the most successful are highly emotional about their pnl. Gains give them significant pleasure and losses significant pain. Many of them have neuroses that make them extra sensitive to the pleasure feelings. They work extra hard to get their hit. That’s why so many of them are cocaine addicts and sex mongers.
Reeeaally. Ive learned that being emotional about any trade is bad and you should check your emotional state before placing a trade. That said, I can see this leading to chasing moves and trying to get home runs and even throwing risk managent to the side or going tilt. This is the opposite of what I learned makes a good trader. But I'm also on the outside looking in so maybe there's more to it.
Regarding the ytd return thing, I know intraday traders don't really look at % returns. They look at $ amount. I haven't taken intraday too seriously because I'm not there in front of the screen and there's a lot more noise, fakeouts, algos you're playing against. On the larger time frames you can see the supply/demand zones, where the big players are getting in/out. Price action looks a lot more clear to me and that's where I find my edge. I just set alerts and wait for the trades to come to me. Do the same principles apply on the intraday because patterns and price action are fractals and everything just happens faster, or is it a whole different ball game with reading L2, $add, and other indicators that you'd use for intraday but not for swing trades?
being emotional doesn’t mean being a girl on her period. it’s part of the contradictions that make a good trader. if you are really confident about a trade, you are missing something. If you are really scared about a position, then perhaps your hand is weak in the event you are wrong. one of my favorite lines in a trading movie: “Bruce Willis wore these. He’s a stud.” -Paul Tudor Jones wearing his lucky sneakers.
If I showed you a 5 minute chart and a weekly chart without labeling market or time frame, you wouldn't be able to identify which was which. If you do the work to understand price behavior and learn where price reactions occur, you are not playing against the institutions and their programs but with them. Most retailers either fail to learn this or think they can fade the big dogs.
Ok so if I want to give this a shot, what are ways to get a foot in the door? None of the formal training I've had has anything to do with trading or finance. It's all been self learning through videos, books, blogs, investopedia and some guidance. Not stuff you can easily put on a resume, but maybe a cover letter Networking is usually the best way so could try LinkedIn and twitter. What you think ?
When you get in matters a ton. You're looking to jump in during the mania phase one of the greatest rip-roaring bulls of all time - maybe even crazier than 1999. Many traders and firms are having their best year ever. Your expectations (in terms of making large returns with relative ease) will be starting off sky-high, which sets you up to learn some tough lessons down the road. Even though you know this consciously/intellectually, the inevitable change in environment will still be a rude shock. As to stress and burnout: being in a position where you need to achieve a certain level of returns every month or year to pay your bills is extremely stressful. The market will relentlessly find and hit your pressure points, and the only real way to innoculate yourself against it is to a) take very low risks in your trading to keep drawdowns low (which also means lower return potential), and b) have a secondary source of income to cover living expenses. Having a process-oriented mindset is just table stakes... but then, when just starting out, your process is certain to be flawed and relentlessly sticking to it is actually the wrong move.
A while ago, I was at a charity dinner with a race car driver. He said something along the lines of "you have the general idea of the racing line, but you keep making small adjustments to it on every lap". Same applies to thus business - you want to establish a process-driven mindset right away, but keep tweaking the actual process as you go to achieve best results.
One not so obvious thing you can do is working on your arithmetic skills. Many of the shorter term shops seem to weed out the applicants by lightning fast mental calculation tests.