What I Learned My First Year Trading

[chrisdunn]

Quote from NoDoji:

...because the need to be right and avoid being wrong is all about ego, eh?

I agree... I think purely technical and mechanical when I trade. The more I can make it "all about the charts" the less time I have to worry about my own ego.

Also, my risk management structure helps. I only need a 45-55% win ratio to be very profitable... my max stop of only 1.25 pts on the ES and an average win of 3 points takes away the need to be right 70-80% of the time... Much less stress that way.

 

[clacy]

Over leveraging or risking too much on a trade will cause you to make bad decisions 99% of the time.

 

[gsmcoder]

at a certain time in a certain stock or commodity can be winner a long trade and also can be winner a short selling too. it is all about the timeframe makes the difference!
Choosing the best timeframe appropriate to your system and your margin (capital) is my first reveal.

 

[athlonmank8]

Quote from gkishot:

Isn't one always in doubt? Otherwise he wouldn't be using stops.

If something seems wrong.

Good list . I've got about a 10 page paper written so far haha. 1 for each year ;P

 

[NoDoji]

Quote from gsmcoder:

at a certain time in a certain stock or commodity can be winner a long trade and also can be winner a short selling too. it is all about the timeframe makes the difference!
Choosing the best timeframe appropriate to your system and your margin (capital) is my first reveal.

This is very true. I've entered overnight trades that have run against me before the day's end, but bring in my best profits the next morning. So the day trader would've closed the position at a loss, but the swing trader gets the profit.

I've also seen two traders take opposite sides of a trade and both make money because one is willing to hold for 2 hours to take profits and the other takes profits in the first 30 minutes.

 

[retire45]

Nice thread.. I'll add a bit....

Process, process, process! Mechanize the process (not automate) as much as possible.. Discretion will kill a trader more than anything else (the greater the leverage.. ES.. the quicker the descent)..

Accept your stops... My biggest failing is scratching trades when the stop has not been reached. Comes from fear.. which comes from...

Money watching... Account is cruising nicely, a couple of bad days/weeks and the trader develops fear which if not managed properly causes an endless spiral..

Also... spend less time on ET as you must think for yourself and even the hardest head can be swayed..

I speak from "experience"......

 

[bighog]

Here is a post from a very confused person.
......................................................................
retire45


Registered: Jul 2007
Posts: 1315


06-09-09 05:50 PM

Nice thread.. I'll add a bit....

Process, process, process! Mechanize the process (not automate) as much as possible.. Discretion will kill a trader more than anything else (the greater the leverage.. ES.. the quicker the descent)..

Accept your stops... My biggest failing is scratching trades when the stop has not been reached. Comes from fear.. which comes from...
...............................END..............................................


Where is the leverage in index futures or any other future? If the margin in ES is 500 a car to trade a single contract and i place a trade on the ORB setup (opening range breakout) attempting to bag the initial days"RUN" for hopefully a minimum of 5 handles per trade with a STOP LOSS max at 3 handles where is the lecerage that has many of you wussies shivering in your skivies about trading the ES? (exclude nod from that because she has yet to take the plunge, )

And indeed if you are so chicken to play the game of probability without a soloid conviction in the odds of your signals maybe you should go back and play checkers with the kids and leave the adult games alone.

I is so much fun reading about chicken liver stock traders that are scared to death being modern in the best game in town., futures.

PS: fired at 45, does the opposit mean in futures that a fast move mean if you actually ever held on to a trade after showing 3 tick loss and your STOP loss did not scare you away to the bathroom and throwing up that the profit would have been in ascent instead of descent. Trade on wussie!!!!!

 

[TraderZones]

Quote from NoDoji:

Before all else, erase the words “right” and “wrong” from your belief system.

Master “support” and “resistance”.

A price cannot be too high or too low.

Honor thy stops.

“Every big loss was a small loss once.”

If in doubt, get out.

Once in a trade, place a stop at the price that invalidates your original signal for putting on the trade.

If you place a really wide stop at a ridiculous price that could not possibly be reached, prepare to lose that amount of money.

Finding yourself checking the Yahoo message boards when holding a losing trade is one of the strongest exit signals available.

unfortunately, it can take many years for traders to become profitable. Will you be back next year with "what I learned my second year trading" ??

In other words, scads of traders have wandered across ET with their list of Dos and Don'ts. My guess is, that they are not really any closer to success

You either have real edges or you will lose.

Second, if you HAVE real edges, you better become an expert on trade/portfolio/money management and proper leveraging, or you can still blow it all.

Third, psychology, positive energies, TA indicators and a lot of other stuff are not going to make you successful.

 

[TSGannGalt]

Quote from TraderZones:

unfortunately, it can take many years for traders to become profitable. Will you be back next year with "what I learned my second year trading" ??

In other words, scads of traders have wandered across ET with their list of Dos and Don'ts. My guess is, that they are not really any closer to success

You either have real edges or you will lose.

Second, if you HAVE real edges, you better become an expert on trade/portfolio/money management and proper leveraging, or you can still blow it all.

Third, psychology, positive energies, TA indicators and a lot of other stuff are not going to make you successful.

Ding Ding Ding!!!
We have a winner for...

The best reply in this thread.

 

[retire45]

Quote from bighog:

Where is the leverage in index futures or any other future? If the margin in ES is 500 a car to trade a single contract and i place a trade on the ORB setup (opening range breakout) attempting to bag the initial days"RUN" for hopefully a minimum of 5 handles per trade with a STOP LOSS max at 3 handles where is the lecerage that has many of you wussies shivering in your skivies about trading the ES? (exclude nod from that because she has yet to take the plunge, )

And indeed if you are so chicken to play the game of probability without a soloid conviction in the odds of your signals maybe you should go back and play checkers with the kids and leave the adult games alone.

I is so much fun reading about chicken liver stock traders that are scared to death being modern in the best game in town., futures.

PS: fired at 45, does the opposit mean in futures that a fast move mean if you actually ever held on to a trade after showing 3 tick loss and your STOP loss did not scare you away to the bathroom and throwing up that the profit would have been in ascent instead of descent. Trade on wussie!!!!! [/B]

Congrats on having 5 balls...