van tharp teaches that the exit is the most critical aspect of a trade. i disagree with him on this point. the only thing an exit can do to benefit a bad entry is to mitigate the loss. without a good entry there will be no profits, and a good entry is variable/subjective depending on the time frame for the trade. best, surfer
Are you trading your own money? You lost $30,000 of your own money today? I am a trend follower too.. I swing trade.. I dont day trade. I only trade in the direction of the trend.. I trade mostly individual stocks and t-bills.
Yes! Only good trades can give you profits. I think the reason why exit is so important for some people is they cannot take losses or even profits. I saw many guys that attached to a trade and could not close it. They like the thrill of entering a trade, just like a gambler. For them, exit is important. It is not where to close the trade is important, it is the action to close. If you can take profits/losses without problem then a good trade (from a good entry) is far more important.
I am assuming you are a day trader... Because this is a falacy. Personally, I think day trading is a bunch of BS... The remark you just made is typical of daytraders...
of course cutting your losses and letting your profit run is important..I didn't say it's not..that where most people have problem with..we are biological wired to maximize the chance of a win instead of maximizing the amount we win.. but once you get over it and it becomes second nature entry becomes more important because trade selection (finding good setup) and avoiding whipsaws( to prevent overtrading) becomes important... and according to some system traders.. the enty is THE edge... (go do a search on edge)
I was once privelaged to look over some old accounts at a brokerage house. Around %10 of the traders actually made money. The reason why the others lost was mostly.. because of big losses and they sold way too early before a big move. Their failure has nothing to do with entry. Again.. I am not talking about day trading because I dont think much of it.. I am talking about swing/position trades... --MIKE
I hope your losses ain't getting to you... (or your profits which might have a resulted in a ego expansion) you seem to a bit uptight about the whole thing.. but internet forums do serve as a great venue to "let it all out" just try to go easy on your wife and kid..ok?
Totally bogus. There have been many systems published using a random entry or something simple like entering the first day of the month.. that were very net profitable because of sound exiting and position sizing...