Quote from Ghost of Cutten:
Here are some things that many traders, and I bet most people on ET, spend a lot of time on:
1. Trading message boards on the internet
2. Market commentary on the internet
3. 3rd party trade recommendations
4. Trading books
5. Trading seminars, expos etc
6. Institutional quality research
7. Discussing the markets with others
8. Piggybacking "great" traders and investors
9. Doing market preparation, thinking, and research entirely by yourself with no outside influence.
I did an extensive performance review over the last few months, going back over my results over the last 10 years. As part of it I reviewed the contribution to my P&L of the 9 things listed above, along with some other factors. These are my conclusions:
1. Trading message boards: reading and especially posting on them had a net negative effect on P&L.
2. Market commentary: reading market commentary lowered my P&L. Note that this was true, *even for reading traders who were successful*.
3. Merely reading 3rd party trade recommendations lowered my P&L. Following them lowered it more (i.e. recommendations are net losers).
4. Reading trading books, especially re-reading the good ones and taking notes, increased my P&L.
5. Trading seminars & expos had no positive effect on P&L, and cost money, so they are a net loser by wasting time and $$$.
6. Reading, and especially following institutional research lowered my P&L.
7. Discussing the markets with others reduced my P&L
8. Piggybacking top funds, traders, and investors reduced my P&L and was actually a net loser in 2008.
9. Doing market preparation, thinking, and research entirely by myself or with a full-time collaborator in the same office, with no outside influence was *by far* the most profitable approach.
The conclusions are inescapable:
1. Immediately cancel your membership/subscription and stop using all trading message boards, market newsletters, research services, market commentary, trader expos/seminars and so on. Every post you read and make will cost you money.
2. Ignore all talking heads, even the best traders and investors in the world. Listening to them rather than thinking and trading for yourself will lose you money.
3. Never discuss the market with others, doing so will lose money.
4. Play a lone hand - do your preparation and trading all by yourself or with in-office colleagues, with no further outside input. Doing this will make you lots of money.
N.B. Yes, this means ET is a bad habit which you should quit immediately and permanently.
