Why do traders fail?

traders fail because they continue to do the same thing over and over again but with a tweaked indicator or new mkt. reality is that the trader needs to change their behavior. no amoumt of studying or knowledge will prepare you for trading.
 
The Ten Commandments of Trading​
  1. Thou Shalt Not Chase a Move. If you missed the best risk/reward entry, just let the trade go. Never chase the market.
  2. Thou Shalt Not Trade in Choppy Markets. Trading is not a zero sum game. You lose money on every trade on both the bid/ask slippage and commissions/fees. Without clear directional momentum on your side you do not have an "edge" and without an edge you will not have a profit!
  3. Thou Shah Not Trade “Kamikazes! (shorting Higher Highs or buying Lower Lows)." These can look SO good, but because momentum is against you its like trying to push a Sumo wrestler out of the ring.
  4. Thou Shah Not Trade Too Many Contracts for your Account Size. If you lose more money than you are comfortable with, then you will trade badly. Everyone, even the best traders, go through periods of days, weeks, and occasionally even entire months of losses. You need to keep your losses per trade and per day small enough that you can financially survive a major losing streak without having to refund your account. and without causing you emotional stress.
  5. Thou Shalt Not Trade for the "Action." Trading is a business, not an extreme sport! Like any good businessperson, your primary objective is to increase your bottom line.
  6. Thou Shalt Guard Your Capital; it is your lifeblood. Without it you can't trade.
  7. Thou Shalt Never Try to Recover Losses. When you have a losing trade, that money is gone and the trade is done. Trying to get the money back by bending your rides will only result in more losses. Remember, your rules are what make you money. They're what is proven to give you the high-probability trades.
  8. Thou Shalt Not Worry About “Missing the Boat.” Your goal is not to catch every big move in the market, in fact you won't and no one does. Your ONLY objective is to trade your rules, and take the money the market will give you each week according to those rules. Even though we talk about “trading the market, in the strictest sense you cannot trade the market, you can only trade your rules.
  9. Thou Shalt Not Place Your Stops Too Close. If you are doing this it's an excellent indication that you are not in the right frame of mind for trading and you should not be trading right now. You can't trade scared. Stops should be placed where the pattern you are trading would be broken and no closer. You must give the market room to wiggle. It doesn't move in a straight line. Allow for the bid/asks of individuals to move the market around messily Within your trading setup.
  10. Thou Shalt Not Take Profits Too Soon. It's nearly impossible to make money based on win/loss ratios alone. Scalping is for the true pros, mostly the floor traders. Your money will be made by having a respectable win/loss ratio (in the area of 40%-60%) and having your winning trades be larger than your losing trades. Be patient with the trends and let them ring up big money for you.
(P.S. These are NOT expiated's rules.)
 
Because people hold on to losing position and then post on ET asking how to get out of it or turn it into a profit.

People are stupid, plain and simple, and trading is not for the stupid.
 
lisa-world-travel said:
I thought that was the exact reason why winners fail.
Only a small %.
Tried that at a spiritual gathering in pure Nature, didn't work.
More...
%%
Exactly right, winners......; which post?? Both:D:D One little kid told his dad '' i'm afraid i am going to fail my school test!!'' His Dad loved him enough to correct him + said '' son think positive !!!!!,!!'' The kid said OK, I'm positive i am going to fail my school test LOL-LOL . Average hit rate on doves in USA=20%[1 dove @ 5 shots[ It can be better than that in Argentina, because 16 million doves fly all day, not just early + late , Lisa -WT.

Many traders fail; because they never noticed how much better investors do with dividends/ETFs.................................................................................................................
 
Look at it this way guys...as of last August there were 313,262 FIDE rated chess players
in the world. Out of those, 1621 are grandmasters. That works out to 0.51%.
One can think of trading similarly. Adapting to the market requires hard work and patience.
 
El OchoCinco said:
Because people hold on to losing position and then post on ET asking how to get out of it or turn it into a profit.

