The secret of daytrading

syntaxfx said:
Hi speedo, that's another very good point.

I admit I was thinking more generally about how "the need for certainty" seems to be what drives these threads.

In the end, a good entry helps, but it really is what you do once the trade is open that determines success or failure. To me, all the things that get mentioned are just components of a whole trader. No single one of them will do it. You need all of them:
- an edge (in entry, risk management, position size, profit taking, et. al.)
- patience to wait for the setup, then patience while the trade evolves
- calmness when things go wrong (internet outage, unexpected news event, etc.)
- discipline to stay with your rules / edge when you're on a losing streak
- physical well-being to keep your focus and reactions sharp
- mental well-being to be comfortable with the uncertainty and to give you complete acceptance of the risk on the trade you're about to take.
- a clear understanding of how the market you are trading actually works
- a solid grounding in mob psychology
- being comfortable with the timeframes you are trading.

Btw, I had to learn that my entry edge wasn't the big money maker, it was all the other ones.

Cheers,
syntaxfx
More...
:thumbsup:
 
The secret is not to listen to the financial experts totally.

many financial experts say
- don't chase after the market !
- let the price comes to you !

WRONG !

Be smart and learn to how to use
- limit order
- stop order
- market order
And understand how market moves and its behaviour.


Let's say your view of the market is uptrend.

When price needs to go higher to confirm uptrend, use STOP order.

When market is jerky spiky, and price has already gone up, use LIMIT order.

When millions of traders/investors from north pole to south pole, from East of Japan to West of Alaska are extremely keen to buy, and market is charging up at 89 degree gradient,
immediately chase after the market and buy at whatever price using MARKET order or STOP order !

you cannot be successful unless you spend thousands of hours developing your holy grail
 
Last edited:
Some other little gems from Kahneman and Tversky's studies on psychology in economics:
  • People predict by making up stories.
  • People predict very little and explain everything.
  • People live with uncertainty, whether they like it or not.
  • People believe that they can tell the future if they work hard enough.
  • People accept any explanation as long as it fits the facts.
  • People often work hard to obtain information they already have and avoid new knowledge.
Once I accepted the truth of these at a gut level, trading got a whole lot easier and a lot less complicated.

Cheers,
syntaxfx
 
Not exactly the best place to get daytrading info.
You be surprised at how many ET traders are ignorant when it comes to daytrading. They don't even know the technical differences between them and confuse the daytrading terminology with investing. I can't count how many times I seen someone post to a daytrader that you cannot use more than 1-3% of your portfolio on each trade or tell you you should avoid volatile stocks or many other things that just don't make sense as a daytrader.
 
Last edited:
GotherL said:
Not exactly the best place to get daytrading info.
You be surprised at how many ET traders are ignorant when it comes to daytrading. They don't even know the technical differences between them and confuse the daytrading terminology with investing. I can't count how many times I seen someone post to a daytrader that you cannot use more than 1-3% of your portfolio on each trade or tell you you should avoid volatile stocks or many other things that just don't make sense as a daytrader.
More...

I doubt that you have seen such a statement highlighted above. For daytrading, what you are referring to and stating incorrectly, is the need to limit the amount of loss to an account that can occur should a trade fail, which is not the same as the amount of an account in use for a trade.
 
GotherL said:
Not exactly the best place to get daytrading info.
You be surprised at how many ET traders are ignorant when it comes to daytrading. They don't even know the technical differences between them and confuse the daytrading terminology with investing...
More...
Absolutely 100% dead on.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top