Tell the truth.Who does/doesnt make consistent trading profits.R U even a net winner?

[Aspire]

With respect I disagree on point one and I'm surprised at your logic. As I'm sure we've all found to our cost or benefit moving from a pound a pip to ten pound a pip 'does' things to you head and emotions. TBH I could virtually guarantee to grab fifty quid every day off the markets, it would feel like when I was a student; waiting to jump on a one arm bandit in a pub, after watching out the corner of my eye, as someone has walked away having just put a tenner in it - five minutes child's play. Scaling up/compounding ain't that easy and fifty quid a day is no use to me for the time and effort. On your point two I do agree.
.

If you can make 50 quid a day consistently then scaling up to make 500 or 5000 quid a day should be no problem. It is certainly a hell of a lot easier than getting from begining/ inconsistency to cosistency in the first place. You don't just jump from a pound a pip to 10 pounds a pip you go to 1.10 to 1.20 etc etc, being prepared to step down again for a bit if the going gets tough before giving it another go. If you genuinely know what you are doing and are consistent and confident before you know it your trading 50/100 pounds a tick and making good money.

There is a lot of bull**** spoken about how difficult is to compound etc. In my experience it is usually comes from a lack of confidence/fear because so many people's trading is nearly there, not really there, despite what they may tell you.

The problems only really start when you start experiencing liquidity issues/ slippage/ becoming too visible etc.

 

[Black Swan]

I dont want me to be the cause of this thread vearing off on a wild tangent, the point I was 'attempting' to make (perhaps badly) is that the claim/notion originally made; that only a dozen of the regular and long standing members of this commuunity make money, is absurd.
Further, if you only set out to be 'part, part time' you should still be able to regularly scalp at least fifty quid a day (every day) from SB with the minimum of effort.

 

[Rossini]

I dont want me to be the cause of this thread vearing off on a wild tangent, the point I was 'attempting' to make (perhaps badly) is that the claim/notion originally made; that only a dozen of the regular and long standing members of this commuunity make money, is absurd.
Further, if you only set out to be 'part, part time' you should still be able to regularly scalp at least fifty quid a day (every day) from SB with the minimum of effort.

I agree with your first statement entirely! But I can't agree with the 2nd part- 'with minimum of effort', in my experience trading with the minimum of effort leads to losses, not profitability. That's not to say that with time and experience, the more relaxed and easier trading can seem, but if you can make £50 per day YOU CAN MAKE A FORTUNE PER DAY, PERIOD.



However I can understand that trading a much larger size can affect thought processes, I have a solution though- for example a while ago I was trading at £1pp, I moved, in one step to £20pp (adding funds into the account to make the risk the same!) After a while I felt ok at this level but, I was still more hesitant than at £1pp. I dropped down to £5pp and fu'k me it was easy! Now I have built up from there using the £5pp as my base- well I changed from spread betting as well, so its in lots now.



Yesterday for instance I was in the office for 3hrs scalping and made £200 trading 1 lot, 1 lot is about £6 so i made around 34 pips, Had I traded more lots and I could have made much more without taking undue risk, but I decided because of the time of year etc, I would trade one lot to play safe.



I still would have take the same trades at 5 lots and that's all that matters, that's why I don't think people, especially newbie's should get all hung up about the money.

 

[accendotraders]

The difference between those that make money and those that do not are simple, but difficult to master:

1. a developed trading plan - this has nothing to do with what video you watched or what you saw on TV. Do you actually have setups that you use for entries and exits

2. the right mind-set - this is the most overlooked facet of trading. If you dont have the trader's mentality, then you are doomed to lose your money. If you cant see the market as a series of opportunities instead of an entity with a vendetta against you. You will losed - disciplined vs. emotional

3. Reflection - You have to be able to look at the results and make adjustments as needed. The market changes. What vehicles you used to make money in 2008 make not work in 2009.

