Damn doji stop vending so hard.
#rollseyes
#rollseyes
CL Redux
- Thread starter schizo
- Start date
Here is my cautionary message to anyone wanting to trade CL intraday because you've looked at those charts and seen all those nice price swings and you think of how much money you could make trading just a few contracts.
Take the time to dissect every price swing of .30 or more every day for at least a couple months worth of days.
If you find patterns that lead into these tradable price swings more often than not, and you can recognize them at the hard right edge of price action, then you have the first "gift" necessary for profitable manual trading: pattern recognition skills.
Then analyze the max favorable and adverse price excursion (MFE & MAE) using various trade entry methods, for each appearance of the positive expectancy patterns you found. Keep doing this until you end up with what appears to be the potential for net profitable trading setups.
If you can do this for a couple months worth of trading days, then you have the second "gift" necessary for profitable trading: work ethic.
Next, use the data you collected to set up up rules for trade entry, stop placement, and profit-taking, and apply your rules to simulated live trading for a couple months. Trade every appearance of your chosen setup(s) and manage each trade according to your rules.
If you can do this successfully for a couple months, then you have the third "gift" necessary for profitable trading: discipline.
Once you obtain sim trading results that are in line with your back test results, trade your plan with the smallest size possible in a live trading account, trading every appearance of your setups and managing each trade according to your rules.
If you can do this successfully, then you have the final "gift" necessary for profitable trading: a trader's mindset.
If you do attain that level of success, then pay it forward.
ADD: It took me waaay more than a couple months to go through each of those steps because I was not "gifted". But I did have a huge work ethic.
Quote from NoDoji:
If you do attain that level of success, then pay it forward.
ADD: It took me waaay more than a couple months to go through each of those steps because I was not "gifted". But I did have a huge work ethic.
There is no such thing as a "gifted" trader. Some have more natural aptitude than others, but everyone begins at the same place: totally clueless about markets and themselves in the market under live fire.
A veteran trader is akin to a veteran dog trainer or horse trainer. There is no college classes education for any of those. You like dogs, horses or markets? You naturally gravitate towards what you like, spending time observing behaviors.
In time, after years and years of hands-on association with dogs, horses or markets, you develop an understanding about the core behaviors and patterns of those behaviors. Each individual dog, horse or session may bring some unique expressions but overall the behavior is predictable and patternable.
That said, any veteran can be bitten by a dog, horse or market session. All three can inflict serious damage if they bite. So veteran trainers and traders must be constantly on guard for dealing with unexpected danger. All thru their career they will get nipped, bitten, scratched, kicked and stepped on. Small dings and injuries (trade losses) are just part of the overall animal training profession.
Top-level horse and dog trainers easily earn seven and eight-figure salaries... but it takes a decade or more of daily effort to get there. Much of that comes from "paying it forward" by teaching & training thousands of others thru seminars, books, dvds and personal lessons.
Literally thousands of other horse and dog trainers make very comfortable incomes annually. None start right out of the gate as "gifted" trainers who can handle any animal in any situation. It takes lots of time to develop and hone behavior recognition pattern skills.
Traders are no different, exactly the same