Stop Using Stop Losses

Quote from riffrafffpatrol:

Good post.

Take a look at IBM. LOD yesterday $ 194.85. Look at how price left that level. Fast forward to this morning. Look at how price capitulated down to that level... but stopped $ .06 short. $ .06! Price reversed and is currently up over $ 1.00 from that level. Why didnt MMs sweep the obvious - where stops are located? It is perceived that "amateurs" use LOD/HOD and get stopped out all the time. Not true as a general statement. It all depends on timing and the setup... understanding the nuances in the market and of course how to read a chart. Did IBM just randomly do what it did today... a coincidence if you will? Of course not.... its not as random as you think if you know what to look for..

Great observation!! The market is not as random as most would think because people aren't as random, they read them same books and listen to the same people and the same news sources, the same everything, so they form predicable patterns, thus making the market less random. You need to see beyond the simple text book analysis and look at the why, why do people react the way they do, why does that keep happening over and over (this is very important, it's not hard to spot a pattern, a monkey can spot a pattern, it takes skill and out of the box thinking to decipher what drives the pattern). Nothing can really be accomplished in trading if you follow the herd, because trading is a game where you need to outsmart the other guys, it's impossible to win by blindly following them and not thinking outside the box. Figure out what they are doing, why they are doing it, and form a strategy to win. Once the herd changes their strategy (which they will) figure it out and execute again.

**Off course there's more to trading profitably than just out of the box thinking. Money management is extremely important. You can't be right ALL the time, that's non sense, but do think different. In this field like any other field, the guy who succeeds is always the guy who steered clear of the same patter of thinking. It's nonsense to think that I can win by doing exactly what everyone else is doing, common sense would indicate that if that were the case then we would all win, when we know that only a selected few win. I guess the main reason as to why people run in herds is because it feels safe to do so, it's scary to be out on your own, thinking differently, but I feel that's what it takes to be successful in life, not just in trading.
 
Quote from oldtime:





"If I am unemployed and have no income, and can't afford health insurance, when I file I will still owe a tax. Not too bad the first year, only $90, but after ten years about $800.

Is that right? Surely, there will bo some kind of subsidy for me, right?

I don't even ever plan on going to a hospital unless I am involved in some kind of bad accident and they force me to.

It just seems like I am pretty poor and already struggling and they are hitting me a little hard.

I'm a single male over the minimum age and below the maximum age and can't qualify for Medicaid in my state and don't have the werewithall to move to a state where I do qualify.

Keep in mind, I'm not looking for a free hand out and have no intention of going to the doctor, I'm just trying to avoid the tax due to the fact that I have fallen on hard times.

no, I have no income, I don't qualify for the earned income tax credit. Would be nice if I did, then they could just take it out of my refund. I do however get food stamps. I have no cash to pay the tax, but if they would take it out of my food stamps that would be a great help.

I had a &*^%$#@!) job and quckly realized that my supervisors and all my fellow employees were dumbshits like you, and that is not my style.

I am a tit sucking parasite and proud of it.

Just remember, before you get off your high horse to fight us, make sure there are more of you than there are of us.

yeah well, I think everybody from Warren Buffet to me should be on food stamps, and not only food stamps but shelter stamps and clothing stamps.

For crying out loud, the earth is a big place and there's plenty of room to fight over the scraps, but everybody should have food, clothing and shelter.

It aint much of a fight if your opponent is starving to death.

That's what I can't figure out about you right wingers, you feel that somehow you have been harmed if the poor are helped.

You're no different than the left wingers that feel they have somehow been harmed if I buy a private jet."

holy shit that's funny :D

Reminds me of , at one time I was a contractor for the state and their check bounced. The Bank manger talked me out of resubmitting the bounced check as a 3rd party check for state income taxes due.
 
Quote from SimpleTrades:

No such thing as honorable trading. No matter how you swing it, you are still scheming money out of other people's pockets.

Geez, I've read some stupid shit on this board but this has to take the cake for both extremes of ignorance and maladaptive ethics.
 
Quote from PHOENIX TRADING:

Geez, I've read some stupid shit on this board but this has to take the cake for both extremes of ignorance and maladaptive ethics.

You are deluded in thinking trading is anything other than what he said... That is what trading is.

Deceiving someone into buying something from you at a higher value than it is worth, and deceiving someone into selling you something for less than it's worth.

LoL! Duh... :cool:
 
Quote from RangeTrader:

You are deluded in thinking trading is anything other than what he said... That is what trading is.

Deceiving someone into buying something from you at a higher value than it is worth, and deceiving someone into selling you something for less than it's worth.

LoL! Duh... :cool:
That's complete non-sense IMHO.

Furthermore any trader who firmly believes that trading Is: "Deceiving someone into buying something from you at a higher value than it is worth, and deceiving someone into selling you something for less than it's worth." and
from SimpleTrades:

No such thing as honorable trading. No matter how you swing it, you are still scheming money out of other people's pockets.


Has the most damaging belief system I could imagine for successful trading psychology.

I presume your trading profits reflect your beliefs.
I don't know which came first the losing belief system or the trading losses/frustration?
My advice ( to all who have agreed with your sentiments) is give up trading or start serious work on your belief systems for something that is more compatible with successful trading.

Unless of course you goal is to ultimately play the role of a loser.
 
Quote from FA007:

Great observation!! The market is not as random as most would think because people aren't as random, they read them same books and listen to the same people and the same news sources, the same everything, so they form predicable patterns, thus making the market less random.

some proof ! scientific :)
now, show us these predictable patterns that OBJECTIVELY exist..
JUST ONE WILL DO :))
same books, same news sources, same everything - as in the other thread - the same old stuff day in day out , lol..
 
Quote from PHOENIX TRADING:

holy shit that's funny :D

Reminds me of , at one time I was a contractor for the state and their check bounced. The Bank manger talked me out of resubmitting the bounced check as a 3rd party check for state income taxes due.
thank you, but those were all posts from various threads taken out of context because the poster can't trade and all he has left is a desire to nail those that can.

But getting back to opies post, it wasn't about using stops, it was about the complacency this chop has incubated.

In the old days, you used stops or you died.

Now, stop losses have become stop profits.

Like opie said, he even got an email from barcharts (which he didn't read because he never reads any of them) entitled

Stop Using Stops

which is the title of this thread

I personally have not been using stops for some time, but I can only get away with it as long as 95% of the other traders do.

So to reiterate, when I get an email from barcharts advocating that more traders trade the way I do, that gives me pause for concern.

And the only point I was making, is that a warning (if you are a contrarian) has been issued that the big move will come.

Now if you would please, take your useless bickering about stops somewhere else, It has already been covered on many forums and threads here on ET.

The purpose of the thread was to discuss the "Big Move" which will catch me and many others unaware.
 
Quote from RangeTrader:

You are deluded in thinking trading is anything other than what he said... That is what trading is.

Deceiving someone into buying something from you at a higher value than it is worth, and deceiving someone into selling you something for less than it's worth.

LoL! Duh... :cool:

If you actually believe this and are still a trader, you must be a gigantic piece of trash just like the used car salesman who deliberately sells people cars they know are garbage. A person's trading adds value to the market. Limit orders provide liquidity and the market orders help price discovery. Only a total scumbag stays in an industry that they believe is totally based on stealing from some one else.
 
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