Quote from FuturesTrader71:
Great reply. Thanks.
I'm starting to look at swing ideas using patterns, etc. Scalping requires a lot of focus, speed and reliable infrastructure. It is a lot like dogfighting on a fighter jet. You lose focus while in a position and down you go. As time goes by, I'm more and more attracted to taking bigger positions on bigger moves (look at larger time frames) and trade less. I'm reading several books, but I have not tested any ideas yet.
Nice to see that you have found something that works for you. I would love to chat with you about the road you took to get to where you are.
I personally feel that daytrading ( 2-5 trades a day) is much more difficult than scalping.
When people talk about scalping i always see in my imagination nervous guys running around and constantly gambling and panicking. By the end of the day most of them are a wreck and i think they are probably glad the day is over.
Daytrading on the contrary can be very relaxing. You analyze the market just before the opening and decide what to do. When you take position you must have a clear view of what, according to you, will happen in the next hours. If your system is good you just have to thrust it and let the market do the job. There are three outcomes for each trade:
1. you get stopped out
2. you have a winning trade
3. you see that the trend turns and get out before youâre stopped out
So what you do, once youâre in a trade, is wait. As long as the market moves according to your system you can watch relaxed at what happens; you only have to check if the system stays in the direction of the trade. If not you have to get out. The only important thing is to have faith in your system, because if you stay in a trade for 1-3 hours there will be moments that the markets will take back a part (if not all) of your profit. I stay in a trade till my system says to get out ( or I can be stopped out). I always try to take the maximum move. Testing my system confirmed me that in the long run staying in till the system says to get out is the most profitable way. Some trades will be better by putting a take profit, but because you cannot predict how far a move will go you will lose also lots of profits due to this profit taking in other trades. Your system should be well balanced to take the maximum move. Especially because the big moves make the real profits.
I tested over a 2 year period with more than 1000 trades. This gave me the opportunity to create (in a period of 10 years) a well balanced system that gives me the possibility to trade very relaxed. I know in general already 1 hour in advance where I could get in trouble. This gives me the time to think what to do. If by then I donât know what to do I just get out and take the profit there is.
I started with the idea to become rich, I took big risks and went through hell. But after years of suffering I arrived in heaven. The results went far beyond what I initially dreamed of. But I know people that suffered also but never got any profitable system.
I trained a group of 6 traders with each a Tradestation. After three years only one is left over and still trying to become profitable, all the others gave up. Building a good system is a tough job and being a little bit crazy sometimes helps a lot. My whole family was convinced that I was mentally ill and addicted to a dream that would never become reality. Reality is that I now earn more per day than they earn per month.
I donât want to show off with what I realized but I just wanted to tell how I came from nothing to a daytrader. And I must admit that what happened was completely different from what I initially expected to happen. Some periods were dramatically and others were euphorically.
But it all ended very well. This is rather an exception than the general rule i'm afraid. But if you don't try you will never know it for sure.
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