Basic psychological analyses, I have been noticing how some posters post some good calls, then some not so good ones & when the ratio is tipped to the red some posters disappear either for a long period of time or get an alias or stop posting all together. The ones that go on are the ones that are at least mentally ready to take a hit & not allow emotions to set in. Anyway, that's what I believe to be the case. Of course there is no way of knowing for sure whether that person is trading real money or not, but what IS important is that person has the right attitude of becoming or already being a mentally strong trader. Do you agree?
Yeah, I'll kind of go along with that. I trade stocks, some may call it position trading, or swing trading, or buy n hold. I had been posting all of my trades in real time for the last two years on another board. In 05 I had spectacular gains and in 06 I had devastating losses. At the moment I'm taking a break as I dealing with several legal issues not related to trading. But there's a point that needs clarifying. Notice the title of your thread - "if you disapper after a bad ~~~CALL~~~....". Traders trade, chatters make calls. I don't make market calls, I take out a trade, I post it in real time in my virtual office, this board serves as my new "office", just as if I was in a brick and mortar office. A room full of traders will have people trading, not making "calls". So if you are spending your time making "calls", whether or not you slink away after a bad one, you need to be trading instead. Traders trade, chatters make calls.
Well, that is an assumption as posting a trade is pretty much the same as making a call, what is the difference between the two in your opinion? The real question is this - if you claim to be a trader (not referring to investors) & post trades/calls on ET or any other board & after taking consecutive hits subsequently disappear without saying goodbye , basically the likelihood is that you are not a trader yet. If you are not to be held accountable, then why post in the first place?
Traders post calls for a number of different reasons. The process of doing so allows them to try out their trading methodolgy in an independent and objective environment (this is actually very important, because the mind constantly plays tricks on you, and many traders will play if I coulda I woulda I shoulda games). It also allows the trader to prove a given phiosophy, way of thinking, if there has been dialogue on a trading subject and there is some dissention as to its truth of falseness. If a trader does so and is able to create a consistent track record for themselves, that certainly can give them the confidence/experience they need to put their money where their call is. Of course if you are a scalper ($50-$75 or less per emini trade) making live calls is going to be a tad difficult using a web based browser, the same can be said if you like to stop and reverse, or if you like to scale into positions. And like the previous poster said, whether they are making live calls or not, a traders main focus/concern/importance in their trading careers is well, their trading ... thing is, if you're a position trader, you literally have all day, and if you're in a situation where you have alerts for your intra-day trading well, there's going to be a lot (or a little, depending on the day) of waiting around for the bell to ring/light to flash/whatever. *** Ultimtely, no matter what, the trader is going to have to be true to themselves and their accounts, and that fact will not change no matter how many live calls you post. But it will be reflected in your bottom-line. Good trading (or calling, as the case may be), Jimmy Jam
Something comes into my mind... Are you actually a trader, if you ARE making calls??? Do you have to be making calls to start off with? I'll be in trouble if I start making calls or disclose my actual trades.
Of course there are traders that make calls, why they make them is another matter. BTW why would you be in trouble making your trades public? U have ze sekreten formulaten?
People who make "calls" are looking to take a victory lap. I believe anyone who has been trading for enough time can no longer afford to consider a trade a "victory" or "defeat", but simply a result. I've often though the most useful information resource for traders would be a simple bull case vs bear case argument. Each side presents their argument, but no conclusions are drawn. At least you'd get some good insight into the "other side" of the trade, and be introduced to arguments you hadn't thought of. http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=62388&perpage=6&pagenumber=368 My "call" here was simply to argue the bear case in response to someone who argued the bull case. I saw inflation as a bigger concern, and that bonds could drop more than people expect. I happened to be right. However, I've made thousands of trades, and am right only "some" of the time. A profitable trade isn't a victory, it hopefully just means I did my homework and didn't do something stupid in my execution. If I was wrong, as long as I did my homework, and didn't do something stupid in my execution, I'd still be happy.