How much longer should I wait?

In 'regular' businesses, it takes couple of years to build a customer base or loyal clientel to be profitable.. or break break-even point.

but in trading stocks, you don't have an customer base or business to build. so you should be making money on first 1 day of trading or there is something wrong with your trading system.
or trading plan is flawed...

if you keep losing money you should quit the way you are trading. it's call cutting your losses...why continue to lose money in the business....your time is money too



Quote from cashmoney69:

Here are the numbers:

I've made 127 trades so far

69 winners / 58 losers

spent 577.00 in commissions

made 821.67 (but had more losses)


---

Of the days I've made money, commissions account for 70.2 % of

my profits. I try to make 200.00 a day (1%), and on some days I

surpass this by leaps and bounds, but lose a lot back, so to me,

a 100.00 up day is "good". I'm winning on more trades than

losing...this is I'm going to guess isn't common for new

traders to be winning more, but this is not showing on my

bottom line, and I'm beginning to get frustrated as I'm down

2.29% so far on my starting capital.

--

Like some "master traders" to comment. Success feels close, but

I'm doing something wrong. I don't know how much more I

should go at this pace before throwing in the towel.

cm
More...
 
trading is NOT A BUSINESS

so you should be winning on day one of the activity!




Quote from traderNik:

cash, I responded to a few of your posts, ones which I thought were somewhat misguided, at times when I thought I could give you some constructive feedback.

That seems like it was about 18 months ago.

I have seen you start what must literally be a hundred threads like this. I'm now going to suggest you need to completely stop doing this. The reason is this - it is 100% clear to pretty much everyone that you are looking for answers in the wrong place. You seem to want someone here to give you the answers you need. This is not going to happen, man.

I haven't checked out your journal and so I don't know what entry setups you are using, but if you are getting feedback in your journal you should know at this point whether or not you're using a viable system.

You sound like someone who is trading scared. You speak about losing 2.29% of your account and wondering whether it is time to throw in the towel. And yet you know from reading thousands of posts here that most newbs lose everything in the first 6 months. If you are actively trading and breaking even in 8 months, you are doing better than 80% of beginners. If you have only lost 10% of your account in that time, you are outperforming. Do you get that? How many small businesses do you know of where the owner can expect to be profitable within the first 6 months? The first year? The first 18 months?

Most newbs who post here, I tend to give them encouraging responses because I believe that anyone can make it if they work hard. In your case, I am not sure because I don't think you have the right mindset for trading. The absolute worst trait you can have in you is the tendency to look outside of yourself to figure out why things are going wrong, whether it be in life, in trading, in your golf game, in your poker, whatever. Your constant posting in the same manner here means that you are waiting for someone to give you the answers. It is never, ever going to happen.

I hope you see what I am saying here. There may well be a direct correlation between your constant starting of this type of thread and your trading losses. The two things are probably related and the thread-starting gives a clue about why you may eventually have to quit. I don't believe that you are at the point where you understand the nature of losses in short term trading. I have never seen anyone about whom I am more convinced that they think the markets are there to give them money.
More...
 
reckless overtrading is a symptom of gambling addiction




Quote from cashmoney69:

If anything, I'm NOT trading scared. I think I have a right to be disappointed in my performance and want to do better. Of course I'm going to come to ET for answers...isn't that why 80% of the people are here?..to ask questions and get answers?. No one else is going to help me, so the only place I can come to is here, by sifting through the BS to find a real answer.

Unlike many of you who live in NY, Chicago, Atlanta, ect.. you can meet other traders, who might mentor you and watch you trade..well I don't have that luxury, and if I did, I'd probably never sign up on ET to begin with.

With all do respect. if my posting here bothers you, please put me on ignore.
More...
 
I'm with traderNik on this one, even your thread title reveals alot -- "waiting" won't get you anywhere different from where you are now. I've seen a few of your journal setups and have already warned you that what makes you pull the trigger isn't going to work over the long run.

The good news is, you're doing what all traders starting out do their first year(s) or so; the bad news is you will fail if you continue to stay where you are and not move forward.

