Would you share a trading idea?

Thunderdog · Oct 9, 2005

Quote from Spydertrader:

I've done so here for the last year.

- Spydertrader

Yes, apparently you have. My apologies. I don't know how successful you are because I have not followed your journal or any other for that matter. May I ask what kind of percentage return you have achieved on your trading capital on an annualized basis?

saturnine · Oct 9, 2005

One major problem with this argument: The turtle's method was a secret for a long time... In fact, only until recent years was it opened to the public, and even then only because someone that failed as being a turtle decided to sell the idea. Sorry if this was already brought up.

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....

Why does this discrepancy exist? I think because the experienced traders realize that success does not depend on one idea or setup but rather on the process of continuous learning - which is only possible through the exchange of ideas with other great traders. Also, there is a large psychological element where many times, even when a traders is shown a specific set up or idea, they wont' be able to handle trading it profitably.

martys · Oct 9, 2005

Quote from Thunderdog:

Yes, apparently you have. My apologies. I don't know how successful you are because I have not followed your journal or any other for that matter. May I ask what kind of percentage return you have achieved on your trading capital on an annualized basis?

The equity curve is in his last post. I think he did 100% for the year.

nitro · Oct 9, 2005

You can fool some of the people all of the time, and you can fool all the people some of the time, but you can't fool all of the people all of the time.

nitro

Quote from Charlie Dow:

...The bit of satisfaction would come from the handful of traders that follow what you do "to the letter" ...

Multioption · Oct 9, 2005

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....

Why does this discrepancy exist? I think because the experienced traders realize that success does not depend on one idea or setup but rather on the process of continuous learning - which is only possible through the exchange of ideas with other great traders. Also, there is a large psychological element where many times, even when a traders is shown a specific set up or idea, they wont' be able to handle trading it profitably.

Brilliant post! I have shared my trading secrets with lots of folks. To those who surmise that there is no such thing as the holy grail I wish to say that there is.

Why I teach my trading secrets hinges on manual work involved.

My philosophy about the markets: market is like a minting machine that requires manual labour. Output (profits) is directly proportional to the applied strength.

I'm currently trying to grow 10K account to 100K before December ending. Please check this link to monitor my performance: http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=56457

Pabst · Oct 9, 2005

The premise of this thread was whether the performance a system would be enhanced by sharing. I say of course not. Rather it's performance would be degraded.

That's not to say one must be greedy about discussing, mentoring or helping. I hope you see this is an apples vs. oranges argument.

rubberbird · Oct 9, 2005

Quote from Pabst:

The premise of this thread was whether the performance a system would be enhanced by sharing. I say of course not. Rather it's performance would be degraded.

That's not to say one must be greedy about discussing, mentoring or helping. I hope you see this is an apples vs. oranges argument.

amigo, don't waste your breath. of course what you're saying makes total sense, and has already been proven. sharing a strategy (ie. ticker symbols and entry points) with others would certainly degrade anyones performance. with penny increments, you know how many would then line up a few pennies in front? alot. and the odds of your trade being made then goes way down.

when you say that you hope people see apples to oranges, yes it's easy to see. but look at the element your appealling to here. i'd say over 50% of the readers aren't able to understand.

FuturesTrader71 · Oct 9, 2005

Quote from Pabst:

The premise of this thread was whether the performance a system would be enhanced by sharing. I say of course not. Rather it's performance would be degraded.

That's not to say one must be greedy about discussing, mentoring or helping. I hope you see this is an apples vs. oranges argument.

You are right about the OP discussing sharing a system. I was responding to sharing ideas. I didn't reread his original post before responding and responded to the thread title instead.

I can't see how a system can maintain an edge for long after it is made public. Everyone who has the system would be front-running your signals (assuming the system is not discretionary). When it comes to discretionary entries/exits, my thoughts are different.

coolweb · Oct 9, 2005

I just found this thread incredibly funny,

Here is the flow:

Thread starter - Asked if anybody would share ideas

Couple posters - said that was a retarded idea

I said - Yeah its ok to share knowledge not specifics

Babak - Only inexperienced traders won't share knowledge

All other posters - Yes, I AGREE, I ALWAYS SHARE KNOWLEDGE!

RubberBird/Pabts - No dummy , nobody smart shares knowledge!

All other posters -I AGREE NOBODY SHARES KNOWLEDGE

Got to love the herd mentality in here

Its almost like a stock pump and dump action in here but with ideas!
Peaks and valleys BAHAHAH!

GOT TO LOVE IT!

LOL!

FuturesTrader71 · Oct 9, 2005

Quote from coolweb:

[...]

All other posters -I AGREE NOBODY SHARES KNOWLEDGE

Got to love the herd mentality in here
Its almost like a stock pump and dump action in here but with ideas!
Peaks and valleys BAHAHAH!

GOT TO LOVE IT!

LOL!

I have added emphasis to my last post to show that my thoughts on this differ when it comes to specific systems (as in.... instrument, entry point, exit point, stop point) being shared. My previous post agreeing with Babak was in reference to a trading idea just as the thread title implies. To me, these are different as Pabst mentions ("...apples vs. oranges argument).

PS: Regardless, don't underestimate the power of the herd when it comes to trading.

Cheers.