
Quote from Cheese:
Lets look at the key elements of success in making youself rich from trading. And lets start by taking out of consideration the entire menu of the sloth and defects of the individuals who are the 95% (or 98%) that fail.
Recognition
There is a general overarching desire to see anything but what is in front of you, staring at you relentlessly, on price charts. Its price gyrations. Smaller gyrations within larger gyrations; the swings of price up and down. This is the architecture of price, repeated endlessly, over and over and over, day after day; and it goes unrecognised for an easier, inaccurate notion of so-called 'trend'.
Time
You have to put in the time. In this quest you'll never make a dime if you don't do the time. And this is the endless hours of study looking at charts on the screen .. the thinking, the study, the preparation, the logging of information. 'Why can't I just borrow or steal all I need to know?', anyone might ask. Because you have to do it yourself to imprint all that required information and experience on your own brain, to make your succcess happen.
Temperament
Whatever outer self you portray, the inner strength and calm needs to be there for robust, unstressed playing to be a winner day after day in trading. You have to have, at center, a still, undisturbed rational mind as your dearest ally. Now how often to you read in so many posts, endlessly on ET, the cacophony of irrational or irrelevant outbursts and meanderings?
Problem Solving
This is the function that elevates humankind from the rest of the animal kingdom. And in the individual it is the stronger problem solving capability that favors the few over the many with weaker problem solving capabilities. Its not whether you're better or lesser educated; it whether you have the savvy that puts you in front of most others for task of trading a market with a very high degree of consistent and lucrative success.
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Quote from Swan Noir:
Whether it is 98 or 99.5% who fail is irrelevant. The purpose here is to show that while the odds of becoming a consistently profitable trader are long they are not as bad as they might appear to the casual observer.
1) Half (or more) of those that wash out start (and end) with some FOREX bucket shop. By not being among that half your 2% chance of making it jumps to 4%. Not bad considering all you had to do to double your chances was decide not to be an asshole.
2) Of the remaining half at least half of those have never had a real success in their lives nor are they likely to knock it out of the park ever. If you are not among this group you double your chances again. You go from 4% to 8%.
3) Of the remaining 25% at least half are inept at building relationships of any kind. Many came from dysfunctional families and instead of getting a grip and overcoming that disability they embraced it and it means there are self centered, needy etc. When they finally get into a conversation here or in a chat or wherever with real traders they ask inane questions showing they doubt anyone is telling the truth, let their fear and discouragement color everything they say and end up with zero relationships. When they finally have a question to ask that counts they have no one to turn to. They resent that they get no help and come off like they are entitled to our time and attention. Bingo ... do not be one of them, double your chances and now your at 16%.
4) Of the troops that are left some simply do not have talent for this, others do not study as hard as they should and yet others simply let life distract them. I will not try to put a number on these failings but we know it is a fair number of those that try anything difficult.
I am still a struggling trader yet at the point where I learn more in a week than I did in a month. My guess is before the end of this year I will be consistent enough to take a big breath and relax. Even then I will not have begun to yet make real money but my risk of ruin will continue to drop considerably. And, since the key is to get good enough to survive for the years it takes to become a seasoned pro, that is an important milestone. Real traders make serious money taking on reasonable levels of risk. That is the goal.
My purpose here is not to portray trading as easy. I suspect for most the odds do not get much better than 1 in 5. Far from a lock yet not an out bet. Do not listen to those who say it cannot be done yet understand it will take everything you have to get it done.
And remember, not being an asshole sure helps. But, as we all know, that is not quite as easy as it sounds.
Keep in mind many people fool themselves by remembering their wins with more enthusiasm than their losses.Quote from bwolinsky:
Just basic knowledge of economics would probably stop a lot of people from making bad trades. They may also be effected by Wall Street's attitude to buy and hold no matter what.
Whatever the case is, I do not believe 98% is correct. In fact, I would say if 98% really did not make money, there would be no market. If you are talking about weekly results versus decade results, anyone who has taken the time to research a good portfolio to invest in will nearly always be profitable at the end of long time periods.
The micro forex account can be blown from overtrading and churning. Letting that be representative of the experiences of many forex participants may actually be true in my opinion. I have not met many people who have made significant profits in the forex market. It is there to facilitate trade across borders and currencies.
Depending on your circumstances, I don't know anyone who has trade for multiple decades who hasn't made money. If that were the case we would not have a public market.
I am very concerned about what looks to be the first United States debt default coming up on August 2nd. I am deeply worried about the deleterious effects that will come from a devaluation of our currency. As long as we, the US, remains the sole policeman of the global power structure, though, I think the dollar will maintain its value out of this virtue, and until foreign countries quit classifying our AAA T-bonds or debt instruments as junk, I think the hyperinflation of everything in the economy may lead to more growth. We may be able to get out of debt this way, but at the expense of our marginally low purchasing power particularly in the Euro zone, which, without question will definitely see a catastrophic collapse in its global value in the financial markets due to government printing of new money by the IMF and loaning it to what could be a "deadbeat countries" where the greater good of the country is destroyed by the promises that politicians have made in their entitlements.
Trading quantitatively tends to have higher success rates, however, requires years of preparation, including work as an MBA, completion of economics curriculums, or more generalized financial courses that could teach options price theory, capm, icapm, and many other definitions known commonly in the financial services profession.
I do not believe 98% is right, however, in the short term, that could very well be the case, but I guarantee not if you apply basic and not even advanced money management, you will be profitable over long periods of time.