No more advice guys. I think I had enough and I think this weekend is what really changed me, my outlook, my beliefs and my trading as well. To prove it to myself, I will be posting my Account Statement for the next couple of days. Shows you all how a real pro gets out of it all when his back is against the last few dollars to still peddle one contract.
Ripley, let me talk (post) to you like a trading brother and a fellow ET member. I been working with guys helping to advance their trading for 2 years - ever since I entered a global forex trading competition and turned $5,000 into over $2,260,000 in 2 weeks - over 45,000% profit gain ending flat. Trading is not for everyone. You have to advance past losing. Most cannot. Trading is highly psychological and to make it you've got to do major growth yourself as a person. I think over 90% don't make it in trading. I think 100% don't make it in trading forex. I made it. I don't know any others, maybe 1 other person. There are MANY things you can do in life besides trade and earn a good living. If I had my way, I wouldn't trade: And I typically make over 1500-points profit a week (live acct) trading currencies, the most difficult and complex trading market in the world. I've lost very rarely. And when I have they have been small losses - recouped in a few days. Last loss I had was 0.04% of my acct cap. The next week I made over 1% of my account cap. I'd be a writer. I'd be a comedy writer. A stand-up comedian. I'd do other things besides trading if I could. I'd rather live in a fantasy world with rose-color glasses on instead of having to constantly look at a suffering and miserable world then have to make trades to profit based on other people's Hell. I enjoy working with comedy structures and set-up more than I do trading structures and set-ups. I'd rather make people laugh instead of trading the cold, miserable, cruel world of pain. So there is no dishonor by leaving this profession and getting into another. I think that MOST people who THINK they are cut out for trading are actually not. They end up being carried out. Don't be one of them. (but if you do decide to keep trading and maybe trade currencies, let me know what you're trading so I can get on the other side of your trade and bag your money when you die. ) Sam
Whether this thread is real or not... ...I was in Ripley's shoes a couple months ago trading futures for the first time. At first, I was making more money than I ever did that I felt like I was drinking out of a fire hydrant and then the next thing I know I am puking all my profits and more like there was no tomorrow. Boy, that was scary and I can't tell you what a little sh*t I felt like. Like many of the traders are telling you, Ripley, I did stop trading, and eventually went back to what I was good at, equities/options. I find that each trading vehicle is a different beast and what worked for me with equities slaughtered me in futures. I'm not sure if you will find the rhythm to trading YM, Ripley, but the probabilities are stacked against you. Most traders do fail. Considering some of the nastiest and best traders (some of them are giving you advice here), are on the other side of your computer screen, the odds are seriously stacked against you. I have a couple years of trading experience, I've read a lot of books (too many for my own good), but have been humbled enough times to tell you I am still a newbie. And, I am still learning. I think most books are JUNK. Someone recommended Reminiscences of a stock operator, it's ok, but you are doing what Jesse Livermore did by betting your entire stack and more on a trade. By the way, in real life and in the end he blew his brains out after losing everything. Some of the best traders/hedge funds have had their share of losses and more. A few have blown up and disappeared. Unless you are disciplined and unemotional, trading will rip you apart mentally and physically. In my opinion, the best advice you are getting is to stop trading. If you don't have the discipline to quit, why do you think you have the discipline to trade? For me, it wasn't easy. I asked my fiance to ask me to stop trading. When that didn't work, I asked my mother to tell me to stop. (Don't laugh, because that almost didn't work). My next step would have been to find a gambler's anonymous group. (I'm not joking. I realized that I was gambling, not trading.) Once you get yourself to stop, there are ways to scale yourself back into the market. There are quite a few threads on ET for that, many from the same posters that are telling you what you should be doing.
I recently saw an interview with Richard Dennis. He said that the max drawdown point at which he would exit the market entirely (and go into therapy, probably) is 50% of account value!! :eek: I personally wouldn't have the stomach for that, and I don't suggest that you try it at home. But it makes the point: Even a good strategy will experience periods of gut testing drawdown. How much you could or should stand is a function of your level of experience and overall confidence. saxon
that's ridiculous. having 50% of your account cap in drawdown... that guy's an idiot. I'd never have more than 5 or 6% of my cap in drawdown before I start closing trades.
Douglas book is excellent read after much soul searching but for beginner it read like a philosophy book.
Ripley I don't know how much capital you started with....wasn't it like around $1000.00 or something?...but anyways to do what you have done so far with such small capital is truly amazing! And the best bang for the buck in gaining market experience / lessons. I know you don't want advice...but have you considered the reason you are up and down so much is because you don't fear the loss of your capital?? When trading with money that means your life on the line...you have a totally different perspective on losses....you respect them! Me and you are going about gaining market experience from opposite ends...thats why i find your experience interesting. You are learning / gaining experience by going through many many trades at 100 mph.......while I go through a much longer time frame with less trades...gaining my experience trough time. My approach is more like that of a leopard...lie and wait...wait...until i see an opportunity...than jump on it. Im out of the market about as much as im in. Anyways...i hope you make it...you seem to have a burning desire to succeed...and thats the most important part. You can always learn money management....and charts...but desire is something you either have it or you don't. And Skalpz...how about kickin some $$$ over brother Ripley's way....keep him in the game.
Been trading for more than 2 yrs. That would at least make me an experienced unsuccessful trader. I am also thinking about mentoring someone about what not to do when you begin your trading career. PM if interested.
Oh no!!! I started with 30K trading stocks, then blew it all because I didn't have an edge or what not. Then I blew couple of small accounts till I finally found what looked to be an edge. Thats when I decided to take some cash advance on my credit card. From that I was able to build up a small stake. Yet I keep increasing my size because I was thought I knew what I was doing. Then I feel like I couldn't be wrong, and there is a little bit of room to give, and then it starts going against me, and I cannot do nothing but hold onto a trade till it comes back to my BEP and it usually never does. And losses gets bigger and when you repeat that with a huge # of contracts, it doesn't take you too long to make or lose a lot of money fast.
During my first fourteen years as a commodity trader, I could best be described as a break-even trader. I had marginally profitable years interspersed with marginally negative years. I would estimated that over fourteen years span , my account balance fluctuated in a narrow range from $2,000 to $4,500, I made a total of nearly 1,000 trades with the net result that I lost about $500. - Gary Smith , start trading at 24, "Live the Dream by profitably Day Trading Stock Futures".