I can hardly break even

T

Treve

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After years of reading about trading and few months of actual trading I have found out that this is a very difficult business indeed. My greatest success is to break even, and I don’t think I will be profitable in the future. I have spent too much time and energy, instead of enjoying the life. So before I lose my capital I would like to ask few questions here from the experienced traders:

1.What kind of long term and safe investment would you recommend?

2.There are webinars I guess where you can actually follow life trading for a monthly subscription. I assume that most of the services are not reliable, but I believe there must be at least few honest providers. Here I am not interested in any trading tutors, I just would like to follow exactly what the trader is doing (enter, exit), and at best such a service should be offered for a free trial or for a small amount of money for the first month or so. In this case I could consider the provider as reliable.

3.Does anyone know an extremely simple system that really works, whether I have to pay for it or not and it doesn’t matter how expensive it is as long as it is REALLY working. For example: O'Higgins “Beating the Dow” or “The foolish four” makes some sense to me, but I am sure there must be something better than that.

4.If there was a thread opened with similar questions, kindly provide the link.

Thank you so much!!!!
 
Hi Treve

I know it is frustrating when you just can't make it work.
I belong to a live chat room that is really good -http://www.1automationwiz.com/app/?af=986347
& if you look at my profile & get my website address, I may be able to help with a simple breakout system ..it's been working well for me & i will be happy to walk you through it
Good luck & don't give up yet
 
Treve said:
After years of reading about trading and few months of actual trading I have found out that this is a very difficult business indeed. My greatest success is to break even, and I don’t think I will be profitable in the future. I have spent too much time and energy, instead of enjoying the life. So before I lose my capital I would like to ask few questions here from the experienced traders:

1.What kind of long term and safe investment would you recommend?

2.There are webinars I guess where you can actually follow life trading for a monthly subscription. I assume that most of the services are not reliable, but I believe there must be at least few honest providers. Here I am not interested in any trading tutors, I just would like to follow exactly what the trader is doing (enter, exit), and at best such a service should be offered for a free trial or for a small amount of money for the first month or so. In this case I could consider the provider as reliable.

3.Does anyone know an extremely simple system that really works, whether I have to pay for it or not and it doesn’t matter how expensive it is as long as it is REALLY working. For example: O'Higgins “Beating the Dow” or “The foolish four” makes some sense to me, but I am sure there must be something better than that.

4.If there was a thread opened with similar questions, kindly provide the link.

Thank you so much!!!!
Click to expand...

Stay away from the books for a while, start reading posts in this forum (you ll eventually see how I have struggled so far). Watch the market yourself. And most of all trust yourself in developing your own style.
And btw, throw away all the indicators, no matter what they re telling you (watch the price). Can be painful, but it the only way for me. Go back to simulator.

Good mentor would also help at this stage. Don`t give up. You may be v close now.
 
Treve said:
After years of reading about trading and few months of actual trading I have found out that this is a very difficult business indeed. My greatest success is to break even, and I don’t think I will be profitable in the future. I have spent too much time and energy, instead of enjoying the life. So before I lose my capital I would like to ask few questions here from the experienced traders:

1.What kind of long term and safe investment would you recommend?

depends on many factors, at the moment, silver is looking good for me. my idea of long term may not be the same as your idea.

2.There are webinars I guess where you can actually follow life trading for a monthly subscription. I assume that most of the services are not reliable, but I believe there must be at least few honest providers. Here I am not interested in any trading tutors, I just would like to follow exactly what the trader is doing (enter, exit), and at best such a service should be offered for a free trial or for a small amount of money for the first month or so. In this case I could consider the provider as reliable.

you may want to google informagm, I actually went and had an interview with them to work as a currency analyst, I can vouch for the validity of the company, but nothing else.

3.Does anyone know an extremely simple system that really works, whether I have to pay for it or not and it doesn’t matter how expensive it is as long as it is REALLY working. For example: O'Higgins “Beating the Dow” or “The foolish four” makes some sense to me, but I am sure there must be something better than that.

what works for one trader may not necessarily work for another, there are lots of 'systems' out there that work, it is always better to find your own through practice and experience.

4.If there was a thread opened with similar questions, kindly provide the link.

Thank you so much!!!!
Click to expand...

in bold
 
Treve said:
After years of reading about trading and few months of actual trading I have found out that this is a very difficult business indeed. My greatest success is to break even, and I don’t think I will be profitable in the future. I have spent too much time and energy, instead of enjoying the life. So before I lose my capital I would like to ask few questions here from the experienced traders:

1.What kind of long term and safe investment would you recommend?

2.There are webinars I guess where you can actually follow life trading for a monthly subscription. I assume that most of the services are not reliable, but I believe there must be at least few honest providers. Here I am not interested in any trading tutors, I just would like to follow exactly what the trader is doing (enter, exit), and at best such a service should be offered for a free trial or for a small amount of money for the first month or so. In this case I could consider the provider as reliable.

