Lol. The idea that a trader can consistently pick tops and bottoms with 100% accuracy is outright false. Anyone that really trades knows that a claim like this is utterly ridiculous. Baggerlord, I've said he didn't trade since I first noticed him on ET back in February. The link below is a pretty funny thread. You can read how he bashes bhardy (bhardy is an aspiring trader seeking guidance). Lucias talks to him as if he's an incredibly successful veteran trader. It was totally surprising to read at the time, but since then, he's created this journal and now it all makes sense. http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=215580&perpage=6&pagenumber=7
I'm starting to wonder if he is just putting on a show to get some traffic to his products. Its hard to believe anyone can seriously have their head stuck that far up their digestive system.
baggerlord, Going to share a little story.. I use to know a guy like you. My former friend, the scientist, always resented me because I've ALWAYS did what I wanted too in life and he was very smart but he didn't do what he wanted. I've never had much money but always managed to pursue my goals. Once, I had to temporarily do something that I didn't want to do, and I wasn't enjoying it. He said, "well its about time you did something you didn't want to do (like the rest of us)". You see his outlook was that everyone else was miserable and that I should be too. You see his outlook was that he had to do stuff he didn't want to do and therefore I should have to do things I didn't want to do. You see he envied me. It is that idiotic type of envy that makes no sense. The type of envy that makes you want to take something away from another instead of bettering yourself. I've always did what I wanted to do, as much as possible, and I always will --because I know that I'm going to die someday. I, also, know that I have remarkable abilities. Sure, there have been temporary periods where I had to do things that I didn't like to get to a better place. But, I've always been clear on my goals. You claim to have been able to make over 100k per year playing poker and you also figured you'd need 100k to trade for a living and yet you couldn't work even a few years and save that up! If I could make 100k per year then I'd have a good sized trading account within 2-3 years which isn't that long. I've been studying the markets for 6 years or better. I played poker for 2 years just as a simulation for trading. I'm hardcore baggerlord. You're weak and you envy us. You already know this isn't a game for you. You're too lazy. All my trades are posted. You probably even haven't tried to reverse engineer them. That's laziness. I have more respect for that other trader who went and tried to figure out what I was doing then for you. For the record, no I have never advertised my systems here. I haven't linked them nor provided even an easy way to get to them because not only is it against the rules but it wouldn't be an effective way for me to advertise. I've only even mentioned them in response to specific questions about my record or to work specific problems using my self coaching. As for the advice, I gave to that new trader.. it was some of the best advice ever. Surprisingly good..
High Return vs Low Return Goals During this week of Thanksgiving, it is a time for me to be thankful for all of my gifts and all of my talents and all of the blessings that I've had in my life. Yet, it is also a time for me to think about the future. I've thought about what I want to accomplish this week and into the future. I've thought about where I want to be in 1 year and in 5 years and in 7 years from now. As Maverick noted, it is very worthwhile to see clearly what you want to be doing 5 years from now. I've had some degree of success in my life and I've seen people, people that I care about, who have the same degree of abilities who haven't been as successful. And, sometimes I've been less successful then at other times during my life. And, I've tried to understand the factors that contribute to success. It can't be intelligence because my intelligence hasn't presumably changed dramatically. What is it that makes me more successful times more then other times? First, success is a process. It's a constantly doing what's required to be successful. It is not a destination. But, the one thing that is clear is that the people who focus on low return goals aren't successful as those who focus on high return goals. You can look at a task or a goal and see is this a high returning goal or a lower returning goal based on my values. Success as a process is the process of only pursuing those high return goals. Now sometimes, you can become unbalanced if you don't ever do some of the "work" required to live. But in general.. I focus on high return goals. I quickly if something isn't relevant to my goals then I don't think about it. I don't waste any energy in making decision about it. I don't consider. It just doesn't factor into my mind because my mind is focused on the higher return goals. That's what I've found tends to produce success.. I haven't thought about it in trading but that's what I'm saying when I say I'm not going to even bother stepping into the market unless I feel I can make $1,000. Now $1,000 is maybe too much for current account size and ability but the notion is right. That notion is.. I'm not going to even bother unless I've a high return goal. Right, a high return trade. I'm going to focus on those high return trades. I'm going to focus on those high return goals. And, I'm going to eliminate everything else. That's success. That process of shutting out that isn't producing. That process of not getting in petty thoughts. Some people think its cold or its rude or its ironic. But, no it is just efficient. Its just whats required to be successful. And, I monitor myself and reflect on whether I'm pursuing my higher returning or lower returning goals through the day, week, month, and the year. Sometimes I will operate a lower productivity level but I know I'm aware of it.
