Is Trading Itself a Bad Trade? I Analyzed the Industry- Prove Me Wrong

[zenostiffler]

Love it!

 

[zenostiffler]

Absolutely love it. Poke a hornets nest stir it all up and watch the buzz buzz buzz. The angry sound of offended and enraged people. That's what makes it so much fun. Particularly when the bad language and insults start to flow.

That is why I am still here. I love the knee jerk reactions of the offended and the furious.

 

[zenostiffler]

" In other words your mouth and ass are competing for the amount of shit that pours out of it."

This is just the sort of stuff which draws me to trading forums! There is no better fun to be had than provoking this sort of reaction.

The hillbillies and the backwoods men, the great unwashed.

 

[destriero]

Schadenfreude and sheer boredom

5 posts in 25 minutes?

#tilt
#vendor
#schadenfreude
#hoipolloi

 

[destriero]

Love it!

^The only post that you haven't furiously edited^

 

[zenostiffler]

^The only post that you haven't furiously edited^

Yes the reason is I am furiously tapping away on a mobile phone and am unfamiliar with the forum software and the proper way to edit and quote people's posts. My apologies for the confusion, poor editing and embarrassing spelling and grammar errors.

 

[cityboy12]

Again,, why in the world should anyone feel any need to prove anything to you and share audited P&Ls.

You are exactly like all the other lazy traders that come in here and demand we prove you can make money trading.

Let me save you some time and effort, after years of trading and interacting with successful and losing traders your behavior thus far falls right in line with what losing traders do and say. So stop now before losing anymore money and find another hobby.

Elochocinco,

I am not using emotive words like 'demand' and 'prove.' I am being totally dispassionate and logical.

If I am going to hire an employee then I will ask for references, qualifications and a CV. If a bank manager gives me a loan then they ask for evidence of my creditworthiness.

Why is it so emotionally difficult for you to accept that if someone manages money they should have no issue with 'showing the numbers'? It is called performance measurement.

Attacking the person who asks or proposes this should be the case means that there are emotional reasons why you feel this shouldn't be the case rather than logical. Perhaps you are afraid? Perhaps you want to protect your 'world-view' from evaporating once the truth reveals itself? Nobody should be afraid of the truth. It maybe painful at first but will liberate you.

 

[cityboy12]

One of the great mysteries in life is what motivates people to post contrarian philosophies on Boards/Sites that are meant to serve those with opposite viewpoints?

You are on a site called "Elite Traders", presenting your opinion that trading is a bad career choice.

The short answer is yes, if you never reach the true level of being an elite trader.

This applies to ALL maverick type of occupations where the top enjoy great monetary rewards while the majority who try never reach any where close. Examples are:

1) Starting your own business
2) Being an actor
3) Being in a music band
4) Being an artist
5) Playing sports
6) Being a news anchor/reporter
7) Being a writer

The odds of achieving great success in any of those fields are very low compared to the much higher risk of failure. So the answer to all those above professions would be classified as a "bad trade" based on risk compared to standard career occupations.

People who take up maverick type of occupations should know going into them that the failure rate is high and have a timeline to either achieve their goals or move on to something else.

There will ALWAYS be the standard 9-5 types of jobs for those who are risk averse and don't wish to enter a field where the failure rate is high, or for those who experimented with the maverick fields and decided it wasn't for them.

Obviously for those who achieve success in maverick fields, it's not a "bad trade" for them.

Lastly, how do you explain the unqualified success of Renaissance Medallion fund, which typically gets double digit returns and hasn't seen a negative return in decades? They sure seem to have little difficulty finding alpha for those who think successful trading is just luck or a temporary edge that can't be maintained.

Thank you for your response. I would agree that trading (if you are consistent and profitable) would be one of the elite professions. I agree that the odds are lower compared to a high risk of failure. I would argue that other elite professions are a better trade such as becoming a writer or starting a business.

There are a couple issues, however. I have found that successful traders have not, in fact, often been traders in the conventional sense and I know of no examples who have started from a retail trading background.

They have been, for example.

1. Insider dealers
2. Salespeople
3. Selling risk-free financial services e.g.education, brokerage fees etc
4. Business owners - exploiting their staff
5. 'Gaming' the system e.g. loudly proclaiming wins and forgetting about losses or rolling up losing funds into winning ones.
6. Rode external waves eg a commodities boom
etc

In other words, Bruce Lee spoke about the ..'the art of fighting without fighting'...maybe the secret to becoming a successful trader is ...'not to trade.' At least not in the conventional sense.

 

[zenostiffler]

"Prevent your worldview from evaporating."

Yes. It is very difficult to give up a treasured view or hope. Very painful.

 

[schweiz]

Attacking the person who asks or proposes this should be the case means that there are emotional reasons why you feel this shouldn't be the case rather than logical. Perhaps you are afraid? Perhaps you want to protect your 'world-view' from evaporating once the truth reveals itself?

You use the typical tactic: provocating other people, link their refusal to share to nonsense like "protect your 'world-view' from evaporating". People are free to share or not to share. Not sharing is not equal to being an idiot who has nothing to share. He is not WILLING to share, that's something completely different.

"They want to protect their 'world-view' from evaporating salaries once the truth reveals itself?

I compare your question to asking people how much salary they get. If they refuse to proof their salary they have no salary??? Because that's your conclusion.

I am more and more convinced that you are speculating that people with a big ego will finally lose their mind and tell you their secrets because they don't accept insulting their ego. This kind of things happens all the time on ET. There are apparently a lot of people on ET who have no clue and/or are desperate. The only problem for you is that those who really could tell you something, don't care about their ego. So your strategy will never work.