Great piece of advice BD! With my limited experience that's definitely a sticking point.. Are there any resources that would help me learn more about how the market works? Or is it just something that really only comes with experience+time ?
db - the amount of time IBD is mentioned in any of Bill O'Neill's current editions is absolutely offputting. Not to say his material isn't good.. It was a great place for me to start.. But he could cool it a lil bit on ibd IMHO. I'll definitely have to pick up John Magee's book and The Disciplined Trader was phenomenal.
I don't recall it being especially obnoxious in the original book, but that was over twenty years ago. Even so, one just has to breeze past it. Like Ignore. But at least he understands that the market is an auction market, which provides a basic structure. If one doesn't understand the auction market, he isn't likely to get very far.
5 years to the 1st (mildly) profitable system a couple more years to the 2nd (better, but far from a smooth ride) just one more year to the 3rd one (supposed to be much better, but only time will tell) Talking of 100% automated systems ... I never was a good discretionary trader, despite a lot of hard work at the time.
read all highly regarded T.A books and system development books note all the systems written are worthless junk to avoid.That era was a different kind of market. now start designing your own system using your knowledge of what doesn't work a.k.a T.A and systematic trendfollowing. target your research on mean reversion.
Almost 3 years, was only trading part time though. The main thing that helped me was when I started to branch out of just trading stocks started trading forex, options and futures. Each requires a different strategy and money management techniques. It has made me more aware of what I am good at and what areas I need to work on.
Yup, but then again I didn't spend any time on forums back then nor did I spend countless hours trying to convince everyone to follow my calls. Different strokes...
Never. There is no edge... the notion of "trading edge" is like the unicorn. There are only 2 genuine "edges".. (1) front-running, and (2) insider info. Both illegal. Bottom line.... overall, the probability of successful trades is only 50-55%, for even the smartest of us... regardless of what others claim. Make plays which seem sensibly "risk-reward favorable"... and be prepared to stop out losses while they are still small.