WOW! Such deep insights into the trading game. I must say that I agree with most of the comments made on this thread so far.
The fact that trading is so boring has been my #1 downfall during my 7+ year stint at this endeavor. I find that I lose more money hunting around during the day for something to trade, just to avoid getting bored, that I invariably either jump in too early on my pre-planned trades (before my entry point is hit), or I fail to assess the trade properly before taking a position in it. Alternatively it is hard for me to sit on my hands when I have a trade that is going my way, seeing the profit there just kills me and I usually end up taking it, leaving far too much on the table. Again, because I am looking for action. My trade plan for this year is to eliminate this "bad behavior" from my business. Sometimes the best thing I can do is just walk away from the screen and let the market give me what it will.
As far as "secret methods to the Holy Grail" go, as many have already said on this thread, there ain't none. Hard work, understanding trading probability and good money management is the key. P2 showed how he uses a relatively simple plan (I am not sure how simple the system is) of sticking to 1 or 2 techniques, and he is profitable with them (although taking 10K position in a 50K/day stock would scare the hell out of me). The point is, although someone else may not be willing to tell the world about their particular trading technique/setup, it does not mean that they have found the secret to the market's money tree, maybe its just that they do not want the rest of the world to mess up their ability to shake that tree in the particular manner that they have developed.
How many of you have noticed recently how some setups fail more frequently recently. E.g. some of the traditional setups that say you take a long position after the stock has traded one tick above the previous day's high. Well more and more I noticed that these entries get triggered and abruptly reverse, maybe even stopping you out on the traditional 1 tick below the previous day's low. When these methods are widely known to the world, guess what, then your competition knows exactly where to wait in ambush for you. So you modify your technique (ooohhh, a new secret technique), maybe wait a little longer before entry/exit, and continue trading.
Having said that, I must say that, apart from what experience I have gained trading for the last few years, I have learned 60% of what trading is all about from reading the books written by those professional traders that have seen it fit to tell the whole world how they trade. I thank them for that as I believe that it helps, on a macro scale, to understand how to trade. Most of us however will read these books without understanding how, or having the discipline, to effectively use the techniques decribed. This is where the experience part usually comes in.
Enough rambling for now.
Echo
