Why would anyone share their secrets?

Discussion in 'Professional Trading' started by Batman28, Nov 10, 2007.

  1. when it comes to trading (or maybe anything involved in making money) you'd find there are lot of people who are dying you to offer you advice on how to do it etc. Even on this forum, there are few who want to call the market for everyone and tell others what to do. the question is: if anyone truly had the knowledge/tools why would they share it or offer it to others?

    from this we learn that anyone with a logical mind who is actually successful in the real world with real money would never share their secret. given this we can conclude that nothing anywhere, on the net or even in books are PRACTICALLY valuable. e.g. there is nothing on this whole forum that will make u a better trader - it may even distort and cloud your thoughts and mind.

    this would mean there are tons of amazing secrets that successful people have that others can only dream of. it may only make sense for them to share this with family (son etc.) or someone very close they have known for a long time.

    my conclusion is that to be successful, whether it's trading or anything in life you need to work hard to understand the world we operate in and acquire expertise and intellegence not freely available to all - especially that which is difficult to obtain i.e. requires large human work resources. and we can agree time to be the most valuable. if anyone cheats or has taken short cuts they would have had great teachers, parents or friends who were willing to support them along the way.

    the point of this argument is not to read anything on the topic in question at all - in fact ignore everyone else and think about it yourself. put it to test, gain experience, and try to learn - i.e. don't forget the outcome of past trials and errors.

    in simple terms, the success of men depends on their ability to understand this world and acquire knowledge independently.
     
  2. I am happy to share my findings on Gilliam Curves to anyone here.
     
  3. have you had practical success with it using real money?

    and if yes, why makes you want to share it? do you get bored? does others offering you affection make u feel nice about it?

    I'm just trying to understand. thanks.
     
  4. Batman,

    I've posted this in the past but here it goes again.

    The only secret in trading worth of being called a secret is the actual skill of the trader combined with actual past screen time.

    Since skill implicates talent, an ability, an art, etc. This is nothing that can be stolen or copied. The so called edge is in your trading psychology, and actual experience.

    There is no right away but between them all I assure you skill and experience is a common denominator among all successful traders.

    Anek
     
  5. I'll hare my findings on the Gil Ruthberger's curves if u want too. Man she was a piece of ass!
     
  6. He's just fucking with you.

    There are no secrets in trading. The only ones I can think of is "keep your losses small".

     

  7. tnx for note on gillian curve thing.

    Anek, firstly, do you believe this skill etc. can be obtained by ANYone in time?

    and secondly, regarding a true secret. this can be anything. e.g. a strategy that actually has favourable returns. I tel you a story, I once visited a hedge fund and a portfolio manager who has a small team of quants and 3 traders who trade around the clock. the manager has modelled a quantitative black box that allocates assets and others trade it. the quants continue study on the model. at the time I met him he had made around 100mil for the team slightly higher from the previous years when I saw his record. Now, I would say he has something in his hands that seem to work (he's strategy falls under statistical arb). if he openly shares his model with others I can say it would be valuable. it didn't require hours of screen watching or much experience - he doesn't even trade. at some of these funds you're even required to sign privacy disclosures when you join them.

    now that's a big scale 'secret'. but even successful day traders won't share their strategy. I know some guy who makes 20k a day in a bank arbitraging across exchanges - and he deosn't even tell his boss what he actually does! seriously.
     
  8. There are no secrets, good trading ideas and principles are pretty simple and widely known.

    But nobody ever made money from a good idea. You need to execute your ideas. And thats where most traders fail.

    And any secret a trader wants to keep is more to do with his execution. Nobody wants tell the world at what tick they will enter a market. This will only lead to slippage (poor execution) as others front run you.
     
  9. sorry guys, but keep your losses small isn't a great idea. really. it's the best way to kill serious profits.

    'keep your losses small' just sounds nice. doesn't actually have much meaning. probably only makes sense for day trading and playing for pennies too.
     
  10. I know someone who makes incredible large amounts using a proprietary algorithm that finds mispriced option arbitrage but that's more like an exploit not a talent.

    You can be taught how to think but in the end it's up the trader to take those thoughts to new levels.

    As far as boxes, they never last forever.

    Anek
     
    #10     Nov 10, 2007