Tell me...is this really the hardest trading environment you have ever encountered???
- Thread starter Port1385
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Quote from spanish89:
:eek::eek:
From June till December it was by far the easiest most beautiful incredible pefect market enviroment or trading ever!!!
Anyone who found it hard to make loads n loads of money for those 6months is just a fool and needs to learn how to trade.
The market is starting to get quite crap now, as we now get just 1/16 of the daily volatility that we used to get,
but so theres still easy money to be made by just making 1 trade every 2/3days, isntead of every few minutes/hours.
I can't agree more! Scalping for me went to shit, part of it was the mkt, part of it was my head/doing a poor job adapting (I saw changes I needed to make but was having difficulty implimenting. I was trading 3-10 million shares/month (average of about 6) during June-December, now I only trade 150k-1 million, I avoided a huge rip by a wee little margin and decided to do the smart thing and take the lesson. Stuff like going long the S&P/stocks around 685, or shorting JPM or BIDU yesterday the open, then waiting a few days (covered my bidu)... so much less stress. I think for grindy orderbook scalping this isn't the best market, though it can still be done, but for swing trades long/short this market environment is excellent!
I started trading a few years ago. I guess Iâm one of those guys in their 20âs who you guys like to rip. To sum it up quickly, I have never been profitable, but I donât think it was the marketâs fault. In my experience, itâs not so much is the market hard to trade, but what markets are hard or easy to trade based on your individual style. Counter trend swing trading options is difficult because of the spreads and commissions. Also, the leverage is a lot to handle sometimes. You tend to use it all up quickly and then get wiped out. Daytrading stocks is better for scalping, but sometimes you get caught up in a move, and then what you want to happen doesnât come about by the close and you have to get out. I traded forex several years ago and consistently lost. I got caught up with the overleverage and get killed with the wide spreads. Strangely enough though, I opened a small micro account and have had very good success with that lately. Since spreads are now down to 1.5 pips, thatâs not really an issue anymore. Forex seems to revert back to the means more than stocks and that favors my style. Weâll see how it goes.
With that being said, when I listen to interviews with past successful traders, there does seem to be some overriding themes. For instance in Market Wizards, there seemed to be a lot of them who profitted from very strong and long trends. By the time of the interview, it seemed that a lot of them didnât really have much going on then and suggested that the markets used to be very good and now they arenât. I believe a few of the trend followers ended up going broke. I have backtested this a little. In my limited research, counter trend strategies usually test better, although not by much. They certainly seem to work better on an intraday basis. Although like I said, Iâve never been able to profit from this. Iâm trying to write an automated program so it will take me out of the picture.
With interviews with traders from the tech era, they seem to suggest that the markets were much easier then. For the novice traders, it seems they just bought any tech stock. The next day it was down and they bought more. Then the day after, it was up $20. For the scalpers, it seems they profited from larger spreads and just ridding the bid and ask all day. Spreads are down to a penny now, so thereâs not much in that now. But I think thatâs a good thing overall.
I guess it seems that with technology, the playing field has become completely flat. Again thatâs a good thing. But as far as being a trader and profitting, it seems there is nothing to take advantage of anymore. You simply have to try to predict where the market is going. When I listen to interviews now, they seem to say theyâre profitable, but canât really explain how. They just sort of say, I buy here and sell there, and then I make money. I have learned that the only way to really make money, is to put the odds in your favor and then play them. I just havenât figured out how to do that yet.
With that being said, when I listen to interviews with past successful traders, there does seem to be some overriding themes. For instance in Market Wizards, there seemed to be a lot of them who profitted from very strong and long trends. By the time of the interview, it seemed that a lot of them didnât really have much going on then and suggested that the markets used to be very good and now they arenât. I believe a few of the trend followers ended up going broke. I have backtested this a little. In my limited research, counter trend strategies usually test better, although not by much. They certainly seem to work better on an intraday basis. Although like I said, Iâve never been able to profit from this. Iâm trying to write an automated program so it will take me out of the picture.
With interviews with traders from the tech era, they seem to suggest that the markets were much easier then. For the novice traders, it seems they just bought any tech stock. The next day it was down and they bought more. Then the day after, it was up $20. For the scalpers, it seems they profited from larger spreads and just ridding the bid and ask all day. Spreads are down to a penny now, so thereâs not much in that now. But I think thatâs a good thing overall.
I guess it seems that with technology, the playing field has become completely flat. Again thatâs a good thing. But as far as being a trader and profitting, it seems there is nothing to take advantage of anymore. You simply have to try to predict where the market is going. When I listen to interviews now, they seem to say theyâre profitable, but canât really explain how. They just sort of say, I buy here and sell there, and then I make money. I have learned that the only way to really make money, is to put the odds in your favor and then play them. I just havenât figured out how to do that yet.
This has been an amazingly great market for trend following trading. Best I have experienced so far since I started trading several years ago. Enjoy it while it lasts.
Why do you people bash people my age for being ungrateful lazy losers who think everything is owed to us, and then turn around and bash us for losing money trading? You think success is achieved while not first learning how to fail? You guys are just perpetual bashers. You feed on it. You were probably the bully in high school picking on the geeks. This is just your weapon of choice now.Quote from Champion:
No wonder. Just another loser in a long line constant feed of losers. WTF is the idiot attraction to trade when you don't know shit from shit? Jeez .. LOLs.