"I AM THE BEST!" Said tongue in cheek, but I wish to explain something about trading that makes me feel very fortunate. I've been on ET many years, actually much longer than my profile states as I was under another username once, but I digress. One thing I see constantly is the complicated ways and means ET members trade - Charts full of lines, indicators, fundamental analysis, news reports etc. All this 'shit' takes up a lot of time and can bog you down. The more complicated it becomes and the more time spent (wasted), the less time trading. It doesnt have to be like this. I'll tell you how I trade, but first off a little bit of history to lay the foundations of what I do. Many years ago I had a stroke of luck. I was a member of a trading forum in Australia and this guy whom was there made some comment and I asked what software he used. This guy was 'kaveman' and he said he would recommend Amibroker. If you google kaveman you will see from many years ago this guy was a TOP Amibroker guru. I bought AB (amibroker) and kave set it up on my computer. I was fortunate in he lived not that far from me at the time. Kave and I becames friends and he not only wrote me scores of programs but taught me programing skills. Often I would visit his house for coffee. Anyway, many years later, I still run AB but rarely do I use it. Mabe once every 1-2 weeks I will download EOD data. I have a couple of superduper programs Kave and I have written, I can find the best stocks to trade in a couple of minutes. For example, pick any sector or indice and I can tell you very quickly what to and not to trade. These stocks usually remain faithful over a long period of time, eg if BHP is standout stock in the mining sector, 6 months later it still probably will be. Cutting a long story short, how do I trade? No indicators Basically zero fundamentals. Basically zero news events ( I rarely read company announcements) No algos, no autotrading. Only turn on my computer to place trades, then switch it off (5 -10 minutes total) Trade maybe once a week if lucky, but will hit several stocks at once. Trade positions vary, but 150k a position is not uncommon (intending to lower this now) Spend most of my day on a tablet just looking and quite a bit of that time is ET chitchat. No spreads, no Options, no Futures, No shorting, just stocks long. I can eyeball stocks on my tablet and know very quickly entry and exits, no computer required, no AB software reqd. for the signals. I'm in Australia, wake up maybe 4am or earlier, cuppa tea, quick squiz at markets, go back to sleep sometimes if nothing brewing. Otherwise stay up, plan my attack, place trades on open, 8am. I trade OPM as well as my own, so I will communicate my trade intentions. So what am I intending to convey? My trading is very simple and very profitable. No rocket science. Very comfortable, very relaxing. But (and this is the but) it took years to achieve this and the grace of God (I'm not religous) that I came upon kaveman who gave me a HUGE leg up.
1. Is your trading simple to YOU after years of market studies or would the uninitiated also find it simple? For me, I find that a lot of what I currently do is simple due to knowledge and familiarity after years of studies, but trying to discuss it with newbies in other arenas, I find that lot of it is still way over their head. 2. You mention managing OPM. How successful are you? I won't ask to see a blotter or anything, but I do feel that whenever people make claims and bold statements, it would be nice to know where they're coming from, especially since I know there are paper traders on this site pretending to know it all. I'm not saying you are a paper trader, mind you, just making a point.
Stock picking and trading are two different kettles of fish. Stock picking is the setting up. Trading is implementation of money onto the table. Stock picking can be done weeks in advance with a cursory glance prior to trading. Stock picking requires a small degree of technicals and fundamentals and use of algos. The whole process requires little input now since all the work has been done previously. For example the formula writing has evolved over years, but to run, takes a couple of minutes now. The basis of stock picking? You can work that out for yourself. Think like this....what do you wish to trade, something fast or something slow? Get all your fast stocks in one pile. Put all the slow stocks in another pile. Compare the two. What do you see which differentiates them? Look at a stock which you admire and one you hate. Like two people, what is the trait you admire, which trait you detest. Then work on that.
Once you have found your good stocks (in my instance quality stocks) I dont need fundamentals. 100,000 people are studying fundamentals. Their collective brains are more powerful than my one tiny brain. Their collective decision on their beliefs and opinions is seen in the share price. They vote with their money. Follow the money.
This post inspired me to post (and this thread) https://www.elitetrader.com/et/threads/its-been-3-years-and-im-back.302474/page-2#post-4325672
I walked uphill to school-both ways sorry,looking at the title i couldn't resist @themickey best of luck mate,I am nowhere near this level.