cash, I just noticed something. lescor had said "1. Stop trading and write down your trading plan. Entry and exit rules, position sizing, risk management, etc.." In your reply to him, you said However... when he said that you should write down your rules, I don't think he meant that you need to trade one way only. You just need to clearly define what your rules are for entering and exiting trades. If you follow your rules, you may be in many different types of trades. Risk management and position sizing rules should be fairly consistent, since they are based on account size. Holding periods, stops and profit targets might be variable - this isn't a bad thing. These are dictated by the chart. If you had tried to write down your entry and exit rules before getting rid of all those indicators, it would have been very tough. It should be easier for you to do now. btw... if you are trading with a 1 point profit target and a .75 point stop loss, you need to have a large win/loss ratio to come out ahead, after transaction and other fixed costs (I am assuming you aren't trading a million dollar account). A lot of traders do not understand the crucial relationship between win/loss expectancy and average profit/loss per trade. You can have a strategy that puts you in winning trades more than 50% of the time and still lose money. There is one thing that, as much as anything else, allows me to trade effectively - taking positions which I can leg out of. I would not know how to trade if I had to make a decision to sell the entire position I bought into, on each and every trade. Legging out of positions (and pyramiding into positions) allows me to take advantage of my good calls by letting winners run. Of course your transaction costs must be as low as possible to make this work.
You obviously are always getting into a trade to late if you need to see bars being completed or breakouts etc... I always know my entries and most exits before the day even begins, for swing trading and daytrading. Yes, I like to catch the falling knife, but I always add on with a local retest or reversal bar, which is another approach if you want to be more conservative. Strive for maximizing your risk/reward, 1 to make 5+, scale in and scale out and find a decent mentor that only uses a few MA at most. You can try to figure it out on your own but it will be a much more expensive education than just paying the 5-10,000 bill for a good mentor. Good luck with your endeavor.
Cashmoney, I discussed this thread with Bolter and he thinks that you were worried enough to get it and master this game. I think he's optimistic. I predict that like 90% of people who arrive here you will fail to take Lescor's advice. Because of this you will join that 90% and not be here this time next year through lack of edge, discipline, understanding of risk and that essential that all of the above hang on, your own personally proven trading plan. There is enough advice in this thread for you to join the winners. Feel free to prove me wrong and point it out to me as rudely as you wish in September 2007. In the mean time I shall sadly anticipate your departure. Cheers.
I have to agree. Avoid assuming responsibility for your own failure at all costs. Rationalize everything. Under no circumstances develop a trading plan. Instead, wait to be rescued, like any other victim. If no one comes, insist that it's all impossible, that no one can make money trading, etc.
traders are optimistic bunch, they just have to. Cash look like you take off bunch of indicators off your charts, you can even reduce it more by overlay some higher TF line onto your lower TF chart, give them some mute color so they won't distract you too much.
I have said many times before in many threads on this forum that "I'm not yet profitable", "I'm terrible at trading" etc.... Not anywhere on this forum will you find a thread where I blame anyone or anything for the fact that I'm not a "good" trader. You and Kiwi can think what you want, but come September 07, I'll still be here.
Not if you remain the self-admitted bad trader you are now. Admitting the problem is ALWAYS THE FIRST STEP (and most difficult in my opinion) and simply just the FIRST step. It's the course of action you choose to take after this step that will define your success or failure. Many people that seek help from professionals can take the FIRST step and admit to their problems, but few ever choose to take it the steps further necessary to DEAL with the problem. Psychologist's and psychiatry offices are full of those types every day of the week. At the end of the day, it's hard to admit to a problem, but even harder to admit that you're really committed to solving/fixing your problem. There's a HUGE difference there! Failing in trading doesn't necessarily mean blowing up an account. There are MANY people that attempt and get some results but simply decide it isn't for them. They decide that they can achieve their goals through other means such as a more "mainstream" career/job. Believe it or not, it's all about choice. Are you CHOOSING to do the right things? Are you really open to solutions? Or are you simply frustrated, beating yourself up (maybe getting some cathartic release pleasure from this, aka "venting") and really not open to solutions because deep inside you REALLY think using your current approach is the way to go? Ahhhhh yes, those were the days, I think many of us here have experienced that. Many-a-day has been spent pounding square pegs into round holes. Insanity and hubris at its best! As I've said before here in ET, trading is as much a game of "know thyself" than anything else. Good Luck!
And yet when advice is offered, you reject it. Instead of "hey, that sounds like a good idea; I'll look into that", you continue to play Yes, But, and Ain't It Awful and Poor Li'l Ol' Me and Look How Hard I've Tried. You may say that you're a terrible trader, but you don't assume any responsibility for it. Otherwise, you'd take the plugs out of your ears and listen.
-- -- Whatever Lamont. I listen, just not to people who try to cut me down and pollute my thread with negative bs.