Edge

W

white

Many books and individuals speak of an EDGE, I'm just curious what most trades on this board think is their EDGE in the market? Feel free to put as much or little as you want.

White
 
Ok

I can give you a long list

Knowing when not to trade

Willing to be wrong and be stopped out

8 years of experience

Knowing how to read the tape

Discipline

Patience

knowning when the specialist has a position and trading with him

Good health

High end equipment

Use of different time frames

Good understanding of position sizing

Having multiple traders around me who are profitable and giving me ideas

My journal

Positive state of mind

A well prepared business plan

Echotrade

Bullets/Conversions

Professional Margin

Willing to teach others

Learn from mistakes

Positive expectancy systems

Having a firm that has dual servers in case of another WTC

Worse case contigency plans

Ability to call my trade desk to exit all positions in less than a second

love of trading


That should give you some ideas to fish with

Robert Tharp
 
<i>Our edge is all the new traders out there.</i>

That edge used to be HUGE back during the nasdaq boom, when every idiot and their brother was a day trader.
 
All of what he said, except the "echo" part....(just kidding).

I just spent quite a bit of time today with a magazine publisher talking about the "edge" we have as Professional, Proprietary traders. I am sure he will cut it down to a few simple things: Market access, Costs, Capital usage, and successful trading environments (much like a trading floor).

Success breeds success, and the success of it's traders is all that should matter to any firm.
 
Originally posted by TonyOz
I don't know about care free, but I know that I am not afraid to lose. For instance, I will be hosting two live trading sessions in NYC http://www.realtick.com/news/signup.asp (Disclosure: I'm not getting paid for it).

Although I cannot predict the outcome of these sessions, and I will be out of my "normal" trading environment, I can mentally do this because I truly am not afraid to lose.

I mentioned on Hitman's Journal thread that the force is with me. What I refer to as force is simply faith and confidence. I believe in myself, I believe in my trading ability, and I trust myself to execute trades accordingly. And I guess that the freedom I enjoy as a successful (financially secure) trader allows me to be selective and just as importantly objective when opportunity knocks on the door.

I also learned that creating opportunities is just as important. This is why I run RealTime scans. These scans help find opportunities that would be missed otherwise.

So what gives me the power or the force you may ask, and the answer is my track record. But just as important, I love what I do and am proud of what I do. And the last thing I worry about is my P&L. I just know that I am capable of trading successfully. I obey my bible (trading system), and the rest just takes care of itself.

One of the greatest things that my teaching seminars in the past provided me with is the opportunity to meet people who want to learn from me. I'd be telling a lie if I said that I don't absolutely dig it when my grandmother tells her friends that her grandson teaches doctors, lawyers, CPAs, rocket scientists etc. But it wasn't the ego trip that was great. It was the fact that I have learned so much about life from people with incredible intellect. And this is when I realized how big my gift was. I never felt that I was superior to the mechanic who was sitting in my classroom or inferior to the rocket scientist sitting next to him. I could literally carry an enjoyable conversation with both. And I always asked them questions about themselves, not because I was being nice, but because I wanted to learn about them.

So what is the gift? My gift is that I'm very comfortable in a wide variety of situations and in dealing with people. In other words, I completely trust myself to make the best out of any given situation. I believe in myself and know that I can do almost everything that my heart desires (at age 31, I still didn't make the NBA, but I keep trying :) .

I don't know much about motivational speakers, and I'm not trying to be one. But my grandmother taught me that I have the power over my choices.

As to the market, it is like music to me now. I watch my trading screen as if I was watching a musical on Broadway (not blue men :) ), and I always have a big smile on my face when I trade. I simply love it.

As to life, I wish there weren't as many distractions that take me away from the market. But my wife has put her time in and sacrificed numerous times, so I could be happy and have everything. Now, it's payback time. I have for the first time in my trading career made it a goal to trade only 6 out of 10 possible trading days. The rest of the time will be devoted to my family.

I'm sure it's more than you all wanted to hear, but finally I don't have fever and can write some of my thoughts down. I hope to get over this medical condition soon. In contrast to making the best out of every possible situation, I make a very lousy patient.

Trade Smart!

Tony

PS: Win size is all relative and so is position size. What may sound like a big number to some $6600 or whatever may be nothing significant to someone else. I mentioned before that my goal is to make 6K on average per trading day. I have access to a large account, so as you see it is all relative. A monster day for me is in six figures not four or low five.

PSS: someone asked about my losses. I have no problem admitting that in the past, I also lost over 100K in one day! Hopefully, it will Never happen again.
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Thread is here:

http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?threadid=3382&perpage=6&pagenumber=5
 
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