Cornix and I observed each other trading live for quite a while and we were both trading off stuff we saw happening on charts (in real time during active trading hours) and we were both profitable for many days in a row. There was a pattern to what he was doing and a pattern to what I was doing. Here we were, trading different instruments, having evolved our day trading independently of each other (ET's old chat room, where I first met him when I was a brand new trader, had been long closed), and yet we were trading in a very similar manner based on stuff we saw on price charts.
Maybe that time we traded together was just a lucky streak.
Maybe I'm making all this up to attract followers.
FWIW, various ET members have offered me the opportunity to profit from mentoring, from selling my trading plan, from writing articles/blogs, and from helping to manage a private fund.
If I had no way of profiting from my trading, wouldn't it make sense that I'd have taken advantage of some of these offers?
Bro Surf, I know it's difficult for you to believe that a small retail trader can generate regular decent income using technical analysis of price action.
I remember as a beginner, allegedly experienced traders would tells me things like:
Don't fight the trend.
When it's making new highs look for a pullback to get long.
Why are you shorting strong stocks? Short weak stocks that are making lows.
Never average down.
Have you considered using stop orders to enter trades?
Take your P/L off the screen; just follow your plan and the profit takes care of itself.
I thought they were all nuts, just regurgitating crap they read in trading books.
When I later finally reached the point I was seriously contemplating giving up, someone recommended a book to me and although I was confused by it at first and thought it was academic stuff (after the fact analysis) that would never work in the real world, some of it made sense.
When, thousands of hours later, I had learned how to apply these ideas and trade profitably on a consistent basis, able to trade long or short and to switch on a dime when indicated, able to trade any liquid instrument on any given day, I realized that what I was now doing was:
Milking a trend for all it's worth.
Buying pullbacks in trends.
Buying strength. Shorting weakness.
Never averaging down, and placing a small stop loss on every trade.
Using stop orders to enter trades, letting the action of price itself sweep me into the trade.
Leaving my P/L off the screen; just following my plan and letting the profit take care of itself.
I guess I'm officially a crotchety old trader now, repeating crap I read in trading books.