Quote from illiquid:
Somehow it's gotten into the public psyche that the intraday time frame = "professional" trading, as if, after being profitable in swing trading, they could "step up" to the next level with real-time ticks and .05 profit targets. You know what's wrong, you see the solution, take your own advice
Quote from Stratcat:
That last post was totally unhelpful. It isn't a competition as to who has lost the most. Also £1,500 is a lot more to someone with nothing than £150,000 is to a billionaire so the figures are irrelevant.
Mate, 14 weeks is nothing, it really isn't I know people who traded for 9 months to a year and very nearly got sacked. Now they're earning incredible amounts of money. To start of with, the money is irrelevant. If you can find a way that works more often than not you will be profitable. Then it's just a case of upping your size as you go along. Some people don't like to up their size, but it is not a psychological proposition, you do it when you can afford it and you have the confidence of a track record that is profitable over time. If you trade 10 lots until you have £5,000 of profit then trade 15 lots until you have £10,000, etc. Build it up like this and you will never wipe out, and soon you'll be clipping 500 lots and trying to make £30,000 on a good day. If you're not prepared to do this, go and get a milk round. Every trader's goal should be to be able to afford to trade massive size (massive profit) that is the whole point of the game and the reason neither of us are a milkman.
I'm not sure how much of this job is natural and how much can be taught, God knows I'm no natural at it. I can tell you though that I have seen many people struggle for a long time only to turn things around and become very big traders, (I mean millions of pounds of net profit each year). Don't give up yet, give it at least another 3 years.
Concentrate on these things:
1. Find a method that you can define which gives you consistent results. This is so important. I would rather be a guy who makes £100 a week than a guy who makes £5000 one week and loses £3000 the next. If you are consistently profitable and you know why then you have the secret, the rest is a matter of more size over time.
2. Forget about the money. When you are thinking about the money you are not trading properly. Focus on the method at all times it's the only thing that matters. Also when you find a way of being consistent you can grow and grow, so £500 today will look like 5p in 10 months time.
3. What is the line of least resistance? How strong is my market relative to others? which way is it likely to go? You will always have an opinion of this, therefore you have a trade (long or short?)
4. Remember that technicals are very crap. Yes they can be used in trading (I use them), but ask yourself this, if technicals work 75% of the time then I would clean up, so they obviously don't work that often. If they did trading would be easy. Now ask yourself if you are comfortable investing your money in a technical indicator that works 3 out of every 8 times. Technicals are not truth they are prediction and jumping the gun is not a successful strategy in trading. It is far better to see what the market is showing you and act accordingly, than to predict. Afterall, one of the worst things you can do is pick tops and bottoms and what is this if not predicting. A trend or reversal is not a prediction it is an observation of what the market is doing. Stick with the facts and use what the market tells you. Employ technicals but treat them with a pich of salt, and make sure you have the money management skills to employ them properly.
5. Define your loss limit as you put a trade on and do not get out until this has been hit or the market has done what you thought it would. This is very important as it takes away fear. If you have accepted the loss and can handle it, and you know that this point is the worst it can get before you're stopped out, then what is there left to fear.
Also there is nothing worse than buying 50 with a stop at 40, watching it trade 45 and getting yourself out because you've convinced yourself that you are wrong without the market proving it to you, then you watch as it goes and trades 90.
Find an entry and exit and trust them. The market will try it's best to trick you into getting out for a loss or cutting that profit short. Remember, until it hits your stop, you weren't wrong, until it fulfills the reason for the trade, you weren't right. You're a human being, and therefore your own worst enemy, trust the judgment you made before you put the trade on, not the one you made when you went 2 ticks offside.
These are a few of the things that experience has taught me, whether you agree or not I hope you find this useful.
Best of luck for the future
Quote from Stratcat:
That last post was totally unhelpful. It isn't a competition as to who has lost the most. Also £1,500 is a lot more to someone with nothing than £150,000 is to a billionaire so the figures are irrelevant. ...................................................................................................................................................
These are a few of the things that experience has taught me, whether you agree or not I hope you find this useful.
Best of luck for the future
