You're right, "trading is not easy". It's intellectually easy and simple, but emotionally difficult. The concept of KISS is for all. It [apparently] takes at least several years to convince yourself to rid your mind of false conceptions. Less = More... if you get my drift.
I actually read it before. And I was dissapointed. People are too easily fooled -- they read something and they think its some giant epiphany. And then they go back and trade with their new found knowledge and they get raped again. :]
Personally, I don't agree. Neither intellectually is not easy. Just use common sense people! The "effect" of being successful in trading equal large amount of profits! (not right from the begin when you become successful trader, but after a while...) Now, > large amount of profits is something very rare! (compared to the opposite ) and... guess what is rare? > genuine intelligent and wise people. In fact, what is "high quality" equals rare things. So, tell me again that BS theory with KISS. For those who are at the begin of their learning curve, "failed_trad3r" was joking.
If this was written by Ziad A. from NYC, I know him, he's a good guy, and a good investor from what I hear. I would agree with Arthur. There are some basic set-ups (that DO NOT involved any indicators) that are fairly reliable and based on pattern recognition, i.e. mass psychology. Speculating where a market may be in two weeks, two months, or two years, is sheer folly to me. Otherwise, I appreciated the author's sentiments, even though we may have disagreed precisely on what trading "is."
Exactly. I day trade. Opinions shouldn't enter into the equation. Traders should not act; they should react. Trade what you see, not what you think. When opinions or gut feelings get involved, this is where people lose money. Markets do the same things over and over and over.
Ed Seykota said in Market Wizards that he added Expert Trader Rules to his simple systems. Like someone posted above, KISS systems are profitable but they are crap, the profit:drawdown ratio of very simple systems are crap. If you want to make 50% a year with 30% drawdowns a simple system might do that. But if you want 50% a year with 10% drawdowns, you need something much more sophisticated. sophisticated adj. Having acquired worldly knowledge or refinement; lacking natural simplicity or naiveté.
Mr. 2-Year trader is either a (1) prodigy of the highest order (2) incredibly lucky guy running a massive "fooled by randomness" streak (3) Talented trader who has managed to "read" the markets since 2009 (with a big dollop of good luck) but will have a train wreck when conditions change drastically (4) liar As for option (3), it does seem like certain traders and even gurus (Zanger, Larry Williams) have unusually long hot streaks where they do well for a while...even a whole market cycle. But then they crash and burn.