everyone i know pretty much stays the same,losers and winners,they all stay the same,people have a tough time changin,if your a loser and can't change ,you'll stay the same,there is a book called New Earth,it only talks about the ego,good place to start, : Edit,: the single most important skill for a new trader is knowing how to lose,similar to knowing how not to fall off a ladder and break your neck,knowing how to cut your losses when wrong will keep you in business long enough to learn forever
Why I am A loser
- Thread starter James3313
- Start date
Ditch the options. Trade futures. Either YM or ES would be my suggestion. Sign up for a demo account and download NinjaTrader. Learn a few simple entry techniques. Learn price action. Learn money management. Learn to have a max loss for each trade...for each day. Practice. Practice. Practice. Give yourself at least a year of practice while saving up your bankroll. If you can't apply discipline on the demo then you can't even think about moving to real money. If you positive results on the demo then start with 1 contract. Trading is a progression of building knowledge and developing your skill set. It takes TIME. You're 23 years old....you have plenty of time.
Many people have given good suggestions.
In my opinion, you need to learn something of trading and start small. You can learn trading, doing paper trading, that is without using actual money, to understand the market movements.
Do start trading part time with a job to avoid pressure. Do not leave your job. When, you are confident, and then start full time trading. However, part-time is better as you have two incomes (trading & salary).
By the way, James3313, if you are still trading, then you can post what you did in trading daily with results. That might help, as we all might see why you are not winning.
Have a look here, http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=126368. Many books & advices are mentioned here.
1000% every month, cool
, figures can be a useful concept to invent some wealth out of nothing i want to have a dog
hey james if your still actually reading this thread....
when i started i thought well lets read a butt load about this stuff so i started reading i read alot of books probably the best one for a beginner would be "getting started in candlestick charting." .. then there was a book that just discussed the different styles of trading and how they are done...
then i picked the one that made the most since to me I said well since everything is supply and demand i guess momentum makes the most since... then i thought well how does this work... and i started researching my A double scribble off and found a basic strategy... and to be honest it completely blew....
I go to college and work two jobs to pay for it myself and my first thought was F throwing money out there and losing I cant afford that... so i started paper trading I paper traded my little heart out for about 6 months in EVERYTHING the forex, stocks, long term, short term, i traded options, futures. and at first i blew soooooo hard.
i killed probably 20 forex accounts to 0 and reset investopedia.com's stock simulator 400 times... then one day i started seeing trends almost how neo in the matrix could see the code it was a beautiful thing.. not saying that i can look at a chart and see the future but im saying that one day i logged on i didnt have to look up what a certain indicator meant or reference to candlestick patterns to measure market emotion...
and i realized my holes in my system changed it set myself limits established clear moves that i had not done before i basically was going in an saying hey i think this will move this way i dunno how much so lets invest ... after 6 months i said here is a change in consumer buying i see changing momentum saw clear established entry points determined strong exit points all while using small lot sizes or small portions of my actual capital to minimize potential risk and losses and well as using stop losses and limit orders.
after reading and having my strategy in forward papertrading testing i read more i wanted to know more because knowledge will bring you advantage i wanted to understand market movement i wanted to understand why the market moved how the market moved why the market moved the way it did and why did i move the amount it did.
4 300 page books and 3 audiotapes and 3 months of reading these forums and not posting taught me so much more
i learned that there are words for people who chase profits only to end in the demise of their accounts. I learned that their are actually people on this forum that will give you advice then link you to a page where you can buy a system .... not created by them.... yeah ok....
I also learned that fully testing your system backtesting forward testing for an extensive length of time is a huge part of the learning process and well as development of your trading style.. i think i even read a post where someone talked about backtesting forward testing then posted his result and said how can i improve and someone commented wow you backtested for 80 hours and forward for 5 months ... congrats your prolly in the top 5% of investors on the forum.
i dunno how helpful any of that ranting was but it seemed relevant to post my experiences. since i struggled through the same thing...
when i started i thought well lets read a butt load about this stuff so i started reading i read alot of books probably the best one for a beginner would be "getting started in candlestick charting." .. then there was a book that just discussed the different styles of trading and how they are done...
then i picked the one that made the most since to me I said well since everything is supply and demand i guess momentum makes the most since... then i thought well how does this work... and i started researching my A double scribble off and found a basic strategy... and to be honest it completely blew....
