Hey guys , I'm Silverhand , I've been trading in a small way since 2017 , i have moonlight kind of job and always have the equity trading hours free In that time i have gone from a dumb kid who used to think fundamentals mattered in the day time frame , it actually helped me short Jetairways from Rs 700 to zero , dont worry i threw most of the profits away! Humbled in 2019 after flushing a good deal of profit down the toilet , i decided to learn more about markets So i read couple of books , the key being Robert Prechter's Elliot Wave Principle . Fast forward to 2020 and it was feb 14th(it was Valentines, and i was in love ) when i traded my first ever future contract , it was short the nifty at 12150 , i was pretty sure the market would fall as prices rose to 12250 , i stuck with it and a month later , it all came together , i covered at about 10500 , only to watch the market fall to 7900 ... i couldn't believe how right i was ... well the margin for the future was basically equal to my original stake i had at that point I then bought gold and stocks at the pandemic lows , it was almost as if i drew lines and the market obeyed.. thats the last thing i remember before my ego went to my head and i started to get distracted at around 13150 i began expecting the world population to see through the quantitative easing for what it was , i began getting short , i again blew away all my profits trading sizes that i had no business trading . at one point i think it was october 2020 i was 8400 units short the index with ITM puts , that basically wiped out 95% of what i had earned during my hotstreak The wave principle wasn't working anymore , or rather my brains weren't working anymore , or i had counted wrong but it didnt matter. i was getting distracted by video gaming , dating , pretty much anything but trading. I was very vocal about the crash in Feb and had gained a bit of a reputation locally as was welcomed everywhere when the world reopened I kind of mentally checked out for a bit and just kept working my job. Fast forward to now , and im just break even mediocre , ive finally started reading again this year but i still haven't mentally recovered from that year . I've started trading again, this time combining an updated version of the Elliot wave along side the market profile ala Jim Dalton. Things are getting better again but i still feel the need to keep learning and growing because thats the nature of the game , i deserved all those losses . So thats my story. I'm far from being a very good trader and i realize thats what i have to be to trade for a living. I've saved up quite a bit now , have no responsibilities and am ready to fully commit to this The joy of figuring out the next move feels better than anything in the world, and i want to be the best , to clarify i'm still trading with the same $1000 i started with in 2017 but it's still a $1000 Right now my objective is to actually keep the money i make this time around before plugging the big money in , i cant go through that cycle again... So thats me , i'm happy to read any insults , advice or anything at all ... Cheers guys have a nice day !
Well you learned an old saying. "The markets can remain irrational longer than you can remain solvent."
Welcome aboard..... From the 2 second intro,it appears your focus has been on offense,without much consideration for defense... Elliot wave is a theory or a framework to work within. It's highly subjective,and almost a religion to its followers. I didn't hear anything about risk control or money management in your intro.. I would start there
I always managed risk, but then the hot streak came.. you're right i got very cocky ,i was much younger then , it went to my head also you caught another thing i was doing wrong, i was using Elliot Wave like a religious fanatic.BIG MISTAKE. Today i still use it , but only as a tool , the market profile helps me understand if my wave count actually makes sense or not . I am also learning about options dynamics effecting the underlying. I have it all to do and am in no way the finished product. Nowadays, i never expose more than 50% of my stake in related trades . I however don't use stops because I like to be a discretionary trader , i ge tout when i feel the trade is bad , sometimes at .1r sometimes even at a profit and sometimes at big red numbers , but that's an emotional thing .. I try to be graceful when it comes to losing and getting out when my thesis appears to no longer be valid I'll add risk management to my list of reading , ur right my first objective as a trader is to stay in business
Ideally, if you can master these you will have won 75% of the battle. I would add, rather than studying Elliot Wave Theory, which as Taowave mentioned is highly subjective, and would probably elicit five different interpretations from five different followers, focus on studying charts. Study candlesticks and study charts. I guarantee that if you study them long enough you will begin to see it.
I'd be interested in how you use EW. EW has recently piqued my interest but I'm finding it difficult to come up with a trading strategy. It seems that price has to move before you can determine the wave count.
Precisely, Other commenters were right in saying that it is very subjective, not only this ,a lot of time has passed since it's introduction to the mainstream. "No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it's not the same river and he's not the same man." - Heraclitus There are few modifications to it , but largely the rules remain the same , 3 up and 2 down. However, it is a tool rather than a very accurate forecast, believe it or not , the wave told me to get short in feb 2020 but i wasn't sure until i read such a euphoric headline something to the tune of "This economy is more robust than the 1990s" and i was locked in then - this is something i realize in retrospect Currently, it still helps temper my expectation for what's to come as it is a great way of organizing prior market activity and helping you understand the overall "age" of a trend That being said , using it alone is a recipe for disaster in my experience . I really like market profile and volume profiles , studying open interest and changes in open interest , and certain other secret ingredients as they confirm if the wave count could potentially be correct. EW is good because it is doesnt need an indicator , therefore reducing the clutter on my screen . It is simply another dimension of analysis. I have other theories about it and how it meshes into the landscape of the markets today , but i would not disclose those notions in a public forum lest i be called mad. I am not an EW trader , i am a discretionary trader, the reasons i take a trade on usually come from far and wide. I'd say it's worthwhile to add to your repertoire and use in tandem with your other proven methods.