3.Does anyone know an extremely simple system that really works, whether I have to pay for it or not and it doesn’t matter how expensive it is as long as it is REALLY working. For example: O'Higgins “Beating the Dow” or “The foolish four” makes some sense to me, but I am sure there must be something better than that.

4.If there was a thread opened with similar questions, kindly provide the link.

Thank you so much!!!!
Click to expand...

I would say that every single profitable trader on earth had felt exactly the same way as you at some point along the difficult and lonely journey to reaching profitability. The difference is that they dug deep down inside themselves to find that extra ounce of courage to persevere, knowing it would be worth the effort. The majority, who will never, ever reach profitability do what you are on the verge of doing which is to give up and seek a 'simple' solution which does not exist.
 
LOL, new_gayder trying to give advice about trading.

that's like take flying tips from Mohamed Atta .................
 
Thank you!
I am not giving up yet. I can break even now and some people consider this a success already.
But what about that (I have found it in this forum):

“On the 1st Oct you buy the worst 10 performing stocks of the S&P 500 over the last 3 years. Then come Sept 30ish the following year you sell and buy the next 10 worst of the last 3 years etc. Over the last 8 years it's generated 176% return per year.”

Does anyone know about similar long term investments?
 
Treve said:
After years of reading about trading and few months of actual trading I have found out that this is a very difficult business indeed. My greatest success is to break even, and I don’t think I will be profitable in the future. I have spent too much time and energy, instead of enjoying the life.
Click to expand...

A few comments:

1. You've decided to start trading for the first time at a time which has been rarely seen for a long time in the Mrkts is going to be tough. Even experienced traders are probably suffering given the level of volatility that it being experienced currently.

2. If you are spending too much time "trading" then look at longer timeframes. Out of interest, what timeframe are you currently trading?

3. You ask whether there are any profitable strategies that work out there. I assume that you would like to use one and hopefully make money. Trust me this WON'T WORK !! .... unless you spend some time to fully understand the strategy and assess it against your own personality. For example: The strategy may require you to be comfortable with a high drawdown in the short-term. If you can't live with that you will simply stop trading it although it could make money in the long-term.

4. If you have no passion for trading then my advice is to find someone else to manage it...either through a fund or by actually trading it on your behalf. There are no other short-cuts. Either embrace it fully and learn WHY you are not currently making money and spend the time to improve or let someone else do it......

5. If you are generally interested in improving, then this is the place to ask questions :)

Good Luck,

Chorlton
 
new_trader said:
:LOL: No. People and their market gyrations...:rolleyes:
Click to expand...

I did say "probably"

I know a number of very experienced traders some of which are doing well and some which are not. For the purpose of my post though I think most will agree that "dipping ones toes in the Mrkts" for the first time at a time such as this is going to be extremely difficult......................
 
Chorlton said:
I did say "probably"

I know a number of very experienced traders some of which are doing well and some which are not. For the purpose of my post though I think most will agree that "dipping ones toes in the Mrkts" for the first time at a time such as this is going to be extremely difficult......................
Click to expand...


Ok, fair enough you did. I think it is wrong to give people the impression that there is ever a time when it is 'easy' to make money in the markets. This is the impression one could get when you say things like 'current' volatility, climate etc. The fact is, if you don't know what you are doing you will lose money in 'any' market and if you do know what you are doing you will see that markets never change because "There is nothing new in Wall Street. There can't be because speculation is as old as the hills. Whatever happens in the stock market today has happened before and will happen again." -Jesse Livermore, Reminiscences of a stock operator :idea:
 
Treve said:
After years of reading about trading and few months of actual trading I have found out that this is a very difficult business indeed. My greatest success is to break even, and I don’t think I will be profitable in the future. I have spent too much time and energy, instead of enjoying the life. So before I lose my capital I would like to ask few questions here from the experienced traders:

1.What kind of long term and safe investment would you recommend?

2.There are webinars I guess where you can actually follow life trading for a monthly subscription. I assume that most of the services are not reliable, but I believe there must be at least few honest providers. Here I am not interested in any trading tutors, I just would like to follow exactly what the trader is doing (enter, exit), and at best such a service should be offered for a free trial or for a small amount of money for the first month or so. In this case I could consider the provider as reliable.

3.Does anyone know an extremely simple system that really works, whether I have to pay for it or not and it doesn’t matter how expensive it is as long as it is REALLY working. For example: O'Higgins “Beating the Dow” or “The foolish four” makes some sense to me, but I am sure there must be something better than that.

4.If there was a thread opened with similar questions, kindly provide the link.

Thank you so much!!!!
Click to expand...

There are no guarantees that you will ever make it trading.
You can destroy your life trying- especially financially.
The following Jesse Livermore quote might keep you motivated:
"Millions come easier to a trader when he knows how to trade than hundreds did in the days of ignorance".
 
Chorlton,
2. If you are spending too much time "trading" then look at longer timeframes. Out of interest, what timeframe are you currently trading?

