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

Johno1 said:
Hi Redneck, long time no see (5yrs), how have the trading gods been treating you.
Cheers John
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Could Johno1 be the long lost 14th cousin of the Johno?????

Be still my astonished eyes


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So long as I humbly bow before them

Never attempt to travel amongst…, rather (closely) behind - them

Dutifully pay the paltry pittance they demand.., immediately upon demand


They pretty much leave me to my work…, even generously reward my obedience




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Welcome my long absent friend!!!!!!

How’s life – good I trust

You still doin what you do??

I’ve very much missed your thinking

===========

Btw I must confess..., I’m guilty.., many times…, of plagiarizing you (always with utmost respect though)

Even have your words displayed prominently above my platform

“how you think not what you think”
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:)


RN
 
Redneck said:
Could Johno1 be the long lost 14th cousin of the Johno?????

Be still my astonished eyes


=========================


So long as I humbly bow before them

Never attempt to travel amongst…, rather (closely) behind - them

Dutifully pay the paltry pittance they demand.., immediately upon demand


They pretty much leave me to my work…, even generously reward my obedience




===================


Welcome my long absent friend!!!!!!

How’s life – good I trust

You still doin what you do??

I’ve very much missed your thinking

===========

Btw I must confess..., I’m guilty.., many times…, of plagiarizing you (always with utmost respect though)

Even have your words displayed prominently above my platform




:)


RN
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Yes Red, I must confess, tis I. lol It's good to catch up with you again as well. It's so long since I last posted that I couldn't remember my password hence the new handle. Still working the ebb and flow of the markets, so far so good.lol Good to see you realize that flattery will get you everywhere.lol
Cheers John
 
One tactic I use for entries is to take on my position incrementally. Say 1/3 initinally so that I at least have some skin in the game. Then if the market goes my way I continue to load up, if on the other hand I'm looking at a drawdown I look for an opportunity to add a second 1/3 as close as I can to where I expect the extreme for the drawdown is "likely" to be (nobody knows with any certainty where this will be). If the drawdown continues to increase after this but the nature of the market remains the same I may or may not add the last 1/3 at my discreation, I may wait until the market is moving my way before fully loading up. Obviously if the nature of the market changes I will shut down the entire position and reset for the new trade, usually as I have indicated. Done correctly this takes a lot of stress out of the entry because it is no longer an all or nothing situation. You will be minimizing your drawdowns and losses whilst giving yourself the best opportunity to maximize profits, the best of both worlds. Trying to find "the" correct level to enter puts so much preasure on a trader it is little wonder so many people have trouble entering trades. Trying to pick "the turning point" is akin to playing darts with a blindfold on and expecting to hit the bullseye pretty well every time, how many people do you think would be willing to back the blindfolded player with cold hard cash. I have no doubt that I will be howled down about my comments, my answer is I trade successfully to make money I don't care whether or not I get the turning point right because my money is made by me having a trade on at the right time not by predicting things that cannot be known beforehand.
Cheers John
 
smallStops said:
said in Psychology section of a trading forum.
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Seeing how I posted in the psychology section..., and Johno replied to me in the same section

Appears we're on the same page... and all is right in the world


Now..., if by the off chance he had responded..., oh.., let's say..., in another section - how screwed up would that be

I'd be all confused

:)

RN
 
Like a lot of people have said, cut those losers. If you've been doing this awhile, and I mean at least a year, you probably get a "gut feeling."*

This gut feeling goes both ways. On the plus side, on some level I kind of "know" or at least believe I'm RIGHT. Like sure this is printing 5 cents lower than I thought it would but the premise hasn't changed and I don't think I'm WRONG and I think it will be worth it to hang on.

Often I'm too stringent and bail because I HATE "taking heat." And then I watch it go, smacking myself.

In these cases when I really feel it and the "heat" is honestly reasonable and something I can afford, I need to give my gut greater credit. (And maybe add some balls.)

Much more importantly:

On the downside, I'm sure we've all been there, when you enter your position and very quickly you just feel it. The back of your mind is going "Uh oh."

That is the first thing to work on. KILL that position -- with extreme prejudice.

Sit there and watch it work against you and watch that red number grow bigger until inevitably it hits your stop and cashes you out for the MAX you were willing to lose on it?

Fuck that!

Yes it "might" go your way. Sometimes it will. But if you are trading on that -- fear of missing out in the least likely case vs fear of losing in the most likely case -- you have inverted a critical psychological aspect of trading.

Managing a winning position is fun. Dealing with the losers is not fun. Trading is still work. Do the work. Learn to deal with those losers and cut them ASAP.

*Everyone wants to have a gut feeling. You don't get it by being a "natural," you get it by hours and hours of work, review, and experience.
 
Funny that most of the posts here talk about overcoming this and that. For me, I could not make money until I obtained fear. But not fear of losses. Or fear of missing a trade. Or fear of mysterious market movers determined to take my nut. Naw, a much more primal fear, a fear of something inside of me.

I could explain it, but you won't get it until you have that fear. You need that fear to trade, but you cannot read it, you cannot learn it. You have to observe others behavior and fear those behaviors in yourself. You have to see other people doing crazy things, say "Damn, that's crazy!" then see that you yourself have engaged in crazy behavior. You *need* to see that you yourself are quite capable of being nuts! Only then can you begin to achieve the gestalt.

In a truly evil mode, I will name this fear, a fear of self delusion. Now that I have named it, the true sufferers will pffft and move on. Readers have the political forum to observe astonishing levels of self delusion, and to wonder "wow, those delusions are intense and extreme, yet unnoticed by the victims. " Which begs the ?, "just exactly which self delusions am I under the spell of?"
 
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TGregg said:
Which begs the ?, "just exactly which self delusions am I under the spell of?"
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Always strive to be under an accurate one - albeit good.., bad.., indifferent..., or even ugly

RN
 
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