What catalyst transformed you to a successful trader?

for me it was one simple thing...I REALLY wanted to do it. I simply made the decision...deep down...like a religous experience.
I decided to devote my life to it...and i do.

if i get beat up....i simply will never quit...if i am paralyzed from the neck down in a hospital... I would still do it.

i truly enjoy it THAT much. not every day...but i wont change professions. If i wipe out one day...i will still be in the market as a job. i have a house full of books. I have book in my car and in my bag. if i am waiting in line for a car wash...i read about the market. If i need to read to my daughter to put her to sleep...i read to her about the market.

i think that is the TRUE basis of this game. more fundamental than money management. To have truly great money management, you have to want to make it. but money management is undoubtedly #2. with no other knowledge at all, i could make it based on that alone.
 
I turned the corner after i started to view the market purely in terms of supply & demand; and i took off all the indicators and charts that i use to solely rely on. It took me a few years to realize that placing trades simply because some meaningless technical indicators crossed was not the path to profitablilty. Then after spending a few months on the cbot floor doing some clerking i realized i was watching the market all wrong.....Just watching charts and technical indicators all day long, i wasnt taking into account all the other market partisipants; the very people i need to take money from.
 
Quote from jsmooth:

I turned the corner after i started to view the market purely in terms of supply & demand; and i took off all the indicators and charts that i use to solely rely on. It took me a few years to realize that placing trades simply because some meaningless technical indicators crossed was not the path to profitablilty. Then after spending a few months on the cbot floor doing some clerking i realized i was watching the market all wrong.....Just watching charts and technical indicators all day long, i wasnt taking into account all the other market partisipants; the very people i need to take money from.
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Jsmooth, can you elaborate on what methods/perceptions you incorporated to be able to track all of the other market participants? (Not looking for proprietary info here...)

Thanks,
Daryl
 
AustinP, likely no one here, except possibly Jack, is old enough to remember the childrens' show "Ding Dong School" on TV. It stuck with me. One audible goes DING (double bottomy), another goes DONG (double toppy), and I double top and lobotomy all day long (there being range to support it). It is soooooo simple that it leaves plenty of time to get proficient drawing Jack channels to stay awake between audibles.
 
Quote from austinp:




#1A: Learning to measure price action and let the markets show what is most probable to happen next.
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================
1b]Measuring trends, all data;
trends are not predictions, but probabilities.

1c] Time:cool:
more time, aim at 72 hours a week for years.

]Avoiding derivatives like ES untill i was profitable;
why leverage ignorance?????
 
"So you have probably ask yourself:

Who is jack hershey?

Where did he come from?"

***************************

"And them that don't know him won't like him
And them that do sometimes won't know how to take him
He ain't wrong he's just different
but his pride won't let him do things to make you think he's right"

--Willie Nelson
Mama's don't let your babies grow up to be traders:D
 
Quote from Spectre2007:

being able to translate

price action into emotion

thats when the charts start making sense.
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Yes! Say no more! I've been breaking even for a few years, but now I'm starting to "feel" the trades when I scan my charts. I'm starting to get in tune with the language of the markets, it's translating over, finally. Had the best trade of my life a few weeks ago. Saw the stock was ready to rip, it was almost calling my name, and without hesitation my order was in for the next day. The most important thing was I stuck to my plan and was able to feel the right time to get out, caught the meat of the move.

Well said Spectre,

MOB
 
Quote from Worldcrusher:

As traders, we all pay our "tuition" to learn the art of trading by losing money to the markets. Eventually, some catalyst occurs that transforms an unsuccessful trader into one that is consistently profitable. For me, it took over 12 years of trading to come to two realizations:

1. I wasn't smarter than the market.

2. As a retail trader, I am out of the loop and always a step behind. I was lunch meat for the institutional trader.

When I accepted these facts and modified my trading accordingly, I became consistently profitable.

So I am curious, for all of you successful, consistently profitable traders out there, what was the catalyst in your progression that allowed you to achieve success in trading?

Thanks,
Daryl
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I think your realizations provide the best answer to your curiousity.
 
I've been a consultant and coach for over 40 years. First in banking, then in real estate, and then for about 15 years for senior executives - helping clients energize their relationships, their careers, and their businesses.

I retired a few years ago. When retirement got boring enough, I took up day trading Nasdaq stocks on a whim. Before I started trading with cash, I studied and practiced with the best and then paper traded to feel confident with the software.

I read most of the day trading and technical analysis books (and still do), attended all the latest courses (and do not), and subscribed to the best Internet trading services (again, over). Like my other career development activities over the years, I did the research, found the best teachers and coaches to learn to be really good at what I was going to do in my new career as a day trader. I was confident my investment of my time and resources would pay off.

I started day trading with cash. At first I had both high confidence and incredible wins. Then my share of ups and downs, and then just about breaking even. Then I somehow traded many losses, sometime great losses. I traded as a loser like this for quite a while, always trying to figure out what was at the source of my losing, always searching for a way to win. I tried everything I learned from the experts to get back to winning. Day trading turned out to be a very expensive, stressful hobby and then a painful losing career.

I stopped trading.

I decided to take care of myself like I helped others for years (senior executives) - emotionally and financially. I still watched the stock markets and stock prices for weeks. Not trading and not losing, I began to more objectively see what was really going on that caused me to lose so much and what I thought it would take to win. I discovered how my game, the one I invested a chunk of my life and resources in, was not working, and, get this, would never work. Simply put - it's the game the crowd plays, the game all the losers play.

Everything about trading began to change. My perspective changed, my purpose for trading changed, and I began to see how my losing game for day trading must completely change to be a winner. My plan and most of the rules for trading changed dramatically - completely. My expectations for every aspect of trading changed as well.

I cancelled meaningless services and began to see that most of what I paid attention to was just noise - media, experts, forecasters, services that provide endless picks of the day that rarely if ever pan out. My trading game, the game I learned and read about - and lost a bundle playing - was for losers and now I clearly knew why.

I set out to invent a day trading game that worked, no matter what the big money had to offer. Soon after, I did just that. I call it Day Traders Win.

For the past few years I have consulted and coached want-to-be winner day traders. Clients now know what I learned about day trading, the day trading game, how to consistently win.

So there's a new day trading game in town. A game that, once mastered with your coach, allows losers to learn to consistently win.

Learning to win is simple in context, yet difficult in practice - as it requires displacing old thinking with the thinking of a winner.

Displacing the loser's trading game with a winner's game.

Displacing the unlimited old-school rules and execution sills losers rely on with a few powerful and focused rules used intuitively and competently execute trades like a winner.

Old losing habits get displaced with new winning habits.

Personally and professionally, learning to become a winner requires: integrity, patience, financial independence, vision, courage, and practice (seemingly unending practice) - trading with your coach while learning to win - in a day trading room winners use.

So, how long did it take to learn to win. Well let me put it this way. It took several years of losing to open the door to the possibility to be a consistent winner. The gap between the two - a matter of months.

Still learning, still innovating, still practicing - it's an unending game, one that, once you become a winner, can give you a sense of purpose, excitement, fulfillment - and a wonderful sense of feeling alive.

Just another trader's story.

Good luck

About winning:

What does it take to be a champion? Desire, dedication, determination, patience and the will to win.” Patty Berg

“They laugh that win.”
William Shakespeare
 
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