Best Thread ASK ME ANYTHING: Hoping to Help!

[dbphoenix]

Maybe i'm too risk averse but my view is that if you want to be a full-time trader you need to have a meaningful account ($100k+) AND enough money to live on for 4 years. It's not realistic for most people and that's why most people shouldn't be trading full time and expecting to make a living from it.

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[mackdan]

How can you tell who giving good advice about trading nowadays? Not trying to disrespect anyone!

 

[dbphoenix]

How can you tell who giving good advice about trading nowadays? Not trying to disrespect anyone!

Those who provide something that you can test are a start.

 

[mackdan]

Those who provide something that you can test are a start.

Could you put that into context? I'm unsure on what you mean by 'provide something that you can test'.

 

[dbphoenix]

Could you put that into context? I'm unsure on what you mean by 'provide something that you can test'.

If, for example, someone posts that they took some trade or other, they ought at least to explain why they took it so that you can at least test their methodology and determine for yourself whether or not there's anything to it rather than be in the position of having to take somebody's word for it. Absent all that, your choices are limited to stunned admiration or contemptuous dismissal.

 

[Dian]

Hey Dian,

Tomorton speaks the truth. My 2 cents:

If you took all 2 average middle aged men. one has been investing his savings each month in a managed (or passive for that matter) portfolio of funds. Some equity some bonds some commodities etc. and another who has been day trading his savings each month, swing trading or any other type of trading then on average the investor will have done a LOT better than the punter. I mean trader.

the fact of the matter is most people that trade, lose money. Most people that invest, make money. Leverage will kill you in the short term. compound returns will make you rich in the long term. dollar cost averaging in an incredible thing.

You need to have a think what you really want from this. It almost doesn't make sense to ask which is better. They are completely different things. It's like saying should i take a bicycle or a plane. Sort of depends where you're trying to get to...

If you wanna read:
Peter Brandt for trading - but you will benefit from having some basic understanding before reading his books.
Warren Buffett/Benjamin Graham for investing

Thank you tobecont. I really appreciate.

kind regards

 

[swissy]

Hi Tobecont, excellent thread and thank you for making the effort.

Stops - this area is a bane for retail traders like me. Have you ever traded with a "soft" stop on entry ( ie no stop on entry but an area to action a stop - requires a lot of discipline mind) and then placed a hard stop closer once entry has taken place and PA has settled down to limit risk.

Or Would you consider placing a fixed hard stop and then adjusting?

I have developed a preference for smaller stops and re- entering if I consider the trade remains valid however it's quite easy to get sucked into revenge/over trading with this method.

Many thanks ( in anticipation)

 

[darktone]

Mmmm, stooooops

 

[tomorton]

Someone's had way too much coffee.....

 

[Jason Rogers]

Have you seen the spread widening on FXCM on a Friday night and early doors on a Sunday? And don't forget the 10pm close every day - ridiculous ! The brokers seem to claim it's nothing to do with them and more to do with their liquidity providers (the banks).

My opinion is this is one of the tricks that ensures that most Forex retail traders lose. I'm not sure if it's happening with equities though.

No it is not, it is just rigorous risk management - something beyond most retail traders. Most of whom just read the headline blurb -
1pt spreads! open an account today!

100% right.. widening spreads in illiquid markets is good risk management for us brokers.

if you're an STP firm you have no option but to widen the spreads if your liquidity provider has widened their spreads. B book brokers however will have the choice to remain tight.

Hi Signalcalc,

As others here have already mentioned, the wider spreads you have seen on weekdays at trade rollover time (5pm New York Time), and on Sundays right after the open are not a trick. The fact that you know in advance of the times when this occurs should be your first indication. If you are a short term trader for whom spread widening like this could be a factor, it's simply a matter of waiting for these brief periods to pass. :smart:

While I won't speak for other brokers, FXCM's spreads can widen at these times because on our No Dealing Desk (NDD) forex execution, we simply pass on the best bid and ask prices from our liquidity providers. When the banks widen their spreads due to low liquidity in the market, our spreads will widen accordingly. We don't profit from this, since we offset each client order one-for-one with our LPs on the NDD model which we provide to all Standard and Active Trader accounts.

Also, it's worth noting that we use the same base price for DD execution on Mini accounts (before adding the spread markup) as the base price we use for our NDD forex execution (before adding the commission). That's a key reason you can have confidence trading with FXCM regardless of the account type you choose.

 

[TexasRangersFan]

Hi All,

Forgive my self indulgence...

I have recently decided I would like to spend more time writing. Having committed my life to trading markets, there's little else that I can write about that will be of any use to anyone.


I won't be charging anyone for anything. As above, this is purely an indulgence for me.

Please tell me, how can I help?

What is this graph called and what do the numbers mean? I've never seen this style.

http://www.trade2win.com/boards/com...erm-intraday-calls-gold-here.html#post2826014


Post 11510


When you trade do you most often use collar trades, straddles and strangles etc... or you you buy call and put options?

Do you write many options or just buy them?

Do you spend more time on exchange futures like the S and P, FTSE and the VIX or do you spend more time on individual stocks...TSLA, NFLX, AAPL etc.. ?

Thanks!

