As for what I do, my grandma still thinks I'm a gambler, and she always tells me the story of how my uncle lost his savings on the ponnies.
I'm actually to the point where i try not to mention to people that i'm a trader. They all seem to look at it in such a negative light, where as I've found it to be completly fascinating and profitable. They tell me its unhealthy to sit in front of a computer all day watching prices . My boss tells me it simply can't be done . Even my plumber came up to me the other day when I was at my computer . As soon as he found out I was a trader his first question was : Have you gotten hurt yet?
Tell them that you are "engaged in probabilistic net excess return generation via the real-time analysis of intraday valuation evolution". That will either win em over or send em to sleep. Either way, you'll get em off your case.
I think I'll use this euphemism next time and watch their eyes glaze over: "My job is to create positive alpha in a short term environment"
I am not a gambler-casinos,cards,ponies whatever. Therefore upon studying and finally entering the daytrading arena I knew I would not do it if I felt like I was gambling. Over the past weeks, perhaps months, I have cut down my trading considerably because I believe the present absurd/directionless market just may be a gambling situation. I have decided to put more time into study so that when things do right themselves I will be ready. But right now,IMO, we're gambling.
armaniman don't be ashamed to trade index futures at least you are not a stock trader as to why people lose ? its not only money managment but pressures you have when trade full time. the idea of trading and must make rent this months or at least make it up for the next month double, is something not easy to handle. one stock trader I knew at ETG (he is now a manager in CT office), he had ice-water in his veins, so keep it cool under immense presure will help you with money management. this is why I uderstand vendors and those who turn into software dev or vendoring systems. I disdain them but I have some a soft spot and I am human too. I would never give a dime to a vendor again...I have spent $1000 on the stupid turtle system as I (prior) have met Richard Dennis at the CBOT. So MM won't bail you out altogether, I posted once about the four items you must have to be a success the last was psychology - "having no feelings" as it was put in the movie "Wall Street" equals to the "right phychology !!!!!! Actually the first 3 bullets were BS - just a filler !
Right ! And the funny [sad] thing is, it takes a lot of loosing before you realize what it means 'it's only psychology'. I know, newbies reading my comment might think 'c'mon not another warning about psychology! give us the sure way to trade instead !'. And that's why you are newbies.. sorry. I've been there so nothing mean or ill intended in my comment. It's just a simple fact. let me give you a pointer : Trading is EASY ! YOU make it difficult and a loosing proposition ! Consider this, if you are constantly loosing, you should just do the exact opposite of what you are doing now and you would make money [systematically wrong is great, it can turn into systematically right !]. Only psychology makes it difficult [try to reverse your way, and you will see what I mean hehehe!]. Trading is DIFFICULT when you break even. This come after a while if you are not wiped out. Then it sucks ! you worked hard to reach that state and it is difficult to become consistently profitable [you can't reverse things when you are break even!]. I was stuck in the break even state for quite a while. All this because I was trading stocks. It might be because being systematic with stocks is not that easy, and if you are not systematic you are screwed ! It's only when I switched to futures that I understood the simplicity of it all. Probably because it's possible to focus and work on the systematic way instead of jumping from stocks to stocks. I am not saying you can't make a lot of money with stocks. Some on these board do [very very few I am sure, but they do]. For me, choosing one market was the breakthrough because it helped focusing on the only 2 ingredients you need : - Systematic approach with positive expectancy [risk management which insures you make money on the long run]. - The psychology to follow it. Some call this : plan the trade and trade the plan. But I mean more. have a plan for all the trades you will make. trade precisely this plan, always, always, always. There is a trap though : markets do change. So you must be willing to have several plans depending on the conditions [please don't change everyday]. or a plan which adapt itself [it's possible]. If it was not for this changing aspect I would stand by my comment 'Trading is EASY'. Detecting changing conditions and adapting is very challenging. However, the idea is to go back to a point where trading is easy again. I believe you should keep it simple [easy] otherwise, possibly you are not on the right track and you might be asking for trouble. well.. I am too long already. But if a few pointers made sense to you it's good, it will save you some time or trouble. More likely, you will continue your bad habit until these comments make sense to you neo
The above post is right on the mark. Be sensitive to your psychology, and to the psychology of the market. The rest is worthless drivel.
bro59, I fully agree with you. The biggest enemy to successful trading is not a bad trading strategy, but a bad trading psychology. The often cited 80-90% failure rate could be considerably diminished if traders had the discipline to work on even one major axiom of good trading e.g. cut losses short and run profits.