You know whats really annoying ? Here I am trading today. Had a few lousy trades to start off, but then dominated the rest of the day. During my trading day, I'm thinking, man trading is so goddamn easy. Here I am catching 3, 4, and 5 point moves in the ES without a problem when 2 years ago I could barely catch a move over 1.25 points due to fear. Since when did trading get so easy for me ? I spent countless hours struggling with myself and with the markets, blowing $20-30K back when i was learning...... Now ? I stare at the 15 min charts, see a setup brewing, take it, and watch my PnL grow. Started today with 2 losers and 3 points in the hole ? no problem, just part of the game. Really ? After all my struggles, trading has become this easy to beat ? All I have to say is hell yah, and WTF ? its almost not fair. Looking back when i was still learning the basics, trading was the biggest emotional rollercoaster I ever had. I guess my point is this.... Trading is so damn easy when you've got it ! Its almost unfair how easy it is when you 'have it'. The thousands and thousands of hours and dollars u spend struggling. And then when everything clicks, its like an effortless cash machine. Now, I'm not racking up Lescor type cash right now, and I'm still only about 28 months into trading fulltime, so I'm still a rookie to many. Ok, i'm done with my rant now
I'm curious, what was "it" for you? For me "it" was learning to use multiple time frames, trade with the trend, getting over my fear of trading breakouts, and waiting for confirmation or a key reversal bar before counter-trend trading. Even though I still often cut my winners short, I still come out net profitable by sticking with these golden rules.
Please allow a first time poster, (long time lurker), to translate this... You know whats really annoying ? Here I am trading today. Had a few lousy trades to start off, but then TOTALLY SUCKED the rest of the day. During my trading day, I'm thinking, man trading is so goddamn DIFFICULT. Here I am catching a 3, 4, and 5 point move LOSS in the ES without a problem when 2 years ago I could barely catch a LOSING move over 1.25 points due to fear. Since when did trading get so HARD for me ? I spent countless hours struggling with myself and with the markets, blowing $20-30K back when i was learning...... Now ? I stare at the 15 min charts, see a setup brewing, take it, and watch my PnL SHRINK. Started today with 2 losers and 3 points in the hole ? no problem, just part of the game. Really ? After all my struggles, trading has become this DIFFICULT to beat ? All I have to say is hell yah, and WTF ? its almost not fair. Looking back when i was still learning the basics, trading was the biggest emotional rollercoaster I ever had. I guess my point is this.... Trading is so damn DIFFICULT when you've got it ! Its almost unfair how HARD it is when you 'have it'. The thousands and thousands of hours and dollars u spend struggling. And then when everything clicks, its like an effortless cash DRAINING machine. Now, I'm not racking up Lescor type cash right now, and I'm still only about 28 months into trading fulltime, so I'm still a rookie to many. Ok, i'm done with my rant now
Unfortunately you are just having a run of luck right now. Survivorship bias hasn't kicked all the way in yet. In a few days, or weeks, market conditions will change and you will have a very bad run. This will cause you to doubt yourself and change your trading. You will get frustrated and raise risk far too much. Yep, blowout time. Anybody who dare says "Trading is easy...I'm a God now...", is headed for destruction. Good luck. Just trying to help...
What I am thinking? Charlie Sheen's character Bud Fox, sitting in a nice restaurant in Manhattan enjoying a delicious steak with an egg on top, paid for by Gordon Gekko. He looks up to the heavens and yells: I AM ON THE TOP OF THE WORLD! (Okay... okay... this was stolen from James Cameron.) Then in another scene Bud goes back to his office. And Lou Mannheim says to him: Kid, you're on a roll. Enjoy it while it lasts, 'cause it never does. I have to guard my trading damons every damn day.