If you are not making money, then you are not doing something the correct way - obvious! If you are not doing something the correct way then it might be worth finding out what the best way might be for you - obvious! To find out the best way for you, you might want to use your head and think about what others say - "others" not meaning anyone who is selling something, or repeating "the same old text book stuff" in their posts - obvious! 1. MA....is not Moving Average, but is something you have to be "aware" of! J_S
1. MA - Market Awareness? 2. VSA - ... Self-Awareness? Visual? 3. ATR - Assess The Risk? 4. MM - Money Management 5. DOM - Direction Of Move?
Hi. I just checked in to see what was going on. Have a little trading account left. I just can't figure whether to take one more shot at this, or just call it a day ?
I'm in a similar quandary. I started with mid 5-figure capital back in 2004. Did ok to begin with, probably more by luck than anything else, then it all fell apart. I'm left with a quarter of what I started with and 10% of what I'd initially grown it to. More than the financial loss, the abject failure has left a huge emotional toll. It's taken a couple of years to get over it, and I don't have any illusions of ever making the money back. At the moment I just don't know if I have the stomach to get back on the horse.
Last two years for me have been a struggle. Too many setbacks, to even think about trading what I have left. I met a guy that candidly told me he had made millions and then gotten wiped out, in a few trades. He said one, greed, overconfidence, and market rigging. I guess, not relevant to this thread. I've been looking at the financial spams I get, is what got me back thinking about the "Obvious" again. Read a quote, used it in a job interview, didn't get the job. But a good one. "Everybody has a plan until, you get punched in the face " Mike Tyson. I thought about asking for the answer to the obvious, and I'm sure I'm not the only one that has thought about that. Many posts back a group was alluded to that has used the obvious for trading. Then , he/she said it can't be shared. And even if shared, say they give you the obvious, that it wouldn't matter because you wouldn't believe it anyhow. Guess the original idea of The obvious was to get people who read it to think outside of the box. So in that respect, I guess it has given me a benefit.
Take a look at this stock chart. Suppose you had to make one of 4 choices 1) go Long 2) go Short 3) wait to go Long 4) wait to go Short Which would you choose? If you choose (3) or (4) you must say what it is you would be waiting for.
2 if I could do short selling. Interesting that I like 3 or 4 as well, and I'm not sure how to answer what it is I would be waiting for.
Here's a free chart analysis of the day: When two things line up perfectly under the sun, it usually means something. That's right, it's a screaming BUY. .
It all depends on what you have learned from your mistakes - if you do the same thing as before then you can expect the same results. No need to go thru all the "same stuff", but if you are going to try again, then you really need to write down exactly what you are going to do, how much you are going to risk, and how long are you going to try before you make up your mind if you will stop or continue. I will list 1-5 to stop the guessing, as I can see a few of ye are really trying. 1. MA = Mental Awareness 2. VSA = Voluntary Self Analysis 3. ATR = Ability to React 4. MM = Money Management 5. DOM = Decide One Market 1. is self explanatory - unless you open your mind to "easy" ways and forget all the hype, then you will find it very hard. 2. is bit more difficult - not too many will take the time to question what they are doing, and why they are doing it - instead they look for the easy way out - ask others! 3. is very important - you can "know" what to do, but unless you are able to do it then it is just a waste of time. 4. is the key to staying in the game long enough so that you can accomplish 1 to 3 above. 5. is common sense - if you jump around the place from stocks, to futures, to fx to commodities, then odds are you will become jack of all trades and master of none - pick one market and master it..full stop. J_S
Some thoughts, and you should take everything you read with a pinch of salt, unless it makes perfect sense to you and you think it can help you make some money. To cut to the chase, take it that 1 to 4 are accepted as "requirements", so lets jump to 5, and deciding what market to trade, as it can make all the difference. The use of leverage should be avoided, unless you can stick to your losses with no exceptions, as leverage can lead to over-trading, which is not good at any time. When you read all the posts on et, and other sites, you would think most are making a fortune, but I would say that the real figure is very small - the only way you will really know if someone is telling the truth is to see their accounts, as verified by an accountant - and no one is going to do that just because some people are chatting on a website - so again, if it helps then use it, if not then discard and move on. The best market to trade, is the one that allows you to stick to your defined risk amount, suits your available time to trade, and is not heavily manipulated - crude oil comes to mind here! You must accept, no matter what "anyone" tells you, that you are going to have a good amount of losing trades, which means a drawdown (loss) in your account - this is fine once you are up, but if you have a large drawdown before you make money then you are fighting an uphill battle, both financially and mentally, and the odds are you will cave in and make some stupid mistakes before you can start to see some regular profits. This is where the some markets being "better" than others can help - why make things more difficult at the start if you don't have to - if it means you have to go out of your way a bit, so what, making money is never easy, no matter what anyone tells u! One of the least riskiest ways to trade, and suits almost everyone, is trading US blue chip stocks. J_S