damn, you are a real sarcastic person.. i don't like how you respond to people, stock.. anyway, no you sound pretty normal my fellow thread starter.. i've gone through the adversity through family and friends too, so you're definatly not alone. how i solved it? i stopped talking to the people who brought me down.. left my old aquantances, stopped talking to my mother, etc. luckily my dad is in the financial world in some capacity so he understands where my drive is coming from.
Your mother deserves better than a loser son like you and she is lucky that you are history. Your monitors are your best friends anyway.
Some interesting feedback. I am quite surprised I received such positive, helpful insight. I thought for sure I'd be ridiculed all the way into 2008. There's absolutely no doubt I will succeed, I just wanted to see how many people were alienated like I've been. There is a fine line between genius and insanity and I can feel the tension building.... Thank you all so much for your wise words. One final question tho.. Would you say trading is 50% preparation 50% reaction?
Trading is a business, and traders are as much entrepreneuers as any other small business owner. This is not a path that many people understand, but I have found that the longer you stick it out, and also show that you are not just bumming around the house but running a real and legit business then they will start to support you. Those that dont are not generally worth the effort and time.
No, trading is 100% dependent on having a plan for EVERY single scenario. Does your strategy involve winning on big positions and losing on small ones? Most traders completely ignore the fact that money management is the most important aspect of successful trading. Timing is very important but it's a distant third behind risk and money management. Win on bigger positions and lose on smaller ones -- that's the secret. It's all about the odds. Consider the following hypothetical scenario....the market is falling early in the AM (great emphasis on time of day here) and you buy a double bottom with a lower low....you lose. A falling wedge forms after another 5 point drop....are the odds of this wedge higher or lower than your previous trade? It's obviously higher so your position size grows when the odds grow. It's a very simple formula -- small positions on lower probability trades and larger positions on higher probability trades. I posted at length on this topic a little while back and I was ridiculed for it. I take this to the bank every single day.
To the OP. My family gave me sht about trading when I started too... they have a very conservative {risk adverse} mindframe and it was very difficult to see how I could visualize a future in a profession with such a high rate of failiure... not to mention a profession that´s virtually unexistent here in Costa Rica... At first I went into the whole revenge and proving them I was right... I later found that was not a healthy motivation and it drove me to revenge trading {not a healthy practice} . After all the very reason for their doubts is that they love me; I just had to accept that they don´t understand what I do... {they still say they don´t have a freakin clue what I do for a living -eventhough I´ve explained 200 times-} So my advice is, don´t be quick to judge them by what they say but rather judge em by their motivation. ************************************ PS I just realized this is my 1000th post at ET... yippy!!! gonna celabrate with some farming...
These are good posts. Matt I had several years of the same issues. What I did to address this was to start a tech related business that wasnt related to trading. It is giving me some free time to work on my trading systems. And it also makes your relatives and family respect you more because you are working towards your goal even if you are not taking the direct route.. and maybe the most direct route isn't a direct route... but a path.
I agree with your thinking with one qualification, if your stat keeping is very good after over a 100 setups, or whatever you consider stat significant, you know the "best" set ups. Hit those with more lots, I believe that is what you are trying to say? On a different note, unless averaging or scaling is part of trading plan, never add to a loser, add to a winner when you get another confirming set up going in the same direction. I wish I could find the photo of PTJ young when he posts in his cube losers avg. losers, classic.
I tend to believe it's more like this, and it has been stated before. Trading is 10-20% methodology and the rest is psychology, seriously. Of that up to 20% method, you better have a written trading plan otherwise you are nothing more than a gambler. Along with that keep a separate trading journal the journals your thoughts and feelings while trading, atleast until you are consistent. If you are honest with yourself, you will see a pattern emerge. For me, it is fear of loss. A pure gambler IMO, is someone who has no positive expectancy, no stats, the just put their coins down and let it ride to see what may happen. It's true that we traders don't know what is going to happen, but if you have done your homework your method should show a positive expectancy. Brandon is right, when others see you treat this a serious business they will tend to treat you as a serious businessman. I am collecting my stats on my vacation, because it's easy and it keeps a good habit going. Remember Matt in life, whether trading or anything else, it's the things we don't want to do that will make the difference between success and failure.
Good point re the tech related business. It is very easy to set up a web site and cheap, tell everyone you're in the e commerce business. Print up some cards, password protect the site, tell them you B2B and don't need to advertise or public viewing, voila, you're legit.