Who Is A Bad Trader?

A bad trader is one that takes advice from public/private discussions boards, mentors, friends, books, magazines and risks money on it without a serious intensive study that such advice is in fact, sound.

Funny enough this incorporates the vast majority of the readers and then they have the audacity to wonder, why so many lose at it...
 
Quote from Visaria:

Trader Vic, aka Victor Sperandeo has never "blown up". I think you are referring to Victor Niederhoffer.
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Yes I was I have heard some refer to him as Trader Vic as well.
 
Quote from Visaria:

Trader Vic, aka Victor Sperandeo has never "blown up". I think you are referring to Victor Niederhoffer.
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Yep. And Vic Sperandeo (my favorite trading author if you ask) has a proven track record unlike many vendors. Also enjoy his holistic approach of considering whole picture before placing a trade.
 
Quote from billyjoerob:

Blueturtle makes many good points. I listened to a dentist and had my wisdom teeth removed. Perfectly good body part, now permanently gone.

Eminis strike me as being a really lousy, alpha-poor market to trade. Does Steve Cohen trade them? No, not even close. Would he employ 1000s of people if he could sit at his desk trading index futures? There's no edge there, and you don't benefit from the "drift." If there are profitable index futures traders, then they should be massively wealthy, because even a small edge in a market that huge would be extremely lucrative. But the biggest hedge funds are not run by emini traders. QED
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your assumptions/statements are inaccurate

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-02-26/steve-cohen-s-trade-secrets.html
 
One doesn't have to stay a bad trader.
This is what I posted after my first 100 days of trading:
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"Been reviewing my first 100 trading days.

I am embarrased... to say the main thing obvious is that I have not understood how to use a set-up. Perhaps even what a set-up actually is.

Seems odd. After studing 8 or 10 books in detail, and reading many many more. After taking a few on line classes and a live class. Trading my one contract for a hundred days. Could talk about set-ups for hours.

I didn't 'get it' until I looked at my records. They just do not connect the dots. I need to know not just what happened, but why. And when. ...as much as we can know. My losses reflect not knowing those things. My gains I can't repeat, due to not knowing the 'whys'."
___________
So here it is almost 2 years later. I'm closing in on consistancy. Still not quite there. Who is a bad trader? I can't answer that, just watch people who currently trade live and listen to the one's who are interesting to you and have character.

NoDoji is one of those for me. As she traded live around when I was starting. Along with Geez and some others. But there is work too. I just went thru some recent hard right edge demo's from Nodoji... took them back with TOS's onDemand so as to back it up and see it progress real time. Finally figured out something she's said before that always blew right over my head about managing stops and targets. Huge shift for me.

There is just a progression of learning. I'm at a certain point. Everyone is. Find the real ones. Ignore the rest.

If no one is trading live you like, maybe become the one who let's it hang out there.
 
Quote from Hooti:

So here it is almost 2 years later. I'm closing in on consistancy. Still not quite there.
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How many times have those words been uttered in forums and chats?

I do not mean to desparage you by saying this... But unless you are independently wealthy and dont need income, you would be much better served finding something else to do with your time. Invvesting longer term in solid dividend payers might be worth looking into, or maybe position trading. I know Marketsurfer is always made out as the bad guy in these discussions, but his advice is worth listening to.

This retail daytrading game is a trap that some average folks are not able to extricate themselves from without doing great damage to their lives. Hope you dont become one of them.

Best of luck to you.
 
One thing for sure: learning to day trade requires a lot of deliberate practice. Years most likely. Having a good mentor may help of course, but still a serious work. Not something many people imagine: sit at the PC make some nice bucks and go play golf. :)
 
Quote from Ol' Yella:

[B.....But unless you are independently wealthy and dont need income, you would be much better served finding something else to do with your time.
. [/B]
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I agree with Cornix, it just takes time. I believe NoD worked at it a couple of years before she started seeing consistant profits. I'm profoundly gratefull to her for sharing the whole process of her development, including the side traps along the way. Most of us are not willing to do that publicly.

My account is going up slowly. But profits and being consistant with your plan don't necessarily go together.

I'm not going to call myself an official consistant trader until I'm taking at least 85% of my qualified setups.... for 20 trading days in a row. Dang. I still hesitate or just stare at them sometimes.

But I'm getting to where I have very few losing days. One big shift leading to that was changing my stratagies from "I'm going to make a million" to Warren Buffet's "Don't lose money". NoD also talks about the,,, "possibilty of no losing days."

For me at this time it is a kind of humility in choosing targets. I'm perhaps cutting my winners short, but I'm very happy to be at this stage of development right now. It's a sweet spot. Never get rich here, but from here I might grow into being able to see larger profits. Time will tell.

....as to being "independently wealthy and not needing income"
Hummm. I just live below my means.
 
Right. Capital preservation first, then profits. First you learn to trade and not lose consistently. Then it's just a small step away from being consistently profitable. After that it's a matter of trading size if you want better dollar figures. Easier to do than increase number of setups/skill. Skill improves too over time, but more naturally than intentionally.

The only difference is: I would recommend not to attach psychologically to a goal like "no losing days". It's a good overall goal, but don't try to reach it no matter what, it may lead to revenge trading and other bad habits.

Just be patient to wait for good signals, never lose big and you'll do fine.
 
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