discipline ! yes that's right but , discipline for backtesting a huge huge amount of data . market is same market as it was 50 or even 100 years ago .because human make market price and overall emotions never changes .it's like a fractal.it repeats itself but it's not exactly like yesterday
Nassim Nicholas Taleb who predicted 2008 financial crash says: even in the best financial engineering schools , there is nothing more than pseudo science and wrong ideas . he holds a Phd in statistics .however Technical Analysis has not entered into academia so vast .daily high & low pivots with enough volume may define A/D zones. but increasing volume in bottoms and decreasing volume in tops. it depends on the instrument & time of day session. but mostly in ES it's like that because it's most of time choppy .in some momentum instruments like CL & FX they have their own characteristics .even patterns on Newyork noon is different than Newyork mornings.so that's why trend following may not work for ES and it may work on other instruments .
My ex's son started real time like 6 weeks ago, and he doing ok, he understands the long hours that his old man is forcing him to endure, cause one day I won't be available to be around whether traveling or deceased. He knows how much pain I have endured to make signals look simple, how easy risk management looks and took decades for me to understand. I am forcing him to hand chart one minute charts then trade off those, he knows he will have to do this for three years and ten years for long term commodities, he is learning the right way and it is paying off. I wish I had a bastard like me when I was starting off, I did have older men who knew fundamentals, knew them well and took me under their wing but they didn't know much bout charting. Stepson trades 75 minutes then goes to work-he trades his own $5,000, he is starting to hunt for rental houses, told him to go through process of finding certain kinds of houses and make offers, he already done apps with mortgage companies. I like working with him as he is now focused. I am proud of him. He is in his 30s, and only know since he got engaged, my advise seems prudent. He knows he has much to get caught up financially and he knows he won't get a dime from me other than wedding gift. But he also knows the knowledge I bestow is priceless. Successful traders happen when you are ready, you been in the game number of years, you know how to get there, but cause we lie to ourselves, we fail. You have to take the hard path to achieve wealth, it is not an easy road to follow, you have to get into people's faces sometimes to do things you rather not do, but in who's best interest by not doing what needs to be done? Some see it as chances, and that is why we back test, you want to discover the probabilities of the past to see if the present will work out.
Things that have helped me: Mathematical ability: probability puts the world in perspective; understand expected value Start small: work your way up as you develop skills/confidence Face your mistakes: print them out, own them, study them repeatedly Money management: not some of the time, but all of the time Backtest: what seems sensible or feels good is not always what works; most of the systems other people claim are viable actually do not work; find this out before you implement them Set rules based on your backtests: takes years to develop them, but just a few minutes to follow them; follow them slavishly, no matter how crazy it feels at the time; overall, you'll be glad you did Sit on your hands: improved rules should mean less trading; I already learned this one being an obstetrician; women have been having babies for thousands of years without obstetricians, and most of the time the best thing you can do is not interfere when something is working; don't keep second-guessing your trades and don't trade because you're bored Ignore everyone else: this includes other traders, the news, etc; their role is solely for entertainment
Find a profitable automatic system. Then leave it running while you get on with other things, like enjoying the profits.