my story

M

mikeenday

Guest
I'm a typical trader taking a very slow path.
I lost a little over 100K for the first 6 years. I was a software engineer, and got into trading due to ESPP and some company options.

I tried to learn everything , from fundamental analysis to technical charting. Traded almost all instruments, from stocks to futures, currencies. And my trading book collection is taking two bookshelves.

During this period, I sent my checks (probably over 15 pieces) and re-fill my IB accounts every 6 months. I was fully aware of my problem then, overtrading. And took extreme leverage with some currency trades. But I just couldn't stop it. like a bad addiction. I probably took well over 1500 trades per year during that period. Every year when I filed my 1040, I looked my schedule D, and speechless.

Then I stopped losing money and break even for about 2 years, and starting from 2009, I focused on stocks and options. Occasionally swing trade ZC/ZW/ZS/CL.

My persistence and never-give-up attitude turned my trading little by little. And since my job allows me to constantly monitor quotes , (with a tiny quote window open while I'm writing software codes. ) I can only see bid/ask prices without bar charts. I first felt very in-convenient, but later it turned out to be the best thing happen to my trading. I actually become very good at reading the price change. And get a very good sense of where the price will go.

The break through came when I decided only trade triangle breakup/breakdown. This significantly cut down my trading to about 10 trades per month.

end of 2009, I had a baby, and couldn't monitor my quotes all the time as before, this actually improved my trading. I basically setup the stoploss and forgot about the trades. Sometimes, I was pleasantly surprised when I checked the account when trading session ends.

It took me almost 8 years to lose 100k, plus thousands in books, computer equipments to not to lose money. And it took me less than 11 months to earn back all these loss and my latest 1040 with a 8K capital gain.

and the most important lessons I learned:
1) DONT overtrade. just don't.
2) try to keep distance from the market, setup stoploss and try to forget it.

last but not least, never give up.
 
Quote from mikeenday:

I'm a typical trader taking a very slow path.
I lost a little over 100K for the first 6 years. I was a software engineer, and got into trading due to ESPP and some company options.

I tried to learn everything , from fundamental analysis to technical charting. Traded almost all instruments, from stocks to futures, currencies. And my trading book collection is taking two bookshelves.

During this period, I sent my checks (probably over 15 pieces) and re-fill my IB accounts every 6 months. I was fully aware of my problem then, overtrading. And took extreme leverage with some currency trades. But I just couldn't stop it. like a bad addiction. I probably took well over 1500 trades per year during that period. Every year when I filed my 1040, I looked my schedule D, and speechless.

Then I stopped losing money and break even for about 2 years, and starting from 2009, I focused on stocks and options. Occasionally swing trade ZC/ZW/ZS/CL.

My persistence and never-give-up attitude turned my trading little by little. And since my job allows me to constantly monitor quotes , (with a tiny quote window open while I'm writing software codes. ) I can only see bid/ask prices without bar charts. I first felt very in-convenient, but later it turned out to be the best thing happen to my trading. I actually become very good at reading the price change. And get a very good sense of where the price will go.

The break through came when I decided only trade triangle breakup/breakdown. This significantly cut down my trading to about 10 trades per month.

end of 2009, I had a baby, and couldn't monitor my quotes all the time as before, this actually improved my trading. I basically setup the stoploss and forgot about the trades. Sometimes, I was pleasantly surprised when I checked the account when trading session ends.

It took me almost 8 years to lose 100k, plus thousands in books, computer equipments to not to lose money. And it took me less than 11 months to earn back all these loss and my latest 1040 with a 8K capital gain.

and the most important lessons I learned:
1) DONT overtrade. just don't.
2) try to keep distance from the market, setup stoploss and try to forget it.

last but not least, never give up.
More...

I would not stop until I can say the following : " I can't help making money"

good job n thnks fr sharing. a lot of negative posts on ET lately.

:cool:
 
Congratulations.

Being able to have a distance from trading and the market when needed is an advantage the retail traders have.

Cheers,

bc
 
Quote from mikeenday:





The break through came when I decided only;b] trade triangle breakup/breakdown. This significantly cut down my trading to about 10 trades per month.

and the most important lessons I learned:
1) DONT overtrade. just don't.
2) try to keep distance from the market, setup stoploss and try to forget it.

last but not least, never give up. [/B]
More...




Good man. :)

Is it just coincidence that you opened this thread at post count #69 or is your trading success due to your wife doing 70 chores around the house, cooking and 69?

Take your triangle trading to the next level by adding this concept to your arsenal ..... triangles always occur in the penultimate position of a wave; therefore the next subwave is the end of the wave.

Your point #2 is too difficult for these numbskulls to grasp - ET-ers (ALL OF THEM) trading style is now well-known ....

Missing the forest for the trees

:)
 
Quote from deadbroke:

Good man. :)

Is it just coincidence that you opened this thread at post count #69 or is your trading success due to your wife doing 70 chores around the house, cooking and 69?

Take your triangle trading to the next level by adding this concept to your arsenal ..... triangles always occur in the penultimate position of a wave; therefore the next subwave is the end of the wave.

Your point #2 is too difficult for these numbskulls to grasp - ET-ers (ALL OF THEM) trading style is now well-known ....

Missing the forest for the trees

:)
More...

Up there Cazaly!!!....:D

Hope it works out for you OP...need a coder for ATM...sshhh.


NiN
 
Thanks for posting!

I will say this. As long as you keep your losses within reason over a 5-6 year span, You will make back everything with interest in a fraction of that time once you develop your edge.

I was stunned once I turned profitable. Moreover, once you're profitable your over-trading problems take care of themselves.

The mindset that once your up, and you can take on extra leverage at high probability setups will really put you over the top and onto the next level as well as keeping your number of trades to a minimum.

8-12 hours a day for me at the computer screen is now a maximum of 2-3. It's becoming less and less. That's for daytrading too.
 
Quote from mikeenday:

The break through came when I decided only trade triangle breakup/breakdown. This significantly cut down my trading to about 10 trades per month.

setup stoploss and try to forget it.
More...

Nice positive thread, great advice.

Nothing like choosing one of the highest probability/lowest risk setups to trade :cool:
 
Quote from mikeenday:

It took me almost 8 years to lose 100k, plus thousands in books, computer equipments to not to lose money. And it took me less than 11 months to earn back all these loss and my latest 1040 with a 8K capital gain.

and the most important lessons I learned:
1) DONT overtrade. just don't.
2) try to keep distance from the market, setup stoploss and try to forget it.

last but not least, never give up.
More...



"The one defining characteristic of successful traders is their refusal to quit in the face of adversity"
 
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