1K or 2k a year in profits from random entries doesn't exactly count as the positive expectancy or winning trades most of us are talking about. Can you make a good living trading random entries? That's what counts!
This is actually quite interesting to observe. Excellent points made on both sides. On one side we have the enthusiastic (at times rabid) defenders of indicators, on the other side we have the mystics talking about this holy grail called an edge, and then a few outliers that brush it all off saying that none of it matters. I just want to say that I’m not trying to defend my position or my trading style. I don’t need to. It works for me. I have great respect for anyone willing to challenge an alternative viewpoint, it matters to you. Your passion and belief in what you are doing is what will make you successful, especially when you are told that what you are doing is unattainable. Hats off to you for having the balls to voice an opinion. Also big respect to you guys that do use indicators. They confuse me and contradict my analysis so I can honestly hands up admit that I don’t have the necessary skill to use them. You really just have to ask yourself “Am I making money doing what Im doing?” If you are, then you have an edge and you must continue to exploit it until such time as it stops working for you.
How do you define an edge? Being right or wrong does not define your edge. Im wrong, a lot. But I still make money. One aspect of this thing called an edge is whether you can take the heat in a drawdown. Lets say you lose 8 in a row, get to 20% drawdown and now you're shitting yourself. Doubt, fear, panic, emotion...all these things are now against you. Have you got what it takes to put your head down and continue doing what you do without deviating from the path? So yeah, an edge means different things to different people, what is your edge?
No, but there are high probability ones. Thats why you keep it simple and stick to a method because its the only really efficient way to monitor progress. How do you fix something when the thing youre doing is so complicated that you dont even know where to start troubleshooting?
Your high probability entries are 50/50 the minute your order is filled. Buy at support? Didn't hold this time. Maybe buy at the next support line? Nope, didn't go. Third time a charm? Yup, a good trade and so on. Sell at 52 week highs? Sounds good, but for the past XX weeks the play was to buy 52 weeks highs. All you control is position size and let the good trade run. That's what makes trading so difficult. People think there has to be a better answer than that.
I concede this point. However...if my accumulated data tells me I have a 0.6 expectancy (not win rate) then I have a quantifiable edge. It means that for every $10 loser, I expect to make an average of $16 on my winners. So the random aspect of each individual trade becomes irrelevant.