People are stupid, plain and simple, and trading is not for the stupid.
More...
Have you ever driven a vehicle which you wanted to go faster and felt yourself pushing your body forward?
Well thats what shorts must do (in reverse in a rising sharemarket,) hoping to stop it.
 
expiated said:
The Ten Commandments of Trading​
  1. Thou Shalt Not Chase a Move. If you missed the best risk/reward entry, just let the trade go. Never chase the market.
  2. Thou Shalt Not Trade in Choppy Markets. Trading is not a zero sum game. You lose money on every trade on both the bid/ask slippage and commissions/fees. Without clear directional momentum on your side you do not have an "edge" and without an edge you will not have a profit!
  3. Thou Shah Not Trade “Kamikazes! (shorting Higher Highs or buying Lower Lows)." These can look SO good, but because momentum is against you its like trying to push a Sumo wrestler out of the ring.
  4. Thou Shah Not Trade Too Many Contracts for your Account Size. If you lose more money than you are comfortable with, then you will trade badly. Everyone, even the best traders, go through periods of days, weeks, and occasionally even entire months of losses. You need to keep your losses per trade and per day small enough that you can financially survive a major losing streak without having to refund your account. and without causing you emotional stress.
  5. Thou Shalt Not Trade for the "Action." Trading is a business, not an extreme sport! Like any good businessperson, your primary objective is to increase your bottom line.
  6. Thou Shalt Guard Your Capital; it is your lifeblood. Without it you can't trade.
  7. Thou Shalt Never Try to Recover Losses. When you have a losing trade, that money is gone and the trade is done. Trying to get the money back by bending your rides will only result in more losses. Remember, your rules are what make you money. They're what is proven to give you the high-probability trades.
  8. Thou Shalt Not Worry About “Missing the Boat.” Your goal is not to catch every big move in the market, in fact you won't and no one does. Your ONLY objective is to trade your rules, and take the money the market will give you each week according to those rules. Even though we talk about “trading the market, in the strictest sense you cannot trade the market, you can only trade your rules.
  9. Thou Shalt Not Place Your Stops Too Close. If you are doing this it's an excellent indication that you are not in the right frame of mind for trading and you should not be trading right now. You can't trade scared. Stops should be placed where the pattern you are trading would be broken and no closer. You must give the market room to wiggle. It doesn't move in a straight line. Allow for the bid/asks of individuals to move the market around messily Within your trading setup.
  10. Thou Shalt Not Take Profits Too Soon. It's nearly impossible to make money based on win/loss ratios alone. Scalping is for the true pros, mostly the floor traders. Your money will be made by having a respectable win/loss ratio (in the area of 40%-60%) and having your winning trades be larger than your losing trades. Be patient with the trends and let them ring up big money for you.
(P.S. These are NOT expiated's rules.)
More...

HUH, LOL I agree with some and eagerly do # 2, 3, sort of 7(on next signal goal is to recoup losses of previous loss), I do 9 & 10 too. LOL I am scalper but also do very long term stocks and commodities, ROFLMAO 40-60% in long term commodities I would own the world, I normally do 5-15% winning percentages, does not mean I am losing 85-95% money, I hedge so I recoup losses on the underlying as system seeks tops/bottoms to go other way. Not an ego thing, have no hang ups on opinions, system trading.

And I agree, if you doing it alone, it be years/decades to get good in scalping, better be knocking at 5% losses.

People jump around too much, make too many rules, but have little memorized as far as chart patterns and volume. If you have more than few rules, really difficult to remember when you have your money on the line. Lower highs/lower lows is same of downward sloping sma for trend, then first retracement after trend change has more to offer for profit, Gann's 50% from last pivot high before trend change is a good start for back testing. Nothing wrong with the old stuff.
 
blix said:
Look at it this way guys...as of last August there were 313,262 FIDE rated chess players
in the world. Out of those, 1621 are grandmasters. That works out to 0.51%.
One can think of trading similarly. Adapting to the market requires hard work and patience.
More...

More importantly, very few are willing to put in all the work required to be in the top percentile. There is no cap on the number of grandmasters but most who fall short just won't put in the time needed. For many the amount of time needed is just not worth it to get to that next level and that is fine because they acknowledge it. The rest just pretend they are working hard but fall short.
 
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