Monogamy or polygamy...

[wasp]

A little birdie was telling me I was being talked about and had to come and break my rules of not logging in and thank them.

The member in question also made a very important point in that, trading is personal. I have a multitude of reasoning for trading nothing but Sterling/Yen, and whilst I could list them, what suits me will not suit the next trader.

There is no right or wrong in anything trading wise, as long as the bottom line has a plus before it.

 

[TheHoneyMonster]

Anyone who can divide their attention to watch several instruments at once and be ready and prepared to sucessfully trade them on shorter timeframes, in my opinion would be better off in Vegas counting cards.

I used to try and watch 3 pairs, as i figured, if it works on 1 it works on them all. I was less successful as found i was missing lots of intrabar information that i could only really stay on top of by concentrating on the 1 pair.
Since droppingto 1, i havent looked back, and if i dont make 50 pips or more most days off EUR i have ****ed up somewhere.

I couldnt care less about correlations with other pairs.
I couldnt care less about what is happening on the next timeframe up or down on the pair i am trading.
ALl i care about is the 1 graph in front of me.


As has been said, as long as the returns are there, there really is no right or wrong way to trade. Just different ways.

Any musician will say that there are multiple ways of achieving the same end result. A good guitarist will be able to play the exact same riff in several different ways, if they put their mind to it, through their knowledge of the fretboard and the tones produced. How they got there is not really important. Getting there is the important bit, and to get there, a considerable amount of creative license & individualism is afforded.

 

[TheHoneyMonster]

Like playing a musical instrument, successful trading also requires improvisation.

You need to be able to think clearly and quickly, then act, to stay on the right side of price movements, by recognising what is happening. Problem - solution - reaction.

This is far far easier with the less baggage that you are carrying.
So focusing on 1 pair should help a trader to keep on top of and to grips with the price action tablature, to a far greater level of accuracy than if trying to monitor more than 1.

It is not even easy to follow one pair alone, and to fully understand what is happening and why, especially in real time.

 

[TheHoneyMonster]

Me neither.

What works for me may not work for the next user. And may in fact appear rather too difficult, crude, unneccessary to a more advanced person.
But while its the best i have, and it keeps me in the black, I'll keep it.
I dont doubt that other traders have better approaches, or means of executing them - at the ready, which may facilitate them being able to follow more than one script at a time.

 

[TheHoneyMonster]

The only way i could facilitate trading multi pairs intraday woud be to have a primary and a secondary, if the primary was stuck in a rut, like eurusd today, I could see if the secondary was fairing any better. And if so - trade it.

GBPUSD has had a more wide ranging run of price action toaday, and perhaps could have been traded better than EUR. But GBP has quite different price movement characteristics to it, which need to be adapted to, and the only way to do this is through practise.

Overall though, i believe i am better off sticking to the one plot line.

 

[TheHoneyMonster]

My karate sensei often says karate is a bottomless pit in terms of the number of moves and combinations possible. But to get you out of dangerous situations, you only need to really master a handful of them, and know how they interact and combine. Many of these, the building blocks are learnt in the 1st few weeks of doing karate.

Bruce Lee said - I fear not the man who has practiced 10000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10000 times.

This is so true. Remember Daniel Son in the karate kid, with the famous dangling krane manouvre?

Thousands of guitar chord combinations exist. But a good rythm guitarist who has mastered major, minor, A-G7, bar and power chords, may only need to remember 2-3 dozen fretboard finger position setups to play these, and be extremely good at what they do, if they know inside out, what sound each position will produce (across the fretboard), and when it is to be used.

For me, trading is the same.

Each pair has its own slight differences that make, trying to do the same thing on more than one, difficult. But specialising & becoming really familiar with the one instrument can pay off big time.

 

[TheHoneyMonster]

That's cos it was Chuck Norris and his Flying Roundhouse

Maybe, but you catch my drift.

Also by practising the same moves, be it karate or guitar chord positions, and becoming really familiar with them, you build up the physical strength, toughness, dexterity, speed and agility to be able to perform them effectively and with confidence and without pain.
Trading is the same - all mental obviously.

