If I knew then what (I think) I know now...

[Renatogrant]

For me it was all about slowing down and realising that I was actually gambling when i thought I was trading. Took me sometime ( and a lot of dosh) before i could admit that to myself. Never wanted to miss a move up or down, always in the market stuff. Sure i learnt about all the usual stuff, read the books, sim traded and traded small, did this for a good few years but was still overtrading. Then i started learning about myself, my emotions, my make up and realised I was gambling and nnot listening to my own reasoning. I would take a chance ( gamble) at the open, pretend i may know which way the market would react to major news etc etc. Everyone of these 'gambles' took me out obviously and it was only the one or two lucky guesses that fed my ego more than enough to keep me making the same mistakes. Once out of money i had not choice but to re evaluate and the problem was clearly me. Patience actually, i had little to none! I actually thought trading meant you had to trade all the time! So, long story short, I decided to focus on one market initially ( mini ES) and really learn everything i could about it as well as long boring hours staring at charts and indicators, putting in myu S&R lines and sim trading. You guys on here steered me towards using Ninjatrader as a platform and a live feed via Zen fire. Using this platform has helped my trading no end, sure i still lose but it's controlled now and i make more than i lose. I also trade far less these days and try not to believe i,m right when it's obvious I am wrong. I think if there is a success strategy to trading, it is different in all of us as we are no two the same. My makeup loves the volatility in the ES, i daytrade and i scalp. I use fundamental info in conjunction with my TA and i think ( still learning and developing) that i have found a comfortable edge which works for me. Personally, I have a love hate relationship going on with trading futures but just like my trading, I keep a realsitic stop loss on the hate bit and let the love ride.

If trading is what you love doing, do it to the best of your ability because we can only learn through our mistakes, just don;t let all them mistakes break your bank and dont let the wife leave! You'll need her support when you create your own resistance!

Much love to all traders be they Newbie, rookie or everlearning experienced.

Happy New Year all.

Renato

 

[thepixelpusher]

I'm so new to this stuff, that I'm not sure where to begin. I want to trade stocks, maybe buy some overseas currency to translate my dollars because of the potential of the dollar to weaken further (could be as simple as putting dollars in a foreign bank account?). I just took such a haircut by leaving my investments in the traditional buy and hold sector investments that I realized I'd have to educate myself further and take responsibility. Leaving my money to the traditional investment vehicles seems like more of a risk than what you guys do.

I have a regular day job for now, but I'm willing to put my free time toward it. Clearly I can't take 3-5 years to get educated and start this. So what books, sites or other info to build my knowledge base and start building my way to a more productive investment life.

I'm looking for someone with experience to point me to what I need to jump start my learning and trading. My income to invest will be modest to start and my age is 49, so I need to make up for lost ground if I want to ever retire or live life my way.

Thanks in advance for your help.

Tom

 

[montmorencyt2w]

If I knew then what I know now, I would never have depended on examining the entrails of a sacrificed animal in order to predict FX trends for the week.

I mean, hell, it works well enough, but it certainly messes the place up, and the money earned does not compensate for the ear-bashing from the missus.

 

[barryb]

You always hear people say if you have determination and perserverance and you are commited you can make it.

That's a pipe dream.

As has been mentioned many times on this site, the skills needed in trading to succeed are very different from other businesses' ideal skill-sets. The people not from the trading world will quote what Dante pointed out. Determination, perseverance and commitment alone will not make you profitable, however they are a prerequisite if you intend to make a living from this.

In answer to the OP, i would say looking at the 'big picture', and being able to quantify what is actually going on and as a result tie this all together in a strategy instead of solely trading my entry timeframe in the early days, would've saved me a lot of money and time.

Another thing would be viewing trading as a probabilities game, and understanding the importance of taking all your trades.

Also, I would say never go into trading if you are on an unsure footing financially, stress about loans/rent etc will only be played out in your trading decisions, which will ultimately kill your account.

