VO, Best leave philosophizing to the philosophers.... academics ..., and gurus Sir We have the absolute reality of things RN
Also have to do with not jumping in first? As you watch the obvious, so does everyone else and soon the obvious is exposed
Trading is gambling. Each trade is a gamble. Of course, you don't want to treat it as casually as feeding coins into a slot machine but, at the same time, there's no point over-agonising every trade. No matter how carefully you choose your entry, the outcome is uncertain. Decide how much you want to risk; set a stop; set a profit target; place your bet. Rinse and repeat. I have a different problem to you. I know exactly what I would need to do but I'm still stuck in stage 4/5 of this: http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2010/09/13/the-5-stages-of-investment-grief.aspx
Of course it is achievable VO, as all you need is to do is effectively trade stocks with adequate range, or futures, or options, or fx, or whatever you are good at trading. However, as there is always an however, unless you are THERE in control, it becomes very hard, as trading without control is, very risky unless you have plenty of money and can withstand large drawdowns that don't bother you. Have a look at the option trades I closed in TFF thread when ES tested the HOD. Today was a typical example where I had 5 es long calls, which were making money today, but as I was busy at other things (not in control), I missed the opp to close early today before the market opened - thick o me The market opens and wham, my ES calls are down over $800, so, what do I do, I buy 2 more at same strike but one week out instead of current week, all on mobile phone, which again is risky, but I had no problem taking on the risk. I closed all my trades, including 2 CL call options I also had, when ES tested HOD, and am now flat and will not trade until later on after I have a look, or maybe even tomorrow. Point is, I had my laptop on when ES decided to test HOD, and I was in control, and I took the opportunity and banked the profit - big difference from down over $800 this morning! It is very hard to make money trading if you trade nilly willy, and it is very easy lose money even when you are in control, so trading nilly willy is really not on if making good money is the objective. J_S
RN is of course correct, and I will add you can not trade effectively without adequate money, full stop. I will also add, you must improve on your timing, both for entries and exits, but entries are far more important at first, as you want a trade to go your way asap after entry. Exits are also very important, as exiting too early will not make you any real money worth talking about. If you find yourself looking at the P&L, and WE ALL DO IT, then you are not trading the best way, for, to time your entries and exits correctly, you must trade off the charts (and depending on market traded other things like market depth, etc), and not let looking at the P&L ruin your trades for you. Of course, the only way to learn is by experience, so, the sooner you start the sooner you can make money, and, if something is not working, then it will not really change unless you change what you are doing. Key is to start small - reason - you will not lose your money and thus do plenty of trades to get the required experiences. No one ever said making money was easy, and trading is far harder than any "normal" job. J_S
When I am up to it, I usually spend 1-2 afternoons at homeless shelter in the kitchen then to food line or washing pots. You get to meet so many different people who for half of them never ever thought they be in the spot they are. They come for various reasons, meals, shower, wash clothes, safety, place to stay overnight, warm smile. I go there for different reasons but they rotate over psychology but to a degree it feeds my soul, gives me a reason to trade next day, trade through pain and discomfort, and to see warm smiles. You trade long enough, you just plain get numb by your results, it just another day at the salt mines. But you better have one hell of a good Trading Plan.
Statistically seen 50% of the traders should lose, and the other 50% win; after all it's a zero-sum game with a Gaussian distribution.
Thanks all for the reminder, I needed that. As some very kind person said: "Walking the PATH is not the same as knowing the PATH"...
If you want to survive in this game, keep losses small. Big losses not only deplete your trading capital, they also deplete your emotional capital. The latter is much harder to replenish.