Successful traders keep silent because trading is so simple...

look. of COURSE you need edge

that's a given.

but frankly, it was not very difficult to develop a methodology with an edge. i have over 15 setups (some might only happen every few days) and all have statistically backtested and reality tested to have significant edge.

that was not the most difficult part of trading for me, and for most traders i have worked with, it wasn't for them either.

understand that GIVEN edge, a trader will still almost certainly fail if they don't learn to use proper risk and money management, proper emotional control, patience, etc.

the futures markets, by their nature suck traders into emotional decisions which deteriorates their objectivity until they finally see they have blown out 50% of their account in one trade.

again, talk to actual traders. with futures traders, this is VERY COMMON.

there are MANY ways to find edge in the futures market, which is why i love trading them. they are so "logical" and they reward the trader who studies them.

but they also tempt the trader who is psychologically weak - to double down, to widen a stop, to jump in and chase, etc.

and that is the killer for most futures traders.
 
THE EDGE means different things. The concentration is a huge part of it. Most of my entries can be seen only in continuity of price action. Look at the chart later on and you will see nothing.

Funny thing about Traderdragon is that without acknowledging it by himself he doesn't believe you can easily get an edge (no secrets), on the other hand if you spend years searching working hard he thinks you can. But it means there is a secret!!!!! He attacks others but proves himself to be totally clueless about this business.
 
Trading is simple just like life is simple.

1) you're born

2) you grow up

3) you post crap on ET

4) you get old

5) you die.


See, simple.
 
Quote from Cesko:

[Now imagine what happened to me. It took me 7 years to discover THE EDGE but it disappeared after I used it for just 1 week! So now I am searching for another EDGE. And I am pissed as much as you because I am an excellent trader otherwise!
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The sucker on the other end of the trade figured you out.
 
Quote from whitster:

no, the #1 reason traders fail is NOT edge

because even WITH edge, a trader with poor emotional control, risk management, and money management is almost certain to fail

you can have positive expectancy setups, but if you don't have the discipline to stick with them (even when they are not working. cause by the law of probability even a 70% probability setup will have many strings of 3 or more losses in a row), the discipline to use proper money management, the discipline not to overleverage, the patience to wait for setups and not overtrade etc.

the person will still fail

this is true over and over again.

trading is simple, but it is not easy.

i've spent at least as much time studying other traders as i have trading itself. this is a near universal occurrence
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This matches my experience as well from both a student and a teacher.

You need to learn how to read a chart properly (methods), then you need to learn when to trade (environment, and mostly applicable to daytrading), and then the most difficult aspect which is learning how to trade that knowledge (trading skills).

There's a catch-22 in this process however. You won't be able to develop trading skills without a deep understanding of a sound methodology, but you can't know if a methodology is truly sound without first possessing trading skills (many things can look tradable but once you get hard right edge they're not).

These leads to a rather vicious cycle that most people get caught up in - read books, join forums/chat rooms, attend seminars, become a Platinum member of the indicator (toy) of the month club, etc., etc. all in an attempt to find the "right" method. Then they go and trade that method, lose, blame the method, and go back to searching.

During this process you can easily stumble across a sound methodology along with someone who can actually help you, but not realize it due to lack of experience and/or impatience/short attention span. It takes a lot longer than a month or two to go from recognition to understanding, and most people give up on something after a short time and move on to the next gizmo.

This cycle can be broken but it sure isn't easy, and it won't be the result of finding an "edge" which I think is a silly notion. The only potential "edge" lies within you, or not.
 
Give a consistently successful trader a genuine edge and he or she will make good use of it. Knowing how to exploit the advantage it provides, the trader will quickly leverage this advantage to continue or expand their success...

Give that same edge to a failing trader and that person will continue to fail, and just as quickly abandon it never recognizing it's true potential...
 
Quote from Kairos:

Give a consistently successful trader a genuine edge and he or she will make good use of it. Knowing how to exploit the advantage it provides, the trader will quickly leverage this advantage to continue or expand their success...

Give that same edge to a failing trader and that person will continue to fail, and just as quickly abandon it never recognizing it's true potential...
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Partly true but it has nothing to do with an edge. You can flip a coin for entries and still be profitable if you know how to trade.

While there are myriad options to employ before you get your fill, once you get your fill the game is the same for everyone.
 
Quote from azukar:

There's a catch-22 in this process however. You won't be able to develop trading skills without a deep understanding of a sound methodology, but you can't know if a methodology is truly sound without first possessing trading skills (many things can look tradable but once you get hard right edge they're not).
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Good post,

Ursa..
 
Quote from BSAM:

Are you just extremely intelligent, or are you trying to say that good trading is not simple? I'll be clear: Good trading is simple.

Now, if you know how to make trading complex and you are able to extract some money, then good for you!! (But, you don't have to make it difficult.)
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i think we are confusing the word simple in this thread with the word refined. there are tons of examples in many professions/arts and tons of people that have achived a great degree of skill in something. very often, you read or hear them mention, at this elite level of competance what they have acheived is refininment of skills to a level that is striped of unnecessary technique to the point it seems simple.

i think trading is the same. we havn't made it simple and dont trade successfully because its simple. if it was so...everyone and their grandmothers would be wealthy trading. we have refined our skills as previously mentioned to a state of apparent simplicity. i dont think thats the simplicity as the OP alludes to but rather refinement of skill.
 
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