the reason is daytrading is a zero-sum game. There will ALWAYS be losers. In a closed system where all daytraders trade against eachother and each spends 10.000 hours to learn daytrading, still you will have losers. Thats why the "business" of daytrading is crap argument and the 10.000 screen time is also a crap argument. It is also the reason discretionary daytrading doesn't work and the reason automated systems stop working sometimes. Your systems has to be better than others, aka for example in poker if your bluff is better than the others you can consistently make money, but the other will learn to create better bluffs, then you need to step up your game. Is is a constant struggle for edges.
business is a constant strugle for edges too ... and for that matter so is life (if you don't think so, read up on Darwin)
1. I see no difference in reading 1 minute, 15 minute, 1h or 1 month chart (provided, market has enough volatility). All the same principles, just different fractals. 2. Criteria for tight stop entries is to enter when price moving against you by more than your stop amount proves you wrong and there is no reason to stay in the trade anymore. This is much more often reversals, than trends. 3. Cannot download your attachment, cause you use spaces in your file names and ET screws them up.
except in business your edges are not always zero-sum, it way easier that way. you can create a whole new market out of nothing.
Exactly! There are many relatively efficient markets besides contracts traded @ exchanges. For example: Opening a new restaurant in a city full of restaurants is equally if not more hard as becoming a good trader and also involves fight for the "edge" (to make guests start visiting your restaurant instead of visiting your competitors).
oilfxpro, You've been making statements that day trading or any other type of trading (except for swing trading) does not work. Heck, you even started this thread that "Day trading is a losers game". Yet, every once in awhile amongst your negative message posts about day trading...you make a few messages about a particular trading day of day trading profits or making suggestions about ways to beat the market via day trading (e.g. martingale type position sizing). Simply, you're all over the map...very difficult to understand your opinions via the contradictions that sometimes seem like a "lack of sincerity" to learn about day trading except for the messages that deals with "trader psychology". It's almost as if you're day trading in the background and you don't want us to know about it and once in awhile you have a profitable day trading day (real money or simulator) and that's when you make those rare positive day trading commentary that it "is" or "can be" profitable. Therefore, I'm just going to assume from this day forward that you're scalping or day trading regardless if such is via discretionary or an automated/mechanical trading system...regardless if it's every trading day or a few times each month. Also, you shouldn't attach .rar or .zip files here at ET because most will not open such files for obvious reasons. Thus, I highly recommend you attach images or charts (.gif, .jpg, .png, .doc) to get more ET members to read your attachments. I say this because I did a survey here at ET and elsewhere via posting images or charts in different formats. The .rar and .zip files are least likely to be downloaded by traders along with having the most complaints that it's not viewable. Mark
Mark I went back on simulator to change natural instincts on trading.I am trying to see if I can remove all the negative traits from my trading before going live again. I am also preparing for the swing trading on oil and fx.I have free time on my hands. This is on trial.If I go on 1 min charts with tight stops and do a hundred trades a day,getting in and out of trades frequently , I find myself in the comfort zone.This fast in and out within minutes style of trading suits my style.If you do 200 trades daily , your problems disappear because you change sides at every turn of the trend line.If you do enough of them , you have an edge because your eyes can see more good opportunities to trade , whereas if you limit your trades to 2 to 3 , your potential is limited. I traded on simulator for a whole week many months ago , trading 200 times a day .The results were an astonishing 20 % a week.The method could not be implemented on live accounts , this was because it was discretionary based on trading instincts.I tried to apply rules to the method and it failed.Now I found a few rules that can be applied to the method. Your opinion is welcome as always.
Can you expand on why you could not implement this method into live trading? Was it the emotions of trading with real money came into play?
The simulator worked very well.So I go in with real money and tried to be careful and implement it slowly.I started with half the method trying to be extra cautious.This type of trading is very fast and does not require a slow , cautious approach to trade.The frame of mind to implement the method was not correct, hence the failure.