I absolutely refuse to inflict any damage to the family jewels. Besides, I don't think the ladies would be impressed by crushed nuts. Seriously though, this thread was doomed from the start. When you dare to dream mighty dreams, there will never be a shortage of people who will rush in and tell you it can't be done. Others, not content with that, will be morally indignant that you do not respect the craft. The dictates are that you should spend 5 years and 10,000 hours losing money and learning before you can be modestly successful. Then you have the bunch who will rush in to insult you, in this case calling the OP a gambler and a degenerate who should stop immediately and go and get a job. Strange how these people do not rush to call the likes of Atticus, Maverick74 and Martinghoul gamblers and degenerates who should cease trading henceforth and get jobs. Must be the 700 bucks that gets their knickers in a twist. âIt is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; because there is not effort without error and shortcomings; but who does actually strive to do the deed; who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotion, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement and who at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly. So that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.â Theodore Roosevelt
Wrong answer, friend. Let me help you help yourself. Most people who found themselves in your situation would simply delete the spam if it held no interest to them. Or, you would have taken the easy solution of contacting ET and asking them how to unsubscribe. Or, you could have clicked the unsubscribe link in the email, instead of the link to this thread. Instead of any of those, you repeatedly chose to come here and make demeaning, insulting, and condescending posts. And you do so, belittling the amateur while aligning yourself with the professional, when you yourself have shown, here in this thread, that you do not understand even how to calculate whether a short trade resulted in a profit or loss - in spite of you having had access not only to the entry levels and trailing stop loss level, but you had access to a picture of the chart showing all relevant levels necessary. And you'd have us believe that you are a "professional trader." You may well be, but then your desie to be a bully proved so great that you forsook accuracy in fave of acrimony, thus making an elementary error and using that error of yours to insult others, and you did so without apology. So the real reason you keep coming here is that you cannot help yourself. You simply delight too much in being nasty, rude, mean, and brutish. You have consistently brought insult, and while you decry the absence of ideas in others, you yourself have remained barren of any issue yourself. You, friend, need to stop examining the internet postings of others, and start examining yourself.
Yes, it is. A dish at a new restaurant is a gamble - good luck picking the right one. To have "control", you will need to read the descriptions. Oh, I like rice and spinach. That helps make it less of a gamble. Okay now, one last go at it... Boring-Life-------1/4------1/2------3/4-------Gambling Since all of Life is uncertain, at what point is it Gambling? Or, what is the gauge to measure the difference? Group A) Lottery tickets, the roulette wheel, slot machines, and horse races. Group B) Driving a car, cutting an apple with a very sharp knife, mowing the lawn, and yes, Trading. They all have risk. But, Group A has set risks (take note *set*). You either win or lose - you have no way to adjust your situation as the events happen. In other words, there is nothing you can "control". Group B is the complete opposite. There are many factors you can control that transform the activity into being quite boring. Once again, I'll ask the question: What is the gauge to measure the difference? Boring-Life-------1/4------1/2------3/4-------Gambling Control-------------Less-Control------------No-Control Enjoy the day.
Group A: You are lucky enough to find a slot machine/roulette etc that has a fault and pays off more than it should thus giving you (instead of the house) better odds. You mindlessly pull the lever while sipping your whiskey until you make a fortune Group B: You have developed THE optimal model for the XYZ options that only you and another guy in the world knows about. You trade ready to make a killing but the other guy makes the market against you. You lose a fortune to transaction costs. (OK someone can think of a more realistic example - just trying to say that superior skill and knowledge doesn't always directly translate to profits) So how is "control" separating the losers from the winners? It certainly helps but not in the deterministic way that most imagine. People are deluded of having more control over their environment/self and systematically underestimate the luck factor. sle said it much better somewhere in the middle of this thread iirc.
It is gambling only if and when you place a bet where you are risking something of value in the hope of receiving something of greater value in return. This really is ridiculous - it is a simple definition. Everything else you write is has absolutely no bearing on the issue. I've been patient enough with you. At the very least you need to take (and pass) a class in probability and statistics before you can even remotely be prepared for this discussion. I do not mean to be rude, but I will have to place you on ignore at this point.
OP , here's a sincere suggestion on how to reach your goal with your current $843. - watch this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J6lL2pdvV7w&feature=share&list=UUwsYypIPVkEIr6Rfc-cWIzw - get Al Brook's three set. which all together may cost $100. - trade in sim only for the next 3 months while you read through Al's books. during this time, suggested to watch Al's other BMT videos on youtube. - when trading live again trade SPX in a small scale as Al suggests so your risk/reward is limited to cents and gradually build up according to a scaled plan. - by the end of the year, you have have a much better chance to have gained not only a profit, but also shortcut your trading journey by a lot. Good luck.