Quote from spunkylives:
Don in looking at your trades throughout the year it appears that your profits are quite small. I mean 200 one day 185 another day. I am quite confused I thought with all your knowledge you would be raking in a lot but I actually feel that in reading your posts you probably ended the year in the red. Only a 2005 tax return will demonstrate your real results.
Spunky,
First let me preface this by saying that I'm probably going to be lambasted for this post because I'm with Bright Trading. But even if I wasn't, I'd be saying the same thing.
FIRST, Spunky, at the time of this post, you have posted 4 times. I think before calling someone to the carpet who has contributed a significant amount to ET, you should have some record of helping people yourself. I would say the same thing on any kind of forum: trading, tech support, etc. At least that way, we would have an idea about where you're coming from.
SECOND, I have to tell you. It really doesn't matter what Don Bright makes doing the OPG's. A true trader knows that the only performance that counts is his own. I have worked with hundreds of traders. Many have done the OPG's. Some have done them profitably and some have not. I know of some that have made over a quarter million so far this year doing OPG's and that's the only thing they do (do the math: 1 hour/day, 250 trading days, this means they are making over $1K/hour!). There are traders on this very thread that appear to do well with the OPG's.
But I will also tell you that all the people I know doing the OPG's have made them their own. They have taken the basics of the strategy and researched it and worked it to make it work for them. This, even after post after post on this thread of people saying that OPG's just don't work anymore.
I post this not for the defense of Don Bright, but for the edification of all traders. As a trader, you must realize that no stratedy will work for you "out of the box". If it did, then all trading would be done with black-box computers and there would
be no inefficiencies in the market. So, you must take the insights and gems provided here on ET by the various traders and if a strategy appeals to you, put in the effort to make it your own or it will never work for you.
I have worked with losing traders with good basic ideas that are never able to make them work. At times, with the permission of the trader, I have shared these ideas with other traders who then took the ideas, made them their own, and made money with them. These traders provided me with details of what they did as gratitude and I in turn provided these details to the original trader. Will he do anything with that info? I don't know, but his P&L suggests he hasn't yet, or if he has, it hasn't worked for HIM.
So, again, I have to get back up on my soapbox and emphasize these two points:
ONE: In order for ANY strategy to be successful, you must make it your own. You must work it in a way that works for you. If you do, and it still doesn't work for you, then maybe it's just not the strategy for you. If you don't try to make it your own, but just follow someone else blindly or throw a few half-hearted trades at it, then you shouldn't count on too much good coming from it.
TWO: It JUST DOESN'T MATTER how well other traders do. That will have no impact on YOUR trading. People are always asking me how people are doing. They want someone to tell them that this works. What they need to be asking me is what do THEY need to be doing to make it work. (BTW, when they do, I tell them and they usually aren't doing it or aren't interested in doing it, or say they'll do it, but never do). So, I say to all traders reading this: read the threads on ET, find the things that are of interest you, ask questions of those that seem to have a handle on them, do your own research, get in there and start swinging one lots to get the feel of it, and make it your own. Only YOU can make you a successful trader.
Good Trading!
Cash