The most important thing for you now is to realize that your results might have very little to do with your actual edge or lack thereof, and everything to do with current market conditions. The market might break new highs, grow more volatile, hence more and more of your breakout trades start coming into green more often. But all that might do is confuse you by implying you are "improving" on your trading, when that might not be the case at all. In other words, don't confuse brains with a bull market.
 
Quote from vectors101:

trading is NOT A BUSINESS

so you should be winning on day one of the activity!
More...

Vectors101 - STFU. If you are being sarcastic - then by all means, that's funny... but, I think you're antagonistic, and, frankly - overflowing with shit.

I too have followed cash through the *years* now - both nik and I have mentioned similar things to him. I also think that cash is doing just fine for his experience level.

Cash, you've got capital, you're breaking even (positive for some months). These are good signs - you're doing just fine.

Good post TraderNik - pretty much exactly what I was going to tell cash. The answers lie in self-reflection. It's called an "internal locus of control". Cash, you are the reason things happen - think about that for a few minutes - the world/market does not "do things to you", you are the one behind all your results.

I will say that the last two weeks have been a struggle for anyone who trades a breakout strategy, so, if that's what you're trading cash, then its time to add some more skills to your arsenal. Remember - part of growing as a trader is seeing all the market cycles - this takes a few years minimum.

Mike
 
Interesting response to my post, cm. So let's see...
Quote from cashmoney69:
I don't know how much more I should go at this pace before throwing in the towel.
More...
Quote from cashmoney69:
I think I have a right to be disappointed in my performance .
More...

Well, there's a difference between being disappointed in your performance and not knowing whether you should quit. For example, as a beginner you might have had a bad week trading, a week in which you took some losses by breaking your own well-formulated rules. You might say 'Damn, I am disappointed in my performance today, I need to do better'. But if someone asked you if you were wondering at what point you should just quit, you might say 'What, are you kidding?? I'm not going to quit! I'm going to keep trying!'.

But more generally, it's interesting to me that you are disappointed in your performance. As I pointed out and as Mike also pointed out, you actually seem to be doing not too badly! Since you know that the vast majority of guys fail completely, the fact that you have made over 100 trades and are only down 2.3% should actually be very encouraging! But you seem to be choosing to be disappointed about it. I say choosing because once again, there is nothing in your performance to cause disappointment, necessarily, and you are fully aware of a) the failure stats for newb traders and b) the fact that xx months of breakeven, given higher trade frequencies, is perfectly acceptable. You know all of this... and yet here we all are.

By the way, I totally disagree with the guy who said that you should be profitable starting on Day 1 and that trading is not like a business. To say that all successful traders were successful from Day 1 is ridiculous.

Quote from cashmoney69:
With all do respect. if my posting here bothers you, please put me on ignore.
More...
This is another very interesting comment. I actually took quite a bit of time to compose a response to you and I went out of my way to make sure that the tone was not abusive, and that it was clear that I was trying to show you something that I see and feel you could really use (and apparently others here see it as well). What about my post suggested to you that your posting here bothers me? Anonymous internet personalities don't bother me (ok, maybe ZTroll bothers me :) )

I hope you find a way to profitability and I doubt you'll do something as precipitous as quitting, now, when your performance doesn't justify it.

I doubt I'll put you on ignore - there's no need. I will make this my last post to you and wish you luck. The sooner you stop looking outside of yourself for answers and look within (cliche as it might sound, it is the truth), the sooner you will find what you're looking for. This is assuming that you are not trying some horrendously misguided strategy, but I assume that they've straightened you out in your journal thread.
Quote from cashmoney69:
the only place I can come to is here, by sifting through the BS to find a real answer.
More...
You've asked a lot of questions here, cm... I mean a lot. Do you have the answers you're looking for yet?
 
Quote from traderNik:



But more generally, it's interesting to me that you are disappointed in your performance. As I pointed out and as Mike also pointed out, you actually seem to be doing not too badly! Since you know that the vast majority of guys fail completely, the fact that you have made over 100 trades and are only down 2.3% should actually be very encouraging!
More...

I guess everyone thinks their trading experience is going to be different...that some how they'll pick it up just a little bit faster than the next guy. Sad to say, looks like I'm going to have a very grey next few months.

cm
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top