also being smart is and can be a handicap. So every time I see a 'pro' trader like my old friend at ETG - I know this guy will not make it. I can see - "he is in denial". He thinks you need a business plan and technology and study charts. But deep down he/she is just like the guy in Vegas with a drink in his hand and throwing dice at the crap table. Luckily I am not that smart and I've had a real gambling problem with poker. So once I licked my gambling problem it all fell in place. Being undercapitalized and bad habits are killers but they all come back to the true reason. Why do you do this? Why do you do this full time when you could at least earn some money elsewhere and trade full time when you make money at it? It does not HAVE to be full time occupation. You make it full time by refusing to do anything else. You are a gambler (at heart). As to someone who correlated a business to trading. Most businesses who make it - start part time - build a clientele and then, (and only when they make money) they abandon their full time jobs. P.S. in order to lick my poker habits I have studied LOT of psychology and the psychology of gambling. ....and I know the job market sucks - but still.... Read that book "Multiple Source of Income" !!!
Differently than what? That depends on how he's scalping. He might also be shorting that high. Unfortunately, this is also how many beginners - and not-so-beginners - rationalize holding on to losing trades. "Sitting" is not a cure-all. --Db
I don't think you'll find anything within my two posts that suggests "sitting" with a loser. But you'll find nothing either that suggests getting into a trade that starts working immediately, and leaping out not because the market did something to suggest that you should, but because you made a quick 2 points. And certainly I would not suggest leaping out of a position because you're tempermentally not suited to hold it longer than a minute or two. It used to be that we struggled to improve our personal qualities that hindered us from profit-making activities. You seem to be suggesting that people "go with" those qualities rather than to struggle. Whatever my friend. The markets have been here forever. And ALL the big traders have learned to sit, waiting for opportunities, and then sit, and wait for the trade to develop into fruition (as long as it doesn't do something counterproductive). That would include such noteworthies as Richard Dennis, a guy who started scalping in the pit, and later learned to trade a computerized system that made him a couple hundred million dollars. My hunch is that he would agree with the difficulty in scalping from off the floor. OldTrader
Oh my, has Darkhorse made yet another return Old Trader excellent post and it is pretty much what I was just trying to convey to "trend-fader" on the scale out or not thread... PEACE and good trading, Commisso
No, again, I'm saying that traders are more likely to profit from strategies that are in synch with their personalities than from strategies that are not. There is no strategy that is best for everyone. If there were, everyone would be following the same strategy. You're saying that one can profit only by personal struggle. Your evidence? --Db
you reminded me of Bush Sr. PS these guys are in denial so nothing you can say will matter. Fact is you can be successful in scalping and DT - only you likely won't last. Anyone can get lucky and make big bucks on craps too. you won't survive however if continue doing it.
And you're absolutely right. However, one man's noise is another man's signal, and if a given individual can profit from what to somebody else is noise, why shouldn't he do so? Consider that to those who rely on monthly charts, the daily chart is "noise". --Db
My opinion on most of the folks that post here is that they are 20 something wannabe traders. Wet behind the ears. They are not making money.