hi all..my first time here..lots to read following Funsters' account of what is happening..I've been trading index futures for about 7 years now..following on from shares ...I've traded the FT100 the Dax and the e-minis ..I 've even gone as far as installing direct data lines for 1 second fills via pats etc..
Changing markets was both in ignorance and in trying to find liquidity..connection with data lines was as a result of internet trading not working via dial up and due to location..etc etc
I say this ..and there is much much more to say because of the following..
1) not until I stopped trying to chase a trade or want to make it happen and be right, did i really start learning..
2) the frustration and angst that is obvious in funster post..which I both understand and sympathise with..stems, with all poeple..from something we want to happen not happening.
Trading imo is about the self and not the markets..the market is a mirror..it merely reflects your own state of mind and degree of balance.
Trading is a contradiction ..seemingly..we buy and it goes down ..we them sell and it goes up..WHY..because we chase..and we EXPECT to be right..and also because we subconsciously take action (place the trade) at or near the very piont we should be closing..!! Yes ..its about wanting verification and that dreaded word confirmation..without realizing it ..we have an opinion say to buy..but we wait just too long ..this invokes a missed opportunity syndrome..and frustration leads us to eventually take the trade.. but its all done and dusted..why then would we have made money by doing the opposite ..think about this ..it is very profound.
I hope I'm not going on too much..but 7 odd years worth is hard to put down on a page and for to help..I am pleased to..
TRADING IS NOT EASY! so why do we expect it to be..false expectations and lack of understanding as to what discipline is..are the main causes of losses..think, if you will the times you have ended a day and thought I had more chance flipping a coin..in many ways this is true..try to understand the real meaning of dealing with uncertainty .
i'll finish for now with this..EVERY trader has at least one thing they are good at in thier trading.be it a certain analysis/trend /shape..this or that whatever..what most traders don't have is the discipline to find and see this in amongst their failure..and then the discipline to ONLY trade in terms of that one thing that works..
My best wishes to all traders..its hard but we learn how to make it simple by understanding ALL the difficulties..