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Have you ever blown up your trading account?
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Quote from failed_trad3r:
true. I am much smarter than some 40-50 year olds on these boards! For a 20-year old I am a genius. Some people don't even realize that there's more to life than daytrading. I believe I will be much smarter when im 30.
The fact that you think age will make you wiser is a big, fat, fail.
Quote from failed_trad3r:
true. I am much smarter than some 40-50 year olds on these boards! For a 20-year old I am a genius. Some people don't even realize that there's more to life than daytrading. I believe I will be much smarter when im 30.
That is because we are not young enough to know everything
I am in the process of blowing up my account.
I've been working on a system that is profitable backtested for the entire 2009. I did very little "optimization", and it generated 350% returns over the course of the year. Yes, I know, famous last words and no one will likely believe me, but I don't care.
Anyway, my goal wasn't 350%, it was 20% for the entire year. I figure that it's got to be profitable for 20%. With on average 2% at risk per trade, if I trade 3x a day (the average number of times my trade gets triggered), all I need is 1 more win than loss every month, and I would return 24%. My edge was a little bit better than 2:1 over the course of 2009, with some of the best months being 4:1. It had 1 month of drawdowns and the rest were positive months, in 2009.
I coded it over December, tested it successfully through simulation mode on Ninjatrader, and found that it was more successful than the 2% in a month that I was hoping for.
I started live trading it January 4, 2010 and la-di-da, I've traded it using my coded strategy, and I'm down 25%.
I've been plagued by missed ticks causing me to lose out on orders, bad slippage, orders not being sent by NT, power outages, internet connection getting dropped, etc. As well, the system just hasn't worked. Had I started in October or November, I would be great, but I just happened to have started on what is the worst month in the last 12+ months. This past week has been nothing but red every single day, and today was a monster nightmare day, down $2500 in a single day. Unbelievable, I was ready to throw my computer out my window this morning. Talk about being an unlucky mofo.
I've been working on a system that is profitable backtested for the entire 2009. I did very little "optimization", and it generated 350% returns over the course of the year. Yes, I know, famous last words and no one will likely believe me, but I don't care.
Anyway, my goal wasn't 350%, it was 20% for the entire year. I figure that it's got to be profitable for 20%. With on average 2% at risk per trade, if I trade 3x a day (the average number of times my trade gets triggered), all I need is 1 more win than loss every month, and I would return 24%. My edge was a little bit better than 2:1 over the course of 2009, with some of the best months being 4:1. It had 1 month of drawdowns and the rest were positive months, in 2009.
I coded it over December, tested it successfully through simulation mode on Ninjatrader, and found that it was more successful than the 2% in a month that I was hoping for.
I started live trading it January 4, 2010 and la-di-da, I've traded it using my coded strategy, and I'm down 25%.
I've been plagued by missed ticks causing me to lose out on orders, bad slippage, orders not being sent by NT, power outages, internet connection getting dropped, etc. As well, the system just hasn't worked. Had I started in October or November, I would be great, but I just happened to have started on what is the worst month in the last 12+ months. This past week has been nothing but red every single day, and today was a monster nightmare day, down $2500 in a single day. Unbelievable, I was ready to throw my computer out my window this morning. Talk about being an unlucky mofo.
1. jedwards "process of blowing up account", you need to stop trading and step back.
2. volatility's picked up, yea.
3. $2500 bucks, you need someone to kick your ass.
4. TS and Ninja promote "pie in the sky" trading.
5. progress comes thru understanding, market structure, price action, risk, and trade management exercised in the trenches.
6. the moment we get rigid we have losses so unless TS and Ninja are adaptive, oh well.
2. volatility's picked up, yea.
3. $2500 bucks, you need someone to kick your ass.
4. TS and Ninja promote "pie in the sky" trading.
5. progress comes thru understanding, market structure, price action, risk, and trade management exercised in the trenches.
6. the moment we get rigid we have losses so unless TS and Ninja are adaptive, oh well.
i started swing trading back in 2007 and lost about 3k. i got out the mrkt quick bcuz i realised i had no idea what i was doing
mid 2009 i got back into the mrkt again swing trading and again lost about 1k
since nov. i'v been day trading and i'm up 10%. i'v been dwn a lot but i'v been able to find a way bac up. (so far)
of course i'm still a noob and i dont have much say here
but
i will say that: "success in knowing when to give up" edt.
it's about discipline and always approaching things in life as a student rather than sum "master of the arts"
i know that big risk brings big rewards but i'm a conservativ trader so i cnt imagine me losing everything. i can seriously be happy with $40 day (not for too long though) or just not trading for a while til the volume or liquidity picks up (not afraid to flip burgers. lol)
sum1 said a seasoned trader has to go through 2 bears and 2 bulls....i cnt wait!!
i wanna c wut i'm made of!
mid 2009 i got back into the mrkt again swing trading and again lost about 1k
since nov. i'v been day trading and i'm up 10%. i'v been dwn a lot but i'v been able to find a way bac up. (so far)
of course i'm still a noob and i dont have much say here
but
i will say that: "success in knowing when to give up" edt.
it's about discipline and always approaching things in life as a student rather than sum "master of the arts"
i know that big risk brings big rewards but i'm a conservativ trader so i cnt imagine me losing everything. i can seriously be happy with $40 day (not for too long though) or just not trading for a while til the volume or liquidity picks up (not afraid to flip burgers. lol)
sum1 said a seasoned trader has to go through 2 bears and 2 bulls....i cnt wait!!
i wanna c wut i'm made of!
Big D, those are all valid points with one exception: you neglect to mention that you must have a good working system in the first place. After all, the computer only does what it's told. As such, to assume that a mechanical trader is a better trader than a discretionary trader is an overkill. I'm of the opinion that you cannot become a successful mechanical trader without first being a great discretionary trader.
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I certainly feel it's possible to be good at systems and bad at discretionary trading. I think I'm in that category - a good system trader, but only a modest discretionary trader. It's not that I don't spot some good discretionary stuff. It's just that the rate at which I spot it is too low - I couldn't get much return off it without huge positions and risk. Whereas my system stuff I feel is much better from a risk/reward point of view.
i hav to agree with the first comment. i view the mrkt as a group of people.
irrational
unpredictable
easily frightened
for this reason i think a trader has to analyze the "mrkt" (other traders) just as well as they can analyze the nmbrs
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I certainly feel it's possible to be good at systems and bad at discretionary trading. I think I'm in that category - a good system trader, but only a modest discretionary trader. It's not that I don't spot some good discretionary stuff. It's just that the rate at which I spot it is too low - I couldn't get much return off it without huge positions and risk. Whereas my system stuff I feel is much better from a risk/reward point of view.
i hav to agree with the first comment. i view the mrkt as a group of people.
irrational
unpredictable
easily frightened
for this reason i think a trader has to analyze the "mrkt" (other traders) just as well as they can analyze the nmbrs