So I am reading Mark Douglas's Trading in the Zone. He seems to say that we must all pick a setup and stick with it. That's how you get consistent and beat the markets. This goes against the grain of what I am used to. I came into this business thinking that by gaining enough experience and chart-reading expertise I could intuitively understand trading. His version of trading sounds pretty boring. Ok, I suppose you make money, but then we are reduced to monkeys looking for the one thing we recognize. Personally what brings me to trading is the idea of being able to read the markets better than others. Not pulling the handle on a rigged slot machine.
Depends on what your goal is. If you want to learn to understand the markets "your way" then go ahead, do it the way you want to, and be prepared to spend some time on it. If you want to make this your profession, OR you want to make a living in the markets, then Mr. Douglas' comments are pretty much on the mark. I have heard this or similar comments from my own teachers and from other reliable sources along the course of years. In my own experience, I was not a profitable trader until I chose one market to observe and work in. Hope you find success. Steve
Yeah, I was thinking I had to study as many markets as possible and find the commonalities. What if I find a method that works on one market, but works the exact opposite on another. If I truly understand trading than I can apply the same method to all markets. Or so Grob would have me believe.
I am the roller-coaster trader Mark describes. Part genius, part disaster rolled into one. My intution is such that I want to keep attacking it from that angle, but this plane ain't getting off the ground.
Trading should be boring, if you want excitement go to Vegas, where you have pretty girls and free drinks. When my trading is exciting then the warning bell goes off in my head, I am spiraling down hill to a day off losses due to gambling. The days I make money, I follow my written plan and trading is boring.
BINGO!!! As for the earlier comment about the rigged slot machine, if/when I find a slot machine rigged in my favor, my only concern is "how often can I pull that handle?"
Do you prefer to keep things "intuitive" simply because you are not yet sure of what you are seeing or what you are responding to, or is it just a way for you to avoid actually hunkering down and making sure you're just not flipping coins and trading off half-baked hunches? Where are the "disasters" that you speak of coming from? Are you taking trades that may reward you instantly when you're right but are difficult to tell when you are wrong (aka selling/buying because it's "too high"/"too low")? Try to go over the section about addiction to randomness, I think that's what others on this thread are referring to as well.
This book mainly addresses losers. So for that category, his recommendation may be a rather good one. As you indicated, if you want to rise above this wretched category, you'll have to work at it by yourself. No slick 'in the zone' bookie is going to sell you a money making trick for a few cheap bucks.
Well, yes. Why would anyone who's consistently successful and meeting all of his goals bother with reading a book like this, unless he just loves reading books on trading and markets? TITZ is an excellent book. If it can help him find his way, why discourage him from giving it a try?