Surf, believe it or not, there are some very successful people on this site who derive the majority of their income from trading. They're not out to sell anyone anything. You can get your advice from any source you wish. The question is, can you implement said advice and turn it into profits that can support you? If not, you might want to refrain from giving advice as if you can. Regards, Red
The statement that one must trade what one sees, not what one thinks is not psychobabble. Of course one does not know if a trade is going to be successful until after the trade has been put on. That is not what trading what one sees is all about. No one knows what the future will hold, and those who "think" that they do are on shaky ground, empirically. But how does one KNOW the trade is going to be successful? By THINKING about what the market MIGHT do, or by WATCHING what the market IS DOING? Which of these approaches is more consistent with empirical evidence? Those who watch and base their decisions on what they see. If the empirical evidence of current market conditions reveals a strong downtrend and high volume, that does not mean necessarily that those conditions have to continue. For instance, those who trade for a living according to trends know all about reversals. They know that reverals might be in the future, but they do not exit a current position because they THINK that a reversal MIGHT happen. Rather, they wait until they SEE that a reversal IS HAPPENING. And it is THEN that they exit the position, sometimes with a profit, sometimes not. In the end, those who do based their decisions upon what they SEE rather than what they THINK have a key advantage, because one cannot BOTH WATCH AND THINK. If they are doing one, they cannot do the other. Thinking IS critical in training. It is crucial to base one's principles upon critical thinking (I've written a book on it, so I believe in it), but that is part of PREPARATION. But in the midst of battle, one must decide based upon what IS there, not what one THINKS to be there.
no doubt. i agree, but also feel that many are led down the primrose path of platitudes and myths by delusional wordsmiths who may mean well, but lack critical thinking skills. best, surf
i agree with you--- BUT only after the trade is entered--success or failure is dependent on time frame, capital base, conviction, speed, goals, etc. NOT a pattern that may or may not repeat in whatever your fractal whim of the moment. the now ( what is there) starts after the trade is executed, prior is the past and is irrelevant except for illustrative purposes. TA is descriptive, not predictive. surf
As are all approaches, for the future cannot be predicted. Those who are thought to be "gifted" at "predicting" the future should be seen instead as knowledgeable about what has already happened, and cognizant that the future often looks somewhat like the past.
Simply wonderful and absolutely correct imo... it isnt the systems the tools or the market at all.. its ALWAYS the about the person.. how well she understands herself and how well she can then adjust to that awareness of self.. (.. gender pref is a nod to the fact the women are better traders than men PERIOD). Even some traders will now compete and attempt to denigrate this statement.. but it remains the single most powerfull reason why many fail.. they have not the ability to critique themselves effectively AND subsequantly act upon those findings OVER TIME TO IMPROVE...PERIOD... lets have a good laugh at those who believe success comes with learning more information, or indicators etc... that stuff works but its only say 30% max of the overall picture.. the rest is utterly simple.. YOU!!! and why you took that stupid sucker trade... that impulse trade that made you feel good but actually doesnt serve you at all one bit.. I am still learning to try and avoid those impulses.. it is singly the most difficult thing I have ever had to do and never imagined that my skill would be closely linked to my ability to exert a disciplin reserved normally for only the very committed sports stars.... what a journey of self discovery trading is.. Paul
From the perspective as an ex-fighter pilot and those on this forum who have been or are aviators, I am sure you find many similarities with trading and flying. In weather instrument flying (IFR) there is only one source for our maintaining flight integrity and it the aircraft instrument panel (Indicators). In a weather situation we may "think" we are straight and level, but our instruments are visually telling us we in fact, are in a 60 degree bank turn. We may think we are ascending, but in fact our instruments tell us we are descending. We have to condition ourselves to believe our instruments (eye-sight) and disregard what we "think" (mind-sight). The obituaries are full of pilots who could not make the transition from their normal everyday environment of "mind-sight" to the essential environment of "eye-sight" required for safe instrument flying (spatial-orientation). In the case of an in-flight emergency, we had to have the critical emergency procedures committed to rote and acted upon without thought (trade entry and exit). Otherwise, it would be too easy to fall in to a thought process of "Oh no, this can't be happening to me" (cancel the stop), or "maybe it is just my imagination and it will all of a sudden correct itself (denial) and so on. The key was increasing our awareness through proven rules and practiced procedures. So in the event something came about unexpectedly, we would have the correct discipline to make a consciously wise-decision requiring action fed to us by our conditioned sub-conscious mind. Ego and its insecurity born of the need to think we have to be in control, plays tricks on us which are not always in our best interest.