I presently own 30+ books on trading which I bought new over the years and finally because of the cost began reading all the books I could get my hands on from libraries, most of them in the high recommend catagory. I run an auto algo strategy I built from the ground up and use no TA indicators, not one except price.
Books can be good source of general ideas, but as any craft, nothing substitutes experience. That's what Surf and academics who test price action/TA fail to comprehend. That to see you must look. Simple matter of focus and dedication.
You fit the <i>"The Internet Trading Forum âGuruâ â will tell you that you need to spend 10,000 hours in front of a screen to trade. At 220 trading days a year, 8 hours a day, thatâs roughly 5 and a half years full-time. Theyâll also tell you that you just need to stare at charts for that amount of time and itâll all become clear."</i> Category--- from Peter Davis's site www.jigsawtrading.com You know how ridiculous it sounds? surf
I agree, many gurus say that. But do gurus always say wrong things just because they are gurus? For me, lazy Russian, it sounds ridiculous when someone says it is not needed to spend at least 10,000 hours to grasp any serious profession, especially such demanding and highly scalable profession as speculation/trading. People spend 5 years just studying in the university and nearly everyone agrees university diploma is just the beginning of professional path. Why should it be different in the case of such a beautiful job as trading?
You don't understand the concept of edge. Trading is unlike and not comparable to any profession, except maybe professional gambling. While there are structural edges in the market, staring at a screen and "price charts" isn't where you are going to find them. It's like you are in some kind of trance. surf
Wrong. Staring at charts allows you to notice microscopic nuances of the recurring market behavior patterns and construct a method with an obvious edge on that base. Those inputs are too nuanced for even the best modern computers to process them in a whole. Some of them it is possible to automate, but the best edges are found in approaches so nuanced that only a human brain can process those inputs. Trance or not. I make consistent money trading. Do you, Surf?
Please readers, take this as a lesson. Although Cornix seems like a great guy, the above statement is rubbish. We don't believe in special powers, savants and mystics on the surf report. If this was the case, why OBSCURE data with charts? Why not use your brain to process the actual ORDER FLOW where edge actually exists? There is software to do this for you, in fact. This is part of the Price Drivers. I would like to see a study of the mesmerizing qualities of watching price charts develop and how it can effect one's logical processing. Any PhD pych students reading? surf
No special powers or any mysticism involved, Surf. Reason to read charts is very simple: charts are graphical presentation of the trades, graphical presentation is much easier to interpret than tape (T&S). Why not order flow? I didn't say no to order flow, sure that many people use it successfully too. But in my view pre-transaction order flow has only very short-term impact on the market (we both know that really large orders are almost never executed all at once) and I am interested in larger moves, so need confirmation of commitment among market participants before making a move. Sounds mystical enough?
I think you miss the point on this. Newbies that are attracted to trading want instant gratification and most are not willing to put in the work to hone their trading skills ans that is why the majority fail. If you look at successful business people the majority will tell you in the beginning they spent 80+ hours a week building the business. Trading is no different. A lot of people fail because they don't lack the hunger to make it happen. They just see this as an easy way to make money and the reality is that successful trading is really boring and easy once you get there. Once you figure out what you edge is and how to exploit it it is really easy to make money doing the same thing over and over. That is where putting in screen time helps you. After so many hours you see the same patterns, same games on the dom, same games on time and sales and you learn to listen what the market is saying and use that to make money. These kind of skill sets can only be learned by being immersed in the market over time.
I agree the fast buck noobs are attracted to trading, but, computers can read the DOM with no mistakes------ why do it the old fashion way full of peril ? I contend that business is nothing like trading. Having run several businesses and traded for years, I think I can safely say there is no correlation between the two. Think of the folks who spend years trying to make Gann work-- no matter how much time they put into it, the premise is fatally flawed. I look at chart readers the same way, mostly smart, well intentioned people, but their premise is fatally flawed. If your premise is flawed, you cant' get the method to work. The insidious fact of the market is no matter what method you use, you will WIN at times. These wins reinforce your false beliefs. This is why only quantified and tested methods should be used. The brain is simply too easily fooled by randomness. surf