when you do everything wrong, you buy at the top, you sell at the bottom, you add when you should be pealing off, you peal off when you should be adding, and somehow you wake up in the morning and you are still solvent, at least you know you are probably trading the right size. Trading the right size can have a lot to do with it.
none of us could make any money worth talking about if we didn't use leverage. I'd hate to think how much I could make trading corn if they made me pay cash for it. But you know, my broker gives me 40 to one. That's a pretty long rope and more than enough to hang me. I doubt very seriously if your success has much to do with how good a guesser you are. Learning how to use that money they give you is hard. That's why they say, don't worry too much about how much you make, but worry a lot about how much you lose.
so what is decent drawdown? When we set up managed accounts it was 50%. Once it hit 50% the account was closed and everybody got half their money back. So what's the point of having 100% if you are only going to use 50%? 50% of my money is sitting in a managed account, not making hardley a dime, for no other reason than "It is just there"
When you say "good at trading technically" I'm interpreting that as "good at recognizing price behavior that leads to profit A before hitting stop loss B more often than not and B is less than or equal to A". (If you don't have rules defining positive expectancy price behaviors/patterns, you have no basis for technical trading, and should expect the same long term results as a recreational casino gambler but without the free liquor.) Now assuming you CAN read the market technically based on a well-researched plan with fixed rules, when you say "I don't have patience and discipline" I'm interpreting that as any or all of the following: "I jump the gun and put on trades before a valid signal appears." "I get bored, lose focus, miss a valid trade entry and either get in late or put on 'out-of-plan' trades" to try and get back what I missed." "When a position shows an unrealized profit, I move my stop to break even to prevent the chance of a loss, or I take a small profit instead of holding for a full minimum profit necessary to maintain the edge provided by my plan." If my interpretations are in line with your experiences, the solution is to trade in a simulated account until you're trading your plan according to the rules and producing results in line with the profits demonstrated during the research/testing phase of plan development. The goals of the simulated trading experience are much like the goals of a student pilot's simulated flight experiences. You're learning to follow fixed rules until it becomes second nature to do so. You're learning to focus on what needs to be done right here and right now by adhering to a process that results in safe and timely arrival at a particular destination more often than not, rather than focusing on the destination and forgetting to follow the important steps that get you there. The first positive sign you may be ready to trade live is when you're trading all valid setups that appear and managing them according to your plan, and have a profitable net result that's close to your test result. The second sign that you may be ready to trade live is when you find yourself immediately placing your order when a valid setup signals; when you find that the mere placing of the initiating order according to your plan brings immense satisfaction. The sign that you're finally ready to give it a go with real money is when "in plan" losing trades that were managed properly produce no more emotional response than paying your utility bills each month, and you find yourself patiently awaiting the next valid setup. I assure you that 95% of aspiring traders are missing one or more of these important steps to success: research demonstrating an edge; written plan based on research; regular forward testing demonstrating results very similar to research/backtest results; ability to follow the plan comfortably and confidently in a real-time simulated environment. If you're not able to then transfer this mindset to live trading, yet still want to trade, you should seek the help of a professional trading psychologist.
Nodoji, Thanks a lot.. When I say I'm good at trading technically, what I mean is I can spot a good looking setup intraday and be 90% confident it's gonna work.. My problem is exactly what u laid out.. I get too excited and buy things that aren't ready then get upset and revenge trade and revenge trade some more..
that's exactly how I saw a seemingly very good scalper get wiped out in just one day. He was extremely skilled and disciplined, three trades a a day was a big deal for him. Then one day he just went on full tilt. He use to post his trade log here on ET. He posted three pages from his ib account and said "There's more" It would be funny if I hadn't done the same thing Maybe you have to go through it once to realize it is possible and respect it
Oldtime, Atleast his disciplined but I'm not.. lol This may sound stupid but being patient is not as easy as many people think.. what do u think about trading with groups of people? Maybe that with help since I don't trade alone and other people can see my trades..
maybe, we had a little I guess you would call it chat room. they all traded nq, i was the only one trading es I have always been very conservative they put on about three trades for evey one of mine mostly scalping for about 3 ticks like I said, one day I went on full tilt, and after I saw it was possible, always watched out for it
I was thinking literally trade with groups of people.. trying to find traders in my area would probably be tough.. I don't know Canadians trade..lol I don't trade futures.. I mostly trade stocks..