As traders, we all pay our "tuition" to learn the art of trading by losing money to the markets. Eventually, some catalyst occurs that transforms an unsuccessful trader into one that is consistently profitable. For me, it took over 12 years of trading to come to two realizations: 1. I wasn't smarter than the market. 2. As a retail trader, I am out of the loop and always a step behind. I was lunch meat for the institutional trader. When I accepted these facts and modified my trading accordingly, I became consistently profitable. So I am curious, for all of you successful, consistently profitable traders out there, what was the catalyst in your progression that allowed you to achieve success in trading? Thanks, Daryl
As a psychology graduate responsibly say that my transition from deep depression caused by endless fails and losing money to clear understanding of what I am doing and making money was unconscious. It sounds funny but I really can't tell exactly what catalized this change. Suspect it's similar to how wild animals when live with people get used to them and literally overnight change from dangerous wild creatures to your friends (I had a wild ferret when I was a child and have this experience): it takes a lot of time of being nice to animal feeding it and showing other signs of your friendship without visible results but one morning you come and that beast which was always trying to bite you instead licks your hand. Guess in trading it also takes some time for deep layers of our mind to change their structure, depress harmful and develop useful instincts. And one morning you wake up and feel that you've done it! I would think it's just usual tale like many other legends in this business if I didn't experience it myself.
Once I realized that traders are really full of shit and engineers can solve the problems that traders can't, being an engineer it was all down hill after that.
I'll give a serious answer, while waiting impatiently for some short trades to work: #1: The realization that trying to forecast = predict = guess future price action was worthless, and actually detrimental to success. #1A: Learning to measure price action and let the markets show what is most probable to happen next. Wasting time trying to predetermine future price action is exactly that... a total waste of time. Learn to measure price action correctly, and the rest falls profitably into place.