You are correct, I made conclusions based on my own experience. I use only purely mathematical models and never watched on the market what existed. My conclusion was too narrow. Sometimes I interprete "thinking out of the box" as neglecting everything that already exists. My reason to do this is because I want to think, analyze and study without being influenced by any external factors, even not by my subconscious that can be influenced by these external factors and influence me. So I study in "isolation". I know it will sound a bit bizar to most people. I know trading companies in London who only hire people without trading experience, because they can still train them as they wish, they are not "pre formed". Because this "pre formed thinking" could bring conflicts in trading as they might have situations where their "old knowledge" conflicts with their "new knowledge". They told me they wished they could erase the memory of new traders and reprogram them. :eek: Yes, when I wrote this I made the reflection that my personal experience should not be taken as the only possible way to learn. But I forgot to correct the previous part of my posting.
No matter what time frame is being looked at there is a trend that replaces the last one on that same time frame. Understanding when a previous one has ended and new one has started is key. If time frame of choice average range is too small vs spread/slippage/commission, then a higher time frame has to be chosen for a higher level of average range. And that's what's happening to Schizo, wrong time frame. Too much effort being given to defensive trading, trading has to be aggressive whilst protecting capital via risk management.
I understand the need for robots who do what they're told but it's difficult to imagine someone incapable of distinguishing the advantage of new knowledge over old knowledge ...being capable of simultaneously being both a robot and an outside the box creative thinker.
I agree that you can be both. But to be both means you have to overcome some problems. My personal opinion is that thinking outside the box happens in other circumstances than being a robot who executes what he learned. Thinking outside of the box happens most of the time in the development stage of your trading system. You have plenty of time to do it, there is no timerelated pressure and if you follow a wrong logical pattern there is no harm done, you can correct it. You are developing, not trading. But executing like a robot is different from that. These executions happen in realtime under time pressure and also under emotional pressure because of the money at risk. So even if you are trained to be a robot you can have problems because of all these pressures. Because of necessary speed of reaction you might fall back on your old knowledge (that you learned from childhood) instead of using the new knowledge. Years ago I raced with cars. When I started I used my knowledge to react on events, that suddenly could happen, to keep my car under control. Then I learned that in specific circumstances my reaction was wrong or at least not optimal. So professionals learned me how to adapt or optimize my reaction. The only problem was that I knew theoretically from that moment on what I should do, but that's a complete other world than the reality. In reality I suddenly had to react in a split of a second. So because of the unpredictable and sudden problem that occurred, it happened that I fall back on my bad habit and did the old wrong move. So new knowledge should be the standard reaction where as in most cases the old knowledge will overrule the new one, at least at the beginning. The only solution is training your brain till the new knowledge will be the standard reaction. I trained my brain for many months from opening till close of the market in realtime, but without executing the trades, till I had the feeling that the new knowledge was the first reaction in any circumstances.
I've studied creative thinking enough to develop formal sets of cheats such as juxtaposing letters between words. There are many variations of letter algos alone to enable forcing creative thinking whenever it's desired. It's not special. It's learned or self developed after picking up the gist of it from a Kurt Vonnegut book. Creativity even when forced becomes habitual and inseparable from life. The only thing that can stop one from acting on it while trading is discipline.
I watched the S&P 500 and the ES#F from bell to bell for nearly a year before trying to day trade it. While I have learned much from others, nothing comes close to what I learned during that year. I enjoyed the discussion between you and dratsum.
Thanks! To me trading is not just numbercrunching, pattern finding or chartreading. All elements that can have an influence on the trades should be examined and optimized. So not only the charts and the math, but also the person who trades in all his aspects, as well as the behavior of other people (the market). I 'm a big fan from behavioral finance. And the past few years confirmed that what I examined was needed to get good results. From what I read from dratsum I know that we think in the same direction. I recognize many things, sometimes very small details from what he wrote. These things I experienced too.