this is such a classic post. it includes all the standard ET, uh, tropes. a) making money every day. This is a perennial. This satisfies a psychological need for constant reinforcement, but it is not the best way to maximize returns, which is the ultimate goal. b) utterly unrealistic goals. 10% per month is 214% gain per year! That's unrealistic. Not the 214% gain, which happens sometimes, but the consistency. If you can do 10%/per month, you can do 20% per month. Just lever up. You're making money every day, right? So no problem then. c) the losers lament: if only I had no losers, I would have all winners. It doesn't matter what you call this - bad discipline, reverting to old habits, whatever. Losses are a part of trading. Don't define them away as poor discipline. d) black and white thinking: "I know I cannot lose money" Trading is probabilistic. Losing a large amount of money is always a possibility, even if very remote.
oh no my friend, I am not consistent, that's why nobody in their right mind would invest with me. Down 30% one month, up 70% the next. The last thing you want to do is scale up, because you know it can't last. But if over the years, you take a percentage of your profits and just invest them like normal people do, it adds up. Just about everything in my S&P 500 index fund is a result of one of those 100% months.
Hi BJ, you took me too seriously... a) of course there will be some bad days, the point is that when focused and following the plan I make money consistently, main problem is when I trade on days when I should not. b) let's assume I make an average of 30points a day, I have 50K account so I trade 10 contracts for a stock that sells at 50$ this makes me 300$ a day that makes 6K a month which is more than 10% a month, right? sound so unreasonable? not to me... c)Losers are absolutely part of the game, when I lose I just move on to the next trade, the point is if you control your losers than it is no big deal d) here I was referring to the above, if you have control on losers you can only lose so much, the problem come when you let a loser grow to a draw down of K$...
did you identify any of your winning trades as the result of poor discipline? or are only the losing trades a result of poor discipline.
or some of us just could never make any money any way else, but true, getting laid off or fired can be very motivating.
Hi BJ, I hardly have winning trades when I am unfocused and I do not follow the plan, sometimes I do get a win but that is even worse as it reinforces bad behavior. I do however have loser trades even when I am focused and follow my plan, the difference is that are small losers as my plan do not allow for draw down.
in other words, you can make it trading or in a nice safe creamy job. The choice is entirely yours, but the money probably won't be that much different