I just said you got a hard-on from the numbers -- wasn't a far off assumption was it? Anyways, this thread isn't about you so let's stop cluttering it with junk, if neke feels what he is reading is complete bs then he'll come out and say so. If he's just taking a swing and not exactly taking the long term seriously as a career (I always keep forgetting the thread title) then whatever. But I know what I'm talking about (as will any trader who's been around the block) so please, do neke a favor and point out exactly where I'm wrong other than an earnings report date.
I'm still a very new trader (a year and a half day trading) and have never professed to be otherwise. When I started out I was a cowboy trader who had +$3000 days and -$10,000 days and decided to go backwards in the process and learn to do things right. I've spent the past year doing a long round of intense study and working with some extremely experienced traders in the process. I can give advice about what I see and what I've learned and people here can take it or leave it. My $60K account returned 30% for me year-to-date despite some grave trading errors. For the past months I've been trading 100-200 share lots on a $27K account while testing a variety of strategies. So while I may post my $50 days now, I'm sure I'll be successful in the long run as a result of learning about the markets and what big money does. Price action is simply the footprint of what smart money's doing at any given point in time. It doesn't take a genius to see that and point it out to people who trade the markets with a specific personal bias.
This thread is one of two I subscribe to. It is a good one. Neke has given a different perspective on risk/reward. He would less likely have achieved this level of success from similar humble beginning as a lot of traders if he treats risk as everybody else; A lot of people are critical of double down. Double down is part of neke's success. Whether to use double down it depends on time frame of favorable trend, account size, draw down tolerance ability. Buying on dip is effectively double-down. Therefore it should not be ruled out completely, should be used in discretion.
Morrison you said it,trade to make 50 here,and lose 30 there you really need some trading skills, you people be better off selling dvds on Shay, pathetic. ..
If people took the time to read thru the thread rather than resorting to guerrilla posting you would see he posts a screen shot of his broker's statement (minus personal info) with balance and performance clearly illustrated. It is counter-productive to keep re-posting what has already been.
neke, here's one of the legends of Jazz piano, who played with Miles Davis and scores of other giants in that genre. Hope this will lessen the pain for this week and get you back up on your feet. Enjoy! <object width="825" height="644"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/HPqK1JJOFxw&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&feature=player_embedded&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/HPqK1JJOFxw&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&feature=player_embedded&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowScriptAccess="always" width="825" height="644"></embed></object>
There are ways and ways to trade the markets. Some profitable traders fade moves, some others go with the trend, yet others are direction-neutral, and of course some mix all of the above. It is naive to think all profitable traders see the same thing the same way at the same time. As for question about an "edge", that is better left to individual interpretation, but since I read somewhere you won a mathematical championship, I would pose this to you: If you had $10,000 to start with, and staked 50% of your balance on the toss of a fair coin. Heads, you win as much as you staked; tails you lose your stake. (So if first toss is a win, you have $15,000 for the next play, and can stake 7,500). There is some chance that after 2 tosses you could be ahead. What is the probability of having more than $10,000 balance after 100 tosses? I pose this to you because you should easily be able to compute this from your background, and my own statistics tells me without an edge, leverage diminishes your chance of being ahead in the long-run and not the reverse. Part of my drawdowns come from rule violations, and I seek to get better in avoiding those. Others are a natural part of my trading, and there is nothing to do than bear them. Drawdowns are inevitable part of my trading, and it would be silly to get worked up after every such. I have traded long enough to be able to put one week's result in the longer-term perspective.