My understanding of trading improved the most when I took years off

[Simples]

L-L...I think your're correct. I've tried too hard to be a therapist for struggling traders and it's just too difficult to tell a "story" or get psychological without writing a messy essay. Whats the alternative? There's too many one sentence assholes on this site as well...sometimes saying the truth but without any context. Why do they repeat the same things, the same way, if they hardly ever STICK? The truth is the truth, but if the message doesn't get through...it's time for diplomacy? Sometimes I want to tell the other experienced traders to shut the f**k up, because they said the same thing the same way a thousand times! I can be as much of a hard ass as anybody...direct...condescending...impatient...short to the point...would that be better? For all the "teachers" on this site, give a unique perspective or don't say anything at all. That's the problem, it's difficult to give a unique perspective in one sentence, and many of us aren't that good at story telling. PEACE OUT

We all share what we want in the way that we feel like - good intentions. Trying to do it differently, somehow better according to another's specifications, not always the best idea. Go beyond right or wrong, trying to mend the world or even aid some struggling "poor traders" We do what we do, and then in the end we have to let it all go anyways. Diversity's nice, keeps it from being boring! Boredom reminds us of diversity, and is indispensable.

Myself, I think leaving clues for others, small light here and there, is all we can hope to accomplish. Even if you spend all your time and energy holding people's hands, the moment you let go, they will just drift into that abyss. So at some point in time they need to do those swimming strokes by themselves. If you do try that, you can get good at it though and in due time become a great teacher - one where the students outmaster their master. Very few such souls and they very very hard to come by. You won't recognize them before it's "too late", even in yourself! Can take years until something one heard finally makes sense. The seed preceeds understanding and direct experience. There'll be no "thank you" in this life.

Trading and spirituality is just like life, exactly what you make out of it!

 

[wrbtrader]

...I'm back on this forum now and ready to check things out from a different viewpoint. What is awesome is that I get now that all price based indicators are useless. I would like to study the DOM again. A guy here had a system that seemed to show imbalances in indicator form. I am not sure if he posts here anymore though.

This is not a mentoring forum nor is it setup for such. The best you can do is get a few pieces of the puzzle here and there from many different people. It's your responsibility to put the puzzle together because at the end of the day...many things about trading can not be taught. Thus, it comes down to just you.

1) I'm curious now why you've return to this forum although it doesn't imply you've returned to trading. Simply, have you already started trading again and then started having problems again...prompting you to return to the forum ?

2) Have you consider the possibility you're not suitable for trading ?

3) You returning to trading as part-time only ?

After all these years...surely you've traded with someone in person that can see what you're doing in your home trading environment because often when traders been at this game a long time without having success...there's something else going on with them personally or something in their trading environment that has absolutely nothing to do with trade methods that's preventing success.

This is something a person at a forum will not be able to see about you. In contrast, someone sitting in the same trading office as you on a consistent basis for awhile (minimum of several weeks) will see things about you, your life, your home trading environment that an online anonymous user can not see.

Join a club of traders in your area or nearby...they are out there unless you're living up in some remote mountain. The first club I joined in my area was an informal get together with others using the "FutureSource" software. There were five of us within a hour drive of a center meeting point...three of us eventually started trading together...taking turns trading at each others home. It was only during the sitting next to each other to trade did we notice things we shouldn't be doing and notice things that the other person shouldn't be doing that had a great impact on our trading...things not discussed at a forum.

Find others in your area, its really not difficult unless you're living at some remote mountain.

Broker platform club, charting program club, trading club...they are out there...started by users that want to meet others.

 

[smallStops]

This case is indeed an interesting one : how many months/years ago did you leave trading?

You also seem to want to use the dom for trading: what are your expectations using it? for how long - terms of hours ( 100 hours, 1000 hours, 10 000hours) - do you intend to investigate and use it?

 

[vanzandt]

There is a story I should tell. I have played guitar since I was young. I took lessons and got pretty good but I could never play the stuff I wanted to -- progressive metal. I would listen to it but I never understood how to play all the awesome solos. I didn't know how you knew which modes went with which progressions. I could play all the normal stuff, Metallica, Nirvana, etc., but that wasn't what I wanted to play. And so I stopped playing for like 8 years because I wasn't enjoying it anymore.

Not too long ago I started up again. Even though it took me a bit to get my technique down again, I started to learn the stuff that I never knew before, and my brain seemed to understand it. I am so much more skilled now than I was before. It's like taking the time off allowed my brain to reboot or something and approach things fresh. I may have dropped mental blocks I once had.

Trading aside...when playing the guitar, you should play what your mind wants to hear. Once you know the basic scales of the genre you enjoy, its better to not emulate others note for note, but rather feel what they are doing and let your hands do the rest (assuming you are proficient on the scales). Create your own riffs.

You hit the nail on the head. Its that mind-block that causes so many beginners to quit. There's a reason so many of the greats have been strung out on heroin and booze... it may destroy their bodies and minds... but there is no doubt it tears down all boundaries if one is truly gifted musically and allows for an unparalleled level of creativity.

Probably not good advice for trading though.

But good luck... enjoy making that guitar scream your soul..

And ps, now that you're older... get a piano, a real piano. They are free all day long on Craigslist. Never look at one iota of text on how to play it. Just play it, you might surprise yourself at how good you are. Its true. Just play.♫

 

[Zestilio]

Trading aside...when playing the guitar, you should play what your mind wants to hear.

Trading inside, the same works here too - you should trade with whatever stocks you know and love. Not only will it be easier to concentrate and monitor it then, but you will also tire less.