Has anyone been succesful with trading???

This thread has some good stuff on it, even if spread out over several years.

Trading is of course very psychological, Richard Dennis once said that he could publish his trading rules and no-one would follow them. In fact he proved it when he ran his Turtle course --- they were all taught the precise same rules, yet their performances were all different.
 
meanreversion said:
This thread has some good stuff on it, even if spread out over several years.

Trading is of course very psychological, Richard Dennis once said that he could publish his trading rules and no-one would follow them. In fact he proved it when he ran his Turtle course --- they were all taught the precise same rules, yet their performances were all different.
Click to expand...

I think everyone has to find a system that works for them over the long haul. It takes hard work and persistence, like everything else in life that is worthwhile. I worked for 2 years without being consistently profitable and then it hapenned because I did not give up.
 
meanreversion said:
It's like golf, just need to keep plugging away, and making sure your head is in the right place.
Click to expand...

Trading is more like chess than golf. You have to know where the market is and where it's going. Clearly defined entries and exits should be the main focus of your strategy. Never be in a reactionary mode and always be at least 2 trades ahead. Only use the 5min-4hr time frame unless you plan on staying in a trade for over 2 weeks. Focus on price action and you will see the big picture in no time. Take care and never give up!
 
Not sure I agree with the chess thing. I used to play chess fairly competitively and it's significantly more cerebral and controlled than golf (or trading). With chess, you both have the same 16 pieces and there is no outside interference. With golf, the course and the elements are constantly throwing you curveballs (sorry to mix sports).

Anyone else have a sport they'd like to compare to trading?
 
jazzidee said:
Trading is more like chess than golf. You have to know where the market is and where it's going. Clearly defined entries and exits should be the main focus of your strategy. Never be in a reactionary mode and always be at least 2 trades ahead. Only use the 5min-4hr time frame unless you plan on staying in a trade for over 2 weeks. Focus on price action and you will see the big picture in no time. Take care and never give up!
Click to expand...

I disagree with practically this whole post.
 
meanreversion said:
Not sure I agree with the chess thing. I used to play chess fairly competitively and it's significantly more cerebral and controlled than golf (or trading). With chess, you both have the same 16 pieces and there is no outside interference. With golf, the course and the elements are constantly throwing you curveballs (sorry to mix sports).

Anyone else have a sport they'd like to compare to trading?
Click to expand...

hmmm....not one specific sport although I tend to say to folk when describing trading to them "it's a contact sport, not a passive game..." which tends to rule out the chess comparison made up thread...

I often compare sport to trading, games such as tennis or (bizarrely) snooker. In tennis when the elite guys lose a game, or a set, they don't throw in the towel thinking they're "having a bad day, best go for a walk to clear my head", they just keep on sticking to the plan and working their edge. How often does the match go to 5 sets and the guy who was down 2 makes a comeback? ...they stick to the proven protocol. Similary snooker, repetitive practice, day after day...

Also think of football, Rooney will have ten shots, 3 goals, 3 hit wood work/go close, three miss (hit stops ;))...but even the misses and woodwork shots all follow the same pattern of excellence; him working his elite sportsman's edge... Look at his body language now he's matured, he knows he'll get more chances in the game, he has to stay sharp, focused, alert and have that supreme self belief in himself; we'd term it having absolute conviction that you can work your edge...

So many have said we have to think like winners to make this trading work, imho it's one of the most important aspects of trading and grossly ignored/overlooked. It's one of the best truisms ever uttered and up there with MM in terms of nec. tools for success...
 
I was trying to think of analogies for trading the other day, in the context of technicals and fundamentals, and the one I came up with was archery, although not the sport, but Robin Hood shooting in earnest.

Let's say Robin one day encounters at the far end of a clearing Little John, his friend and fellow outlaw, in hand-to-hand combat with three of the Sheriff's men.

It's quite a long way, and if he runs over to help he might be too late, as John is getting the worst of it. So it has to be the arrows, and it's a good range for shooting.

Problem is of course that they are moving. The movement is kind of predictable, as any fighters in such a situation would be predictable, but of course John is having to pull out all the stops and use all the tricks at his disposal to throw off the Sheriff's men, so there is a fair degree of randomness there as well.

But John has his back to Robin, and there is a risk that whoever Robin aims at, John will suddenly move in front of him and get hit instead.

On the other hand, Robin knows John very well and knows how he thinks and fights, so he can "predict" to some extent the way John will play it, and he also has a lot of experience of fighting the Sheriff's men, so he knows how they will tend to react.

So the apparently random movements in the fight are the "price-action" if you like. They appear to have "technical" reasons for happening, but they also have very fundamental reasons for happening too.

Robin, or the archer, is the trader and his shots are his entries (and exits...if the expert archer gets his entries right, we can assume the expert trader will get his exits right).

Well, like all analogies, it breaks down if you take it too far, but basically beginner traders get their entries and exits (arrows) all over the place, because they are confused by the apparently random movement and they lack the experience needed to cope with it, and they don't have the basic accuracy to begin with in any case. As they get more experienced, they begin to understand the apparently random movements better, can anticipate and react to them better, and their accuracy gradually improves.
 
JahDave said:
I think everyone has to find a system that works for them over the long haul. It takes hard work and persistence, like everything else in life that is worthwhile. I worked for 2 years without being consistently profitable and then it hapenned because I did not give up.
Click to expand...

Good way to say it. Everyone finds their own way.

In the words of someone else on this board that I can't remember: "Nothing beats good market knowledge".

I'll vouch for that advice over anything else. The more you know, the better you trade
:smart:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

H
How succesful has your trading career been?
Replies
3
Views
1K
forker
F
A
HOW to trade succesfully
2
Replies
29
Views
5K
Paul71
P
S
Moving Averages, has anyone tried this
Replies
2
Views
3K
stoploss please
S
T
Has anyone else tried out spreadco zero spreads?
Replies
0
Views
1K
twinj
T
R
Anyone who has experience of Fatprophets?
Replies
5
Views
2K
inter
I
Top