The only post you need to read about trading

Analyzing what you said and breaking it down:

In years of studying the market, I am yet to find a consistently profitable system.

Okay- you're a not yet successful trader.


That being said, I want to elaborate on some of the common styles of trading and why they may or may not work.

You just admitted to not knowing how to trade successfully. How can you now talk about what trading styles might work when you have yet to find one that works? This is nuts. It's like a person who is lost talking about which maps might be good.



If you have a profitable system, you probably don't want to read this thread. If you are one of those people who naturally understands trading, don't read this thread as it might cause you to overthink. For the rest of us, and especially noobs, this will get you far past the norm.

Again you said you are not a successful trader- and yet you claim to have "knowledge" that will help others improve? How does that make any sense?

The main thing you have to understand is that all trading is predicting.

I agree. Life itself is making a series of predictions. We all predict we will not die in our sleep and live to continue doing things. 99.99% of us would certainly be acting differently if we thought today was our last day or the end time was imminent.


Trend following is a mess to even talk about because no one can agree on the definition of a trend. There are many ways to define a trend, including:

A series of higher highs and higher lows. How many? Everyone disagrees.

A moving average starting to increase. Which moving average? Everyone disagrees.

An upward trendline. How do you draw a trendline? Everyone disagrees.

Support becoming resistance. Which support? Everyone disagrees.

For this reason you are unlikely to ever get a satisfying definition of what a trend is.

That's the burden of the individual trader- to development their own understanding of trends and developing a trading system around that. Whether anyone else agrees with it doesn't matter- as long as it works for that trader.


So trend trading means you want to buy in the direction of the trend because price has a better chance of continuing in that direction (prediction) than going in the other direction.

It makes sense in theory, but what you will realize is that most trend traders seem to buy a lot and get stopped out for small losses a lot. Infrequently, they have big winners that go in their direction. This carries many implications, such as you need to take every single trade because you have to get those massive successes.

Incorrect. You assume "most" trend traders just buy all the time and "hope" the trend continues. If you've established a long price channel, trades are placed only near the bottom in expectation of price rising. Either it does, or you get stopped out and you need to reanalyze. You don't "keep buying" and hoping for the best.

Counter trend is practically the opposite of trend following.

You use BOTH in trend trading- you counter trend trade a price channel moving in the opposite direction of the bigger channel you expect price to continue in. The expectation is the smaller counter trend trade will fail into the bigger price channel.


All price based indicators are useless

Here you go again- making calls on what does or doesn't work when you have yet to find anything that works for you. How do you know what does or doesn't work for others?

Until you've mastered at least one style of trading you should keep generalities of what works or doesn't work for other out of it, and keep the discussion centered on YOUR abilities instead of assuming what others can or can't do.
 
Nice breakdown of the bullshit. Typical ET post from someone who admits is not profitable trader but magically has all the answers and wisdom. It is like sitting down in front of a morbidly obese nutritionist...
 
It makes sense in theory, but what you will realize is that most trend traders seem to buy a lot and get stopped out for small losses a lot.
Only if you missed the required work and test how given instrument moves and make adjustments
Need to be outside of these bands rather than get stopped out a lot and price alone may not be solution some consideration should be given to time what it means if price snaps back and how that would effect things.
 
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You are not predicting anything because the price has already moved. How are you predicting anything? Predicting is if you took a long position assuming it will go higher but, instead, it went lower? If I was reacting, I would be shorting it because the price action is showing me where it is headed! I am not predicting anything but, merely reacting. Huge difference in the two otherwise, why would you call one predicting and one reacting. Two different things as well as two different words! It "cannot" be the same thing!

A reaction is ... a reaction, yes. However, how one reacts is either random, or based upon a belief that an event is more likely than not to occur.

"You are not predicting anything because the price has already moved."

Why yes, it did move. Even so, the real concern is where it will continue moving. That fact that 'it already moved' doesn't not mean one can't react to that past movement based upon where they believe it'll move next (a prediction, btw).

"How are you predicting anything?"

If you go long, you are essentially predicting that it is more likely than not that it'll go up (or that the risk-to-reward is proper). And vice versa.

"Predicting is if you took a long position assuming it will go higher but, instead, it went lower?"

No. The prediction is made before the results are in. More simply, whether or not a prediction is made is not dependent upon the success of that prediction.

"If I was reacting, I would be shorting it because the price action is showing me where it is headed!"

Reaction and prediction are not mutually exclusive. A reaction must be based upon a belief of future events ... or random (a guess).

"If I was reacting, I would be shorting it because the price action is showing me where it is headed!"

Why short and not long? Because ... you ... believe ... or ... predict ... that the price is going down.

"If I was reacting, I would be shorting it because the price action is showing me where it is headed!"

Price action doesn't show anyone what the future holds. Price action shows the past. You can look at, and analyze, the past to form an opinion ... or ... prediction ... about the future.

Again:

You can react in a random manner. Or not.

If you are not reacting in a random manner, then you are reacting based upon some belief. That belief is a prediction.

It doesn't matter the basis for your belief: whether a crystal ball, or T/A, or statistics.

That said,

I am always amazed that so many human brains can't grasp the concept of 'prediction.' I will respond to @smallfil if they reply as this post is directed to them, but I have no desire to 'debate' such a trivial concept; nor can I dumb it down any further. :D

"Ignorance is bliss"
 
I do index option trading with price targets and "stops" sort of. My profit price targets are hard contingent orders. My max loss stops started out as hard, but wacky things happen with option prices around news and calendar events causing stops to get hit in an unfavorable way. Now I use alerts to my cellphone and decide whether the alert was real or fake.

My system is bullish but I really don't feel like I make a prediction, other than over the long haul, the market goes up. I trade on a regular, periodic basis. Even in a bear market, there are short term bull moves. I believe I'm a seller of time and the market can do 5 things - go up a lot, go up a little, stay flat, go down a lot, go down a little. In 4 of the 5 cases, the system makes money. The trick is trying to control large losses, which can easily wipe out many winners, if you are not careful.
 
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