 

[shmeeko69]

Are you still making money on laying short odds horses? I tried this for a while and made some money earlier in the year (up until about August) but then it tails off - if you plot a graph of odds * win ratio for horses < 2 you'll see that it returns about even over the last 4 months after a long winning streak. Do you have more criteria on selecting horses/races other than just starting price?

Hi Adamsjc

I do make a reasonable amount laying short priced favourites (2.0) evens or less.
My criteria is - Jumps only races, there has to be at least one other horse under 10.0 on the exchanges, it's not a nap with the racing post & check sporting life for tips on chosen racecard & I also check the form with the racing post for extra reasons for laying !!
I try to avoid all weather racing unless it's a short sprint 5 or 6f, which fling up a few surprises.
I'm also very wary of certain jockey's when laying ie AP McCoy, R Thornton & R.Walsh, as they tend to win when their horse is short priced on the jumps !!
The most important tools for me are discipline & money management, without this the above would be meaningless.
So if no race is under 2.0, then no bet or if it does'nt tick the right boxes then no bet.
I aim to make a certain amount each week - so I operate a stop loss - 25% of bank !!
So if I lose (horse wins) chosen race, I move onto my next race & increase my amount to get my desired daily/weekly target if your rollover hits the 25% stop loss, then go back to the original amount, this has only happened to me twice in three months !!
The beauty of this system is your are always laying at less than evens, so getting your stake back & growing your bank is'nt a problem & as long as your are selective in your races, this gives you the EDGE !!
Sorry for going on a bit, but for the first time in a long time I think I've worked something out, that gives me an edge, afterall the bookies have made their living over the years, In favourites getting beat - so why not act as the bookmaker !!

Cheers

 

[Black Swan]

bump

ok.... here is my quid in the pot.....

Trading is all about time scale and respectable money management if you ask me (and STICKING with the way YOU want to trade and modifying it accordingly....... we aint all the same after all.... are we??)

I KNOW quite a few traders (they are paid v.well for doing it) and they go 2 years with negative p&l sometimes... they then either get canned or turn it around...... people on here seem to think that they can just start punting away with their "strategy" (usually a copy of someone else's who took years to get there) and expect the money to start rolling in (mates of mates do it all the time).... the old dogs tell them....... "it aint that easy, dont rush it, just be patient, learn/read/study/PERSEVERE"... "no, no, i am fking gifted mate... i am going to rinse it"..... what happens? a couple of winners or even a few months of winners, selling oil / ftse when it is falling daily and you hear this.... "mate, i've made a fortune, i knew i was special"..... a month later....... "mate, i blew it all, oil just couldnt go below 50dollars so i put on 200 quid a tick and dropped my mother down the ****ter".. sound familiar?

..... i reckon, that if you apply what you have read/been taught/worked at, you can make respectable money, but it takes PERSA-***ING-VERANCE!!!! You might then be able to make 10% - 20%....... and dont come back saying, i turned 2grand into 4grand...... bla bla bla. Convert your 2grand into what it really traded for you, then do the math.

The markets really do kill those that are greedy. All the traders I know that make money (some not every year) just keep pluggin away. Chipping that block down. Trading is for the mature in mind and serious in nature. I have many examples. One of the best i know..... i was mentored by a guy... he was churning money on a daily basis trading forward interest rate swaps. One day, after 3yrs of returns, it stopped working (give or take a month or 2 to figure it out) ...... what did he do? He sat back, thought about it, (he beat kasparov at chess when young and is now in top 10 uk poker player) and started all over again, dropped the strategy that didnt work anymore and worked out a new one, just for him, put it in play, kept his job and is still makign money today. That is a TRADER.

Another guy i know, had guaranteeed bonuses fallign out of his a-hole. Came to a bank, punted the eurodollar curve (and everything else), made reasonable money, left, set up a hedge fund and dropped a massive bollok. But again, what has he done? started again, taking teh gains he had made and pocketed them.........

