I could care less what other people are doing. I am doing what I need to do to get prepared for my trading and taking as much time as I need to take before I go into it. I am sharpening my sword and putting on my armor (more psych crap for you). I've met a handful of great people on this board who are genuinely nice people with a lot of wisdom. A lot of the others are great, but many are filled to the brim with ego. As far as I'm concerned, the game is in my head and if I start trying to worry about other people then that means I'm spending less time worrying about my problems. I have too many problems to start worrying about everyone else's problems. If people did their own thing irrespective of what everyone else was doing or how they were doing it, maybe they'd be more successful. Who knows. One thing is for sure -- there is a lot of BS all over this board with people making claims that are just out of this world types of crazy. I think there is another subset of users who are concerned about others because they have doubts over their own trading. Start studying, write a program to help you and learn as much as you can -- forget trying to dive into other people's trading status. Where will it get you? Let's say that you suck and everyone else is making a killing -- now what are you going to do? Some people on this board need CONFIDENCE. That means pressing the button when it needs to be pressed and accepting that you won't always be right. A lot of people appear to be timid creatures. I don't think this is the type of environment where you want to be in a corner shaking and biting your tongue when you press the buy or sell button and then closing your eyes and praying. Just do what you need to do to survive and when you screw up, review the reasons why you screwed up and improve upon them. A lot of people give me crap for not trading right now. However, what they fail to realize is that I have observed journal after journal of ES traders going down the drain -- some faster than others. I'm attempting to trade one of the most difficult markets to trade with very limited capital. If I decide to perfect my system and continue to practice in a simulated mode while I perfect my trading program, that is *my* choice. My reward will come because a true trader will recognize when he's just not ready to start trading and when he is. My reward will be through the periods of inaction that I view to be necessary before I take action. Patience is the key and when I press that buy or sell button with real money riding behind it, I'd like to know that I'm executing my system as if I were breathing. Otherwise, it really chaps my ass that some people think that in order to participate on Elite Trader, you must be an active trader. Bullshit! That is ridiculous. I'm done.
Xia, When you mentioned tired old mistakes being relayed, which ones were your referring to? Thanks, Paul
It's very simple why most traders fail. They are not properly trained, and believe that a book or a filter is the holy grail. Or they are trained, but continue to look for that automated system that is the holy grail of trading. Unfortunately in order to succeed, you need to be fluent is several different methods, and be able to smoothly switch between them as the market calls for it (i.e. scalping, trending, tape reading, etc...). In order to be able to do this, you have to work long hours for the first few years, and see what works and doesn't work for the stocks you trade. Most like I said, are too busy trying to develop a filter that will do it for them, and in the end, it doesn't work, cause you take the human intuition and feel for the markets out, and a computer just can't think like that. Cause not every setup works!!
Dr. Shitvomit, wasn't trying to put you in your place. If I was all it would do is land me in jail. aphexcoil, Don't let the worms get you down. Paper trade until your ready to pull the trigger. Just realize that sooner or later your going to have to do just that. Its better to work out as many of the details prior to live trading as you can. Especially with limited capital. Best to you. slapshot, The same old mistakes are things like. No predefined entry and exit point. Fighting the overall trend. BAD MONEY MANAGEMENT. Not doing enough work before hand. Holding on to losers and not letting winners run. It is my personal belief that almost any decent system will work if there are two very important things in place. One is a firm set of guidelines that you trade by and adhere to. Another is proper money management. The rest just elevates you into the sphere of the top traders. caliber trader, Your so right. tx for your money, Your ass sucks pond water. My point of making this post was to get new traders to really look at what they are and are not doing. Some of these guys either need to take this serious or put their money elsewhere. Also to help some of the traders in here realize that not everyone in here who claims to be making money is. Learning from others mistakes is the quickest and best route to profits. Unless you have thousands to blow the best way to learn to trade is be a voracious reader and paper trade like a mad man before placing even one live order.
Johnny can't trade because Johnny mistakenly thinks he/she can scalp 1-2 points on a trade successfully. There might be someone who can do it....but most can't. 1-2 points is random noise in today's SP market. Further, it's hard to set a loss that would be even smaller than your gain...thus forcing you to be right more times than you're wrong. That's tough when you're dealing with random noise. Now add the commissions in...and voila...Johnny loses therefore Johnny can't trade. In actuality, Johnny never gave himself a chance. He tried to game the stock market like it was another one of those video machines he grew up playing. He mistakenly thought he didn't need to KNOW anything about stocks, how the market functions, etc. He figured the market was something that required constant motion...pushing buttons, watching one minute charts leap up and down, etc etc. Lost in all of this were the time honored routes to big money....using your intelligence, your reasoning, waiting patiently for your opportunities, playing those opportunities for what they are worth....NOT for 1-2 points. Johnny can't trade because Johnny is still trying to find the holy grail. He actually is looking for some type of system that he can automatically come in each day and grind out a small fortune. Successful trading is all about thought, reasoning, intelligence, patience....all the things that Johnny has never given a thought too. OldTrader
old trader, i like your post, but there are just a couple of little thing i'd like to mention. saying that the movements displayed on a 1min chart have no rhyme or reason to them is just plain wrong. and there is a big difference between 1 and 2 ES points, if you ask me. profits of 1 point probably lead nowhere fast, but 2-3 points can bring significant rewards. and what kind of a poll is this? why have four responses when 3 of them mean exactly the same answer?
Judging by the tone of all the ET posters I would imagine that most traders that post here are highly UNprofitable. But thats just what I think. -pound
Only five 5% of traders are really successful because they have natural ability that far exceeds the other 95%. Beyond, money management and discipline are other factors. Some people have very high spacial IQs. They can find collecting patterns in visual data much better than the average joe. An article in New Science recently discussed the ability of some rare individuals to be able to find complex reoccurring patterns in long number series. These peoples minds are simply much better at processing chaotic information. What chance does the average dude have against those naturally gifted in these areas. Not much I would imagine. So like the guy who was naturally good at football, or athletics, some traders just have a gift. A natural aptitude. Runningbear
But one thing about trading is that others can be taught how to trade successfully, whereas in pro athletics you can have all the knowledge, discipline, psychological makeup, and go-gettedness in the world and it won't make a difference if you don't have the raw talent.