I've been trading this one for over a year, with some tuning but not much. It's really a very simple method. I don't foresee it changing much if any over time. Unless something drastically changes, I see no need to alter it. It should work for years and years. There is no holy grail - it's just a simple trend following method. It just has more profits than not, when I use discipline and don't out-think it. The degree to which it is successful is pretty much in direct proportion to the degree that I keep "my thoughts and emotions" at bay and out of it's way. Note to Jai :: looking foward to your "Personal Trading Plan" worksheet -
yes, i have a plan, more than one, actually, and i do know it absolutely inside out. and yes, part of the plan accounts for the fact that so many traders are planless.
so far so good, lol. another thing it took time to realize was that others trade/invest for reasons completely different from my own. every trade made during the day is made for different rationales spanning different timeframes. sometimes trades are made for no real reason at all other than to generate the appearance of activity. aggreggating all those inputs together produces one hell of a lot of noise in the market. add in that nobody really knows anything and... i found it a very interesting thing to learn. ;-)
The title of the thread asks 2 questions. 1. Do You Have A Trading Plan? 2. Do You Know It Inside and Out? I suspect many people can answer honestly yes to both of those questions - I certainly can. But there is a third question missing. 3. If you do have a trading plan and know it inside out, do you always stick to it religiously? I wonder how many people can honestly answer yes to that - I know I can't... The answer to the third question can be the difference between overall profit and loss... Best Natalie
Correct, Natalie. Thats where the discipline comes in. Discipline=the fortitude to stay the course. I see the plan as the course, and the foritiude is sticking to it religiously. What's also pretty amazing is, regulators' studies have shown that at least 70% of people who attempt to trade for a living will fail, and at the time of this post 72% answered yes, and 27% answered no in the poll. There seems to be a reciprocal relationship there.
I kinda suspect that people who don't have a trading plan, for the most part, won't respond to this poll. Many newer traders don't perceive the relevance of a trading plan. Therefore, they might not consider this type of poll important. Hence the numbers could be skewed toward more successful traders, who I would guess DO adhere to some type of (most likely) written trading plan. BSAM