Characteristics of a Successful Trader

You guys posted your " trader horoscope" but no one said if it was right or wrong or mainly right or mainly wrong. I gave the email and got a detailed report I'd say it was about 65% right 20 % wrong and 15% debatable. It did figure out a key challenge that i ve had for a long long time though

 

Because in the big scheme of things it does not matter

Next week comes – we identify setups, identify stops, enter trades, and either lose or make money – period….


I’m sitting here watching the Winter Olympics Games – they’re infinitely more interesting than some ole print out anyway - Go Apolo!!!

eta - He got Silver

RN

 

EricP--

Hi. You are obviously a successful trader. My question is why on earth would you continue to post here after the disrespect baron showed you on the feedback thread? I don't see any response from baron to your last set of posts in feedback asking legit questions of him. Why then add to his site with your thoughts?

I'm really curious because usually a successul trader demands minimal respect in order to share his thoughts.

Thanks and good luck.

 

I'm a trader. Baron runs a website. He clearly believes that it's more profitable for his business to allow flaming and personal attacks, as this increases his page views. I believe that this site would benefit from more control, leading to better content for it's members. Obviously, it's Baron's decision, based upon what he thinks will be most profitable for him. (Note that Baron doesn't flame or make the attacks, he just chooses to look the other way while they run rampant.)

I have had minimal participation (and contributed little 'of value') on this site during the last year, as a result of all of the flaming and immature personal attacks here. I thought I'd test out the waters here for a while and possibly contribute more unless more uncontrolled flaming and attacks resume on this thread, as they did a year ago.

 

Thanks for the answer.

Fwiw- I agree with mostly everything you say in the beginning of this thread. Unfortunately for some, many of these characteristics are intuitive, and cannot be taught. The math, statistics etc understanding is dead on. The hating to lose, even a small amount is dead on. The controlling of losses is dead on.

This thread IS a contribution, even if you didn't contribute much in 2009 b/c it obviously is written by a successful trader and is very accurate.

One question for now--did those 10 traders that you truly beleive wouldn't lose in 2009 all make money? 2009 was my roughest year in a long time, But I was able to eek out a few percent to the plus side to keep my streak of winning years intact.

Good luck.

 

They were all profitable (200k+), although not nearly as profitable (combined) as in 2008. I would say their median P&L for 2009 was maybe 800-900k (versus roughly double that for 2008).

 

You should consider starting your own board with your buddies. I would love to be in too.

 

Many of ET's former valued members either started their own blog, chat room, forum like group or moved to another forum that had a controlled private area...both a little easier than maintaining an actual forum by oneself. Thus, if someone truly values their own content...especially if it's a journal...they'll post it elsewhere in a more controlled environment unless they need advice and feedback.

That's the advantage of ET...you can get quicker response when looking for advice or feedback. However, if someone is just trying to get a pat on the back or trying to help someone...post at ET only if they have a thick skin.

Mark

 

yeah, i think most of the old schooler ETers started their own thing a while back.

 

one of the traits which i've noticed in others (and myself) is a seeming contradiction: an ability not to care about money lost, yet to always be cognizant that lots of money can be lost if the the entries and exits aren't properly monitored.

if i enter a trade and am trading as i should, i've either got one of two scenarios: a trade with better than 50% expectation, that has a decent reward/risk, or a trade with a much higher expectation%, but a lower reward/risk ratio.

i've evolved to the point that i know what most of the setups look like, and how they should feel (intuition). today, i slipped and put on size in a trade where i didn't have an edge. in fact, the trade was a poor one - i was selling a stock as it was going back into support. this broke my scenarios situation: i was getting a trade which was probably lower than 50% expectation, AND had a poor reward/risk ratio.

the only upside is i realized soon after entering that i had let my guard down, and exited my trade before it started going viciously against me. i saved about 65% of a potential loss (if i had held on to a bad trade until the end of the day) by exiting.

now, the loss was a little painful, and i stopped trading because if i put on that bad trade, i wasn't in the right mental state to trade. so i cut myself off for the day. i'll make it back in the next couple days...so there's no worries. but traders have to be on their game every day...