300% return on capital !

Originally Posted by Aleph Sigma Chi

In my early days as a trader I was exceptionally lucky to have a mentor. A man of senior years, kind manner and with the sharpness of wit and presence of mind only a veteran trader has. “Trading.” He said. “In no other field of human endeavor of which I have experience do so many enter with expectations of achieving immediate and overwhelming success, but with no intention, desire or expectation of expending the tremendous effort necessary in acquiring the appropriate level of skill, knowledge and experience required to ensure that success. And while initial underestimation of the amount of effort required can be forgiven, what stuns me still, is when they are given guidance from those who know as to just how much graft is required, they still believe they can do it without. Why is that?

I know quite a few traders. That is, a few who have been trading a significant length of time and are consistently successful. I have also known a far higher number of ‘bright stars’ who burst upon the trading firmament, only to be engulfed by their own incandescence a short while after reaching their zenith.


Trading is not a get rich quick endeavor. Or if it is for you, the probability of you keeping your new found wealth over any usefully appreciable amount of time is very low. If you’re in that happy and dangerous situation - stop now and do something else! Anything else.


The only successful traders are those who have been doing it for a long while and they are successful because they have been doing it a long while. Circular? Yes. Helpful? Not at first glance. If you’re looking to find the Holy Grail you should switch off at this point.


For those who want to learn, they need to listen. And listen in a very different way to that which they are used to.


In the same way the human ear must physically detect acoustic vibrations to hear sounds, so must the trader train him or herself to detect information from across all the physical senses and from the supra-physical senses too.

Some will call it “traders’ intuition”, others “being in sync with the market”. But it goes much further than that in that. You must develop skills in order to develop skills. Do you understand this? The skills you must develop in order to develop the skills you need for trading successfully are focus, concentration, awareness and absolute and total commitment. To understand the difference between awareness and perception. And to train yourself to delay the transition of one into the other. This is just the start. If I were to tell you, honestly and simply the process you will have to go through, the effort, the hours, the physical and mental strain and the contortions of mind you will need to perform – you would either not believe me or if you did, would choose not to do it. Who in their right mind would? But for those few who have no choice, who are burning with the passion to trade, the absolute need to trade, they will willingly follow and inwardly recognize and comprehend that what I am saying is true. Because they know it can’t be that easy. Or every fool and his dog would be doing it. These are the sensible ones. The ones that can learn.”

This didn’t work for me. I didn’t want to go through all that hassle. I just wanted to trade. And quite frankly, I didn’t need to go through all that. Why? Because I could do it quicker, easier and make more money more quickly. Because I was special. Above average.


Years later and after serious initial capital losses, I realized I was the successful trader I had started out wanting to be. Through my own route. Ending up at that same destination my mentor had tried so hard to tell me about. I had learned my way. The hard way. The expensive way. I attempted to trade before I developed the characteristics of a successful trader. The wrong way round. The way most would-be traders do it. And he was right. If I had known just what would be involved I would never have undertaken the journey.


Has this put you off? Good. Becuase if my just telling you this can do it, you would never have lasted the journey anyway. I've saved you time, money and torment.


If however, you have no choice in the matter, you're probably made of trader stuff. Not only will you learn to trade, you will have had to develop skills that will have a value to you far greater than mere trading profits.


I'll post again when I get the time and develop this thread further.

Originally Posted by HarryMinot

Has this put you off? Good. Because if my just telling you this can do it, you would never have lasted the journey anyway. I've saved you time, money and torment.

If however, you have no choice in the matter, you're probably made of trader stuff. Not only will you learn to trade, you will have had to develop skills that will have a value to you far greater than mere trading profits.

Originally Posted by HarryMinot

Some will call it “traders’ intuition”, others “being in sync with the market”. But it goes much further than that. You must develop skills in order to develop skills. Do you understand this? The skills you must develop in order to develop the skills you need for trading successfully are focus, concentration, awareness and absolute and total commitment.

Originally Posted by kwickwool

You know sometimes you have to take a path becasue it is in your blood, almost like the tale of the scorpian and the toad when the scorpion wants to cross the river? Sure you all know it.

Any one can try and offer adice here, to be a successful trader have said it many times, you have to be very clever, self learning, absorb a lot of information in a nano second at times and quite simply only the strongest and the best survive. So much an out of the box thinker and no doubt It is the game of the gods and a very hard way to make a very easy living. Unless you have all the right traits you probably wont make it but is that not what we all love about it? It is a never changing animal and you either continually adapt or you die, simple evolution.

His post here is so typical of an early trader mentality with his self assurance and 100% confidence in what he is doing and yes only time will tell if he is made of the right stuff but wish the guy the best of luck.

Yes it does take years to learn no doubt and I do laugh at the way I used to trade back in the early days and after years love the fact that I feel at times I am conducting an orchestra with the market, butn I learnt that from myself and just continually watching the markets but we all have to start somewhere and you have to sail close to the rocks to learn the best lessons in life and why should this guy not go where he wants to go and good to hear he is not sat on some mentours shoulder?????

You guys sometimes think you are in this exclusive club where you have to trade in a certain way and go through a certain learning curve otherwise it is ******** and some posts get ripped apart.

The hieracy love to mock on this site. 99% of traders are arrogant as it comes with the territory and quite frankly there are so many ways to trade, the slow thinking methodical trader as most are on this site have hours spare just staring at charts and troll through this site and love looking down on the rest but the new dynamic trader that is continually adapting and making a dynamic assessment almost every second based not just on your basic fundamentals and indicators, S/R etc but absorbing all of that information plus a lot more that they need to in that split second to enter into a trade are the real traders in my humble and probably no one cares opinion, and they will make the most money hands down if they can get it right.

I never ever wanted to sit on someones shoulders and quite frankly think anyone who does is not made of the right stuff to succeed long term. To start trading with a totally non-biased, freash perspective and opinion on the markets is worth its weight in gold if you have what it takes you will make it regardless. Anyone can follow the pack, are you a shepard or a sheep......................

Good luck fella, not going to offer you anything else apart from that, if you can make it then you will regardless of what I or any other bugger on this site tries to offer you in advice.

Originally Posted by snorre101

Thanks Kwickwool, you are alone voice in the desert. I could not put it better myself.
My trading is going very well indeed, my 12 trades this week have all been positive, and the market was very unsettled ! I will not post my current return on capital as this will only get the Establishment on my back again.
I am either very stupid and very lucky or very clever. I will not answer that. But either is good enough for me.
And arrogance is such a strange feeling.