Nope, this is not what they do. They cross other people's trades, and quote prices favorably for them but not to their clients to make instant profits. You'll find the speculators are quickly weeded out. All arbitrage in that pit.
Well, I had assumed by now I'd have recognition. But oh well, I'm only better than 97.3% of all traders. <a href="http://www.collective2.com/cgi-perl/systems.mpl?want=p&systemid=25716110"> <img src="http://www.collective2.com/cgi-perl/badge.mpl?systemid=25716110"/> </a> I see no succesful discretionary traders on that site. None, and I welcome anyone who would like to prove otherwise to come on the site. There's a lot of systematic traders making a killing there. The problem is they're so good they start institutions unto themselves.
bwolinsky, Congrats on your achievement. I hope that your pairs system is making you lots of money. But dude, there are lots of discretionary traders making a shit load of money. It might not be your bag, but that has nothing to do with other people's results. As a side note, I would still put S&P locals in the category of discretionary. It doesn't matter what their exact strategy is or what edge they have (Arbing the cash market, scalping paper orders, etc.) they're still subject to tilt and emotions. The very fact that operate in a competitive physical environment makes them even more susceptible to the human elements that take down some traders.
agreed... lots of discretionary traders make alot of money. their is not a perfect way to trade only a way to trade perfectly. many people get so wrapped up as to how to trade that when they figure out one it must be the only way.. some people are not built like others some cant trade discretionally.. but some can ..some cant trade TA but some can.. some can trade statistically and some cant....and some can not trade at all its not the style that makes the trader ... its the practice the trader puts himself through and the skill in his system of choice.. trade one thing and trade it well. the one single most important factor that will make or break any type of trading no matter of style is trade management and money management. dont get so tied up in style.. it doesnt matter there are competent traders doing different things... congrats i guess on the c2 9.75% thing ... realize tho ur only hurting yourself ranking yourself against others...as a successful trader you should feel a disconnection with the capital you trade... and as for the original post i think that you should scale down your risk... i believe you do not know that u risk more than your pain threshold.. thats why this question even exhists right now... if it wasnt hard to part with 4k ... then why post about it.. if you post how do i deal with dd of 4k then obviously 4k is to much.. IMHO but what do i know most think im a crack pot for statistically trading. plus this came off your reviews oh yeah... and c2 is hypothetical trading so dont get it twisted ur more than likely far below 97.3% .. u could get better depends if u change ur attitude and 95% of real traders dont screw with c2...
Trading systems are built by people and a set of rules created by people is completely arbitrary, that is- they are discretionary. Applying the exact same set of rules over and over again is called consistency, but the rules themselves are discretionary. It is by no means the holy grail to profitability since markets change over time.
All prices are based on bid and ask prices at the time orders are placed. They are nearly identical to what you'd get in real life, and I've found I get some positive slippage in most cases.
This statement needs to be stickied. It's the best tl;dr of any thread I've ever seen on ET. You got to the point. However, it's too bad that when people are in the business of feeling superior, they'll skip over a common sense like this.
doesnt apply to all styles statistical traders will use stops that are proven to work well for the currency historically and also take profits... entrances as well.. not really any discretion but i do agree that it does apply to almost every other.
It's as close to an audit as you're going to see on the net. Think about my system specifically. What is different between real life and my trades? I place all the orders the night before, and while there might be slippage, do you really think a few cents is going to matter on it? If you wanted to do it that way, then the results are identical if not better than what you'll get, b/c I guarantee I'm not paying 0.015 through IB to do my trades, and that's cost me over $10,000 of commission. I can tell you I've paid nowhere close to that, so it is extremely accurate and even a pessimistic estimate having exorbitant commissions plugged in.