My answer: Pairs trading is my strategy. I am keeping the stocks few days to maximum few weeks. The longer I keep them the worse is the results. Also I noticed that most of the stocks I went short are the biggest losers. I am investing the same amount of money for the short and long stocks, but had I invested 60% long and 40% short in the pairs I would do so much better. That I am losing while shorting is most probably due to the market conditions, so the 60% long to 40% short approach might not work in the future.
I bought 34 pairs and only seven of them are losers, but the losers are much higher than the profitable trades, so in the end I break even.

4. If you have no passion for trading then my advice is to find someone else to manage it...either through a fund or by actually trading it on your behalf. There are no other short-cuts. Either embrace it fully and learn WHY you are not currently making money and spend the time to improve or let someone else do it......

My answer: How can I find someone to trade on my behalf? I don't have any friends that are trading stocks.
 
Treve said:
After years of reading about trading and few months of actual trading I have found out that this is a very difficult business indeed. My greatest success is to break even, and I don’t think I will be profitable in the future. I have spent too much time and energy, instead of enjoying the life. So before I lose my capital I would like to ask few questions here from the experienced traders:

1.What kind of long term and safe investment would you recommend?

2.There are webinars I guess where you can actually follow life trading for a monthly subscription. I assume that most of the services are not reliable, but I believe there must be at least few honest providers. Here I am not interested in any trading tutors, I just would like to follow exactly what the trader is doing (enter, exit), and at best such a service should be offered for a free trial or for a small amount of money for the first month or so. In this case I could consider the provider as reliable.

3.Does anyone know an extremely simple system that really works, whether I have to pay for it or not and it doesn’t matter how expensive it is as long as it is REALLY working. For example: O'Higgins “Beating the Dow” or “The foolish four” makes some sense to me, but I am sure there must be something better than that.

4.If there was a thread opened with similar questions, kindly provide the link.

Thank you so much!!!!
Click to expand...

If you can break even you are halve way there! But yeah - I understand it. It costs a lot of psychological effort.

Did you consider trading on daily bars? From my experience it is easier - although you have to have bigger money on account than in case of daytrading.

1. Capricorn?

2. if you really want to spend your money fair I can give you data of one of 'good' services like this(so far good...1 year here). It works completely 'underground' and they are open for new clients only once per month or two months. They work like a "club of traders" growing only with "mouth-to-mouth" method. I am not sure when they are open again but I can check it. PM me if you are interested or if you have no better option/can't earn by yourself.

3. Throw a coin - it will show you if you should go UP or DOWN. Place STOP order 3x times closer to Entry price than your LIMIT order(make it 3x your STOP size). ;)

Seriously - this system could work - it works at least in theory. Don't expect anyone to give you profitable systems for free..and even those who sell it in 90% sell s**am.

Good luck!
 
it works at least in theory.
Click to expand...
In which theory does this work? I'm not saying it doesn't, but it isn't obvious to me why it should work.

It works completely 'underground' and they are open for new clients only once per month or two months.
Click to expand...
I didn't like the use of the word, underground. But perhaps you didn't mean it in the way I read it.
 
Treve said:
Chorlton,
2. If you are spending too much time "trading" then look at longer timeframes. Out of interest, what timeframe are you currently trading?

My answer: Pairs trading is my strategy. I am keeping the stocks few days to maximum few weeks. The longer I keep them the worse is the results. Also I noticed that most of the stocks I went short are the biggest losers. I am investing the same amount of money for the short and long stocks, but had I invested 60% long and 40% short in the pairs I would do so much better. That I am losing while shorting is most probably due to the market conditions, so the 60% long to 40% short approach might not work in the future.
I bought 34 pairs and only seven of them are losers, but the losers are much higher than the profitable trades, so in the end I break even.
Click to expand...

Can I ask why you you have chosen to begin with Pairs Trading? Firstly, I don't use this strategy so can't speak from experience however I know that certain strategies can be easy to understand and implement such as Trend Following. This is not to say that they will reap more rewards though.


4. If you have no passion for trading then my advice is to find someone else to manage it...either through a fund or by actually trading it on your behalf. There are no other short-cuts. Either embrace it fully and learn WHY you are not currently making money and spend the time to improve or let someone else do it......

My answer: How can I find someone to trade on my behalf? I don't have any friends that are trading stocks.
Click to expand...

I'm sure if you ask around on here you will get some potential leads to follow up.... The other more easier solution is to invest in Funds. Might be worth investigating ETF's (Exchange Traded Funds).

Again this is not something that I personally do but it will allow you to get exposed to a range of equities in one go.
 
disi said:
3. Throw a coin - it will show you if you should go UP or DOWN. Place STOP order 3x times closer to Entry price than your LIMIT order(make it 3x your STOP size). ;)

Seriously - this system could work - it works at least in theory.
Click to expand...

Actually there is nothing to say that this would work in theory !!

However, I know where you going though ;)
 
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