LOL, likewise! however, you have it reversed: the house is big and the paper hat is small, as you can see.
Yes I am sure your description is correct. It sounds as though you live in an institutional setting. I am sure it is very nice. Steve
i hear what the critics are saying, and it's gotta be hurting at this point, but at the same time, i've seen MS nail 10 trades in a row in a the dow (yep, 10 or something close to it). so, while i don't know what he does or how he does it, either: a) he must either constantly change his trading strategies, or b) his primary strategy only works under certain market conditions, and when the market enters extremes like it's doing now, it goes offline. hope this trade delivers some nice goodies to'em for X-Mass. JJ
Most people form a subconscious bias to the short side at some point in there trading career. This is usually due to the market mechanics. Your profits on shorts are almost always immediate as the longs will usually take longer. It also can play a role if you were long during the 2000 bear market. Just something to think about when your trying to run in front of the freight train.
surf has no bias as far as i see, he always jumps in front of freight trains, that's cuz hes a countertrend trader...prob is that traders and investors are now pilin' into the most speculative and risky securities [tech and junk bonds] and that's a sign they are confident the mkt will keep goin' higher. i think we are far from done yet..we might retrace but before tumblin' i expect at least to see a double top hence a retest of the highs...opportunity to go short at high top-like prices will be there still. always been like that innit.
Marketsurfer, An observation, if I may. It is interesting that your difficulties in the market seem to be fairly conincident with your disavowal of TA and the existence of trends. No doubt, you will brush that observation off as simply a matter of spurious correlation. And it may well be...
Funny how the focus is on surf's bad trades, why do they not bring up the oil short from the mid 70's or the previous trades that he nailed in the dow? Also quite amusing that the attacker does not post any trades on ET yet feels he must attack those who do. Go spam that BS somewhere else, those that trade do, those that can't become vendors.
I think that the term countertrend trader is something of a misnomer. The "countertrend" trader is simply taking a position in the opposite and emerging trend. That "counter" trend is simply another trend that may or may not be shorter lived than the one originally referred to. Regardless, those are just labels. The critical element, as I see it, is one of timing. All other references are just so much fluff and fold. There are profitable trend traders and profitable "countertrend" traders. What they seem to have in common is good timing, all else being equal (i.e., risk management, etc.). There are also unprofitable trend traders and unprofitable "countertrend" traders. What they seem to have in common is poor timing, all else being equal (i.e., risk management, etc.)
see that's just it. it's not so much that the trade was amazing, it's that his system gave him a signal and it has worked out amazingly well. many other times the same system (as you mention Bit, obviously counter-trend) has delivered trading results that would have resulted in blown accounts for anyone else trading it with real money (who didn't already have loads of cashola). ... and we don't need to rehash that EUR/USD currency trade. and i'm not brining it up to make a negative quip, i'm mentioning it to point out that it is the system that delivers (or doesn't) on these trades. and not that I can do any better. after dabbling in Euro Fx, QM and ZN, I've decided that I'll just stick with the financial mini's for now, so long as I practice good risk management they'll give me all the trading I need. because ultimately all trading comes down to making more money with your wins than you lose with your losses, no matter how you slice it or what fancy name you give it. but i certainly do appreciate his creativity. best regards, jj