Interesting to read the comments - a couple of you agree with me that this might be the core of success. I myself have not yet arrived at the point where Neo is in the last scenes of the film - realizing that he's the one and thus being able to mentally bend the rules. But after 3 yrs of consistent losses (approx $150 a day), I began to focus ONLY on this realm of ones own inner mind, and shortly after I began to make consistent profits ($200-$500) a day. That is 2-3 months ago. And when the day comes when I realize that the diving down into my own subconsciousness eventually makes me able to "bend the rules" - from that day on, I will easily make ten times as much.
I think Matrix was a great movie, honestly. It really was enjoyable and I cannot wait until the second part comes out. However, believing that making money from the markets is merely mastering one's own inner-self is a set-up for disaster for new traders. I will admit that I thought I could trade without emotion and I was wrong. Matrix was a movie, but in real life we have a lot of other variables that just didn't exist in that movie. We have pressures from friends, wives and girlfriends, we have this internal pressure to succeed and to do it quickly -- and all of these pressures could easily push one over the edge and trade wrecklessly. Even if you have the emotions down, you still need a system that works well. In your case, if you are consistently making $200-500 a day, then it is merely a matter of trading larger size. You aren't going to saturate the market anytime soon.
aphie - a good point - I forgot to tell you that When I was loosing I used to trade 1-2 contract (only 1 actually in 80% of my trades) - and now with $200-500 - I STILL DO!! Besides - I've never said anything about trading without emotion and that is absolutely not the message I get from watching The Matrix. It's about acknowledging your own capabilities and act accordingly. It's the negation of hesitating, but pressure and emotions will allways be there. Otherwise we would surely be talking about the wreckless trader - but do that kind of trader make consistent profits? Of course not. And btw - is it really true that you have to have a system? I have none whatsoever - just watching the MAs, the pivots, the indices, a lot of charts - the basics so to say.
the thing about that movie that hit me is that the most profound truths are the simple insights. For example the spoon bending, the spoon is not really there. Sounds easy. I look at the market in the most simple terms. I spent years and years looking at every possible indicator, and various convergences of other variations in indicators, and a load of other crap. But now it's as simple as this, is the market moving up or down? It can only do one of the two (not counting flat as eventually it will move) An example from last week to today. As the futures broke 900, after all the good news that came out (fed, Bush etc...) I said that the SP feels week. So i went short at 95. Covered some today. 20 points from my feeling that prices are week. Yes I use MA's, MACD etc... Nothing will tell you what to do. They are indicators of what happened. That's all you need. Pick a direction, place your stop and sit back. cheers