I go to college and work two jobs to pay for it myself and my first thought was F throwing money out there and losing I cant afford that... so i started paper trading I paper traded my little heart out for about 6 months in EVERYTHING the forex, stocks, long term, short term, i traded options, futures. and at first i blew soooooo hard.
i killed probably 20 forex accounts to 0 and reset investopedia.com's stock simulator 400 times... then one day i started seeing trends almost how neo in the matrix could see the code it was a beautiful thing.. not saying that i can look at a chart and see the future but im saying that one day i logged on i didnt have to look up what a certain indicator meant or reference to candlestick patterns to measure market emotion...
and i realized my holes in my system changed it set myself limits established clear moves that i had not done before i basically was going in an saying hey i think this will move this way i dunno how much so lets invest ... after 6 months i said here is a change in consumer buying i see changing momentum saw clear established entry points determined strong exit points all while using small lot sizes or small portions of my actual capital to minimize potential risk and losses and well as using stop losses and limit orders.
after reading and having my strategy in forward papertrading testing i read more i wanted to know more because knowledge will bring you advantage i wanted to understand market movement i wanted to understand why the market moved how the market moved why the market moved the way it did and why did i move the amount it did.
4 300 page books and 3 audiotapes and 3 months of reading these forums and not posting taught me so much more
i learned that there are words for people who chase profits only to end in the demise of their accounts. I learned that their are actually people on this forum that will give you advice then link you to a page where you can buy a system .... not created by them.... yeah ok....
I also learned that fully testing your system backtesting forward testing for an extensive length of time is a huge part of the learning process and well as development of your trading style.. i think i even read a post where someone talked about backtesting forward testing then posted his result and said how can i improve and someone commented wow you backtested for 80 hours and forward for 5 months ... congrats your prolly in the top 5% of investors on the forum.
i dunno how helpful any of that ranting was but it seemed relevant to post my experiences. since i struggled through the same thing...
Give forex a try, on a good day, 25% is possible when the market's moving well although it takes some time to learn however.
Your options pick looks like winners but it seems like you missed the price action when you enter the trade; you need to time it a little better using some type of indicator such as stoch...Good luck.
Your options pick looks like winners but it seems like you missed the price action when you enter the trade; you need to time it a little better using some type of indicator such as stoch...Good luck.
Go join the military.
1. Get a life. Your schedule indicates your happiness depends on success in trading. It won't work that way. OK, I admit that we all want to retire ASAP, but your regimine is not sustainable. You need daily exercise after trading. You need sex. You need time outside... yes, even if its cold.
2. Learn how to eliminate emotions from your trading. Only live cash trading can do that for you. No book will teach you the point at which you are so sick of losing money for not following your own rules, that you get mad at yourself and either quit or decide to punish yourself if you do it again (I quit three times when I started). You trade waaaaaaaaay too long term for my advise on specific trading.
3. Get balanced. You cannot look to trading as your escape from punching a clock until you make a system that is consistently profitable over time.
Seeing that you are in emotional straits about your losses, I advise you to drop trading, stick what is left from your account into a 1-year CD, and spend your current trading time improving your marketable job skills instead, so you can work for a wage higher than slavery and build some kind of living for yourself. By definition, if trading is as important to you as your job, you are emotionally involved with your trades, and you will eventually blow up.
In one year, if you have six months of all living and fun expenses saved and are content with life in general (I said content, not happy, two different things), trade a few hours per day and research on the weekends.
I'm going to tell you something I only shared with traders close to me, who cannot afford to trade. If, after one year, you miss trading so much because you want to be financially free, that you hurt and cry... then you will know it's what you are supposed to be doing. Most guys won't wait a year. I will be watching for your October 2009 post regarding your success with a fiscal foundation, your general content with your lifestyle, and your choice to returning to trading.
If it doesn't work out for any of those three conditions, I don't want to see your ass here again. Finish a graduate degree without debt and then work 40 hours. Trading is not for you... at this time.
2. Learn how to eliminate emotions from your trading. Only live cash trading can do that for you. No book will teach you the point at which you are so sick of losing money for not following your own rules, that you get mad at yourself and either quit or decide to punish yourself if you do it again (I quit three times when I started). You trade waaaaaaaaay too long term for my advise on specific trading.
3. Get balanced. You cannot look to trading as your escape from punching a clock until you make a system that is consistently profitable over time.
Seeing that you are in emotional straits about your losses, I advise you to drop trading, stick what is left from your account into a 1-year CD, and spend your current trading time improving your marketable job skills instead, so you can work for a wage higher than slavery and build some kind of living for yourself. By definition, if trading is as important to you as your job, you are emotionally involved with your trades, and you will eventually blow up.
In one year, if you have six months of all living and fun expenses saved and are content with life in general (I said content, not happy, two different things), trade a few hours per day and research on the weekends.
I'm going to tell you something I only shared with traders close to me, who cannot afford to trade. If, after one year, you miss trading so much because you want to be financially free, that you hurt and cry... then you will know it's what you are supposed to be doing. Most guys won't wait a year. I will be watching for your October 2009 post regarding your success with a fiscal foundation, your general content with your lifestyle, and your choice to returning to trading.
If it doesn't work out for any of those three conditions, I don't want to see your ass here again. Finish a graduate degree without debt and then work 40 hours. Trading is not for you... at this time.
Read this guy's journal, it might help you some what with your trading.
http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?threadid=115745
http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?threadid=115745