I you are then so am I. I would honestly still trade aswell!!
timsk Throws in the Towel (but clings on to the facecloth) . . .
I you are then so am I. I would honestly still trade aswell!!
rags2riches
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Trading for me has never been about glamour. It is about freedom and challenge:
1. I care about the markets. I find it interesting and challenging. I am motivated to wake up every morning and look for trading opportunities, whereas I woke up in a constant state of depression in a 9-5. I am learning so much day by day, week by week and I am enjoying the process.
2. I answer to no-one, I work for no-one. Being my own boss is a tremendous feeling as is not being surrounded by people who hate their 9-5 jobs and being unduly influenced by their misery. I am sick of all the doubting Thomas' who are unhappy with their lives but don't have the guts to do something about it. Instead they would rather bring everyone else down to their level to make themselves feel better. They serve as my motivation.
3. I don't give a f*** about the money. The overwhelming majority of people have been conditioned to be attached to money, this is reinforced in their day jobs, making it a difficult barrier to becoming a trader. For me, money is simply a tool and a by product of trading well. I really care about trading well.
4. I have said it before - I still have a long way to go on my journey to becoming a trader. I am NOT consistently profitable but I do NOT fear failure. If you want to succeed you need to be prepared to fail over and over again until you learn, improve and achieve your goals or you decide to pursue other goals.
5. For me, the trading obstacle is myself. Mastery of myself is one of my life objectives and this is what I want to achieve.
6. I hit a barrier a month ago and realized that I needed help to overcome it. I have been given the opportunity to learn from 2 professional traders and have jumped at the chance. I would recommend all newbies (like me) who are serious about trading seek a mentor. I can safely say that one of the pro's is definitely NOT a slave to money.
7. I am going on record to say that in 1 year's time I will have made huge progress to becoming a consistently profitable trader.
I respect Timsk's honesty and his contribution to T2W and wish him all the best in whatever he chooses to do in the future.
arabianights
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Yeah, but the weather is usually nicer
rols
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flooding, droughts, tsunamis, ...lovely
......but strangely enough they are happier
depression and heart disease seem to be products of western societies.
timsk
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Thanks Everyone!
I have been overwhelmed by the number and variety of posts wishing me well, be they from newbies or old lags like me. Thank you everyone for your generous comments and support. I'm a tad embarrassed actually, because the whole thread is just a ruse - a bet I had with JTrader as to who could attract the most number of rep' points with an opening post. I won, tehe!
No, only joking, I made that up - the opening post is very real. However, some peeps appear to be under the impression that I'm giving up trading altogether and leaving T2W. I'm doing neither. I've ceased in my quest to make day trading my full time profession and, as I can't afford to retire, I will be looking for a daytime job or to start a business of my own. (This is tough given my age and lack of useful qualifications.) However, I will continue to trade in the evenings, probably on a much higher timeframe than the 1M - 15M that I've been used to. Because I'll have to spend time, effort and energy on a new job or business, I won't be spending as much time here on T2W - hence my decision to resign from my role as a 'T2W Advisor'. But I will still be around and continue to post as and when. I'm sorry to disappoint you folks - but you're not getting rid of me that easily!
:cheesy:
Many of you have offered all kinds of advice - for which I'm very grateful. Thank you all very much indeed. I wanted to give everyone rep' points but, as the thread revolves around me - that felt rather narcissistic - so I decided not to rep' anyone at all. Sorry! Additionally, there are too many posts and comments to reply to each one individually, but there are various questions and suggestions that cropped up repeatedly, which I'll try to address here:
1. Do what you did in the 'Beat the Broker Competition'
As and when Interactive Brokers et al offer a reset button on their live platform, then I expect fully to be making a fortune every day! I have actually opened an account with ETX Capital with the view to try and replicate the strategy employed in the comp', but using sound risk and money management. I stuck £1k in the account and made about 15% on my first day and then lost about 30% on the second day. It now stands at about £850.00. Gimme the reset button so I can restore the balance back to £1k!!!
2. Not Sticking to the Plan / Lack of Discipline
Guilty as charged. The reason for this - or do I mean excuse - is because the markets are so volatile at the moment and their characteristics have changed since September (ish). (With the exception of the first week of Oct', my trading results have got progressively worse with each week.) The net result was that I get drawn in to trades that I have no business to be in and close out trades too fast for fear of a sudden reversal. This wasn't anything like such a big problem when the markets moved in a calmer and less erratic fashion prior to the crunch.
3. Psychology Issues
Without a doubt. this is a big one. Those little voices in my head are a real problem. In the days when dbphoenix was a regular contributor to the boards, he would have said that psychological issues largely disappear if / when the whole strategy is comprehensively thought through and every 't' is crossed and every 'i' is dotted. Broadly speaking, I subscribe to this view, although I'm unconvinced that discretionary traders can ever be completely emotionally disengaged from the markets. It's the old chestnut: discretionary Vs mechanical trading. I'm not a ferkin' computer, I'm a real person with real feelings.
One last thing. It appears as if I may actually have made a tiny profit and not lost any money at all on my main trading account with IB. It had a base currency of USD so, in effect, I was short GBP and long USD. Although the USD equity curve is in the twenty past four position, it's a very different story for GBP. Irony of ironies, by default I've done one huge GBP/USD fx trade which appears to have covered all the commissions and losses on eight months of U.S. equities trades. This is pure luck. I'm not for one minute pretending that there was any skill or good judgement involved on my part. Far from it and, had the pound strengthened against the dollar instead of weakened, then my account would have a large and nasty hole in it.
Tim.
I have been overwhelmed by the number and variety of posts wishing me well, be they from newbies or old lags like me. Thank you everyone for your generous comments and support. I'm a tad embarrassed actually, because the whole thread is just a ruse - a bet I had with JTrader as to who could attract the most number of rep' points with an opening post. I won, tehe!
