Motivation

[BeM]

Why do people choose to trade stocks?
Is it because they think they are so good at specualtion?
Is it because they think they can choose the right stocks before others can notice them?
Or is it because they want easy money with little effort?
Trading becomes a dangerous form of addictive gambling when people choose to bet their money against other people's brains just to make some quick cash. Well, then they realize that they lose quite often, but they have seen that when stocks go up, they go up quite a lot and catching one big wave could save them. Then, waiting for that big wave their capital is diminished until they reach the wave. But how are they going to realize that that is the right wave? So they sell covering some of the lost money but they see that it's still going up. So they buy again at the top and sell AGAIN at the downturn.
What happens to the lost time, energy etc? People hate losing all those at the same time. It'd be good at least if they would LEARN but what can one learn seeing all they've got whiped out? Kind of stressful and risky way of learning anyway.
Please don't hesitate to express your thoughts!
Thanks!

 

[Mr. Charts]

I most certainly will.
I trade US stocks and emini futures for a living and am supporting a family of five on the profits of my work - and work it is.
Trade the US is the answer. More reliable within its own time frame and as manipulated as it may be, it is far less so than our own domestic market.
So for all those who do not think day trading successfully is possible, I'm happy to say you are quite mistaken. I trade US futures and shares intra-day and make my family's living from it and have done since 1999.
I'm 55 and am not boggled eyed from staring at a screen and still have all my hair left. I love trading and pitting myself against other traders. I love the daily intellectual challenge of absorbing information, processing it and making fast decisions, reading the market, and pulling the trigger.
No, I don't gamble, no I don't bet, no I don't play computer games, no I'm not very clever or wise, and no I'm certainly not daft enough or conceited enough to think I know what will happen next - only the probability of what might happen.
Every night I sleep well with zero market exposure.
Yes I make the wrong judgement 20%-25% of the time, but when I'm wrong I don't hang around waiting for stops to be hit, my losses are small and funnily enough the profits take care of themselves. I'm not greedy and take profits at what I think are the right time and yes I'm scared of losing money but I deal with that - it actually gets easier with practice and when I make a losing trade I love it because it's a small amount not a large one. Yes I feel the same emotions we all feel, but I deal with them. We can all deal with them with some experience and that actually strengthens us - it's part of the learning curve and a trader's life. I wouldn't change it for the world.
So what is the bottom line?
If I can do it with my life experience and personality, anyone can; so don't walk away, believe in yourself, grit your teeth, persevere with small amounts of real money till you are consistently profitable, forget paper trading because you will cheat yourself - and the rewards you dreamed of ARE there and are well worth the hard work.
We are all our own worst enemy in trading, but get over it, deal with it, succeed - this is DO-ABLE.
Just learn how
Mr. Charts

 

[BeM]

Thank you Mr. Charts for your thorough expression.
Nevertheless I did not say that day-trdaing or speculation is wrong. Maybe many thought that while reading.
I like to speculate about the markets and many other events that affect our lives and wealths. It is very challenging and like any other business has its own risks, and rewards, that may well be greater than others.
I don't care about other markets except the US, probably personal preference, but I think there is little meaning of following other markets while all of them, at least in the developed world, follow the US.

 

[neil]

Silver Surfers

Thanks Mr Charts.

I don't feel so lonely now

 

[Mr. Charts]

neil - my hair is dark, not silver, or even grey. I put this down to a life of enjoyable vice.
Are you "robber"?

 

[neil]

Silver Surfer

No - I am not Robber. My other alias is Toby.

just popping out for some Grecian 2000.

On a serious note; albeit trading is hard work, at least the market is not ageist.

 

[Mr. Charts]

 

[BeM]

Mr. Charts do you trade very liquid stocks, like volume over 1m or maybe 10m?
What about the other fellows?
Thanks!

