I was thinking it takes about 3 years to get everything in order, but if you're going to give him the benefit of almost 3 decades of trading, hell, that definitely is a home run, by any measurement! Good trading, JJ
LonelyTrader, don't feel so bad, afterall 90% of retail traders are not winning either. A few things for you to think about: 1) Stop trading money! Open a demo account (MetaTrader for forex is good). Trust me, IF you actually figure out how to be consistently profitable you are going to be kicking yourself for losing money that you would kill to get your hands on when you know what you are doing. 2) Condsider trading off of end of day charts. It cut's out much of the random noise. Yes the stops are much wider but so are the targets. 3) You say that your testing works but when you try real time it fails. I don't know how you trade (using indicators perhaps ...), but have you considered clean charts with NO indicators. If your system is extrememly simple and based ONLY on price action then it's harder for it to go wrong real time in my opinion. 4) Chose a setup ... breakout on daily charts for example, and OWN it! Do not trade any other setup until first you can successfully demo the breakout and know exactly where you will place your stop and target on the trade ... do it over and over until you know without a shadow of a doubt! 5) When you achieve point 4) .. consider trading AS SMALL AS POSSIBLE to prove to yourself that it works real time as well. If after a decent sample size of 20 or more trades you are not net profitable on this setup go back to point 4) and repeat it again on DEMO. There you have it ... INMO 5 easy steps to get you on the right track. If you can't bring yourself to stop trading to carry out these steps then you have failed to appreciate what is necessary. Good trading.
It took me much longer because I was stubborn and didn't listen to well via trying to re-invent the wheel. If I could start all over again along with listening back in the 80's... 3 to 6 months max before I would have seen some consistency. Mark
Almost all of us have to reinvent the wheel because we all think we are smarter than the average bear.
LOL, and we can make pigs fly too! I now it sounds crazy, but it's true. Oh well, when you earn it, you really earn it. Good trading, JJ
Improving the wheel without reinventing it from scratch, is a legitimate activity. But without knowing what you're trying to improve, you'd be unlikely to succeed. And it takes time to re-invent or improve something; most startup traders can't afford to spend that time and resource. I've invented some new wheels, but it takes a very long time to get things right. It's Research and Development, which is always slow. I'm just saying that relying on conventional wisdom is not necessarily the right thing to do as a trader, and finding your niche takes time. FS.
No, your brain "don't work" for day trading. Day trading is not for you. It doesn't work for lots of people. It requires a suitable temperament, it requires savvy and it requires a method. For me its a piece of cake.So forget it. Give yourself a break and then do something else with your time.
Learning to trade is accumulating a working "toolbox" of skills, and knowledge, or "savvy". There is no single method, just an ever-increasing set of weapons, which you deploy in your "niche" area where you eventually become a relative specialist. Again, this takes time and experience. Problem is that experience has a high "cost of entry" into the profession. Mistakes are costly and successes are few in the beginning. FS
Wow another pissed off trader who can't figure it out? Gee, boohoo, poor me. This pity party is over folks. Trading is like any other business. I've been trading successfully since 2001, as a day trader. It does work, you just need to figure out what your fucking up.