Did I underestimate the difficulty? Yes, definitely. Perhaps I still do. I read somewhere that you are more likely to be a better trader if you tend toward self-delusion rather than realism. I am not completely reclusive. As it happens, I swung from extreme stress and workaholic tendencies to a few years where social life became my job. Since we are in the psychology forum, too much play and not enough work did not sit well with me. Perhaps I am like that mouse, digging all day despite the fact that my captors long ceased burying my food and have left it in plain sight.
Thanks for explaining your personal context. Now in good analytical fashion, let us turn to the past to discover why you do what you do now. How did you come by an interest in direct stock trading, as opposed to options or futures or real estate or closed end funds or physicals/collectables? It is important going forward to know if we have strong predilections, or if we are open to alternatives. I learnt long ago not to fight nature. (And a note to moderation, thank you for your forbearance. If it becomes necessary to abscise the thread, we will all recognize that time.)
Btw, do I understand that by pronouncing it a "Wide Range Day" that you believe that the next swing is unlikely to continue in one direction? Can a trend not begin at 10:30 am? Is it because the bigger players/investors, those that move the markets, would have placed their orders in the morning to be fed into the markets as the day wore on?
I read somewhere that you are more likely to be a better trader if you tend toward self-delusion rather than realism. [/QUOTE] Precisely LG. And that is what accounts for the outrageous trading success of ETers. We have life members here at ET, who are not only self professed experts in their chosen field but also in fields that they cannot even pronounce. LG ... you don't make flat screens in your spare time do you. regards f9
Lucky, IMO trends begin and end when they begin and end. You do not doubt or second guess them. I provisionally called a wide-range day because five of my six indicators for that fired off. I should have been wary that the sixth didn't. But, hey, it was good for a BO trade.
Lucky, pay attention to Furchtlos-Neun (or Sans-Peur-Neuf, si vous prefererez). He is sharp enough to make a living trading. But he trades weird. I wouldn't do what he does, even to make money. (As an aside to F9, not only can't they pronounce it, they can't even SPELL it!)
Oddly enough I removed that from my post because it was deemed to be overkill. Reason I asked your girl friend about the LG flatscreens is because I was angling for a delusional ET discount ... say in the order of 95 -100% 问候 无所畏惧九
Delusion is indeed a big business. Entire societies and economies are based on it, not to mention subcultures. As you know me to some extent from PMs, let me assure you that this thread is not a hoax, at least on my end. So I encourage ET to follow Coleridge's advice on the limitation of media and willingly suspend disbelief. Thank you for posting, F9.
Mind if I lie down on your couch doc? To answer you questions I have to expose my simplistic thinking for all to see. But here goes... Both options and futures have a bad rep as being a playground for gamblers and those that aspire to get-rich-quick. I had the feeling that "the big boys" played there and that I would be safer in stocks. Right now I am just putting in time learning. The less money and leverage I play with, the better. Real estate held some attraction for a while. But despite what all the "Flip That House" tv shows intimated, all your hard work renovating could be for naught if the market changed. Plus, from a capital perspective, it's difficult to dip your toe in and learn as you go. I looked at collectibles (art for instance) only briefly. So much to learn in those arenas as well, and much less liquidity. Mutual funds just don't hold the same appeal now that there are ETFs. I had a bad experience trying to cash a few in when the market was beginning to drop. In terms of trading stocks versus ETFs, I trade both. One of the advantages of stocks is that if you find a condition you like (fading rockets for instance), you will find more opportunities to trade. Playing every move in an index seems much more advanced than having a scanner identify a few of your favorite setups in your stock watchlist.
The funny thing about belief/delusion is that if all posts here on this glorious site of ET were vetted for original content only, then the usual rubbish of regurgitation would be reduced to a trickle of interesting posts only. It therefore follows that those who defend their posts most strongly are the easiest lead off the subject. They simply lack original content. regards f9