Here's to bringing this one back from the dead. This is one of the gems of ET that I've read of all my time mostly lurking.
For me, breakthrough or 'eureeka' moments are when I noticeably feel that I am progressing to a new level and something 'clicks' and I learn something. Usually these have been when I resolve problems or questions I've had. These are the ones I remember most:
1. Learning about technical analysis - I first learned about it on
Investopedia.com at a stage when I was trying to understand why prices dropped even though fundamentals of a company seemed good. Murphy's book Technical Analysis of the Financial Markets was a great resource, as well as
stockcharts.com.
2. When I learned about the concept of
position sizing - it was early in my trading when I was still doing percentage-portfolio type of position sizing.. I had been monitoring my positions for a while in terms of their %tage gains and something didn't seem right... some of the positions were up a large % while others tended not to be. This led me into learning about the various concepts of volatility, Van Tharp's studies,
expectancy, and the like. Kind of opened my eyes to the fact that there were much more to the markets than I had seen.
3. Reading Come Into My Trading Room by Alexander Elder. This was for me the first book that talked about a comprehensive view of trading - from money management, risk and reward analysis, in-depth trade analysis and journal keeping, as well as psychology. Even though at the time I was not ready* for all of this, it allowed me to see that there was more to it than I thought.
4. Recognizing the importance of psychology in trading. Elder, Douglas, Steenbarger, Kiev, and Van Tharp are also great resources. Sometimes I wonder though if I had never learned about it if things would be different because now I am constantly self-conscious of my own emotions as I trade.
5. Learning about trading system development and backtesting. This thread was most helpful in this regard:
http://elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=33654&highlight=system+development+with+acrary By starting to backtest many ideas, I have gained a deeper understanding of the nature of trading strategies and different market cycles.
6. Defining an
edge. I felt like I was missing something very important in my studies, similar to what I felt when I started inquiring about position sizing. You can not find something if you don't know what exactly it is you're looking for.
7. Various small mini-breakthroughs such as learning about the concepts of ATR, velocity, trend persistence and ADX, and pairs trading.
*: It's kind of funny how you can read about something or see something the first time but pay no attention to it, but when you're actually looking for it or open to the idea then that is when you actually _learn_. Mark Douglas talked about this in Trading in the Zone; how when we didn't know about TA charts looked alien and almost random, but now we see much more to them. I find myself constantly going back to books and resources that I've gone over because I had previously glossed over the material. It now has more of an impact.
Thanks to all who have contributed and those who will contribute down the line.