 

[Black Swan]

As has been mentioned many times on this site, the skills needed in trading to succeed are very different from other businesses' ideal skill-sets. The people not from the trading world will quote what Dante pointed out. Determination, perseverance and commitment alone will not make you profitable, however they are a prerequisite if you intend to make a living from this.

In answer to the OP, i would say looking at the 'big picture', and being able to quantify what is actually going on and as a result tie this all together in a strategy instead of solely trading my entry timeframe in the early days, would've saved me a lot of money and time.

Another thing would be viewing trading as a probabilities game, and understanding the importance of taking all your trades.

Also, I would say never go into trading if you are on an unsure footing financially, stress about loans/rent etc will only be played out in your trading decisions, which will ultimately kill your account.

I echo these comments, I'd also expand a couple of them; firstly (as you point out) you need to get to know your industry. If you trade forex off charts/ta you still need to have the intellectual curiosity to investigate the fundamental reasons why a currency moves, having shallow knowledge is not enough, even if it works temporarily.

For example atm the talk is re. the Yuan being made cheaper, the Yen coming under pressure, is the Euro a safe haven, is it really all about the 'Benjamins'...? We don't trade the Yuan but the impact the key decision makers make (and why) will eventually bleed onto your charts...

And yes the discipline is not just about discipline in the trade, it's also re. having the self discipline to be at your pc at whatever time your TF may kick in...for example if trading off 4 hours charts perhaps you need to ready to act/make decisions at 7:30 each day and you have to be ready to take your trades each time you get your signals to attempt to make the probabilities work in your favour..If you know there are (probably) key times when the currency moves be aware and be ready to take the decisions.

For example with forex (on the most traded pairs) we learn that the dead air is usually (probably) between 4-8pm GMT, not always but generally the direction for the trend has already been set. Probability suggests we're unlikely to miss a great set up during this time, no guarantee, so if in trade why not have stops set and limits/trailing loss throughout this period?

 

[arabianights]

I wouldn't have bothered going to university.

But if I had, I would have played poker all the times I was invited to.

 

[Paulie_5]

For months and months I studied charts ....looking for Dojis, Hammers, Shooting Stars, engulfing patterns, black crows ......... you name it, I'd read it.
On a chart, I could pinpoint a tripled-eyed red panther sitting on a teacup ....

Then there were trendlines, MAs, s/r, Fibs ...




In my opinion , it's all utterly meaningless without looking at volume.

 

[dpinpon]

For months and months I studied charts ....looking for Dojis, Hammers, Shooting Stars, engulfing patterns, black crows ......... you name it, I'd read it.
On a chart, I could pinpoint a tripled-eyed red panther sitting on a teacup ....

Then there were trendlines, MAs, s/r, Fibs ...




In my opinion , it's all utterly meaningless without looking at volume.

Great point, that reminds me beeing long on a mexican equity called Codusa (Mexican biggest paper company), 7 months laterally for the time being and volume increasing ready to blast thru resistance, hopefully.

 

[barryb]

Great point, that reminds me beeing long on a mexican equity called Codusa (Mexican biggest paper company), 7 months laterally for the time being and volume increasing ready to blast thru resistance, hopefully.

great

 

[Shanghai]

I make good consistent money off the markets, certainly easily enough to make a comfortable living but if I knew then about how hard the process was to get to that point and how much it takes out of you emotionally and in terms of the time commitment I would never have started. Once I got into the process of learning I just wasn't going to stop until I was successful and I enlisted as much help as I could from others but it just takes over your life.

 

[Black Swan]

I make good consistent money off the markets, certainly easily enough to make a comfortable living but if I knew then about how hard the process was to get to that point and how much it takes out of you emotionally and in terms of the time commitment I would never have started. Once I got into the process of learning I just wasn't going to stop until I was successful and I enlisted as much help as I could from others but it just takes over your life.

