Quote from PushPull:
groups:1-800-GAMBLER ; Alcoholic Anonymous; etc
want, don't want, etc... suffering arises from expectations not met.
really good trader?. I don't think so, your statements reflect that, want, want, want...
could...easily...have this... Why don't you have it then?.
That'll be $300 for the profiling and psychological evaluation. I suggest a dose of reality and a conciliation of your brokerage statements to truly reflect your current reality instead of your dreams.
That advice might be best given to the mirror. I don't have this yet because it takes time to grow. My current path doesn't have me breaking even $1 million until 2015. And when it happens, I would like to be able to enjoy it on 3 trades per month and tons of free time. How I trade to get there is probably how I'm going to trade when I'm there so I'm trying to change habits now and find a way to teach myself to pass on moderately appealing trades in favor of just the very appealing trades. In all honesty, I don't have many similarities to a gambler, but do I have a theory of what's really going on.
I feel that the focus on these forums is towards "how can I trade more?" There is an underlying, unspoken, belief that "it's not okay to sit out because trading is the only way to make money and sitting out makes no money." But who supports the notion that it's okay to be on the sidelines and that's a valid and important part of the game? Certainly not your broker. If it was a more talked about concept and more widely accepted practice, I think it would be much easier for many people to trade within their skill level and win. Look at brokerage advertisements, though. Don't they kind of propogate the idea of "Learn to trade any market like the pros," implying that the goal of any trader should be to be able to trade any market? Whose goals are we pursuing? Or the idea of "Open an account today and become rich before these fast predictable markets become slow and unpredictable FOREVER!!!" Ahhhh! Panic, because it will never be good again.
The sense I get is that traders speak the truth with their words and say, "Market conditions change all the time and good conditions like last month will come around again eventually," but subconsciously believe it's not okay to wait or that it won't really happen. When favorable conditions end, they panic and begin frantically looking for a new strategy to trade highly unpredictable markets.
Whether true or not, I get the sense that most posters on here just trade ALL THE TIME in any market, on any day. And if you can't do that you're just not an elite trader. It's not part of the trading culture to trade just what you're good at and be accepting of others who are just trading what they are good at. I think that culture is why many traders overtrade.
Actually just talking this through is immensely helpful. I am going to believe that trading all the time is not normal or smart and that it's a lie propogated by brokerage firms to get amateur traders to make more of their money available. With that said, I'm probably going to be taking a long break from ET's influence until I adjust how I view this whole endeavor.
Later. PM me if you also want to trade less and higher quality.
P.S. When the Dow Jones gets below 12,000 today 10/31/2011 or Tuesday, go long in that sector for a few days. Stop is at 11,940. Target is 12,400. RRR is roughly 7.