oversold and I'm looking for it to revert to its mean, then however you measure 'mean' and 'oversold' must be based on something. That something is an indicator. I don't get it.
     
    #149     Dec 18, 2008
  10. Dustin

    Dustin

    Out of all the guys I know who make good money, I am the only one who uses any indicators. Then again they all make more $ than me so maybe that's a clue.

    The only one I use is stochs on a 3 min ES chart, and that is only to guide me to whether I would rather be on the long or short side of the market overall. For example if stochs are telling me that ES <i>should</i> fall for the next hour I would rather be selling some weak stocks that will outperform ES on the downside. That way when I'm right about market direction I make more % than ES, and when I'm wrong I lose less.

    Trying to apply any indicator to individual stocks will not work, and even when you apply them to indexes they are going to be wrong enough to not rely on as trade signals on their own. Just imo.
     
    #150     Dec 18, 2008