Of course not..but page after page of "Surf your trading method is flawed because of bla bla bla" gets a bit boring.
GREAT POST. You said it all. The #1 downfall for a failed trader is desire to be right no matter what...showing no regards to price action and risk mgmt. I have seen so many traders blow up because they get an opinion, get stubborn, refuse to take the loss....then get carried out on a stretcher. They would rather lose huge sums of money than admit they are wrong. Personally...I always let price action tell me which side of the market to trade. Sure I get faked out /caught in choppy markets, but when they break out I make multiple times more on winning trades, than losers. If the market is too range bound/quiet...I just don't trade. Pretty simple. While obviously I don't like to be wrong, I know once the market has gone a certain amount away from me, I am wrong. Trade over. Guys like Surf talk a big game...throw in big words....but refuse to admit when wrong and enjoy being carried out by a stretcher. When I first came into the business I landed a trading job at a CTA. They took on me (minimal trading experience...went to a good school), a silver trader from the floor, a guy similar to myself but younger(he went on to work for SAC later), and a Harvard Grad who had recently left Salomon Bros training program. They put us all in a room on a desk and said "after two weeks, the guys with the highest P/L will be hired". Over that two week period the Silver trader got clobbered fading every move. He lasted only a week...lost too much. The Harvard guy had a gigantic ego. Would always tell us why the market had to go up....go down....blah blah blah. His famous line was "The market is fundamentally weak.....it has to go down". Well...good ol Ivy League boy got on the wrong side of a huge move in the Swiss Franc futures. He kept adding on to the losing position saying"I am right..the market is wrong..it will correct". It was actually getting painful to watch this guy get obliterated. Finally the head trader came in and asked him to explain himself and this horrendously wrong position. His answer" I know my research is right...the market is wrong...my fundamentals are right!". He was fired on the spot. Myself and the guy from SAC traded out the next few days...had decent profits..and were hired. We were told at the time of the firing of Ivy League guy that we wouldn't just be handed the jobs, had to show some decent profitability, or they would bring in 4 more guys to try out. Learned a great lesson...no matter how smart you are...how right you think you are...the market is going to go wherever the hell it wants. The day a trader starts only wanting to be right without regards to risk/price action....he is dead man.
As are marketsurfer's unending diatribes about all things TA and trend, wouldn't you say? Bluster and arrogance have a certain magnetic appeal, and who are we to oppose such irresistible magnetic forces?
I thank you for the honest, candid post. I believe you're the first of Surf's detractors to ever admit to a losing trade...
Have them all the time. Gotta have losing trades amigo. Outside of his ego and trying to impress using big words, Surf's a good guy. Hell....I hope the guy one day learns from his mistakes and figures the game out. I gain nothing by him getting clobbered every time.
What a pack of whingers you guys are. Surf hasn't been perfect with his timing-he's wrong on that issue, but he's made a series of good trades and seems to be in profit yet again. For his style of trading, he's doing a good job. Hope you have a good profit on this trade! EDIT because unlike some I don't believe in endlessly chatting on someone's thread about boring shite: whingers is correct spelling, maybe you should learn a little more.
Will be maintaining shorts over the weekend in the SP500 es. Things appear to be setting up perfectly for the lucifuge style short term decent ( THAT MUST OCCUR ) prior to the superbull activation. @gabfly--- I fail to see how these trades are "hedged" as you claim earlier--- the market will drop short term then launch into one of the final superbulls of the next 50 years-- prior to all going silent/flat for numerous years. Is that clear enough for you? @eprado--- I agree, your long post is excellent for the most part. Yeah, I do get overconfident sometimes, but it would be brutal playing this game without an ego/confidence in positions/self. Other than the last, and only losing trade since the journal started, small position sizes allow for wide swings. I don't trade to grind out a living, I try to ride the big big waves. enjoy the weekend, surf