<b>Romik</b>, thank you for reminding me of a story to share with <b>Slickshal</b> that happened this morning. Just past 9:30am est, I was waiting on a short trade entry signal in the ER near 798 or a tad higher. One of our six-month old springer spaniel pups had been sick twice last night, woke me up at 2:45am and 5:00am with urgent trips outside that included "puppy pudding" projectiles. Don't ask. Anyway, Carmi (tri-colored) started to heave in my office minutes past the opening bell. I left my chair, ushered her out the doggie door to their kennel run and returned to my post. Thankfully, I avoided an accident on the $300 carpeting on my office floor. Meanwhile, the awaited trade entry came & went, price action now trading 796s * Oprah Winfrey has a nanny for each of her dogs. I need one for the girls here myself. Finally got short 795.20 instead of 798 intended and rode that down to 792. On a ten-lot, that momentary lapse cost me $3,000 in missed profits for no other reason than s(tuff) happens. Slickshal, that doesn't even make my top 100 list of errors and blunders in trading. This is a damn tough, demanding profession. There is no easy path to success. The barrier of entry is nil, but the barrier to success is so high it's not remotely visible from where we begin. I wish you the best and nothing less. When you learn to shrug off events and happenstance such as my travails this morning, you're on the way to earning six or seven figures annually. It is not easy, but surely worth the massive effort :>)
wow you traded for four months...ive been a full time trader since 1983 and have had some realups and downs. It is a viable way to make a really good living, but you have to be prepared, and work extremely hard. Just because you can fund a 25,000 day trading account doesnt make you a trader. Hard work and perseverence!!!
15K in 4 months? :eek: No wonder you're flipping out. You probably didn't even make a rational trade. Take your size down ... wayyy down. You have to start very small and when you're profitable and comfortable move your size up, then repeat. I've been trading about 4 months as well, only 100/200 shares ... Just to compare, I'm down $250 ... Now that doesn't mean I'm a better trader at all, just better money management.
I've been trading for 2 years now ... i have to admit this hybrid market really sucks.... i am slowly trying to redevelop my trading strategies.... before i was making anywhere from 20 to 50 k a month now im red for the first month in 2 years .. i hope we can survive .. these hybird algorithms are set against us to automaticaly crush us .. you can no longer trade spreads and forget about getting a specialist print or a price improvement ... anyways good luck to all scalpers ill go back to making my kraft dinner
Its a matter of survival for the first year. If you can get through that you will have the knowledge to scale up and be consistent. Dont give up, just survive and eventually it will turn on like a light bulb. Trading is very simple, but not easy. Sounds contradictory, but if you are a good trader you'll know what I mean.
Don't quit. You're probably close to where you need to be. Somehow the beatings help. Most likely the innergame. Keep at it. Maybe scale down enough to trade where it doesn't matter and make your bread elsewhere. It'll click. Then the money will pour.
You have indentified your problems. If you choose to re-enter you know what the problem is so know what you have to address. You get up and and try and pick bottoms and tops. You have to have a written trading plan with consequences if you don't follow it. I say this not to pick on you, but to work out a solution. I hope that is clear. In your trading plan if you violate your rules and try to picks tops and bottoms then you have to demote yourself temporarily to the sim, let's say. I know it sounds dumb or silly, but there is a consequence for every action, good or bad. Either you have a plan=discipline or the market will in short fashion create a plan for you. I was humbled quite good several years back to the tune of 65k , which is alot of money to me, so I can empathize at some level. I took a couple of years off, learned some skills and have been able to trade to BE for the last 1 1/2 years. Now I am learning a much better method to trade and can see myself making consistent money every day. You can come back if you really want it. Take some time, get your head straight and think if this is what you really want? I wish I could find the post on ET from PTJ, losers avg losers, it's that simple, don't do it. One of my trading buddies call it slaughtering down, I was busting up when I first heard that. Tomorrow is a new day filled with lots of potential friend. Best wishes to you. Dan
Once again if you averaging down as part of the initial plan without surpassing the original trading size and within the range of your stipulated stop loss, then it's all good. In fact when I get stopped out, I lose less money this way. However, the trading strategy/discipline I just described could be considered scaling instead of averaging down so its debatable.
90% of traders lose at there first attempt, 50% of those come back with some written game plan, more education and make it to the second half of this great game. 10% of that 50% actually can compete at this great game. 95% of day traders will eventually lose for one reason........UNDER CAPITALIZED. Come into this great game with capital and make sure you can support yourself for 12 months to 18 months without bringing home a dime........Than you have a shot to learn while adjust to the environment that the market currently portrays.