If you have been trading for more than a year, have you changed your trading style? And for what reasons? Maybe you used to be a strict day trader, you do more and more swing trades as you find it's easier. Or you day trade more and more to minimize the risks? Please share your experience.
How is your trading style evolving?
- Thread starter hurricane_sh
- Start date
I started with no experience or background. Traded ES and just counted legs up or down and then put an order in the opposite direction when it just looked right. Started making profit after the second month. After 6 months had more than enough to buy a big computer and extra screens so did so and then thought that I’d better really learn how to trade… and as I learned all the variables… I lost my simplicity and started losing consistently.
That went on for a few years. Eventually I became a very good break even trader by the end of each month (sometimes even counting my fees & commissions!). I tried any number of strategies. Basically had the same results no matter what I was trying. Scalping was fun but really ran up the fees.
I even hired mentors, paid them money. The ones I had were competent but they didn’t really change the outcome of my trading. What they did do was give me background and more of an understanding of the market and what trading was.
Eventually based on that background I’ve worked out a system that works for me. I’m sure it wouldn’t work well for most here on ET -- due to the particular level of risk and patience required. And I am still evolving. There seems to be no end to it. I’m not good at increasing my contract size yet. Chewing on that one at present… Among others… there seems to always be new insights into strategies… and fitting things to the markets as its character shifts. And automating… and back testing…
Mark Douglas’s last book really helped solidify some concepts. I’d come to many of his conclusions, but he explained why things were happening, and put them into words. With my initial lack of background in finance, that helped a lot. Of course his work in psychology and probability (as applied to trading) has enlightened many.
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I have just won the 1st quarter trading competition on T2W and I did that based on charts and neuro networks. However I am checking out Expert Advisors to make the decision for me. Mostly they are rubbish but I have come across a couple that are looking better. It won't be long before they get banned by brokers as being too good. So I am putting in the time now.
I started Long Term stocks 1978 and did well from the start, due to commissions being $125 in stocks, thankfully that delayed me losing money day trading till later. Back then you learned how to chart by hand which forced me to really learn charting. Seven years later I started long term in Commodities and losing, I was not ready for leverage, but when you are young you do dumb things, couple years after I started day trading S&P500 and losing there as well. Took 6-7 years of losing in those styles before turning it around and all the losses were recouped first years, my first edge was actually using a breakeven stop plus one tick. Most don't realize you have to do 100% a year to pay for fees in day trading. In the 1980-90s, making one point in S&P500 futures was $500 and pay $25 in fees was 5%, but now one point in ES is $50 and retail paying $4 is 8% is huge. Much has changed since then relating to learning to program to risk management. Where I thought you had to be smart to learn how to trade, you learn slowly. You have to be smart enough to program all your ideas or find people who can, then dumb enough to trade them, when I speak of being dumb-do exactly what your Trading Plan calls to do. The markets has become much more of you against computers, so then I started do much more automated system trading in stocks, ETFs, and commodities. In last year I have stopped back testing for day trading as I can see it gets tougher to get my fills completed.
I see myself now as a risk trader, trying to balance initial risk in long term between underlying and options. I have switched my energies from day trading back to longer term commodities and shorter term duration in trading options and future spreads. Where I use to day trade twelve hours a day, I day trade three hours, increased size initially, average down(I don't advise). I study much more now than ever before to better understand. Instead of trading only day session, I prefer to manually trade most markets during nights except for one hour of day session in ES, let automate grind through the HFT day. I think for smaller trader will always be able to retail trade something so long as you ok with slippage, but scalping just getting tougher and I love staying in trades years than minutes, I like wrapping options around the underlying and letting options decay. Scalping you have to get your price and long term or options much less so, instead of having to watch every tick, I only monitor couple times a day. So my style has allowed me to be more of an absent trader.
I see myself now as a risk trader, trying to balance initial risk in long term between underlying and options. I have switched my energies from day trading back to longer term commodities and shorter term duration in trading options and future spreads. Where I use to day trade twelve hours a day, I day trade three hours, increased size initially, average down(I don't advise). I study much more now than ever before to better understand. Instead of trading only day session, I prefer to manually trade most markets during nights except for one hour of day session in ES, let automate grind through the HFT day. I think for smaller trader will always be able to retail trade something so long as you ok with slippage, but scalping just getting tougher and I love staying in trades years than minutes, I like wrapping options around the underlying and letting options decay. Scalping you have to get your price and long term or options much less so, instead of having to watch every tick, I only monitor couple times a day. So my style has allowed me to be more of an absent trader.
Congrats !!!
When I first started....I basically gambled on quarterly earnings reports 
Gambling is always bad -- you should...more or less...know odds, risk vs reward and a host of other variables in play.
I kind of drastically changed my strategy since then. (but won't say what/how)
Gambling is always bad -- you should...more or less...know odds, risk vs reward and a host of other variables in play.
I kind of drastically changed my strategy since then. (but won't say what/how)
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when I semi retired and started trading small with no stops a whole new world opened up to me. Why was I not doing this all my life? Of course I couldn't make a living on the small account I am trading now, but the returns are quite consistent. But not safe enough to bet serious money.
The smaller you trade the bigger the world becomes. And a big world is very pleasant to trade.
The smaller you trade the bigger the world becomes. And a big world is very pleasant to trade.
IMHO, you do not need other people experience, trust me !
Because if you really you need it - trading is not for you.
As with any other enterprise into the unknown trading evolution best explained by Francis of Assisi: "Start doing what's necessary, then what's possible and suddenly you doing the impossible".
Jack Schwager published 3 books full of experience from top traders. It didn't change the % of loosing traders ...IMHO, you do not need other people experience, trust me !
Because if you really you need it - trading is not for you.
As with any other enterprise into the unknown trading evolution best explained by Francis of Assisi: "Start doing what's necessary, then what's possible and suddenly you doing the impossible".
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Not so much my style as focus - it nearly all inward at this point..., whereas before I was chasing everything under the sun trying to find an answer / solution
Profitable consistency
RN