My guess as to why traders fail

Discussion in 'Trading' started by shark, Mar 30, 2010.

  1. shark

    shark

    I have to agree, nearly every noob strategy i've seen involves reversion to the mean. Traders naturally decide something is too high or too low, and expect it to return to the middle range.

    You guys i'm sure there's a multitude of reasons why traders fail, but has anyone ever dealt with the problem i presented in the first post? (too much information in the market, impossible to keep track)
     
    #11     Mar 30, 2010
  2. Ok how about having a SMART Plan
    Specific
    Measurable
    Aligned
    Realistic
    Trackable
     
    #12     Mar 30, 2010
  3. A red herring that has nothing to do with trading.

    You don't trade information. You trade peoples perception of that information.
     
    #13     Mar 30, 2010
  4. lescor

    lescor

    The news isn't important. How the market reacts to it is what matters. In other words, don't try to figure out what the market will do. Just react to what it does do.
     
    #14     Mar 30, 2010
  5. shark

    shark

    Aha yes but this is difficult when, at the same time, you have to take into account people's perception of:

    1. a consumer sentiment report

    2. house sales numbers

    3. Terrorist attack in russia

    4. Nuclear threat from north korea

    5. Fed proposing new regulation

    and a whole bunch of other things. I'd imagine amateur traders just looking at the consumer sentiment and house sales, thinking "hurr durr good numbers, stock markets gonna go up" and immediately getting B3asted by the market. It's possible to hedge most of these factors away but they don't know that.
     
    #15     Mar 30, 2010
  6. My vote goes for using the leading indicator of price, >>>>>volume.

    This yields nested fractals of one pattern through deduction.
     
    #16     Mar 30, 2010
  7. Or you can look at a chart and see what the market is doing.
     
    #17     Mar 30, 2010
  8. schizo

    schizo

    I didn't bother to read the entire thread so my apology if I'm merely regurgitatating what's already been said.

    First, turn off CNBC and the newswire. Unless your primary objective is to trade momentum stocks based on news (earnings, lawsuits, FDA approval and the like), they will do more harm than good.

    Second, 500 different things? Well, put on a damn blinder and focus only on those that matters to you like higher high or lower low.

    Third, you write like a noob, you sound like a noob and you will fail like a noob whom you deride if you don't get your act together.

    PS. South Korea? Who the hell cares. The damn news was ALREADY PRICED INTO THE CHART last week. Nobody knew why the futures took a dive within a matter of 10 minutes. It was only later when it became clear. Ya see, by the time you and I get the news, it's already over and done with.
     
    #18     Mar 30, 2010
  9. shark

    shark

    But you won't have a clue why it's doing what it's doing, and therefore will be in the dark regarding whatever may happen in the world.
     
    #19     Mar 30, 2010
  10. I don't care why the market is moving just that it is and I can react to it.
     
    #20     Mar 30, 2010