Originally posted by wwatson1
It would be just as hard as winning since you still have to predict market direction!!!
You are right. That's actually the point. To demonstrate the trader is the problem in trading, not the market, not the swings, not the slippage, not the commissions, not the broker, etc..
If you always lose, it is very difficult to reverse your way (I wrote in several threads on the topic). It's a pity, because if you would truely reverse your way, you'd make money.
Trading to lose is a very good way to find what in your trading is wrong (the same things wrong you do when you try to lose and try to win, should be easier to detect with this game).
When you know how to win (the regular trading) it is easier to reverse and succeed in the losing game.
if someone does OK in the losing game and not the regular trading though, it's a sign of self sabotage in regular trading : too much fear or greed probably. fear is obvious. greed I mean, not following proper money and size management as well as over trading.
if you don't get the point of the losing game AND you are not profitable in the regular trading, you really should not be trading.. not real money at least.
There was a really sad truth in another thread about edge. Beside knowledge, experience, discipline etc.. a real big edge is all the non professional traders losing. They pay the very small minority of pro traders.
And here, let me be very clear about what I call pro. It's not necessarly a trader working for a pro firm at all. I am not and I do OK. Others do too.
I mean any trader doing this really as a business. It does not matter if he works at home, in an office, for himself or a company. Doing it as business is key. It is a very different mindset than most who call themselves 'traders' and are only investors trying to trade.
it is a bit the same difference between anybody going to vegas and a pro gambler. Saying than both are gamblers is ridiculous. One is there to lose, the other one is running a business. It does not make sure the business will be a success by the way. But if you do it as a hobby there is no way you will succeed.
that's part of the edge too then : trading as a business.
I am trying to be positive here, not mean to those who are trying very hard to succeed. I once was in the same ride, with most trades giving money away. You HAVE to be a loser before you win. But the transition is not automatic, and it is not by time. It takes a lot of work and a lot of throwing away stupid ideas about what you think trading is. I will never on this board just tell you what I do, or let you in in my ways. After all I did not discover anything, did not invent anything.
Market dynamics, ways to make money, it's all over the place in books and this very forum.
It is difficult to see or apply because of your beliefs and mind. And that I like to give people pointers. If they listen well and do the homework, a small portion will finally get it and be long term profitable. It will always be a small portion anyway. This game is not my idea, but it is a very good pointer. It is in the line of a pointer I gave some time ago about trading against yourself. Most who replied did not get it though (well, succesful traders did, but that's no surprise. it was meant for struggling traders). maybe this way is clearer.
tntneo