That's pefectly normal. Most traders live isolated in a cocoon. They only have their own experience to judge on. That's why I always tell it is difficult to discuss on ET. We never speak about the same thing as each trader has its own story and is trading even different things. Trading futures is not the same as trading stocks or forex. Some trade short term while others trade long term... What I never told but is important too: I never needed my profits to pay any bilsl at all. Till the day is stopped working to be full time trader. But by that time I had enough money to survive years without trading income.
I became profitable on one and then I did what was logical. I started to compound till I reached a certain level. I had already a few Mercedesses and other German cars. Drove 75,000 km a years for business. I never had a boat as I am not interested in it. But I have to admit that the first 2 Mercedesses I had were still in the period that I was losing money.
As far as day trading chart is concerned, the bullish and bearish patterns have no advantage one over other. I don't know about data models. My approach is "A picture tells us more than what a thousand words does". Chart can speak a lot more than data. And my strategy is lining up the momentums from macro, micro and nano. Physics on chart, unbiased with direction, helps me to tighten my stoploss and reduce losses.
You don't need lots of information, you need reliable and consistent information. Depending on external factors (mood, personality, recent happenings, etc...) there will be an influence on "what you see". If you repeat the procedure a number of times with intervals of a few months, you will probable never have the exact same conclusion. So there is no objectivity in a picture. For math it is completely different: 1+1 always equals 2. No external factors can change the result. If I would do my trades from 5 years ago again, the result will still be the same. Even if I would repeat it 1000 times. And if you see 2, it is very clear what you see, no interpretation is needed or possible. It is, and always will be, 2. At least till further notice, you never know. A picture is like drawing lines, you will see what you want to see, not necessarily what you should see.
Yeah, unfortunately for me the money I make I need to pay my bills. So, definitely adds another layer of difficulty. Thanks for sharing your story though, always interesting to hear.
Why do people always think the whole world lives in the US? You will not believe it but I don't live there. Actualy the biggest part of the world population does not live there. People living in the US are the exception, not the rest of the world. I work and live between 6 in the morning and midnight. So not a real nightowl. Living in Europe.
You must somehow employ the concepts of velocity, momentum, acceleration, time ...in your math models to qauge the strenght of a trend scientifically. Years ago i started out that way trying to compare movement of price to movement of an object (mass) with price being the object so to speak. But it is hard to get conceptualize movement of price as mass in motion..because it isn't a physical object. I actually drew out my calculations and got me a programmer to program it in VB. To some degree it was helpful in measuring the rate and speed ...acceleration..etc of price movement but I never could automate it enough. Just did not have, and still don't have the math, or programming skills. I had an idea but didn't have the skills to bring it to fruition. I still dream of those days back in the 90's. On forums i used to argue against tradtional price patterns such as triangles...etc. My argument was it was too subjective. One sees a triangle. Another sees a flag. And another sees a range. All looking at the same thing. I just never could turn the corner and come up with a viable way of tactically trading the market from a logical...scientific..mathematical way. I dreamed of doing it, and still do, but finally capitulated to going the pattern route as the scientific way was way over my head. What I argued against for so long i ended up doing. Now with the HFT using computers at blazing speed making calculations in nano seconds, it is astounding to me. Back in the day when i was toying around with the concepts thinking in nano seconds never even crossed my mind, that I remember. That was the days of MSDOS as the major operating system. Windows was just making it's appearance. Late 80's early 90's.
LOL an arrogant lot we are! Excuse me. For some reason i was thinking you were living in Texas. Guess I got you mixed up with another poster here on ET. I have lived in Mexico, Honduras, Panama, Belize. Yes the USA pop is very ethnocentric. Usa is probally the most arrogant nation on earth. Mexico one of the proudest people I know of. So...when you get arrogance and pride clashing sparks fly. I lived in Mexico about 12 years. Many friends there.
I use math but knowing math is not enough. I have no degree in math so my level is just above average. But I have other things that I combine with the little bit of math I now and that gives very good results. The way I use math is a bit "out of the box". And that makes the difference between success or no success. I would like to give you an example to show what I mean. There are surely people overhere with a university degree in chemistry. But can they make fire with a lemon? Most probably not although it has a lot to do with chemistry. But you also need some inspiration.