What else..... ow yeah,...... where i work now, there are 40 or so traders..... some are DOWN ON THE YEAR...... it is ok guys..... you can be down on the year..... next year, they will still be here and coz they persevere and are learning all the time, will probably rinse it. They are mature, long in the tooth, seen it all before types...... YOU DONT MAKE MONEY EVERY YEAR....... but just persevere...... manage what money you have and one day, it might pay off.... and when it does POCKET SOME OF IT, ....... SERIOUSLY....... POCKET A % OF YOUR GAINS..... IT'S FKING CRUCIAL..

so jt..... you love trading..... right? keep at it my man, just keep at it. It doesnt take months to become a trader, it takes years, lots of'em (talking to everyone when i say this). And if your "strategy" starts to fall apart..... re-evaluate, re-evaluate and tinker with.... ignore other peoples strategy, your mind will develop a strategy that suits you!!!! That is why the "trader_dantes's" and "options" and "hoggums" of t2w do ok..... IT IS THEIR STRATEGY. IT AINT YOURS, AND IT PROBABLY WONT WORK FOR YOU!! SERIOUSLY. YOU ARE NOT HIM. YOU DO NOT THINK THE SAME.

Make a strategy YOURS.

I dont know any traders that buy / sell at the same time. NOT ONE.

Big rant. Any questions welcome.

And to answer the question........ consistent profits? Sure, everyone can have a period of consistent profits....... but consistent profits into infinity??? Not likely.

PS. Got a question for you? Why do 90% (or whateva) need not apply?
It's like the marines...... they dont have the minerals.
Of those guys i speak of above.... they do the following.......
they are waiting for the markets at 6.30-7am.... EVERY DAY
they work til 9pm at night..... EVERY DAY
they dont look for the quick buck....
and they do that YEAR IN, YEAR OUT. How dedicated are you?

so.... if you have never been dedicated to something.. sport, womanising, man-ising and done well at it..... it is unlikely you have the correct attitude to make money trading. You do need to be obsessive/passsionate/facsinated....... coz the guys on the other side of the market are.

bump...

 

[trader_dante]

what a great post.

omni's a legend.

no doubt about it.

 

[Black Swan]

what a great post.

omni's a legend.

no doubt about it.

Yeah it's cool, Nicola (Elite) gave me the heads up on another thread, thought it'd be worth a bump. Where's Omni gone Tom, not around for ages? Got 'bored' posting?

 

[white4burgundy]

Of course that's how you see the trading lifestyle. BUt then, with the different approaches, different responses to given stimuli, the outcome would also vary. Some may succeed, some may fail. Some would stay in the business, some would quit. One thing prevails - lesson. We learn from the pitfalls, we learn from the triumphs.

 

[trader_dante]

Yeah it's cool, Nicola (Elite) gave me the heads up on another thread, thought it'd be worth a bump. Where's Omni gone Tom, not around for ages? Got 'bored' posting?

Think he got tired of people calling out pins left right and centre like it was the holy grail of trading and decided not to come back.

 

[shadowninja]

"no, no, i am fking gifted mate... i am going to rinse it"..... what happens? a couple of winners or even a few months of winners, selling oil / ftse when it is falling daily and you hear this.... "mate, i've made a fortune, i knew i was special"..... a month later....... "mate, i blew it all, oil just couldnt go below 50dollars so i put on 200 quid a tick and dropped my mother down the ****ter".. sound familiar?

The number of newbies from this and other sites I've seen do this... to all newbies who are going to blow up big time, have one of these...

Actually, make it one of these.

(Yes, I admit I've been there although didn't blow up. I realised soon enough that I was ruining my account so stopped taking such big risks.)

 

[glyder]

I miss Omni's contributions to the site, he seemed like one of those who just knew when was the right time to take money out of the markets, his calls were always interesting, also another great trader was supremegizmo, he had a totally individual perspective on the markets, seemed a really original thinker.