Why Trading is so Hard

piezoe said:
Something that all experienced traders have learned , or been taught, that won't be recognized by beginning traders, and that makes profitable trading even harder, is that a surprising number of things that investment banks and brokers advise their clients to do may not be at all in the individual would-be traders best interest. Arthur Levitt, a former SEC Chairman, said it best when he wrote, "Your broker is not your friend."* And too, although there is much helpful literature available, there is also a world of self-appointed trading gurus that sound authoritative and sell books and courses that are of little real value when it comes to making money from the markets; yet they are an appealing trap for beginners.
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Excellent points, and this aligns exactly with how I trade. New traders need to understand the forces at play:

  • Brokers need to keep the lights on- Markets seek to take price where there will be the most volume (weather it is intraday intraweek or intra year, markets move to the spot that pisses most off AND makes the brokers most money)
  • Same thing with the exchanges, Volume too is ULTRA important it is to the broker and they too prefer markets to occilate to the point of which most are pissed off and trading the most
  • The two points I'm describing above are massively useful for the HUGE trader to operate and get in and get out, there is enough volume for them to operate...without these huge institutions the Brokers and Exchanges will not be profitable
  • The VIG, the retail broker... you are just fluff, being fooled by the news and the brokerage firms releasing statements etc, trying to squeeze out commissions and shake you out at the high volume spots for the large traders to operate in.

I'm not saying look for massive volume and that is the spot to always operate in... but remember these are the locations that the overall market targets and they serve as magnets...because that is where the huge moneymakers in the industry need to the markets to go for their survival. The trick is to anticipate where these levels are and target them.


This is the lens I look through, take it from me as my account is up very large this month and this year. I too had to spend years learning, many hours a week, many losses and pain/depression and kept wondering why I do this. Then I got good.
 
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schweiz said:
For somebody who is not making money as he finds trading hard, anybody who makes money is bragging. The only way to confirm that trading is not hard is by confirming that you have a good system. The road to finding the edge for profitable trading is hard, not the trading in itself.

You said "honesty would be appreciated". But what you mean apparently is that only people who struggle also can reply; as profitable traders put salt in the wound. Reality can be hard and make you feel crap. But that might be a wake up call for you, and maybe you should question yourself as a trader or change tactics. It took me a decade to become profitable.
What you see as crap might be very valuable and good information for you. Many people see positive comments as valuable and negative (but well funded) comments as crap. Maybe they have problems with their ego. You should always put everything in question if you have problems, and not selectively what you hope is the problem, or to protect yourself. If you don't do that you might never improve your trading as you deny the real problem: yourself.

In the decacde that I struggled to become profitable I questioned myself many times and received sometimes very unpleasant comments. But analyzing ALL the received comments brought me where I am now. Selectively using comments would have left me where I was at the beginning: nowhere.
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Hello schweiz,

I appreciate your response. It was very well stated and needed to be said. Thanks
 
bilbo64 said:
trading is easy for the people who trade for fun, on the other hand if you trade for a living you will never find trading easy. trading for a living is very hard and most people are struggling in it.
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The same people whining and complaining about trading being hard, are the ones not willing to put the necessary effort! Funny, you talk about trading for a living. Very few succeed or even able to make monies because so few put in the effort! You waste your time going on a wild goose chase chasing the perfect system, listening to trolls, listening to BS artists instead, of doing your own research and figuring out what works and what doesn't work in the stockmarket. Look in the mirror, the enemy is thee! Nobody is going to fix your bad habits and mistakes but, you! There is a wealth of information on You Tube and Google. Use it! And who trades for fun? The same guys who think this is a game! I trade to make monies because if I fail, the other guys will take my monies!
 
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cafeole said:
The problem is there is a wealth of BAD information out there as well and most cannot tell the difference.

Just search through EliteTrader looking for trading information and you find people with opposite views defending them to the death.
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Yep, best to be your own source of information....do the work.
 
cafeole said:
The problem is there is a wealth of BAD information out there as well and most cannot tell the difference.

Just search through EliteTrader looking for trading information and you find people with opposite views defending them to the death.
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That is why you need to backtest your strategies. Backtesting has been covered in another thread. Again, it boils down to effort. Nobody is going to do the grunt work for you. On the plus side, once, a theory has been disproven, you can move on to a more promising strategy. No rule says you cannot backtest multiple strategies. At the end, it is all on you! Nobody is going to hand it to you on a silver platter!
 
smallfil said:
That is why you need to backtest your strategies. Backtesting has been covered in another thread. Again, it boils down to effort. Nobody is going to do the grunt work for you. On the plus side, once, a theory has been disproven, you can move on to a more promising strategy. No rule says you cannot backtest multiple strategies. At the end, it is all on you! Nobody is going to hand it to you on a silver platter!
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My point was to the advice of going to youtube for instruction. A newbie will have no idea what is good and what is bad.

I agree with you about backtesting. Trading is an individual effort and blindly following anyone is dangerous. My strategy, my trades.
 
cafeole said:
My point was to the advice of going to youtube for instruction. A newbie will have no idea what is good and what is bad.

I agree with you about backtesting. Trading is an individual effort and blindly following anyone is dangerous. My strategy, my trades.
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If they watch enough videos, they will atleast, get the basic setups to start them on their search for trading proficiency. Now, if they are really lazy, better to be an investor instead, of a trader. They can position trade and still make monies. Less effort, less time commitment, longer time frame. Or short term, learn to scalp the stockmarket. Again, you just need to figure out how to do to it! This time, you have to settle for smaller returns!
 
My turn to chime in.. there are some very good Youtubers out there... even those are not trying to sell you there program... lately I have been watching alot of Ptrick Weiland, Joseph Jones, and The Duomo Initiative... good stuff especially on the mental game of trading
 
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