Surf's Special Situation Journal

[NoDoji]

Quote from marketsurfer:

I think some days you can do this, other days you can not. I don't believe its "steady".

Do you truly believe you can make a consistent $400/day on a 10k account by reading price action?


Do you never lose? I think you forgot to consider inevitable losses.

surf

Of course I lose! I have losing trades almost every day. But I'm a scalper, putting on as many as 30 trades a day sometimes. So a losing day is extremely rare. If I was a short-term swing trader (holding for a week or less), over 30 trades I'd have losing days, possibly an occasional losing week.

But a price action scalper shouldn't have many losing days, especially a scalper who combines a positive expectancy system with positive R:R.

Here's my analogy for managing the "impossible" task of using a $10K account to generate a living:

I'm a young person who wants to start a landscaping business so I can make a living. I know all about yard maintenance and landscaping, and all I need to pay my bills and taxes, have some fun, and tuck a little bit into savings each month is $1000/week. I have a business plan and have lined up enough customers to accomplish my goals. I even have all the basic tools. The only thing I'm missing is a proper truck for hauling away debris and transporting trees and shrubs. I need $10,000 to purchase this truck and it just so happens I saved up $10,000 over the past 6 years. I purchase my truck for $10K, start my business, and not only earn $1000/week, but am now getting referrals from my satisfied customers.

No one would question this or say it's impossible. Most people would agree it's very possible and a totally reasonable scenario.

Why is it that the same concepts applied to trading are considered impossible?

 

[traderchi128]

Quote from marketsurfer:

I don't believe those who claim to make $400 per day consistently on a $10,000 account and almost never lose. Do you believe these kind of claims? surf

Never lose?

I don't believe anyone who says they never lose. If that's what a trader is saying then I wish them luck. Because if they never loses it's because he takes 1-5 ticks profit on every trade in CL. Problem is, going for such small profits what are you going to risk? 1-3 ticks? No way in hell a trader will have a high win rate giving it such little room. The only other way to "never lose" is to take tiny profits, but use huge stop losses, and hope to never get hit. Problem is, you can have 10-20 winning trades erased by one loser.

 

[marketsurfer]

Quote from NoDoji:

I almost never have a losing day.

Massive amount? An experienced price action day trader who trades only one or two setups can average a steady $400/day using no more leverage than a $10K account allows. Do you not consider that a "living"?

This is a joke. surely, you jest. right?

 

[marketsurfer]

Quote from traderchi128:

Never lose?

I don't believe anyone who says they never lose. If that's what a trader is saying then I wish them luck. Because if they never loses it's because he takes 1-5 ticks profit on every trade in CL. Problem is, going for such small profits what are you going to risk? 1-3 ticks? No way in hell a trader will have a high win rate giving it such little room. The only other way to "never lose" is to take tiny profits, but use huge stop losses, and hope to never get hit. Problem is, you can have 10-20 winning trades erased by one loser.

I don't disagree. My issue is with Price Action or TA traders who claim otherwise. See above--- huge followings can be built by making these nonsensical claims because folks like the dream better than reality. surf

 

[R. Raskolnikov]

No one here has claimed to never lose. I don't know what the OP is talking about.

Quote from traderchi128:

Never lose?

 

[NoDoji]

Quote from marketsurfer:

Ihuge followings can be built by making these nonsensical claims because folks like the dream better than reality. surf

I have no "huge following", you are so funny! I have one trader who works full time and can only trade a couple times or so a day if that, he's usually in touch with me once a day (when I have my PM turned on). I have one alleged "mentee" who I've chatted with briefly maybe four times in three months. I have about four Skype friends I chat with a few times a week. I've never tweeted in my life, have no Facebook presence, and despite several invitations, I don't write any articles or maintain a journal anymore.

I also do not sell anything related to trading and have no intention of doing so.

Everyone loves dreams, but only a tiny minority are willing to put in the sweat equity necessary to have a chance of making a dream come true.

 

[NoDoji]

Quote from NoDoji:

I have one alleged "mentee" who I've chatted with briefly maybe four times in three months.

http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=252083&perpage=10&pagenumber=3

 

[Pekelo]

 

[Pekelo]

Quote from marketsurfer:

I think Austin did fantastic-

Why did he lose his shirt trading soybeans with TA, but did very well with oil?

This is actually a valid criticism and I would also like to know the answer. Maybe his stop loss was too close, or some similar problem caused it. Maybe we should ask him...

 

[Ol' Yella]

Quote from marketsurfer:

There is no evidence otherwise, no matter how much aliases stomp their feet and insist otherwise - no one has started "poor" and is now making a good living only from trading proceeds--- there are many who were already wealthy, got inheritances, or whatever that are doing it.

This I agree with.

Leverage cuts both ways.

However, I do believe TA can be used profitably to trade for a living if the person is well capitalized.

Or maybe if they live in a country with low cost of living. I hear Mexico is really cheap.

But no, I don't believe Average Joe's are doing it. If they were you would hear about it.

Some people like privacy, but in general people love to talk about their accomplishments. If people were taking 20k or 50k and making a living off it year after year you would inevitably hear proof about some of them.