I'm so LOST and feeling stupid. This is very long!!

Doesn't matter how you dice it , but stockmarket still is part of organized gambling , only few survive . If you have 50 k , you're
much better off to open a pizza joint , or hotdog stand and guess
what you double and triple your money in couple of years.


P.S. And another misconception , stocks are better than options.
WRONG.
 
Quote from aalluubbaa:

I cannot trade, PERIOD. For a long while, even when I was losing/not making money, I could find some "reasons" and try to make something positive out of it.
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Man, so many confessions from frustrated traders. I think you're the sixth one I'm running into this week. Frustration arise not because you lack an "edge" but you don't know what the hell you're doing. This is compounded as the losses start to creep up on you. Having an edge is tremendously powerful for those who know what they're doing in the first place but it's potentially damaging for those who lack proper knowledge to use it. It would be like allowing someone with no knowledge of heavy machinery to operate a crane and other equipments.

Now, you and I have one thing in common. We both follow Support and Resistance in our trading. Perhaps I could help you get back on your feet. But it ain't going to easy, however. You'll need to learn the ropes and this takes time. No doubt, you'll make more mistakes on the way but in the end you'll gain a proper understanding of price movements. That is, why do prices move the way they do. As such, you'll finally come to a realization that price DO NOT move in random (ever!) as taught by the press and other academic hacks. Lastly, you will be able to prove these idiots wrong by being able to time your entries and exits down to the tick. But obviously I'm getting ahead of myself.

Check out my tutorial to get started: Unholy Grail to Success

Good luck!
 
Quote from aalluubbaa:

I cannot trade, PERIOD. For a long while, even when I was losing/not making money, I could find some "reasons" and try to make something positive out of it.

I started to day trade last year in a prop firm from febuary to june. Didn't really blow my 5k accout but had like 1 k left. I didn't feel all that happy but it was ok because i found out later that i got completely robbed by having a 1 dollar/100share commission. Ya, so buying and selling on 100 shares cost me 2 bucks!! I still managed to trade almost half a million shares during that half a year and not blowing my 5k completely.

I stopped trading for like half a year and found a few profitable traders to rent an office to trade. They were all formal Swifttrade traders. They are all contrarians!! I see them average down all the time and take small profits. Their winning percentage is extremely high like 80 to 90 percent. They scalp and average down and make money 8 out of 10 days. I don't like their method and I don't think I can trade their method because when i started to day trade, I trade trend and averaging UP.

Now I have no idea what is right and what is wrong!! I have to admit that i have no methods. Ya, it sounds pretty stupid but i just look at support and resistence and the market. If i feel that the market is ranging, i will go long on the support. So basically i make/lose money of rangin market and trend market.

This monday and tuesday i made some money real quick trading range. On wednesday, i traded range the first few times and traded trend because i "imagine" that the market will go up so i keep on going long whenever spy is breaking new highs. On thrusday i was scared of trading trend so i was picking bottom the entire time and had a rediculous 5% winning percentage. On Friday i was averaging down and died real fast.

The only thing mabbe im still "happy" is that there isnt a signle trade that killed me. its always a series of small losses without any winners.

Last night before i slept, i feel like i have be so confused and lost. Because i have no idea what to do. What i learned was to trade trend, and everyone in my trading room is trading "counter-trend" and make money every month!!

I looked at how they trade and i dont think i can learn from them. They hold on to "huge losses" and average more down. they have the discipline to make some money on "every pullback." I cant do either. They win almost every day but only when there is a stock going one direction without even a 10 precent pullback. Good thing about their max loss of the day is that they will be stopped out in days like that.

To me, their method do have an EDGE. But its an edge i cant learn. How the heck do i trade trend when every single one of my collegues r going counter-trends? And you know that they will make money this month and i am just a friggin noob.

I NEED SOME SERIOUS HELP. Any strategy that requires discipline of cutting small losses can fit into my tradying style.

Thanks for reading this long and dull post!
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you said that you share a trading office with other traders who are all profitable, so how about giving your money to one of them and share profits? Then sit beside when they trade and watch until you know what they do. Seriously if you are not able to do that then it is actually just you who is the contrarian and worse than that you just want to do something different even when you see it working in front of your eyes. Watch, learn, understand, copy (adjust to your comfort level) and apply. Easy, no?
 
