drprotrader, It seems to me you are combining two things that need to be looked at separately. Those two are the records for guru/chat rooms etc on the one hand and the records for posters here on the other. It is very reasonable for you to expect performance figures from the first group, and your skepticism is warranted in most cases. Even the published results of some of these vendors will not stand up to scrutiny, as they frequently resort to tricks such as picking the best possible exits, ignoring stops on trades that ultimately go to a profit and reoptimizing trading systems then presenting the backtested results as accurate, even though they used different parameters then. Most posters here are not willing to publish their records for understandable reasons. Many are not impressive, others regard it as unseemly and others do not want to be bothered by PM's from people looking for advice. There are journals posted that do reflect some traders' results. Your best course of action is to invest in some backtesting software and data and test various approaches for yourself. I wouldn't take some stranger's word for their results and risk my money on it.
Your initial post... is completely different from the follow up post. Those are different things your now talking about. Your first post you simply wanted access to traders month to month statements when ET is a forum full of traders posting their strategies freely to anyone willing to read and analyze them. If someone has specifically contacted you...that's an entirely different issue between you and that individual or group. Here's your initial post again... Lets pretend...based on your follow-up post that seems to clarify more of what you really want... You should have asked in that initial post... See the difference between the two posts...it was very clear to me how misleading you were (maybe not intentionally) via your follow-up second post that clarifies what you really was talking about via comparing your first two posts.... especially since you went into such great details in your second post. Geeeshh. To answer your question with input from your follow up 2nd post... It's possible and a reasonable request by you to ask for such. Therefore, I recommend you contact those brokerage firms, financial analysts or whomever has contacted you to invest their picks for evidence that their recommendations have a history of making money. Any stock pick service you were talking about that doesn't have some sort'uv verifiable record or the ability to post their signals in realtime... you should avoid like it was the plague or SARS. However...if your initial post was about getting month to month statements as evidence about the viability of freely discussed strategies or methodologies by ET members...that's how I took your first post... its a rude and absurd request... because such can easily be tested by you via a realtime simulator so that you can determine if its viable or not for your personal needs. If that's not what you meant about what's freely discussed here... I apologize for my abrasive replies. I'm just a little sensitive about this stuff because I've seen a lot of traders here at ET go out of their way to freely share whatever works for them... to only get personally attacked for such when traders can easily test something for themselves instead of waiting like some creep in a dark corner with a chip on his shoulder. Now...posting hindsight results via a hidden system while refusing to do it in realtime is another entirely different issue. NihabaAshi
Unfortunately you're working under the false premise that the members of this forum are somehow providing a service to you for a fee, and therefore they would be eager to provide FAQs, verifiable data, etc., according to your requirements. Furthermore, your initial post was worded more as a demand than as a polite request, as if the community should even care that you are thinking about joining and therefore should do what it takes to recruit you. Unlike your reference to a mutual fund or broker, there is no future business relationship that the members of the forum are hoping to enter with you, and so there is no incentive to be responsive to your demands. Trust me, if you chose to leave the forum, you would not be missed.
You say that you are "interested in just working for myself as an independent trader", yet in your profile you claim a Biography of "professional trader" and Occupation as "trading". Have you printed up your business cards that says Head Trader yet? Do you want women to elbow each other saying "Psst, hey that guy's a trader" as they admire you longingly with bedroom eyes? Sorry to burst your bubble, but if you're truly serious about trading, then you're probably going to be busting your ass for years as you try to figure this game out. Echoing previous posters, you think a successful trader is going to even waste their time showing their statement to you? Jump in, the water's fine. PTR
is da man. Audited 3 yr monthly records. Look no further. Who else can do this? None of the BS Teresa Lo, undergrundtrader.com, (fill the blank) etc - I teach & collect big monthly 5-figure sub fees risking $$$zero..and cant trade for jackshit hence no records - scam artists of the 'trading' world. Sorry if I missed out any names... A look at their actual records would be revealing. If they don't show records, a legitimate question as a customer is why not... That said, there are no real 'secrets' to success in trading. All the above mentioned know all the setups and indicators - turtle soup, holy grail etc - lust like many ET members but being a good teacher is not the same as executing...
Even if traders wanted to answer your post by posting some successful trading statements, it still tells you nothing. You don't know the sample size. You don't know the trading style. Etc. etc. You are wondering if day trading can be a worthwhile endeavor for you. You are asking the wrong questions. Take a different approach.
I think this would be a fair request in certain circumstances. Would I be willing to post my sheets here for everyone to see? Heck no! And why? Because I DO still make money (not the ridiculous cash like a few years ago, don't get too excited) and I never see my strategies talked about here and that's the way I like it. I'm sure the other guys here who really make money feel the same way. The day that the edge I milk becomes commonplace, I have no doubt I will be in search of new strategies. But why don't you go about your request in a different way? Why not state here that if someone here were to do this for you privately, say show you sheets that proved they had a strategy that makes X amount of money, and would even go so far as to show you how to do it, you would be willing to pay X amount of money for this service. For example, maybe if someone brought you in to meet with them, showed you that they make say $20,000 a month still and had all the records to prove it, and taught you the approach, you would be willing to pay them say $75,000 to do this. The numbers can be anything you like, but by stating what your requirements are, and what the gain is for the person who can meet those requirements, you may find a few takers in your inbox. I would think this is a polite way to accomplish your goal, but that's just an idea.
I would have no problem posting my equity curve in one of my small accounts. If I can figure out how to convert to a .gif or jpeg, and I can remove the stuff I don't want public, I will do it. nitro
I read the other answer and I agree the way you ask is like it is an obligation to do so. As for myself I will never show a statement account revealing how much money I win. It is perhaps european mentality but in Europe people never want to give their salary. What I will do, and what I have done two years ago during six months is to announce trade in advance. This is exhausting work to do it everyday and it can deconcentrate and impact your trading so I will do it again only when my site will be entirely automated and be aware it will not be free. Now there are some systems that exist on the market with real trade reports from different trading systems - I am working to build a totally automated trading system and submit it to them whereas as a trader I use semi-discretionary approach at the moment - I think they don't release them freely if you want details of the trades but if you are a professional you must afford it or you would better not trade at all .
9:41Â AM 1 /ESM3 939.75 9:45Â AM 1 /ESM3 941.75 10:03Â AM -1 /ESM3 941.75 / +0.00 10:33Â AM -1 /ESM3 940.00 / +0.25 10:35Â AM 1 /ESM3 939.25 10:47Â AM -1 /ESM3 939.75 / +0.50 10:49Â AM 1 /ESM3 940.75 11:08Â AM -1 /ESM3 942.75 / +2.00 11:12Â AM -1 /ESM3 942.25 11:18Â AM -1 /ESM3 943.00 11:30Â AM 2 /ESM3 942.00 / +0.25 +1.00 3:11Â PM 2 /ESM3 942.00 3:25Â PM 2 /ESM3 939.75 3:41Â PM -1 /ESM3 940.75 / +1.00 3:47Â PM -1 /ESM3 941.75 / +2.00 4:02Â PM -1 /ESM3 942.75 / +0.75 Holding one overnight for a swing trade. Stupid mistake (greed tookover), was going for a gap fade in the morning, but held on too tight when it failed (otherwise could have been anywhere between 2 â 4 pts instead of the measly 0.25 I took). Commissions, $3.50/side.