Yes I realise I should have made myself clearer. News obviously can be traded profitably, I choose not to waste my time with it. I should have said I filter out the rubbish day to day stuff but am always mindful of the bigger stuff , interest rates, nfp etc (I trade around them or use them to get back with trend if the big money uses them to manipulate price) Regarding the Japanese earthquake that wasn't a "news event", that was a national disaster, wars, bombings, tsunamis aren't day to day news imho. I avoided the yen pairs as a result of the earthquake simply because I trade SR and trend using every tf (I take my lead from the weekly). The weekly charts were a mess after that event hence they were untradable for me. You may have heard the phrase , "controlling / mother candle", well they were in a mess. I hope that clarifies things a little.
Like some others, I haven't read the entire thread, so what I'm about to say could have already been said. My attitude has always been, 'Those who can, do. Those who can't, teach' This recently came up when I was given a one-on-one with those nice people at OrderFlowAnalytics. I just wanted to see what OFA was all about. It ended up with me pissing George right off with my persistent questions asking why, if their software was so good, they were flogging it to the general public rather than simply using it themselves. Selling trading software that really does have an edge is like giving the keys to the vault away. George either didn't understand the implications of my questions or felt that the market was so big, it didn't make any difference. My point was, that if they were making enough money trading then why the hell deal with the great unwashed ? He didn't like the tone of my questioning and we agreed to differ and I stopped the session. I have my own algorithms that work with the sports exchange, Betfair and wild horses wouldn't get me to part with them. They work and if I gave their secrets away, the markets would be that much more efficient. If you're buying stuff, you need to ask yourself, why are they selling this; would I sell it if it was as good as they say ? Listen to your answer before you part with your hard earned cash
Because they are lazy and they think that there is a holy grail method secretly kept by professional traders.
When i have decided to learn trading, dost matter what i have to go through to make it. - i searched for all kind of information i could get. and i also payed for a course. It was the only course i have ever took, but it was good. So i got in touch with what is trading, and how traders think !!! That was a good thing to push me in the right direction.
I took a course that included long term mentoring and that turned my trading around. It only cost 1/10th of the money I had lost to that point. If a course includes mentoring I believe that makes a huge difference.
Some courses can be useful in that they teach you what to look at and how to interpret it. Once you know how to read the information, you might just discover a talent. I never took a course but found that my advice to others really did help. Trading is a lot about interpreting information, and also filtering to see what is important and in tune with your trading style. That's all a course can teach you. The techniques can be outlined by a course but a trader needs to stare at charts for long periods of time to understand what makes each one work, ie it becomes an instinct.
Because trading is now computerized, if you don't know how to program edges you are gambling, not trading.
Why do they send money they can't afford to TV evangelists wearing Rolex watches? Why do they buy get rich quick schemes? Why do they buy junk from Ronco? Why do they watch infomercials? Why do the working poor spend money on drugs alcohol and tobacco when they can't afford the rent? Why do people respond to obvious spam scams and emails?
I do think that we all can agree, that 95% of wantabes will blow out their 1st account, probably 75% will blow, or close 2nd account, and 99.5% of all who give it a try will lose or have a draw down larger then a course fee, not saying a course will make you profitable just stating facts. And I do agree that the info can be found in books for far cheaper then a course. So i pose another question why pay for books afterall it is part of trader education?