Quote from NoDoji:
Why would somebody even trade a losing system? To me a "system" means something that's organized. Why trade an organized method of losing money?
Agreed 100%.
Why do people trading losing systems?
Because they don't know that they're losing systems. For example, some "guru" tells them that this system makes money and gets them to believe that the problem lies with them rather than with the system. So they keep going on, thinking that they are doing something wrong when in fact it is the system that is not profitable. Or because they're testing in real time and they don't yet know it's an unprofitable system.
Winning systems are not uncommon;
Strongly, strongly disagree (assuming we are talking about TA based systems. I am not talking arbitrage, averaging down, etc.).
I've spoken with many traders who have a plan that, if applied, results in net profitability.
Maybe the traders you spoke with are in the 1%.
I've had traders send me their trade logs and have seen beautiful sensible entries that would've reached nice profit targets, totally ruined by micromanagement of the trades.
That said, I agree that most people do not even have a system.
But the ones who do have a winning system -- and I've seen quite a few -- rarely have the mindset to trade it.
That is so absolutely bizarre to me. I have the mindset to trade but do not have a winning (TA-based) system. I have a profitable system as many people here know because I have posted every trade before hand or in real time for years, but as I admit all the time it's basically at the mercy of the market. I cannot predict direction (all non-random trading is prediction whether "gurus" want to admit it or not), and would be much, much happier with a TA-based system that allowed me to trade profitably.
So just to be clear, when I say "system" I am talking about TA that retail traders can do from their homes. I'm not talking about arbitrage. I'm not talking about how market makers trade, etc.
