I didn't ever think that it was going to be possible. But now I'm what some more experienced traders call "trading in the zone" I think my breakthrough came when I kept working and working on perfecting my trading style in sync with my mental focusing concentration. I used to only be thinking about making money but my mentor kept drilling in my head that if I focus on the process of trading versus trying to make money then I will be able to harness my trading set-ups and pull the trigger on S/R. At first, it was very very very hard but he kept coming back to me with this concept and ceaselessly coaxing me into this mindstate and now I am taking home some sweet trading profits. The big advantage to a good prop firm is not really the leverage - I had that at the other prop firms I was trading with. The real difference was the mentoring and counseling. Without that I don't think I would be where I am right now in my trading career. I read posts from traders who post about their issues blocking success and have been there and although I am far from being the master trader I wish to be - I am definitely closer than I was months ago. Good luck everyone and let's keep working together to help each other out on this board. Making money is possible - just find a good firm - and be confident in yourself as a good person.
T-Bone Trader, Thank you for a sincere posting. Would you mind sharing the name of the prop firm you belong to as well as the name of your mentor? If not, you can please pm me. I am new to trading and I have heard some bad horror stories from some traders about a few prop firms and just want to avoid these terror churn-burn firms. Thx!
Agreed. Nice to hear about another victory. Couldn't concur with the OP more regarding quality training.
How do you know you're victorious until you've either made it, or have been doing it for a long time? I've had my rocky ups and downs for a few years, and some months I was golden. There was some guy on here, 'lescor' or something. He made one post that changed my life. He said something about being a failure and losing 70k over 10 years before finally learning what a real edge was. Ever since he put it in those terms, my world has more or less changed.
lolatency, I never said anything in my message about "making it" or having "made it" I simply stated that I was closer to that "magical" feeling of great trading than I was months ago. Compared to the crappy training I received at other firms, I feel that I am finally getting closer to my goal of being a great trader. I feel so so different when I trade. I think my relationship with my mentor has delivered confidence and I know that it is a true feeling because I don't trade in their office and instead trade remotely. For me, it's really been the fact that I know that I have someone who can give me good advice. Makes all the difference in the world IMHO.
dinoman, Price action is definitely one of my strategies used in trading but more so with trendlines/support/resistance/oscillators and really market sentiment. Most importantly, I've found the holy grail!!!! It is money/position management. LoL
I know what you're saying in concept, but the market is pretty damn good at not telling the truth about prices either. You can read the tape one second, but the liquidity can vaporize faster than you can click. I'll give you one example: I was on the trade desk and my software starting going crazy about UAL (or UAUA -- I forget -- I just remember it was the airline stock). I clicked over there, and I saw it down 3%. Then in a matter of seconds, the computers were hammering UAL so fast it was near impossible to get a fill. It was some bogus news story, but all the well-funded traders on Bloomberg had their computers trading that stuff off so fast it was ridiculous. A few seconds later, it was down 99% and then halted. I guess, on that day, some old news article popped up and gave everyone a panic. A lot of people lost a lot of money and were really upset over that one.