Would you share a trading idea?

[nononsense]

Quote from martys:

Great work Spidie!
Does anyone trade other "public" methods profitably?

Going by ET popular widom, most trade methods un-profitably, public or private.

 

[OptionScreen]

Quote from Babak:

Over the years, I've noticed that the greater the trader the more open they are and willing to share ideas. The more inexperienced and less skilled traders all think that they've discovered something that is so darned precious that it can't be shared (meanwhile they have nothing of value 99.999% of the time to begin with).

Look at all the ideas that have been shared by traders over the years: put call ratio, LBR's stuff, Tony Oz's stuff, Cook's cumulative tick, Donchian (turtles), and on and on....

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Pabst, the ideas that the 'vendors' disseminate are the same ones the continue to use to make money. But lets leave them aside. What about all those who aren't vendors?

Just a laundry list: Woodies CCI, Praetorian's GNP, Maoxian's 'dummy trades', my end of year plays, etc... These and more have been shared with all to see.

Babak, have you been able to build any Non intuitive
system around those educational stuff you mentioned,
aside from any profitability talks?

 

[vulture]

Quote from nitro:

Every successful fund that I know of, e.g., Rentec, DE Shaw, Steve Cohen, Citadel, Doyne Farmers group, etc, are amongst the most secretive firms in regards to their trading strategies that I know.

I don't talk about the way I trade - not even to friends. I have no problems showing my positions though. The only way I would ever disclose my research would be if I were to go into partnership with someone that I trusted and both our moneys were at stake.

nitro

Of all the lies told on ET, this ranks near the top. "I don't talk about the way I trade-not even to friends". WTF do you do 8 hours a day 5 days in a week in the chat room Nitro? Is it all a diversion to what you are REALLY doing?

 

[Lights]

the more people trade your stocks, the better. it will increase the number of suckers. volume is everything.

Quote from reno4nook:

If you had a proven trading system that was consistently profitable, would you share it or keep it to yourself?

Here are 2 possible schools of thought.

NO - Trading is warfare, pure and simple. The other traders are your enemy. To win in this game, you must be better and smarter than the competition. Every dollar you make is taken right out of the pocket of another trader. All warfare is based on deception. Only the strong can survive in this jungle.

YES - The more traders who trade like you, the better. The more people think the same, the more predictable markets become. The extra volume makes market moves bigger and stronger and creates more profit for you. If everyone would follow your system, it would become a self fulfilling prophesy.

any opinions?

 

[MacroEvent]

Quote from vulture:

Of all the lies told on ET, this ranks near the top. "I don't talk about the way I trade-not even to friends". WTF do you do 8 hours a day 5 days in a week in the chat room Nitro? Is it all a diversion to what you are REALLY doing?

maybe that is where he is telling what he wished he was doing!

buuuuuusssssssteeeeeed!!! :eek:

JK

 

[Lights]

you make excellent points. personally, i have my best months when i am paired with a new trader to mentor. it gives me a chance to go over my own rules and focus on them and scrap some bad habits i may have developed. the mere discussion with a newbie helps my own discipline and open up some great ideas.

but everyone would not agree.

i had a guy who used to be on my trading desk who continues to insist that i do not share anything with anyone (after i pretty much got him a position after selling used cars and showed him everything). there i am talking about bonds with a few traders at work, and the guy begins to cringe...

Quote from FuturesTrader71:



The big traders keep things very simple and look at me funny when I ask about the simplest technical aspect because they think it is all out there and is obvious enough. I ask things like, "but why would you buy here if there is this fib/resistance level approaching." Their answer is, "because it is going up." The difference they think between a good trader and a poor one is whether he have the "brass-balls" or not and will not hesitate to act when he is wrong.

I strongly believe this. I have learned a lot by sharing my knowledge with my traders and on here at ET. The questions that arise from the conversations have sometimes led me to make adjustments to improve and evolve with everyone I share with. I can't emphasize how valuable this is. I think many would agree from my postings that I don't hide much and speak freely of what I know.

With that being said, I wouldn't go and hand over a detailed trading plan that I have busted my butt to put together. A good craftsman is not afraid to talk about his tools, materials and approach and doesn't mind putting it out there for everyone to see. However, he doesn't hand his tools out to the crowd and show them exactly how to make each stroke to create what he considers to be his masterpieces.

There is so much information out there now on this site and others where systems are available to the public and some are even detailed to the last dot. This, in my experience, doesn't lead to everyone "making it" in the business. There is a lot to it than a strat or trading plan.

Cheers to all of you.

 

[Charlie Dow]

Quote from reno4nook:

If you had a proven trading system that was consistently profitable, would you share it or keep it to yourself?

Here are 2 possible schools of thought.

NO - Trading is warfare, pure and simple. The other traders are your enemy. To win in this game, you must be better and smarter than the competition. Every dollar you make is taken right out of the pocket of another trader. All warfare is based on deception. Only the strong can survive in this jungle.

YES - The more traders who trade like you, the better. The more people think the same, the more predictable markets become. The extra volume makes market moves bigger and stronger and creates more profit for you. If everyone would follow your system, it would become a self fulfilling prophesy.

any opinions?

YES - Even if you had the best system in the world, a majority of the individuals you initially told wouldn't believe you anyway. They would berate you in forums like this and lie about you to mask their own disabilities in verifying what you do. The bit of satisfaction would come from the handful of traders that follow what you do "to the letter" and succeed wildly. That satisfaction would far outweigh the torment of the ignorance & liars. Then your small group would get together each year an laugh at all the nay-sayers.

 

[Charlie Dow]

Quote from nononsense:

Going by ET popular widom, most trade methods un-profitably, public or private.

There is popular wisdom in here on a consistent basis?

 

[Charlie Dow]

Out of all the systems I studied, glanced at and researched I can honestly say I have only seen only one derived from consistency. That is "The" reason a system will blunt and dissolve over time. Trading patterns, calculations or pulling rabbits out of a hat will only work for a limited time.

 

[steveosborne]

There is a lot of valuable information that can be shared since a successful approach is not a monolithic system of buy and sell signals and could never be. Market behavior is a living thing, resulting from the actions of people who are continuously learning from previous behavior. Rules change continuously but not logic, so successful traders are people who know how to put information together and which information to consider in the current context. The information they use is a disparate combination of elements such as statistics, news, comments, algorithm outputs and charts, and the way they process any of that information is a continuously evolving approach that either involves secrecy and more lab work, in the case of algorithms and charts, or more discussion, in the case of non-quantitative information and processes.

There have been few instances when exchanging opinions with other people in this forum contributed to fine tuning my logical understanding of market behavior. It usually happens when somebody raises a question that I feel to be very pertinent and deserving of an answer. At that point, I start reflecting more seriously on the matter; come up with an explanation; describe my thesis publicly and; in the process of doing so, clarify my understanding of the context and what is going on and end up making a really good call (except for FX, not my game apparently).