daytrading "discouraged" by a daytrading service

syswizard · Oct 15, 2017

Truth_ said:
I trade equities and I trade spot forex. I make a consistent profit from both. That being said, spot forex is like trying to wrestle an alligator while a bear is gnawing on your legs. It is immensely difficult, far more than equities, and genuine long term profitable traders are rare
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Great post ...and I like the above...so much for Forex.

themickey · Oct 15, 2017

Truth_ said:
The nonsense that gets spewed by “gurus” is a never ending source of laughter.

I laughed so hard at this, my side hurts, I had tears in my eyes.

Then I thought about the money going from the pocket of the OP to the guru for these gems of wisdom.

I had to wonder if the OP is pranking us, but will assume he is genuine.

Now that the latest shot of Lagavulin is taking hold I can consider matters.

I trade equities and I trade spot forex. I make a consistent profit from both. That being said, spot forex is like trying to wrestle an alligator while a bear is gnawing on your legs. It is immensely difficult, far more than equities, and genuine long term profitable traders are rare (but the internet is filled with them).

OH NO GRAMPS IS OFF ON ANOTHER STORY, BETTER HAVE A COFFEE.

So some general ramblings directed to new traders and lurkers, definitely not anyone in this thread, not even anyone on ET.

I started trading equities in the 1960’s there were only full service brokers, no discount brokers, no internet, the home computer was almost 20 years away (loved that Apple ][ and VisiCalc). The round trip fees were huge and pure extortion. One of the first things that I learned was to completely ignore everything the broker recommended. I had to use them since they were the gateway to the markets. But not only did they want to extract a toll for using their access, they wanted that toll to be paid over and over and over by feeding me absolute garbage recommendations. The brokers of the 60’s make Jordan Belfort look like a sage. They wanted that account churned and I was the fresh creamy butter waiting for the beating of my life.

Rule #2: “When there is money on the table, there is a thief in the room.” - me

So if you are willing to put money on the table, for courses and mentors, investment ideas of others, thieves will enter the room.

I’ll bump forward many decades to my entry into spot forex. The comments below are mostly about FX not equities.

I figured I had traded equities for a long time, the switch to forex should be easy.

Rule #3: “I know nothing.” - me, but blatantly stolen from Game of Thrones

After a few months the lessons of Rule #3 were obvious. I was consistently losing money. Currency pairs are a completely different creature, range bound across decades, high leverage, and more thieves than I could be imagine running games I had never thought possible, and I was paying them to do this to me. Some type of bizarre financial domination, BDSM fetish, that is forex.

Rule #4: “Quit or learn in a comprehensive manner.” - me

I have various letters after my name signifying studies at great institutions of learning. There is no such equivalent in retail trading. So I designed my own course. I used a basic four year university level engineering program as the template. I created my own curriculum, a syllabus for each class, a reading list, a timetable of classes, essays and research papers, and a thesis requirement. I designed it as a four year programme with a co-op component of demo trading, live trading in a low dollar account, and a system that allows increases to the account after statistically significant performance levels have been achieved.

I have rarely mentioned it in real life (the advantage of an anonymous forum); most people think it was an insane endeavour. Then again, they do not trade for a living. Talking to lay people about financial markets is a waste of time. Frankly, talking to employed people about entrepreneurship in any form is a waste of time.

Everyone has an opinion on the financial markets. Everyone is an oracle, until they have to front their own cash.

“Everyone has a plan, until they get punched in the face” - Mike Tyson

Told a friend that he should lighten his position in Nortel, he got mad at me, he rode that pig all the way down. Told another friend that it was not sound to have so much of his account in a single stock (Bre-X) he argued with me and told me he knew better. They both ended up resenting me for my advice being correct and the friendships have been lost. Some friends know that I trade, but I no longer offer any specific advice to anyone especially friends and family. Far worse, I could be wrong and they could lose money, I don’t need that on my conscience.

If someone on a forum mentions a properly bound and published text book remotely related to trading then it goes on my list of Continuing Trading Education. Texts need to be studied not just read. Texts that I initially discounted, I have later returned to them, once I knew more. In the infancy of my learning I could not appreciate more complex topics, perhaps better to say, more subtle topics.

At the end of it all I trade with a consistent profit. It took far more hours to accomplish than I had originally thought. What drove me was wanting an answer, “Is retail forex a complete scam like a casino, or is it possible to have a positive edge?”

I still make more money in equities than I do forex, but I find spot forex an extremely fun market, it is a real challenge to come out with a profit.

HOW MUCH DO YA MAKE?
I typically make 0.5% of my total fx account per trading day. That’s all, not the 40% amounts I read about. Today was an exceptionally good day and was able to ride the GBP to 1.2% profit (giddyup). Certainly not making the advertised amounts of the internet millionliars (created a new word, see what I did there), but when it is consistent, it overwhelmingly beats the S&P with low risk.

It’s just so much damn fun. I get up very early (since I live on the correct side of the Atlantic) make a huge pot of black coffee, walk the dogs, and between 3:00 and 4:00 a.m. am catching the end of the Tokyo session, the open of London, just getting a feel for what happened, check the news, check the events calendar. I always make the first trade very light. I need to get wired into the market and I find a disproportionate number of errors on the first trade, so I make it small. 9:30 and start trading on the NYSE and NASDAQ so things can get a bit hectic. FX is done, out and closed by 11:00, an hour prior to London close and NY is still going. Then on to some other enterprises I am involved with.

Psychologically I am obsessed with trading and have been for years. I cannot see a person with a normal mental development wanting to live like this. I sleep very little. Everyone wants to spend the fruits of good trading, but to put in the time, and to enjoy doing it, a much smaller cohort.

PROVE IT, SHOW ME STUFF
no

P.S. - the forum baby pips used to offer free online training, some might be tempted by such a shortcut, or take one of the many private weekend courses for a fee at the local hotel ballroom, or on Skype. The type of program I am talking about is something far beyond that.

Design your own university level trading course, understand that for fx it will take years, understand that since you are on your own it will be even more difficult. You will not see at first when you go wrong, but all errors will make themselves known in time. You will want to slack off, after all there is no one checking on your progress. Wrong, you know, and if you lie to yourself in trading you have broken Rule #1.

Rule #1 - “Do not lie to yourself”. - Shakespeare (not exactly as I quoted, Hamlet, Act 1, Scene 3, Polonius, “This above all: To thine own self be true”)

That is what I did, and do. You may find far more benefit from asking others here, “What process did they follow to learn to trade profitably?” I expect you would get a vast array of answers. Odds are one of those will be more suited to your circumstances. Currency futures should be considered over the spot market.

My standard hurt feelings disclaimer should apply. I apologize in advance if this post has hurt your feelings. It is simply a brief review of what I did and do. I do not advocate it for anyone else, it is simply presented as an alternative view to having some jack-off telling you that not drinking coffee is the secret to trading. You should in all probability do something else and completely ignore everything I have said. All other views are considered superior and no doubt the possessors of those alternate views have larger genitalia and should be proud of their natural endowments (I may have just offended @Xela, sorry X).

In case there are concerns that I am in a conflict of interest; I do not mentor, I do not want to mentor, I am not remotely qualified to mentor, I sell nothing regarding trading. In real life I am far too abrasive and short tempered to be a mentor. I have PTSD and there is a significant chance I would harm you.
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Nice post.

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daytrading "discouraged" by a daytrading service

syswizard

themickey