hopefully. I doubt i'll ever quit trying until I die. Fulltime(8am-9pm) at the screens for last 6 years or so, so hopefully sooner rather than later!
That's why the best setups are the best. The reason why most traders fail is because they believe there's some Holy Grail or Secret Sauce that will provide them with certainty on every trade. They want good grades, nothing less than an "A" (>90%). They grew up in a system that considers a 60% just shy of failure and anything less is total failure. In trading, 60% is like an A+.
Successful Trading is part Art & part Science. ...i know that sounds cliche, kind of, about alot of things...but if you really think about it,and master it, you will be successful. The proverbial Holy Grail in trading is mastering the middle. the Insight.
We have unique limits. Don't combine the limits of others such as Brooks with your own. Add his strengths to yours. You don't have to read 500 page books. Extract a paragraph about each setup from the glossary. At least those that appeal to you. Remove them from brooks context. Don't belabor trying to understand how he uses them. Put his setup in your context so you're studying his best ideas within the context of your best. Learn rudiments. Open your mind to the possibility you can succeed using rudiments extracted from brooks books or find others you can believe in.
But is there any point in reading brooks...or reading any trading books for that matter. Every thread seems to be the same at the moment, and the final say always seems to be ''TA works, but those who know the secret sauce would never give any clues, and anything in the public domain is IN the public domain because it has no edge/value''
I agree with you. TA has some value as an art since it provides a framework for decision making. This is subjective requiring intuition and experience-- it doesn't work consistently or even in a regular manner-- however, sometimes some traders can make money over time by using it combined with skilled money mgt. In my opionion this is the hard way of doing things and has a very slim chance of success but it does have a chance. As soon as someone says they have a succesful objective ta method is the second i know they are deluded, cranks, or charlatans. surf PS. For those of u who care. Read trade like a hedge fund, practical speculation and evidenced based TA to learn how markets really work. surf
Contrary to your beliefs, some such as myself are still working things out so ideas which have edge/value are further propagated in the public domain. In my case because although I have the vision of what I need to add I've procrastinated about implementing everthing and I'm simply taking a break, playing for a bit. If you don't get anything out of reading brooks try someone else. But Brooks ideas definitely have immense value to me personally. Hopefully it's safe to be saying that. Given his ideas have been in the pd this long without changing the markets I'm sure it's safe in the manner in which he published them but I often have doubts about whether it's safe in the format in which I interpret what he's written. Hence I rarely offer specific input into these discussions other than casual blabbering nonsense like others do. It's phenomenal imo NoDoji has published such amazing descriptions detailing exactly what works for her yet very few if any seem to be able to make sense of it. I'm extremely grateful no one seems to get it but I think I've gotten way more than she intended to disclose, and indeed there's lots of stuff imo in the public domain that's quite valuable but people just aren't able to understand it. I hope this doesn't offend anyone, particularly NoDoji, but I appreciate that it doesn't make sense to others much more than I appreciate that it does make sense to me.
There, now when you put it like that I can agree with you. But to come out and say TA is completely useless and crap and you shouldn't not consider it at all is a dumb and ill founded statement. Truth of the matter is TA concepts do create order flow and provide a road map to take advantage of in the markets. On its own, returns created by TA are pathetic. However, combining TA and price action with sentiment, economic reports, geopolitical events, taking advantage of a macro trend, smart risk management, market structure, even quantitative finance concepts can create amazing returns. A good trader using TA and fundamentals could easily outperform one who only focuses on the fundamentals for entry and exits, and maybe even control drawdowns much better. Thanks for clarifying and hopefully we can begin ending the discussion.