I believe what he needs is a good analogy. The market is an active system where you will never know all of the true variables. It goes up and down at will. At anytime anything can happen. You cant look at it like a mathematical formula, you have to look at it like you have just taken off of the carrier and heading into enemy territory. Sure, you planned it all out on the carrier in the ready room with your buddies. However, now your up in the air things are happening really quick and you have to be able to change those plans on a moments notice. If you sit there and say I wont close my position until the stock reaches a certain point then you are kidding yourself. The moment that equity turns down for any reason and doesnt meet your criteria, you have to be able to exit the position and accept the simple fact that you were wrong. Who cares if you were wrong? When the fighter jockie is up in the air and the enemy fighter comes out of nowhere, is the jockie sitting there hitting himself thinking he was wrong. No, he is reacting to the situation very quickly and matter a factly. One day, drive through a bad neighborhood and meet some homeless people. Put it into your head that if you dont do the right thing then you will be out there with them.
Its not actually clear that he has a plan. If he hasn't got one then how can he overcome fear. He has only posted once on this thread and has since posted on forex (lol ... god help him) So all the good advice in the world is unlikely to help :eek: PS. I'm beginning to worry that I'm obsessive but "Dave, do you have a plan for your exits when you enter the trade?"
Yea, if he can't even figure out equities and now since 'all the action is in Forex!!!!' he'll just blow out quicker. Too bad - I've been where he is and I had the brains to stop trying other markets thinking that was the problem rather than realizing ALL my problems were between my ears.
ok. traderdave has left the thread, but I think that the stuff that has been posted here will definitely help other beggining traders, such as myself. I've also just started at a prop shop a few weeks ago, and I have to say that I'm quite stranded yet... so please, keep posting great stuff at this thread. regards orejano
Steve, Man I tell you what, you hit the nail on the head!!! What you explained is exactly what goes through my mind. I love the trades when they just take off and run! but as soon as the wiggle starts, I am out of there! You definitely hit home with what you posted and I really appreciate you taking the time to post what you did. As a matter of fact, thanks to everyone who took the time to post something worthwhile. There is a lot I agree with and a lot that I don't but what I have learned is to take what you want and leave the rest or take what helps and leave the rest. I had some mentoring from Vad from Realitytrader who really helped desiign my system for me. It is based on his style of trading, which is profitable, so I would say that scalping is my objective until I gain more experience. Thanks again everyone and Steve, great job man you really got my attention, thanks. traderdave
Look, I was just getting some advice on Forex that's all, I am not stupid enough to go and try another market when I haven't even figured out the equities side. I am interested in all sorts of trading and I actually am keeping folders on each type of market Forex, equities, Futures, etc. One day I plan to get involved in several of them, just want to research, that's all. Don't assume that I am moving to Forex!!! Now enough of that, I wanted to get some more insight before answering any of the posts and to be quite honest I really didn't see much that "caught" my attention to post back to until Steve posted what he did. I believe that I have a fear problem, I even say it in my blog! Steve thanks again for the insight, I will try my hardest to try what you suggested. Kiwi, now for the logical part of your post, I really don't have a set rule for exits. I look at the 5min or 15min chart if need be to determine how far away the next resistance level is to get an idea of where the stock can go to. If resistance or support is to close than I don't enter trade. I used to use Esignal which offered the Cama Pivot Points which were great for potential exits but I can't afford Esignal right now so I just use the charts in my regular trading platform. Quotetracker has these pivots as well but I can't get QT to work for me, I do'nt want to have to backfill every chart every time I want to switch to it. So my system was designed by Vad from Realitytrader through mentoring. My stops are placed according to the setup and my position size is related to how much my stop is and I have a set amount that I am willing to lose on any one trade. So thanks again for the posts eveyone and I hope we now have things cleared up traderdave
I liked Dave's post too. Don't worry about my provoking you on Forex ... just wanted to get your attention. I still don't understand how you exit with a profit. Are you trailing stops? Are you putting a limit in at some position relative to the support/resistance? Perhaps half each way. I ask about the exit because its damned hard to exit at the right point if you don't have the right point in mind before you trade --- if you are like most people logical thought becomes much harder once you've entered the trade (much) no matter how small your position (you just engage too much in the process). Try Sierra Chart. I did Camarilla (or O or whatever) pivots for it. You don't backfill each time (just add the symbol to the intraday file update list so it keeps updating even if u havent opened that chart yet).
LOL. The hang seng is run by a warm cuddly bunch of guys soley for the purpose of making it easy for us beginners to take home a few bucks each day
Kiwi, I trail my stops, my intention (which usually doesn't end up happening) is to take half profits at a 1:1 and then trail my stop from there. What happens is, the stock moves my way and then pulls back close to entry and then I end up taking profit on all of it. This happens 9 out of 10 times because normally a stock doesn't just shoot straight up and never look back. So you could say fear would be causing me to do this. I looked at Sierra charts and they offer a 14 day trial so I may just give them a try. Thanks for the post, I appreciate and no hard feelings taken on Forex thing traderdave72