When I was young my dream was to be a professional gambler. I studied probabilities, designed systems. I got be a pretty good poker player. I didnt do well in no limit games because I was not a good bluffer, but I did ok in limit games where the odds were on my side. I think I could have made a living at it but I began to realize there were other factors that I had not considered. Limit games are pretty boring 95% of the time. Hour after hour in a smoke filled room sitting at a table with seven people whose primary goal in life was to separate you from your money. I became disenchanted with my dream and moved on to other things. Fast forward to the late 90's . I read an article in a magazine about daytrading and a light bulb went off in my head. I was born to do this. I read a few books and opened my trading account in March, 2000. I rode the market down kicking and screaming all the way. I quit, got back in, quit, got back in. Finally I bottomed out and went into congestion. I traded in a range for awhile, then, slowly began to climb. I am at the point now where I know I can trade successfully if I want to. The thing is that what works for me is boring 95% of the time and I'm competing with people who want nothing more than to take my money.
Deja Vu
- Thread starter Nicodemus
- Start date
Nic-Again- sorry- I don't understand what you mean. Are you saying you may want to quit trading because it's boring 95% of the time even though you know you can make $. And because the idea of people wanting to take your money is offensive to you? I agree with gerry875 here. Personally for me-especially in this market-even if I was bored sh--less-which I am alot--if I'm making good $ it's an easy price to pay. Also in anything we do people want to take our $-IMHO.
You may be bored, but at least you don't have some a*!hole riding herd over you. That's the lot of many people, they are bored until the a*!hole again proves he's an a*!hole and then they are mad until they become bored again.
If you want excitement, buy a fast motorbike with your gains.
If you want excitement, buy a fast motorbike with your gains.
I've got one trading style that works very well in trending, volitile markets. I have a real hard time using it though (when appropriate) because it only triggers 2 to 3 times a month. An hours preparation is required each night for the following day. That means I have to spend an hour every evening preparing and then sit at my trading station for 7 hrs a day, sometimes for up to 3 weeks, doing absolutely nothing. It's hard to keep myself pumped and ready for that long a time without letting my guard down. The last time I used it, after 3 weeks I finally got fed up and stopped. The very next day it would have triggered and made me 8%. Man, that's the hardest work their is, doing nothing. It is an advantage the non-professional trader has though. There's no way an employer would tolerate someone sitting at their desk for weeks twiddling their thumbs.