Strange how we arrive at similar destinations but the path is entirely different..tbh I wouldn't change much, swing trading has proven to be an absolute blessing for me. It fits in perfectly with my lifestyle, homelife/family life. I am more than pulling down a decent living from it now.

 

[BlueChilli]

I wouldn't have bothered going to university.

But if I had, I would have played poker all the times I was invited to.

were you reading a different thread when you posted that cheeseburger?

 

[forker]

for me slowing down translated to working off higher time frames. the problem with learning to trade off smaller time frames is that you dont learn the quality from the bull.. it ultimately meant a longer more frustrating learning curve for me. slowing things down with a higher time frame gave me time to think about things better and avoid the bull in the smaller time frames until i was proficient in the daily time frame

 

[Firsttrader]

nice

 

[Omoh101]

If I knew then what (I think) I know now , I would have invested more time looking for freebies on trading instead of spending so much money on useless courses that promise so much and under-deliver!

 

[Sang Froid]

As someone else mentioned... I would have read up and learned about the psychology side of things instead of dismissing this as 'holistic nonesense'. What I've found, and as some of you know this about me already, is that while I concentrated for a few years on TA it was my own psyche that prevented me from being a trader and instead kept me as a gambler.

Money Management is also the first thing I look to incorporate into any new strategy. How much can I afford to lose on each trade, how much am I looking to make, will the difference between these to leave me broke or in profit. After three years of trading, I only know this now. I wish I'd have know that from the start, and it's so basic too!

 

[Black Swan]

If I knew then what I know now, I would never have depended on examining the entrails of a sacrificed animal in order to predict FX trends for the week.

I mean, hell, it works well enough, but it certainly messes the place up, and the money earned does not compensate for the ear-bashing from the missus.

Where's Monty these days? He was good fun, liked the lulz...

 

[LiamH]

Not that I know a great deal now but I would echo most other comments - Realising that copying someone else just won't work, understanding that psychology is the problem once you have a strategy and not being stupid enough to risk money that means something. Definitely trade with pennies at first or demo!

I have been learning about trading for maybe 3-4 years part-time. In the first year I had blown £1000 through pure gambling (although I thought I was trading) and then another £1000 a year or so later. Now I'm trading a $100 account and am progressing slowly... Wrong way round don't you think?

My problem and I think just about every other newb is getting rich quick - This takes luck and not skill as to do so you must be gambling. Luck will not get you very far in this game.

 

[montmorencyt2w]

Where's Monty these days? He was good fun, liked the lulz...

Belated thanks for your kind words mate! Although I wasn't looking at T2W at the time, I got this in email and meant to log on and reply, but got distracted

Well, back in July-August I went on a longish holiday, then had a family wedding to help organise and a few other things. I felt like a break from trading anyway, although I hadn't intended it to be quite so long. Been itching to get back for a bit, but kept putting it off, but I'm slowly getting back to it.

Let's hope it's only my bad trading habits from last year that I have forgotten and not the good stuff.

Cheers,
Mike

 

[p.jinks]

Well after buying a faster PC and spending many hours learning how to code my ideas into EAs in MQL4 and backtesting them all with different optimisation variables then adding in more out of series data I have come to the conclusion that no approach is consistently profitable and worth trading. I have looked at trading pullbacks in upward trends, bounces off Bollinger bands, breaks from bollinger bands, stochastic crosses, and many many more trading setup ideas - all with different types of profit taking and in different time periods. So what I would do now if I could turn back the clock would be to buy property rather than waste thousands of hours and thousands of pounds trying to find some Nirvana trading approach. I think that the markets are so heavily traded and in so many different ways that if an edge seems to be present for a while it won't be for when you try to trade it. Also the human mind is very adept in seeing patterns in noise. So my conclusion is simply to look elsewhere to make your money eg property purchase and hold or ideally capitalising on a talent you have - this is also more rewarding that getting money from the markets.