In the preface of "...The Zone" he recounts his short career in trading: he started in '78, nearly lost everything he owned in '81, and by '83 had moved on to the business of consulting/coaching. He speaks only of his failures, and no personal trading successes are mentioned. So ... admission by ommission? That's not to say his lessons haven't helped alot of people. But I feel he's basically just telling people what they already know deep inside, which is: if you have a plan with an edge (a BIG "if"), follow the damn plan precisely and completely, without regard to the outcome of each individual trade. The End. Who wins in trading every day? .... GS algos. So you have to either be running a successful automated algo or act just like one, meaning leave "psychology" at the door and just stick with the math.
since I know how to trade, and I am doing it successfully, in a winners' eye, I can easily see how a loser loses. they analysize, they generalize their experience (this creates fear, one time fail, they will not try next time, the lesson told them how to avoid the similar sitaution ), they thought there must be some logic there and try to figure out why they lose: they will think they are stupid? or the market tries to set them up? they are fooled. the truth is: there is no logic behind. since setups or trading ideas are frequently wrong. there is no relationship between A and B. A happens, B may happen or may not. so it is fruitless to associate them. I do not write journal. I do not learn lesson. I do not generalize my experience, try to learn something. each day the market is different and unique to me. what makes me win is: I see things as it is. I do not rationalize anything. My focus is how to take advantage of what is going on, not try to generalize and build a system, or a mechanical strategy, all contrary to those losers claimed to be the edges or the secrets of succesful trading. when my kids learn to ride bike, I told them, look ahead, look straight at the road, not too far, not too near. but my kids at the begiining, often look at the roadsides such as garbage cans (they are woried to bumo into them), so they bumped into garbage cans. if your focus is on the pschological zone, you will get yourself into the psyhcological zone. A psch zone is not what you need. those gamblers even lose tons of money, yes, they are in the zone of losing, they are happy. in the zone doesnot mean winning. I admit I am nervous or fearful,or I am not in the psch zone, but my foucs is on the winning, so I get winning. to me, when I am the most fearful, I know that trade will be a great trade. when I feel the most comfortable or sure,that trade most likely is a loser, better avoid it. Winers belive in God, God creates things, there is no reason, just the fact. losers try to dig deep, deeper, to figure out why they lose, mark duglas is the extreme, i am pretty sure he is a loser since has all losers' habits.
In a nutshell-- you have just admitted that you fly by the seat of your pants when you trade. If you do it successfully - congrats... you are a minority of minorities. However-- just because you do it successfully-- doesn't mean it's the smartest way to trade. Remember that.
I believe you know how to trade and have traded live money. I believe you have had plenty of successful trades and feel the thrill of having that "winner's eye". I believe you can easily see how a loser loses from your own personal experiences, which you've shared here on ET. I have no idea if you're a consistently profitable trader who could support himself solely by trading. Mark Douglas wrote a book that has nothing to do with profitable trading setups or technical trading methods, so even if he is the worst trader who ever lived and has been burning every penny he earns in his training/coaching business by gambling it away in the markets, that in no way diminishes the fact that "Trading in the Zone" is one of the finest guides available for developing a trader's mindset, which is the one absolute requirement for success. You could have the most profitable trader in the world hand you in advance every trade s/he is taking and, without a trader's mindset, blow your entire account.
Maybe im missing the finer points but to me the book can be summed up in just a few sentences.. define criteria/rules for entry define criteria/rules for exit follow your defined unambigous rules see results after so many trials adjust as needed. wash, rinse, repeat.. thats it. anything else is silly gambling. imo there is a big obstacle to this. Most traders would say, "well how the heck am i supposed to follow these exact rules if no 2 setups are exactly alike.?" Its true, they are not, but they are close, and close is close enough to act the same. Thats the part that takes a while to figure out imo. Its getting that band of acceptable similarity to fit into your "exact" rules that you're trying to follow like a robot.
Amen NoDoji... this fact cannot be disputed... good luck to any here who so much as even attempt to do so....
mindset is not the key. only losers try to dig and figure out they are losing because they think they are mentally not tough enough. the truth is most people spend less time on understanding the markets and themselves. the market sometimes trend, sometimes not, its baehavior is not consistent, in different phases, different strategies need be properly applied. behind teh market is people. people has emotions, you can see those emotions on those bars. when something is wrong, they think there is some reasons. in reality, there is any no reason, just wrong. sinc ethe market is not in your hand. top trader martin schwartz adimitted he is nervous. when he bought and picked bottom, the market did not move, he danced on the desk table to release his pressure. when read through Market wizards, you will notice top traders are nervous in trading, or emotional too. the key is they know they have emotions, and take advantage of them. human being is different from other animals, just becuase we have so many emotions. take advantge of them. Mark douglas propsed rules and sytems. but the reaility is you need break rules to win. if two countries will fight a war, do they first announce the rules how they fight, then each of them follow those rules? most likely each side tries to hide their intention as much as possible, know the opposite as much as possible, use nasty ways to defeat the opponent. those naughty things really decide who wins. those braves are killed first even with high discipline. courage need be backed by proper knowledge and how to apply.