How do we "learn" to take losses and to follow our stop loss?

[dbphoenix]

Mechanicals are what are revealed by a price time and volume chart with open high low and close bars. That's all.

I don't recall making any reference to charts. But perhaps you're referring to some other debate.

 

[JumpOff]

Sorry, neither you Jump Off, nor you DB Pheonix are correct in what you say about an edge.

What you both describe is prudent trading, as a consequence of mechanical skill.

An edge is much more than that, because it involves possession of total expertise.

Total expertise does not just encapsulate very deep and detailed knowledge about all this, it includes having extra abilities that confer upon the holder that extra indefinable advantage.

This is because in addition to all the components being crucial to the core skills of a trader, there are other add ons, which are specific extras.It is these add ons that give the edge.

Hi Socrates,
"your edge" may be more than prudent trading, more than competent mechanical skill, more whatever it is that you have achieved. I don't doubt it for a minute!

But for the rest of us, and particularly for those of us who are beginners, we must use what core skills and knowledge we can discover in progressive steps along the way. There are bills to pay and mouths to feed, and the bulk of us can not wait for the add ons before we embarked on the earning part. We must gather pips in whatever meager fashion we are able to sustain. I suspect this impedes our progress, yet I don't see any way around this issue. No one has yet offered to stake my pot and support me in the manner to which I would like to become accustomed while I go about the task of discovering how to trade..

Sigh...
JO

 

[Salty Gibbon]

I believe that you can be an expert on TA, have a huge reservoir of technical knowledge, know lots of reliable set-ups etc. etc., yet not even begin to come close to having an edge.

I believe the edge comes when you find a style of trading that fits perfectly with your character and temperament. Only then can you be totally comfortable with yourself when trading and then the application of all that technical knowledge takes on real meaning.

And then at last you have your own personal edge which should enable you to trade comfortably and consistently in a successful manner.

It does take a long time to get there though and I can fully understand why some people never get there. It is because they fail to realise the importance of personal temperament and character and insist on trying to trade in a way that is entirely unsuited to their own personal psychological make up.

For what it's worth that's my humble opinion.

 

[nine]

Salty,

If you have found a method that is truly suited to your personal temperament and character then why do you need discipline ... surely it would just happen?



Confession: I need heaps of discipline but it gets less over time.

 

[Salty Gibbon]

Sorry Kiwi, I don't agree.

I don't find the discipline thing at all easy and I have to work on it all the time. I use the "Trading Mind" CD to try and keep me on course.

Even though I trade in the way that best suits my temperament - and that is very short term trades in very short time frames due to my natural propensity for impatience - I still need to work hard at maintaining discipline.

Maybe I should have said that a combination of technical knowledge, a trading style that suits one's temperament and the maintenance of discipline at all times, should provide you with an edge.

Note the word " should" rather than "will".

Nothing is certain, especially in this game.

 

[nine]

Just teasing Salty.

 

[Salty Gibbon]

No sweat Kiwi

 

[dbphoenix]

To make the point yet again, however, unless the strategy is consistently profitable, it really doesn't matter how much one knows or how hard one works or how much time one puts in or how comfortable and relaxed he is: he'll still lose money.

 

[Salty Gibbon]

So does an edge provide consistent profits or do consistent profits provide an edge ?

 

[dbphoenix]

An edge is the knowledge proved through research that a particular price pattern or market behavior offers an acceptable level of predictability and risk to reward to provide a consistently profitable outcome over time.

 

[Salty Gibbon]

If an edge is simply knowledge, then you still require discipline in your trading approach in order to take advantage of that edge and capitalise on it.

And through the application of discipline we "learn to take losses and to follow our stop loss" which is what this thread is about isn't it ?

Everything is intertwined isn't it but discipline is the key ingredient I think.

Edge and discipline go hand in hand. One is useless without the other.

What the hell am I going on about ? Time for a beer.

 

[barjon]

Salty,

Bit late in the game on this but I suppose having a beer is the answer.

Enter, stick in your stop loss and take profit orders, turn off computer, go and have a beer.

good trading

jon

 

[SOCRATES]

An edge is the knowledge proved through research that a particular price pattern or market behavior offers an acceptable level of predictability and risk to reward to provide a consistently profitable outcome over time.

NO, again, this is not correct. I am busy at the moment and will add to this comment later....

 

[Salty Gibbon]

Enter, stick in your stop loss and take profit orders, turn off computer, go and have a beer.

What happens if you're enjoying a quart or two of ale and the price takes out your limit order for the profit and then reverses back through your stop before you get to the dregs and turn your computer back on then ?

 

[nine]

Thats what OCO orders are for --- of course I would have to leave my computer on so that NinjaTrader could manage the trade for me.

 

[dbphoenix]

If an edge is simply knowledge, then you still require discipline in your trading approach in order to take advantage of that edge and capitalise on it.

I didn't say it was "simply knowledge". There's much more to it than that. I suggest you read the definition again.

 

[dbphoenix]

NO, again, this is not correct. I am busy at the moment and will add to this comment later....

No need to shout, Socrates (seems you want to argue about this, after all). It may not be correct for you, but then your way isn't for everyone, either.

There are many ways to make money, and yours is but one.

 

[Salty Gibbon]

Too tedious and boring.

Beer beckons again.

 

[dbphoenix]

Too tedious and boring.
.

Most people would agree with you.

 

[Salty Gibbon]

Don't know whether your definition of edge is right or wrong Dbp but at least I can understand it which is more than I can say for some of the abstract stuff that old Soc puts out from time to time, lol.