I'll tell you what my experience has been like. When I first started to read about trading, I read a bunch of books that nearly all contradicted each other. Then I spoke to a broker who told me that experience counts more than reading books. I traded "just to gain experience" for a while then started reading books again with a much narrower search for a trading style I would be comfortable with. Eventually, I decided to pick Oliver Velez strategies to paper trade. (I haven't yet begun to trade his strategies with real money.) I've had a bumpy road but learned plenty along the way. As far as being extremely specific, well, I think things like stops for example are a function of the setups you decide to use and the length of time you're looking to trade. (And some people will also look at volatility etc.) So, as far as being extremely precise about advice, it all depends what kind of trading style you choose. I don't know if I explained that well or not. But, I know I can't assume everyone will be hot and horny for the same ideas that interest me. So... EDIT: Actually, just to mention something more specific. I did eventually find I had more of an interest in books on trade setups using technical analysis. One book I read which has a tremendous amount of detail and helps you to understand technical analysis is "Mastering the Trade" by John Carter. Although I examined his trade setups on a number of charts and found them uninteresting, I found a lot of ideas in that book completed other ideas I had read in other books. Apart from Oliver Velez, I thought about exploring ideas by Dave Landry and Tony Oz to name a couple. I haven't gotten into that yet because I wanted to "specialize" in Oliver Velez ideas for a while to internalize his methods.
I paper-traded Velez's strategies for about a month and finally jumped in last month applying them to day trading. I made $17700 on a $130K account in 15 trading days. I had 13 out of 15 profitable days. Then I committed the cardinal sin of changing my trading plan (swing trades, loose stops) and lost 90% of my gains in 2 days. Back to Velez and my day trading, 3 out of 3 profitable days. Nothing like S/R levels, retracements on volume, and tight stops to keep you in the game. Now let's see if I can manage to avoid the same mistakes yet again :eek:
Someone posted (again) that he is bewildered why anyone would post his trading stytem for everyone else to use. He further states to tell others would destroy his money making machine. How many times have we heard that rubbish in ET? I say RUBBISH because there is not a single trader out there that has anything original to claim as their own. NO ONE!!! Any person that states such an idiotic statement is revealing themself to us all as one still searching for what works for himself. How obvious is it to spot the posters that have not yet made a penny in trading? Very obvious i contend. When someone says others are making a mistake in telling what works for them that person is still a babe in the woods because real traders know there are no secrets to trading in the first place. Stroking ones own ego by believing others can be of no value in ones own development is flat being just naive. Now PLEASE do me a favor and do not post that moronic statement again. Either finds what works for you or go get a job at TACO BELL and ask to be on the same shift with spydertrader. <a href="http://www.sweetim.com/s.asp?im=gen&ref=11" target="_blank"><img src="http://content.sweetim.com/sim/cpie/emoticons/00020077.gif" border=0 ></a> Olympics time..........PS: The opening of Olympics from China will be hard pressed ever to be surpassed. Was fantastic show. My hats off to the Chinese.
You're only half correct. You see, there was a time when one could indeed have an edge...... not the bullshit edge that people talk about here, i mean a real edge. Fortunately or unfortunately depending on pov, SEC has put a stop to all those "edges" decades ago, and now when you see traders using it, you see them at the 6 o'clock news being hauled off in handcuffs..... As far as original.... i agree, any new bang-whiz new idea is just rehashed leftovers from yesteryear. Imagine your grandmother in a thong and sexy make-up...... that's the "new" system these guru wanna-be's peddle.
I read through thousands of pages of books, stared at charts for hundreds of hours, and developed insomnia to create a system to make me money.. not to give away on ET. Due to volume constraints, divulging the inner workings of an edge is basically destroying it.
I am new to this forum and an avid trader. There seems to be mixed feelings across a wide spectrum concerning this subject. On one hand if you worked hard to develope a system that brings great profits to your portfolio then why just give away your long hours of hard work? Maybe a book is in the offing. On the other hand if your system has brought you great wealth why not share your good fortune with others. A double edged sword to say the least and no easy answers for sure.