I think that will not apply to him.

when you start to think trading is difficult, then it is difficult. the idea of difficult will control you. when you think it is a piece of cake, then it is a piece of cake.

just like stand in the edge of a tall building, most people can not stand there even it is very safe or some people who stand there to show them how to do it, since most people's focus is "if fall, I die", they are locked into this illusion.

that is why trading is so tough for most people! the edge is in a trader's mind. actually to make money, just a mouse click effort, why so many can not even people show them how to do it?






Quote from Pita:

you said that you share a trading office with other traders who are all profitable, so how about giving your money to one of them and share profits? Then sit beside when they trade and watch until you know what they do. Seriously if you are not able to do that then it is actually just you who is the contrarian and worse than that you just want to do something different even when you see it working in front of your eyes. Watch, learn, understand, copy (adjust to your comfort level) and apply. Easy, no?
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Quote from Bolts:

You have entirely the wrong temperament for trading.

Quit now, leave this forum, move on, and don't look back.
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I think this is pretty harsh. Tell me which trader who first started trading was 100% successful. Any honest successful trader will tell you that they lost a big chunk or maybe even blew up their account when they first started. What separates the profitable traders from the wannabes is the ability to adapt and learn. Since your strategies/system isn't working during live trading I'd suggest you stop trading real cash now and run a simulation, find a system or edge and be at least profitable for 6 months with this system.
 
I traded at a prop firm and saw the head trader quadruple down to his losers and consistently make profits... It's a really frustrating when you think you are playing by the rules and lose money. I've been there, trust me. Granted that trader has been day trading stocks for more than15 years, but he too is up 80% of the time. I prefer to be disciplined and not "double-down" either because all trader books say that is one of the worst habits.

My conclusion about adding multiple times to a losing position is this: when you day trade and the market is choppy/sideways... it works. When the market is trending in one direction, you could get KILLED (because you accumulated so many shares) with that strategy. I've seen people take HUGE loses by applying this strategy... could abolish ten winning days.

I would also not recommend adding to winners... In day trading, that doesn't work. Only if it is decisively trending in one direction, which is rare. It's hard to time the market, but it all depends how the market is acting too.

My last advice to you is to seriously take a entire month off from trading. It looks like psychologically you are not in the right state of mind. You're lacking confidence. You're also upset that people that "break the rules" are making money. You can't trade when you have your emotions (noticeably perhaps) dictating your decisions. Why not take a month off? Maybe even more time. You should only trade when your head is clear.
 
Quote from monti1a:

Dude, you have NO EDGE. Plain and Simple.

World Class traders have World Class Edges. Don't let anyone tell you differently.

If you don't want to trade counter-trend, then don't. 90%+ of the people ultimately end up losing at trading, so forget about trying to follow everyone else.

There are trend trading edges that exist, but finding a "true edge" will be the toughest thing you will probably ever do in your life. And no, I won't help you in this area because when you do find an edge, keep it to yourself like your life depended on it.

I suggest that you trade on a simulator for no less than 3 months until you are SURE that you have an EDGE. Then start out will very small share size with real money. Unfortunately, it could take you years to learn how to develop winning edges because there are no books out there that I'm aware of that reveal true edges. It took me 5 years to find an edge and most importantly be able to design new edges and recognize whether or not I even have an edge. This, my son, is what seperates the pros from the wannabes.
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Are we talking day trading here? Than yes, you are right. However, position trading edges are easy to come by.
 
Quote from intradaybill:

Yes, but you forget operational and opportunity cost. If you spend 10 years trading full-time making 20% on 5K each year -which is a very good performance - the 10-year total is about equal to what a good senior manager makes each month. If you qualify for a managerial position of this kind that is an opportunity cost of about $1,190,000, and yes, you read it well...

and don't tell me people will give you money to trade with a 5K trading record.
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20% yearly? Come on. That's unbelieably pathetic for a short-term trader, unless you're limited by market liquidity and moving several million dollars.
Even Buffett has done better than that while moving billions of dollars!
 
Quote from gigsup:

How long have you been trading?
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It's common sense. Assuming your goal is a $100.000 yearly income, at 20% yield you'd need a $500.000 account as startup capital. That's just insane, dude.
 
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