To the Holy Grail searcher's : Go telling to someone with a scientific background that you are trying to predict a non-linear world(the market) with linear tools... Don't do it, you will make a fool out of yourself ! And this is not to be negative in anyway but realistic.
OOops, sorry if I insulted any rational scientists but... the beauty of the rose is lost when you yank the petals away.
Have a look at what the guy at www.daytradingcourse.com is telling about trading, mechanical systems versus discretionary trading and more. I agree 100 % with this guy. I don't known nothing about the value of his course, so DON'T take this as a recommendation to buy his course. I don't think it's a coincidence that he is an engineer.....
After a long and exhausting search, I think I have found it. I think I have found what traders and investors have been looking for since there was speculation. I looked far and wide...drum-roll please. I have found <gasp> the much touted "Holy Grail". That one secret formula which will lead to success. That one true thing in the market that can make all the bad good, all the ugly things pretty. Oh, I wish I could say that the Grail I found was a "Magic Setup", which I of course would give a fancy marketing name to get very famous from. Or, it would be nice to say the "Holy Grail" came in the form of an advisory service or chatroom which magiclly always gives out winners (that would be nice especially if that service where mine But no, that is not the grail I found. Over the last several years as a professional trader the true "Holy Grail" for me has been hard work. Plain and simple. Each night, long after the market is closed and most market players are doing whatever they can to forget about the market, I am at work dillegently studying the market, its little quirks and patterns. Anything that I can exploit for a profit. I am tirelessly pouring over my trading records, seeking out mistakes which I am making and can destroy. I search the web for bits of information that I can use in the market tomorrow. I read and talk to traders better and more experianced than myself from whom I can learn. My success comes because each day after the market is closed, when most of Wall and Main Street are sleeping, I make it my duty to spend good quality time with the market. This is the Holy Grail for me. It is the only one out there and is available to anyone with the ambition to grasp it.
brandonf, there you go. that's the way. I also spent countless hours doing what you do before becoming profitable. However, the most important thing I learned was to keep it simple. very simple indeed. The time spent studying the market is crucial to understand how it really works. The key is to understand how you really work as a trader. and basically trade against yourself (since when you start you usually stink!). indicators etc.. keep them to a minimum. complexity is your enemy. there are all kind of systems which seems to work on principle and simple backtesting. so few actually make sense in real life trading. what you want is systematic trading, not necessarly system trading. I do use both actually so I hedge myself against myself (hehe). but that's another story. by the way, it does not matter to me if you lost money when you first started with your trading. it is only natural. do you make money now ? do you trade all your signals ? tntneo
you are actually right. EliteTrader is also a test in realism. there are many skeptics because the facts are terribly against traders. Only 10% making money, that's really not many people. So just being cheerful and accept everything at face value is a recipe for disaster. the markets will often play tricks on you. a profitable trader IS a skeptic. tntneo