 

[foredog]

Thousands of guitar chord combinations exist. But a good rythm guitarist who has mastered major, minor, A-G7, bar and power chords, may only need to remember 2-3 dozen fretboard finger position setups to play these, and be extremely good at what they do, if they know inside out, what sound each position will produce (across the fretboard), and when it is to be used.

So it'll hence forth be known as OASIS trading, saem chord played 1000 times making millions!!!

 

[TheHoneyMonster]

So it'll hence forth be known as OASIS trading, saem chord played 1000 times making millions!!!

I take your point, but Oasis actually use a wide array of chords. Just pick an oasis guitar songbook in a music shop, and you'll see that they had/have more than "3 chords and the truth"!

 

[TheHoneyMonster]

By definition, isnt it impossible to "focus" on more than one thing at a time. Playing guitar requires left and right hand working simultaneaously together. You are not really focusing on either task in itself. You are in fact dividing your attention/focus - i.e. multi-tasking. Same with 69er's...

 

[foredog]

If you're playing guitar in a band don't you also have to focus on the drummer etc to make sure you're still in time? SO even though you're concentrating on the one instrument you are aware of the others?

As in trading, although focusing on 1 market you still need to be aware of others to a certain extent.

 

[TheHoneyMonster]

Sure, UK interest rate statment can affect EURUSD price action. Things like that.

But ultimately, i trade eurusd regardless of cable or the dow, and my entries/exits will ultimately be due to eurusd action. So why weigh myself down with anything more concerns than eurusd action itself.

Trading is different to a musical ensemble. Because the musicians form a cohesive closely knit unit working directly together.
The financial markets are no such thing. A trader is responding to what is happening in his particular market.

 

[TheHoneyMonster]

On the subject of oasis. these guys could have been a lot better with a decent lead singer, not afraid to express his feminine side, and not afraid to lift the frikkin mic. from the stand, and untie his fekking hands from behind his back, and "move" around the stage.

I bet Noel rues the day he let "ar kid" join his band!

Its a shame the verve split up, as they were much somewhat more talented.

 

[Crap Buddist]

An omelette is just not eggs you know !

At what point does a trader decide that he cannot follow any more markets out of the thousands available ? What governs this choice? of his dilution of his attention that makes him think or believe that this is in his best interest to aid his expertise ?

To aid your understanding & to shape yourself into a knowledgeable trader, you have a choice, to focus & follow 1 market or 20. What would you choose, and why do you think this will assist you in your performance ?

I cannot help but think traders who trade more than one market are doing so for other reasons other than their own pursuit of excellence . Which is fair enough I guess, but every individual I hope, puts themselves first second and third. Otherwise whose life and rules are you living by ?

Yes I see one can make a conscious decision to sacrifice themselves in the pecking order and putting others first, but this, I feel , will only lead away from excellence of the self, your self , in whatever you choose to do.

Recognizing you have a conscious choice, is perhaps a start into knowing the path one should start to walk upon.

If one is ok with mediocre, then that's fine, again , down to knowing self, and what you want & must do for you and your own standards. If you do not know what your own standards are or should be then you need to start putting yourself 1st ,2nd and 3rd. You own needs should be important to you should they not ?

Maybe you have not given yourself (or/and others around you) the time and interest to understand what is important to and for you.

In cooking, if the chef cannot perfect cooking a simple omelette, what makes the chef think he can manage 7 courses ?

Does the chef care about cooking to perfection, is it important to him, does he care or have the passion inside? Or is the chef happy to perform and serve bad or average food?

Let's ask each chef what he wants, because he might only like the idea of cooking (as a job) and want to actually be doing something else that he has a passion for instead.

Chef , do you want to perform well and serve excellent food that you are proud of ? Or do you care for anything less of that standard?

Whose getting hungry ? :cheesy:

Anyone check out Marco Pierre White in Hells ? Quickly quickly quickly, bring me the crab, bring me the crab, crab, crab, crab......