You clearly have never earned money as a self employed person with a family. If you had you would unerstand just how little you get to keep at the end of the year. If you can save 15k a year off a 100k income you are very good at saving. And the only thing you are hardcore at is papertrading because that is all you have done for 6 years. Plus you have 6 months of play money poker under your belt. Then you lost your money at penny stakes for 1.5 years. That is amazingly pathetic. You don't even know what it feels like to really lose yet! I have been through a 6 month downswing at poker and still wagered more money every day of it than you have wagered your whole life at anything. You have no idea what is required to make a living at poker for 7 years. You also have no idea how unfullfilling it is to squeeze money out of others all day because you have never succesfuly done it. That is why you can't understand why I would quit a 100k poker career. You aspire to something I have already achieved and realized I had no desire to do the rest of my life. I love what I do now and wouldn't give it up for anything. I am quite literally living my childhood dream and a guy like you would be shown the door within 5 minutes if you tried to enter my world. Of course that will never happen because you are terrified of failure and wouldn't attempt anything truly hard. It would shatter your delusions and expose you as the inexperienced and arrogant teenager you really are. I've actually met a lot of people like you. They train and train and train but never actually get up the courage to go for it becaue they are afraid they will fail. Of course they will never succeed either and that is where you are at right now.
baggerlord, I don't aspire to be a poker player. I only did it as a test and quit when I learned what I could from it. I agree it is not rewarding. I agree that 100k is not a fortune but it is enough to save for a few years to trade if you really wanted to do it. I know a trader who did just that. You make a lot of assumptions. Assumptions can be productive but basis to reality is worth checking. In your case, you are wrong on many accounts but it is not worth my effort to correct you. As you say.. you're living your dream. As so am I to my best abilities. You may have some good points. You may be right or wrong. I don't know but I know where I'm going. Alas, I've allocated my maximum energy expenditure to dealing with you. You're on my ignore. Good luck.. just focus on what really matters to you and you'll start to feel better. PS: You're just checking there have been a lot of really good posts. You need to scroll up. Gary Smith was here and left some very useful comments about a post I made earlier. Well worth reading and thinking about what he had to say... cheers.
Me: Took a loss today. Semi-experimental trade but felt like it was going to work. Trying to short with a constant risk/reward. I tried to set up the play like a binary option. Got caught and feel like I took one in the gut. I'm still struggling with stop placement. I can set a stop in a previous value area or just a bit outside the previous value area. Either case, it seems the market just hones in on these areas. Maybe, the market has changed and I need to start picking my spots better. I prefer markets but I do what it takes to win and maybe this market requires limits. Coach: First, it doesn't matter how you feel. It matters how you perform. I don't care how you feel. You had a sound (redacted) pattern to trade off. Why didn't you use your tape read to get you out? Me: Yeah, I could have got out with a only 30% to 50% of full loss but I just wasn't trusting my tape read today. I felt that my initial hypothesis was sound enough to keep my risk low. But, maybe I didn't think about that stop enough. I can set a stop based on a previous value area, just set a fixed size stop, or let C2 set the stop for me based on max risk. I think the the C2 automated stop is doing a better job then I do. But this was a short trade and higher risk.. I didn't want to risk too much on it. Coach: These are good things to think about.. picking your spots vs trading your traditional markets. If we had have had a low volatility sell off there wouldn't have been a retracement. Given the increased volatility, it might be worth thinking about switching to a price sensitive vs a time sensitive based trading. You'll have to figure it out. I think this is good that you are experimenting again but you have to win. I want you to get back on the creatine this week and start to lift weights. I've notice when you're not feeling strong that you don't trade as well. You can't go into the markets weak. If you do you might as well go home. Me: Yeah, I really have to pay attention to how I feel. I was weak today. Coach: Focus on your programming project this week and enjoy your time off from trading. You've a lot of work to do to build your clone system. You need to start working hard again. You're good but no one has a right to play this game. And, I don't want you to blame your mistakes on anyone else. I notice you mentioned "banks" just as a joke but if you start joking that way it might become a problem. The only blame is your own. You're going to hit your stride soon. I want to see the double digits that you're capable of. You just have to wait until your read is strong. One more thing, have you been correcting your typos and spelling errors? Me: I try not too. Try to stay focused on the game. Coach: Good.. don't bother with it. Keep your eye on the ball.