Yes.
When you move from fairly consistent to consistent you are home.
Nobody prints money - with the exception of Jerome Powell and Jim Simons.
Obsession with trading and the markets. Does it get better or only worse?
- Thread starter Laissez Faire
- Start date
When you move from fairly consistent to consistent you are home.
Nobody prints money - with the exception of Jerome Powell and Jim Simons.
I admire your honesty because most people on the internet say they make fortunes!
I agree with this.
I initially started out swing trading stocks and made a relatively small fortune in a short amount of time. Luck? Sure. But I did use stops and had a basis for my stock selection. Eventually, I got caught inside a large losing trade (turned red on me instantly before I had even placed a stop) which got really large.
Took out my money and decided that if I had done so well knowing so little - I might as well set aside 6-12 months to learn the markets and become a trading God. For some reason, I got attracted to day trading and even convinced by certain individuals that it was the way to go.
That may have been a huge mistake.
It's taken me years of studies, research and developing custom tools with professional programmers to arrive at a place where I now seem to be doing well with day trading. Still not getting amazing results, but I can read the market fairly well and make a profit on most days.
I've done a few swing trades on the side in this period and pretty much always made a decent buck doing that. So, I'm definitely going to start doing that more actively in the future.
The bulk of my day trading methodology is finished and I've spent so much time developing it, so I will keep at it as long as I can make a buck. Maybe I can even become rich in time.
But if I were to do it all over - I would definitely stick with swing trades and pursue a more meaningful career as my main vocation.
I usually make money 4/5 days in the week. Last week I had 5 green days.
Sadly, I still get the occasional large red day which makes a dent in my profits. If I can eliminate those while maximizing profits...
I consider a hit rate of 55% (same position size) over many years as consistent. A hit rate of 4/5 is extremely high.
I swing too, so instead of spending my time clicking/trading I spend it on ET reading posts while waiting for the trade to play out.
Trading is a game of probability. No one can be consistently profitable day in day out.
We shoot to be profitable on average.
Trying to make much more always ends up with going stupid then digging in and making a huge loss, who needs millions, not like people with millions ever spend it, so why bother making more than needed.
You either need a job outside of trading or a serious hobby...an activity that physically and mentally takes you away from trading.
I remember someone here saying they don't spend all day watching the screen and only have their computer on a few hours per day. Yet, he was consumed with trading...mentally to it to bed with him and mentally woke up in the morning with it.
It's almost the same as watching the screen all day. I hope you're making profits or at least made more money than you've put into it. Just as important, hopefully trading has not caused you any relationship problems with family and friends.
Trading that impacts the family & friends in a negative way...time to bury trading as in say goodbye to it. If that happens and you can't leave it alone...most likely you're addicted considering it does involve money.
wrbtrader
Of course. I do. And I agree that's essential.
Not close family and friends, but my social life definitely have been impacted negatively. There's only so many hours in a week and if you want to master the markets there needs to be sacrifices. At least that's how I see it.
Fortunately, I have a very patient girlfriend.