His favourate quote he said was by Atilla the Hun, "Success is not enough, it is necessary for everyone else to fail"

mmmm , still not got me head around that one yet, anyone else have ? I mean it seems pretty brutal outlook to me hommies, some trippy **** goin on there SA . :cheesy:

"quickly ,quickly quickly......."

 

[TheHoneyMonster]

marco pierre white seems a bigger ****** than gordon ramsay if you ask me. didnt think it possible to be further in love with oneself than that self promoting lying englishman ramsay.

 

[TheHoneyMonster]

its difficult to stay focused on and concentrate on just the one graph when intraday trading. 2 was evn worse for me.
Then you get into the no mans land territory of 2 signals on same bar, which is best? which shall i take?

Dam, this one looked better, so how come this failed, and the ugly signal won?

All this type of **** just adds to the trading head****. Ignorance (eyes for 1 market only) is bliss.

 

[Crap Buddist]

hehe, Pierre White trained Ramsay (Who is from scotland , Ex Glasgow Rangers footballer isn't he ? anyhooo). I think it is important for one to be able to "love" oneself, which will lead or enable one to know how to & share love with others.

I think perhaps a lot of folks hang ups might be to do with that they may not actually love themselves, or care for themselves, or maybe they seek to punish themselves throughout life. And maybe they have been hurt in life and not expressed it or processed it . You see Marco tell that Jodie who was sacked from hells , he told him/everyone , when referring to Jodies agressive, hap hazard hot cold actions in the kitchen, he said, "What I see here is a man who has been hurt " And Jodie legged it out of the room,jumped over the outside wall and legged it. Marco was on the money and touched an emotional issue or charge that was still very painful for Jodie when it came rushing back to his consciousness.

What a ******* ! I dunno but humans are creatures of emotion and I think it important that they at least recognise this in themselves and give themselves time and love ! And lets hope we can all help share this ..

hmmm now when Pierre White states "everyone else must fail" , what a ******* !! Dog eat dog to him ehh, forging his chefs in hells fire itself. Is that man human ?

Should a man or woman Love themselves ? Should a trader love himself ? He should at least make time for himself shouldn't sh/e ?

 

[TheHoneyMonster]

Monogany -

True excellence requires precision tuning. This is true for a trader, musician, athlete etc.

A sprinter has to maintain strength, speed, explosive power, very low body fat levels, to have any chance of competing against the best.
Any slight variations from his peak conditions will either cost hime hundreds/tenths of a second, or being the tightly coiled spring that they are, being thrown out of tune with an injury.The better the tuning - the better the performance, but the easier it is to be thrown off balance and made non-competetitive.

A trader seeking excellence needs finely tuned skills, finely tuned concentration, the ability to execute correctly at the optimum price and so on.
This is only possible via monogany for intraday stuff IMO.
All good strategies will go tits up at some point. Recognising when this time has come, and quickly sitting out the choppy mess that is about to follow is a required for trading excellence - Avoiding being whipped to death. A good trader will be able to do this efficiently.

An excellent trader may not only recognise when this has happened and stand aside, but will in fact trade in the opposite direction, towards his conventional stop-loss direction from when the market was orderly.
This type of advanced excellence in trading is highly specialised and is not easy to pull off, but it is possible, but not if youre skim reading from a watchlist of a handful of instruments.

I can do this quite well now.
Recognise when the range is crap R:R and not worth trading conventionally, and make a quick profit in the opposite direction.
Whereas if i'd followed my conventional plan, I'd have has a loss, but doing the opposite turns my SL into a profit target.
Its not easy and requires considerable screenwatching of the 1 graph to remain finely tuned with my market, so that i can remain flexible and able to adapt & improvise on my feet to maximise my performance, and so this type of excellence would not be possible trading more than 1 pair at a time - for me - rainman - maybe.

 

[TheHoneyMonster]

A useful paper trading exercise is to (regardless of your timeframe), make a prediction, based on the available evidence, at the start of each candle about where price is going - up or down. You might surprise yourself how many times you are right. Sure does help develop a stronger mindset.