well mrmarket has a great theory i think its called hold til i am right. i heard sucker became a pirate and others have said he keep his name and now is in gay porn. i also hear he is a mule and runs drugs from mexico to the united states. i don't no what happen to our fallen hero sucker but i hope he remembers kermit the frogs famous line "it aint easy being green".
Ohhhhh....was that him? I heard it was gray porn and he was running dogs from mexico? maybe others can verify what they heard? Michael B. well, I am off to the greyhound races......
This is my first time to post here and per the title of the thread, I am about to give up. I have been reading Elitetrader for some time now but have never bothered to post. Jai you have opened my eyes and my mind. Let me give you my background as to why I started to trade in the first place. 1. Late 1990's, we heard about stock trading, didn't know anything about it just heard it can make you some money opened a play money account, used Yahoo 15-minute delayed and Datek streamer, no knowledge on technicals nor fundamentals. We lost all the money. Didn't trade for 2 years. 2. Worked for a company that dealt with traders and was given a real time quote system. Was a little bolder now, wow, now I got real time quotes. Thought that was all I needed. Lost 90% in 3 years. 3. Attended seminars, learned about money management, trading plans, trading systems, paper trading, read books (Van Tharp, Pit Bull, John Murphy, Martin Pring, etc), signed up with subscription based email services and live updates on market movements, bought trading courses. Papertraded ES for 2 years. A little more sophisticated now, used fibonacci, pivot points, oscillators. Papertrading on 2 contracts showed I am making 4 points a day. (When did I start looking at futures? Somebody told me you can make $50 per 1 point......greed......) 4. Finally, decided to take a plunge, opened a futures account and followed my trading system. Lost 20% of my portfolio in 1 month. Out of 20 trades, I made money on 4. Suffice to say, I lost more than I made. I have not traded for several weeks now. Maybe I should keep that 80% and just stop? For sure you would tell me - 'Change your trading system!'. Here it is: - look at daily, 30, 13 and 3 minute chart. Entry on 1 minute - entry on stochastic 8,3,3, macd 15, 30, 10 (for trend), exit on stochastic again. Must be above or below 9, 18 and 82 ma. - volume ma should be above 50 -open interest must be greater than or equal from the day before - first hour high, first hour low pivot points -R1, R1, R3, P, S1, S2, S3 - fibonacci ret. extrentions per major and minor trends. Has to retrace to 0.618 for entry, on a cross doji and on a major S&R. Exit on 0.618 fib. extension. -TRIN, VIX, TICK, COMPQ, MER, INDU values (trade or fade?) I hate losing money. But with stocks and a cash account, you only lose what you buy. I thought I am sophisticated enough now to trade futures but losing 20% for just 1 ES contract, I can't risk putting my family in the poorhouse. I do use a 3 point stop. I get scared of the idea of a futures exchange being in a locked market ( did I use the right term?) and you can't close your position. Or maybe I am trading the wrong security? I am now paper trading Russell, Mini Dow and Mini Nasdaq. Or just go back to stocks? Or trade stock options? Or maybe I should position trade instead of day trade? Change my trading platform? So many things to click on in J-Trader, I wish you can program your entry and exit and push 1 button only. I papertraded using Futures Trader but I didn't open an IB account so I wasn't able to use it for my futures account. FEAR about uncertainty is my problem and I can't get around it. I better go back to my comfort zone - being an employee and getting a paycheck. It is all up to me..................... Thanks for listening.
Hi Baruch, I guess so! It took me 4 years to learn about technical analysis only to find out that trading real money is quite different. I may be mistaken but are the markets different now than a few months ago? I am quite sure ES had a trend, now it is so choppy. Everything I learned cannot be applied to a choppy market. And I cannot trade a security which I am not familiar with. That will be another lesson for me. Try papertrading several types of securities at one time so at least I would know its characteristics. So I guess I will not be trading for a little while. I still believe there is money to be made in the markets if you know what you're doing. Thanks, fibotrader
hey maybe trading is not for you. this is a hell of away to make a living. this is based of fear and emotion and most people are built to fail.
"FEAR about uncertainty is my problem and I can't get around it." No....your problem is trading without an edge. I cringe when I hear stories like this, and from what you have posted so far, its obvious you have no business trading AT ALL. Not trying to be mean or harsh, but keep what money you have left and go back to a real job with a paycheck. If your passionate about beating this game, go buy yourself a copy of Wealthlab and try ideas every night until you find a REAL EDGE. Simulate an equity curve with commission and slippage built in. When you have one you like, then test the system live and measure real life slippage. Re-simulate using your real life slippage numbers. If the system is still good, and you have objectively proven this system is REAL and not curve fitted garbage, then AND ONLY THEN, start trading it with some real size. Or dont take my advice, and keep losing money. The above advice is easily worth all the money you have left. Good luck... peace axeman PS - give yourself at least 5 years to find your first kick ass system if you can only work on this part time. Yes, it could easily take you this long part time.
fibo..... You're trying to make trading waaaayy harder than it is. Stop trading; just think and look for about 18 to 24 months.
Suck, trading is not for everyone. In fact, I have determined that you either ARE a trader or you are not. Similar to a great singer (read Elvis) or dancer (read erm... whoever dances great). Some people are just great with numbers, others are great with money (read Warren Buffett); Bill Gates knew software crap; Sam Walton had a knack for marketing. Babe Ruth was the only one who could hit all those home runs! If you're low on trading cap, your BEST bet is to get in a position where you can bring in steady money (work for Bin Laden?) - start trading a demo (forex?) on the side to work on becoming a better trader. Lots of traders who went on to become great ran out of money, myself included in that respect. Regards, to