This is sage advice...I wanted to speak up myself sooner about the potential pitfalls of joining a chat room for trading...Unless the guy running the chat room has the exact same trading philosophy as yourself, it is a recipe for disaster...And this is not to say that this person cannot help you see things in the markets(S/R, patterns, tendencies, etc), but the actual triggers, stop loss points, profit targets are all highly customized by each trader...And you also have to take into consideration contract size, capitalization, etc, etc...
Brah mahalos fo da kine journal. One thing that might help is general practice trading with some of these demo fantasy accounts some brokers have got going lately, you can even demo trade some forex with like FXCM or Charter FX. There are probably some demos for the futures also. Just throwing up all kinds of trades, watching all kinds of markets and charts etc. Like an immersion program. You get your trade count way up with no risk, can try different strategies and analytic approaches and wild plays with no fear, learn from painless mistakes, work on getting your winner percentage up, and work toward the goal of seeing things as moving numbers with no emotional reference attached, until it's like you could switch to your real account without feeling any difference. Sure, it takes time but that's what you have to put in. I often reflect on trading as like riding big waves- the real kine where only 4-5 guys are out and 100's are on the beach. You want to be empty, clear of fear, excitement, or attachment, moving with and inside the flow, going when your heart/gut says the set-up comes right for you, moving with respect, yeah, but also with that calm confident feeling like warmth in your stomach that comes from lots of time living it all for the pure love of the game. Once you get in that zone, you charge it braddah. K' den, go brah.
Wide stops are for the wide and deep pocket traders â not for the traders who are trying to survive the game long enough to increase the size of their pockets. I came close to the initial margin in my account â 83 frantic NQ daytrades would do that for you. I had no choice but to step back and ask myself a very important question âdo I have a single winning strategy for trading NQ?â. I did. The setup in question happens only a few times a day at the most â but it does happen. With the great discipline and a lot of patience I traded that setup until my account recovered enough for me to ask myself another question âdo I have a second winning strategy for trading NQ?â.
Jorge and Vulture and Miki-- The statements of these three posts, and for that matter several earlier posts, by knowledgeable traders is exactly the reason why I started this thread. For rookie, pro and veteran traders alike, the information is, IMHO, indispensable. So not only do I get it, but everyone else that may be able to extract the benefits, gets it too. Cool, thanks guys.
Whatta scoop cuz-- I can totally relate to your statement above. Maybe that's why trading has hooked me so; lots of similarities to surfing. Waves, flow, equipment, fear, excitement, no day is exactly the same, extremely difficult to master, personal expression. ' Auwe! Nothing else like it! As far as a simulator... sorry just can't do it. I'd rather learn this way no matter how painful it might get. Aloha my bruddah
hey bronks, now you are down 10%...seems not so much, but this is critical, IMHO...you are in the need to make it back...as fast as you can...it is urgent... thats a bad psychological base...understand, that there is no way to make it back in 3 days (only luck). it might be the point to step into papertrading (or some electronic form offered here http://www.auditrack.com/ ) for a while... i don't know what to say instead trading
I've been down the same road, Bronks. Its imperative that you decide on a method and stick to it. It does not make sense to lose money while you are making up your mind what you want to do. Make up you mind what you want to do. Practice it, then put your money on the line. I believe you can papertrade the minis with a pretty good degree of accuracy. If you cannot turn a profit consistently on paper what chance do you have with cash?
Choppy market made me even more cautious than I already was. Probably would've taken a few more set-ups but let'em pass. Conservative trading until I get my feet back under me will be M.O. for now. Felt good to get a win no matter how small. + $35.60 / 3 RT's
hardcash-- I'm taking your quote to heart as you can see by my actions today. Excellent advice. Say whatever you will.
Easy-- I will be sticking to my method religiously. Unless it just completely melts down. As far as simulators go... I can't stand them. I think in the long run they do more harm than good. Maybe if I had a system with hard rules, I could possibly test it. But I don't, so I won't. This quote by Jorge pretty much sums it up for me: "I would not describe myself as having any kind of system, I sit at my computer everyday and watch what evolves and try and find a way to capitalize on it. I make about 20 trades a day, changing my mind often..." I don't think that can be backtested. I hope you had a good trading day. Cheers.