5 Things I have learned in 5 years of trading!

[ph1l]

I can take that same $100k and trade up to 100-200 ES contracts and aim at average 5 points a day at $50 per point, that is $50K a day , make my money on the day and done in less time and effort.

Start with $100K, and after one year you have about $12.5M. It sounds easy enough.

 

[SimpleMeLike]

Start with $100K, and after one year you have about $12.5M. It sounds easy enough.
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Hello ph1l,

Nothing is easy when it comes to making ALOT of money. I was explaining the possibilities.

 

[Witorishan]

it seemed to me that in five years of work you can get much more than that)

 

[Pezza]

Yeah great thoughts and ideas of a trader. taking the time to understand this is not going to happen over night or with out work

 

[morganpbrown]

It's not a trivial achievement to beat "the index" consistently.

 

[KCalhoun]

Writing things down helps. You are more likely to do something you have committed to paper.

Have a written plan so that you know exactly what you will do in every situation.

Good point, one strategy I found really helpful in my early years was to print out examples of winning trades versus the stop out trades and look for differences between each group of charts. I put the stop outs in red binders and the winners in green binders.

 

[ovg2019]

I am surprised a market practitioner with decades of experience would say such absolute statements. Surely you know people who have been very successful trading other styles besides price action.

I do not. A short story: I once had a friend who I taught trading wide ICs on indexes. He doubled his money in 3 months' time, mortgaged his house and started thinking that living in Caymans is not a bad idea. Noticed how I said "had". In a year, he moved to his ex's basement and since drives a truck to the ex's total delight. The moral is, even something so simple (on the surface) as IC, cannot be just passed to someone. It involves so much more than just clicking, something that cannot be simply taught.
Just my 2 cents. Love the topic!
Cheers!

 

[777]

I trade using smart money concepts and that works for me. Trend lines don't in my opinion but there will be many who make a living using them. If it works, use it. I'm not here to preach about the "right way", just give an opinion on what I have found.

If you disagree with that though that's cool. We all have different experiences

Will you give ideas behind your smart money trading, or ideas.
..

 

[Steve Alexander]

I disagree with this. A goal in trading would be to make an amount of profit. You can't always make a profit. Sometimes it's just better to shut the computer off and wait for markets to turn your way, than to keep trading because you have this goal that means your success or failure as a trader.

When you put these kind of limits on yourself you will trade differently and eventually fail

I think it's important to distinguish two kinds of goals: 1)results goals, and 2) action goals. You can't control results goals; you can control action goals. For example, if your goal is to make a profit of 5% per month, you cannot control that, and you are likely to fail. OTOH if your goal is to trade no more than once per day, you can control that. It is doable.

 

[777]

Algorithm trading is a pure waste of time.

Not for the pro shops that have collectively made billions.

But for daily ET posters, yes.