What was the last thing you had to master before becoming profitable?

tortoise · Apr 30, 2014

tortoise said:
Myself.

I came to be shocked by how easy edges are to find. And how hard emotions are to master.

drownpruf · Apr 30, 2014

What this thread really needs is Handle123.

He's got the holy grail. Really, it's backtested so you know it's good. It's so good that he can afford a dozen traders to act as automatics to trade this automated system (so logic). And the job has perks... like free homes (after one year), attorneys on retainer, months off, paid vacations (to the Carib), all kids get free uni, birthday parties, XMAS presents for all the kids... did I mention limos? The only downside is the homes are filled with cams. Yeah, that and the 10Y contract. Dude makes Hershey appear sane.

http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/showpost.php?p=3840915&postcount=20
http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/showpost.php?p=3971116&postcount=39

QuantWizard · Apr 30, 2014

Regime switching and properly determining when NOT to trade. I now generate annualized return in excess of 80% with Sharpe ratio of 2.0.

smallfil · May 1, 2014

Energy_boi said:
Be greedy and pyramid aggressively.

Have just started pyramiding my winning trades and I realized that I probably would
have done much, much better trading wise if I just piled on the winning trades? Losers
will still be there but, I have not been doing any pyramiding before and I now see how
pyramiding can dramatically improve my trading by leaps and bounds! Oh well, now I
know better!

cornix · May 2, 2014

Stopped looking for anything better than the obvious stuff (obvious from already gained experience). And got patience to wait for that only.

ammo · May 2, 2014

drownpruf said:
What this thread really needs is Handle123.

He's got the holy grail. Really, it's backtested so you know it's good. It's so good that he can afford a dozen traders to act as automatics to trade this automated system (so logic). And the job has perks... like free homes (after one year), attorneys on retainer, months off, paid vacations (to the Carib), all kids get free uni, birthday parties, XMAS presents for all the kids... did I mention limos? The only downside is the homes are filled with cams. Yeah, that and the 10Y contract. Dude makes Hershey appear sane.

http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/showpost.php?p=3840915&postcount=20
http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/showpost.php?p=3971116&postcount=39

forgot to mention that he is battling some 20 yr disease ,guy is for real,they are out there,yourself an enigma on this looney tunes blog

drownpruf · May 2, 2014

ammo said:
forgot to mention that he is battling some 20 yr disease ,guy is for real,they are out there,yourself an enigma on this looney tunes blog

You can't honestly read that post of his that I linked and believe a word of it. I sympathize with his health issues, but it has nothing to do with trading.

slapshot · May 3, 2014

PieterSteidelmayer said:
A lot of people drum it into you to cut your losses, which is a good thing, right? But If youâve assessed a trade and calculated position size, stop, target and time do you really want to 2nd guess all that and cut it when it moves against you by less than your painstakingly calculated stop? And the inevitable âmove to breakevenâ. Why? Breakeven is rarely in my experience a valid stop level, so why put your stop there? Once your position is in profit and moving in your direction you recalculate your stop based on the same basis you did prior to initial entry. The number of times I cut a losing position while losses were small and that was a good move has been completely outnumbered by the number of times had I simply left my initial stop in place until the trade had developed into profit I would have been taking profits, not losses. I got this a long time ago, but it has stayed with my ever since as the turning point in my profitability.

+1
+1
+1

sumfuka · May 3, 2014

The trick was always to take it day by day, that's it.

Handle123 · May 6, 2014

ammo said:
forgot to mention that he is battling some 20 yr disease ,guy is for real,they are out there,yourself an enigma on this looney tunes blog

You are so right ammo, I am looney, you get to an age where you just don't give a shit what people believe or not. I can finally say I like the man I have become by being the man I always wanted to be.

I have had a long life of being in hospitals, most of my closiest friends are doctors. I am a training hospitals' dream. Klinefelter syndrome, an extra copy of the X chromosome, so when folks say I have no balls, pretty much right, LOL. I have Sarcoidosis disease, https://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/health-topics/topics/sarc/
very fun, am to prone for cancer as runs heavy in my family, all the males on fathers' side are nut jobs including me, we seem to enjoy taking much risk in life and doing unusually activities. Fibromyalgeria syndrome, always sleepy, but it s a good excuse when I want to get away from some boring ass chatting bout his wife. I grew up in Chicago, Go Cubs, written on gravestone will be "Always Next Year" LOL. Jefferson Park, ahhh, days of penny candy and watching the big softball games and play without a mitt, damn that ball is hard right out of the box.

Three months from now I am relocating, I tried my hand at building a kit house, but thinking my skills a bit not so good, instructions said a six year old could do it, I included a picture, you all welcome to come over tell me what you think. So my new address is going to be the world. I am packing it in and just going to explore the world. Want to go to Singapore and meet up with Jim Rogers, I like his style of trading.

"What was the ***last*** thing you had to master before becoming profitable? "

You spend a lifetime to make methods and money management rules where you work at making "something" on each trade overall. Might not be much, but if you not losing, account has to go some direction up. The secret to trading well is after you have a well backtested method, you have to go the other way and become dumb. I am one of the dumbiest sons of bitches around, I do what the rules are and don't think, thinking loses money when doing a system of rules.

But most rather trade and lose money instead of working their asses off. They spend more time planning a vacation then learning to compete against the best, and I might add prettiest, not me but am sure drownpruf might be? grin

Here we go, something to break up the day.

You don't know Jack Schitt.
Who is Jack Schitt?

For some time many of us have wondered just who is Jack Schitt? We find ourselves at a loss when someone says, "You don't know Jack Schitt!" Well, thanks to my genealogy efforts, you can now respond in an intellectual way.
Jack Schitt is the only son of Awe Schitt.

Awe Schitt, the fertilizer magnate, married Miss O. Needeep They had one son, Jack.

In turn, Jack Schitt married Noe Schitt. The deeply religious couple produced six children: Holie Schitt, Giva Schitt, Fulla Schitt, Bull Schitt, and the twins Deap Schitt and Dip Schitt.

Against her parents' objections, Deap Schitt married her cousin Dumb Schitt, a high school dropout. After being married 15 years, Jack and Noe Schitt divorced.

Noe Schitt later married Ted Sherlock, and, because her kids were living with them, she wanted to keep her previous name. She was then known as Noe Schitt Sherlock.

Meanwhile, Dip Schitt married Loda Schitt, and they produced a son with a rather nervous disposition named Chick N. Schitt.

Two of the other six children, Fulla Schitt and Giva Schitt, were inseparable throughout childhood and subsequently married the Happens brothers in a dual ceremony.

The wedding announcement in the newspaper announced the Schitt-Happens nuptials.

The Schitt-Happens children were Dawg, Byrd, and Hoarse. Bull Schitt, the prodigal son, left home to tour the world. He recently returned from Italy with his new Italian bride, Pisa Schitt.

Now when someone says, "You don't know Jack Schitt," you can correct them.