Thanks for this. Honestly, my main concerns are with the technical differences between the two scenarios (ie - slippage), a lot more so than succumbing to emotional responses. I came into a bit of money in my early 20s through real estate, and then subsequently went on to almost lose it all. That really affected me, in a positive way, as it relates to investing and an overall view of market behavior. Like many people that age, I kinda considered myself bulletproof ("that kinda stuff would never happen to ME"), and then it all came crashing down. That changes a person.
You will never understand until you trade with real money on the line as a discretionary trader (someone not using an automated system). Simply, profit is not a profit in simulating trading. Therefore, I highly recommend you move from simulator to real money trading if you feel you have a trading plan ready to go and has been fully tested so that you feel comfortable in applying your trade method. Mark
well, first of all, I've read through all the posts. Nobody is trying to discourage you from trading, it's just we all know how easy it is to blow up and those of us who have blown up feel at least if we can help somebody else it might make the whole thing a little less worthless. The problem with small profits is you need even smaller losses or many more profits than losses. This is just trading 101 and has been discussed and analyzed ad infinitum all the way to et cetera and e pluribus union. Not to mention delta gamma and theta. If there were an infinite number of small profits to be taken, then I'm right with you. As a matter of fact my greatest weakness is that I am not greedy. One of the great things about being a broker was I got to see many accounts. The few winners accounts always had many small losses all paid for by a few big winning trades. So taking that quick small profit doesn't really pay for anything except another small quick loss. I don't know why some are so against paper trading. I think it's a great way to work out your ideas, and see how they work. Every system I have ever seen breaks even minus commissions and bid/ask spreads. So I like the idea that you are trading the market, but it takes very little brains to trade. Use all your brainpower to manage your money.
I've found in paper trades, my stops hold. In live trades, it's like they take on magnetic properties and attract the price. So, it's necessary to place them farther out and exit manually. Then there is extra slippage between the intended stop, when I actually click, and the price it actually gets filled at.
One day I was trying to position trade ES. I only had 2 long contracts on and my stop was way the hell down. It just so happened that it was a big down day, 18 or 20 points which was kind of unusual back then. I got stopped out about 30 min before the close. I checked the reports and only 2 contracts (my 2) traded at the low of the day.
If there's one mental edge that I may hold over other novice traders, it's that I'm completely aware and conscious of how easy it'd be to make one critical error that could cost you your whole account. Like I said earlier, I basically experienced a personal Black Swan event back in 2007, and it altered me forever, and for the better, when it comes to money dealings.
for example, I'm trying to learn forex so I'm just trading in a paper account. No matter what I do I can't lose money to save my soul. I've tried everything. Adding to losers, taking small profits and then doubling up on the other side. Getting long, getting short, no matter what I do I make money. I suspect it has something to do with the dollar. At anyrate, there is no way no how that I will ever trade forex with real money until I can produce a consistent string of losers.
now,it`s like bot vs bot,so be careful.i love to see how bots entrap each other.sometimes they go mad about each other sometimes come to agreement:eek:
There is only one way to find out what the differences are. GO LIVE! Otherwise, it's all talk and more talk. No one really can tell you the true differences.
Do you ever read any of your posts the morning after? Because they actually make a lot of sense some time after 23:00 EST.