No, only joking, I made that up - the opening post is very real. However, some peeps appear to be under the impression that I'm giving up trading altogether and leaving T2W. I'm doing neither. I've ceased in my quest to make day trading my full time profession and, as I can't afford to retire, I will be looking for a daytime job or to start a business of my own. (This is tough given my age and lack of useful qualifications.) However, I will continue to trade in the evenings, probably on a much higher timeframe than the 1M - 15M that I've been used to. Because I'll have to spend time, effort and energy on a new job or business, I won't be spending as much time here on T2W - hence my decision to resign from my role as a 'T2W Advisor'. But I will still be around and continue to post as and when. I'm sorry to disappoint you folks - but you're not getting rid of me that easily!
:cheesy:
Many of you have offered all kinds of advice - for which I'm very grateful. Thank you all very much indeed. I wanted to give everyone rep' points but, as the thread revolves around me - that felt rather narcissistic - so I decided not to rep' anyone at all. Sorry! Additionally, there are too many posts and comments to reply to each one individually, but there are various questions and suggestions that cropped up repeatedly, which I'll try to address here:
1. Do what you did in the 'Beat the Broker Competition'
As and when Interactive Brokers et al offer a reset button on their live platform, then I expect fully to be making a fortune every day! I have actually opened an account with ETX Capital with the view to try and replicate the strategy employed in the comp', but using sound risk and money management. I stuck £1k in the account and made about 15% on my first day and then lost about 30% on the second day. It now stands at about £850.00. Gimme the reset button so I can restore the balance back to £1k!!!
2. Not Sticking to the Plan / Lack of Discipline
Guilty as charged. The reason for this - or do I mean excuse - is because the markets are so volatile at the moment and their characteristics have changed since September (ish). (With the exception of the first week of Oct', my trading results have got progressively worse with each week.) The net result was that I get drawn in to trades that I have no business to be in and close out trades too fast for fear of a sudden reversal. This wasn't anything like such a big problem when the markets moved in a calmer and less erratic fashion prior to the crunch.
3. Psychology Issues
Without a doubt. this is a big one. Those little voices in my head are a real problem. In the days when dbphoenix was a regular contributor to the boards, he would have said that psychological issues largely disappear if / when the whole strategy is comprehensively thought through and every 't' is crossed and every 'i' is dotted. Broadly speaking, I subscribe to this view, although I'm unconvinced that discretionary traders can ever be completely emotionally disengaged from the markets. It's the old chestnut: discretionary Vs mechanical trading. I'm not a ferkin' computer, I'm a real person with real feelings.
One last thing. It appears as if I may actually have made a tiny profit and not lost any money at all on my main trading account with IB. It had a base currency of USD so, in effect, I was short GBP and long USD. Although the USD equity curve is in the twenty past four position, it's a very different story for GBP. Irony of ironies, by default I've done one huge GBP/USD fx trade which appears to have covered all the commissions and losses on eight months of U.S. equities trades. This is pure luck. I'm not for one minute pretending that there was any skill or good judgement involved on my part. Far from it and, had the pound strengthened against the dollar instead of weakened, then my account would have a large and nasty hole in it.
Tim.
trendie
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difficult to know what to say, especially, as timsk is a mainstay of T2W, and is a core member of this community.
the nerves are always going to be there, and will undermine your confidence, and I am sure your decision to trade differently has been arrived at after much thought.
hope that whatever you decide to focus on for your future, turns out to be more enriching, both financially, and perhaps more importantly, personally.
making money from an isolated room at home isnt all that its cracked up to be.
I wont bother trying to give advice to someone who, by all accounts, evaluates things with greater depth, vision, thought, and with realistic expectations.
best wishes for yourself and your family.
the nerves are always going to be there, and will undermine your confidence, and I am sure your decision to trade differently has been arrived at after much thought.
hope that whatever you decide to focus on for your future, turns out to be more enriching, both financially, and perhaps more importantly, personally.
making money from an isolated room at home isnt all that its cracked up to be.
I wont bother trying to give advice to someone who, by all accounts, evaluates things with greater depth, vision, thought, and with realistic expectations.
best wishes for yourself and your family.
brutusdog
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fwiw i think people dwell on this kind of sh1t to much and overcomplicate trading and the issues that come with it. if you have a bad day and do some money so what, get back on the horse the next day and get over it. find the most simple strat possible and stick to it.
fear is a mind killer.
fear is a mind killer.
Dinos
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Could not agree more BD, trading doesn't have to be difficult, the trader themselves make it difficult, and I might add (imho), the use of such forums and BB's can be detrimental to a trader, as for me , found I started to question my own decision making processes when I came across other who views and opinions differed from mine, hence whilst I rarely come onto boards or forums or whatever you want to call them.
I do day only, I'm not in "love" with the job, I don't pine for the job, its simply a means to an end, I have realistic objectives, I work 8am till 12.30 per day (unless I have hit my points target) then I'll stop trading early, if I don't acheive my points target I'll walk away. I don't look beyond the period I'm trading and focus and concentrate wholly on the job in hand to deliver by cutting losses short and running winners longer, etc, etc
Timsk, sorry to hear mate, but not everybody is suited to day trading, if your successful in longer term trading, then thats whats you need to trade, good luck fella.
rathcoole_exile
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perhaps jayjay can set up a website and start to charge people to teach them this strategy ? :whistling :whistling
Timsk, you've been a feature of T2W for years and I've always read your posts with interest, not least because of their maturity and pragmatism. Please keep posting, wherever your endeavours take you, because you do make a difference to this site. I'm sure you'll return to trading after some reflection.