 

[tobecont]

What is this graph called and what do the numbers mean? I've never seen this style.

http://www.trade2win.com/boards/com...erm-intraday-calls-gold-here.html#post2826014


Post 11510


When you trade do you most often use collar trades, straddles and strangles etc... or you you buy call and put options?

Do you write many options or just buy them?

Do you spend more time on exchange futures like the S and P, FTSE and the VIX or do you spend more time on individual stocks...TSLA, NFLX, AAPL etc.. ?

Thanks!

That's a point and figure chart. Lots on Google about those.

I have traded otc vol in the past as a market maker but pa I only trade linear. I trade both single name and index products across asset classes.

 

[darktone]

In laymans terms what was your No1 objective when you were market maker? Did you ever willingly take a position?

Good to have a serious thread T2W, still appreciating it

 

[Dowser]

Hi tobecont, thanks for starting this thread.

I'm interested in your views around setting stop losses and whether or not they should be trailed. At the the moment my stops are fixed and my initial RR is around 5:1. If the position moves in my favour the risk changes: so, for example, if I have a 10 pt stop and 50 pt target and I'm 40 pts up I'm now risking 50 points to gain 10 so the RR has reversed and is adverse. On the other hand the level at which I entered had some significance (at least from my perspective) and often, if the price returns to that level, sup/res is found and the price once again moves in my favour. I guess the only way to find the most profitable strategy is to test it, but none-the-less I'm interested to hear other peoples views.

 

[tobecont]

In laymans terms what was your No1 objective when you were market maker? Did you ever willingly take a position?

Good to have a serious thread T2W, still appreciating it

To make money...!

The objective is to capture bid/offer spread. Of course the line between market making and proprietary risk taking is blurred.

 

[tobecont]

Hi tobecont, thanks for starting this thread.

I'm interested in your views around setting stop losses and whether or not they should be trailed. At the the moment my stops are fixed and my initial RR is around 5:1. If the position moves in my favour the risk changes: so, for example, if I have a 10 pt stop and 50 pt target and I'm 40 pts up I'm now risking 50 points to gain 10 so the RR has reversed and is adverse. On the other hand the level at which I entered had some significance (at least from my perspective) and often, if the price returns to that level, sup/res is found and the price once again moves in my favour. I guess the only way to find the most profitable strategy is to test it, but none-the-less I'm interested to hear other peoples views.

There's no right answer to stops. Of all the traders I know, each has a slightly different approach to stops/trade exit.

Again, i'm not familiar with any scalping traders/approaches so I cant speak for those but for swing style trading, it certainly makes sense to trail stops as trades go onside. Few comments more generally on stops:

- Think long and hard about exactly where you want your initial stop to be, BEFORE you enter the trade. Then size your position around that stop.
- Zoom out, look at the bigger picture for meaningful retracement lows/highs for opportunities to advance your stop.
- Moving stop to b/e doesn't make sense. The market doesn't care where you got in, it does care where daily/swing extremes are (sort of).
- Different markets trend in different ways. Some need more room than others. Be aware of markets that endure significant localised volatility, give them more space.

Some guys (girls) stop out on the first sign of momentum slowdown, some give trades lots of space. Without understanding your general approach it's difficult to suggest what would likely be best for you.

Instinctively, 5:1 R:R i would say you want to get the stop somewhere close to current levels for a good chunk of the position. Perhaps PM or post more info and I can comment further.

 

[tobecont]

BTW, question for the scalpers/intraday guys: How do you deal with slippage?

I read a lot about 5-10pip stops, risking 0.2-2% of capital per trade. It's not uncommon for G10 FX to gap 20-30 pips. It doesn't take much to make a nice dent in the account with a bit of slippage on your stops...

BTW, slippage is real. There may be low quality brokers that add their own slip but even in the interbank markets, there's no guarantee that your order will get filled at your level. If there's no bid at 100, your 100 stop sell isn't going to get filled at 100. Simple.

 

[Dowser]

BTW, question for the scalpers/intraday guys: How do you deal with slippage?

I read a lot about 5-10pip stops, risking 0.2-2% of capital per trade. It's not uncommon for G10 FX to gap 20-30 pips. It doesn't take much to make a nice dent in the account with a bit of slippage on your stops...

BTW, slippage is real. There may be low quality brokers that add their own slip but even in the interbank markets, there's no guarantee that your order will get filled at your level. If there's no bid at 100, your 100 stop sell isn't going to get filled at 100. Simple.

I day trade (spread bet) IG's and CMC's DOW analogue and in over 1000 trades the most I can remember being slipped is 3 points on a 10 pt stop. My risk is about 1%.

 

[Signalcalc]

BTW, slippage is real. There may be low quality brokers that add their own slip but even in the interbank markets, there's no guarantee that your order will get filled at your level. If there's no bid at 100, your 100 stop sell isn't going to get filled at 100. Simple.

Do you know the type of trader ( or investor/speculator) that you target, do you know the personality of those traders and attempt to profile them ?

 

[tobecont]

Do you know the type of trader ( or investor/speculator) that you target, do you know the personality of those traders and attempt to profile them ?

Sorry not sure I understand? Target in what sense?