 

[BeM]

I calculated that by a gain of 0.3% (is that too much?) per business day, a day-trader could make about $235,000 just in three years, starting with $30,000 in a cash account without margin. The annual gain would be around 138%. So, he/she could trade on margin and make millions just in a couple of years, make real money not just the living.
So I think true traders are very few and very rich, and very busy.
There may be other type of traders who make less, I don't know, please let me know!
Thanks!

 

[orchard]

Hi BeM
I am about to retire (in just over 3 months) and intend to trade (spread betting) on a regular basis. Please may I know your secret??? I have been spreadbetting since april, but am now down to my last few pounds. At the moment I can only trade from 6.00pm at the earliest and find I miss the biggest moves. Could this be one of the reasons for my spectacular failure??
Maybe it is because I am too mean to go on the internet when I have to pay!!, but I trade the Dow dailies, and I could make a fortune by telling people what I do, and them do the opposite!!.
Please keep us up to date on your progress.
Orchard.

 

[Mr. Charts]

Orchard,
I gave up my profession to trade - best thing I ever did.
Do make sure you can trade successfully before you retire and start losing your capital
[email protected]
if you want to chat

 

[BeM]

Hi Orchard,
I am learning about this kind of occupation, I don't trade.
My point was that if someone could speculate well, like the man in "reminiscences of a stock operator" Jesse Livermore in the early 20th century, then he/she could make really a lot of money, well losing is also inevitable because nothing is certain in speculation.
I believe this cannot be learnt really, because it's just all about knowing what everyone believes at the moment, and knowing what the reality will look like after that specific moment passes, and going against the crowd in anticipation of the event that will take place, before the crowd finds out.
I do not believe in any other type of trading system or else that is only based upon the technical analysis, and the past performance of a specific trading tool, whatever it may be. The real profitable and durable way of trading should be based upon both the past performance, and also the anticipation of a future event, only if it is against what is believed by the majority of those who trade i.e. if the majority of the traders are bullish at a certain moment, but you know that there is a bear move ahead, then this could be the occasion to go short, against the long-going majority.
If anybody has any other thoughts please let everyone know.
Thanks!

 

[BeM]

Mr. Charts would you please let me know about your TRADE RECORD, why not to show it black & white. Not everyone can successfully day-trade, it's an expensive fantasy. Why don't you and anyone else publish the real trading record from the broker!
My e-mail is [email protected]

 

[neil]

Trade Record ?

What is the point of asking someone for their trading record?

It will not help you to become a successful trader.

I have seen such requests where someone touts a trading method and the client rightly asks for proof. But other than that I cannot see the rationale in asking someone to reveal their private business on a web site.

If you want to be successful then it requires study and practice. I think mr. Charts has covered many of the elements necessary for success.

Should you explore this site, maybe join the chatrooms, you will learn many pieces of the jigsaw, but how you put it together is a personal thing.

rather like a tool box, you either use your favourite spanner, or select the tool for the situation. It's a skill learned at the coalface of trading.

After much reading of books or web sites you may find that it boils down to keeping it simple and selecting tools and time frames that suit you. Since we are all different such selection is an individual thing.

It is hard work. Ignore the peddlars of easy riches via trading.
The road is not easy and the biggest enemy is oneself.

Good luck

 

[Mr. Charts]

I think neil has summed it up rather well.
If I told you my rate of return, you wouldn't believe me anyway.
I don't have to prove myself to anyone.
Those who know me well and those I've trained, know.

 

[BeM]

I'm sorry I didn't ask for someone to teach me I just expressed my opinion that I don't believe that everyone can trade successfully as Mr. Charts had posted earlier.
I am very interested in the field of speculation and finance and I study very much for it. However as I said before, speculation isn't something that can be learnt and I don't know of any other form of trading. There may be but I don't believe them, if anyone wants to prove it to me then send me a trade record, that's all, only to my e-mail.
Cheers!

 

[BeM]

What would you guys say if I'd told you that I'm a retired 73-year-old man and I had worked as a builder until the age of 70 when I realized, by the help another fellow who simply wanted to help me out, that I could make my living just by using some of my savings trading US stocks???? So I've become a day-trader and have made $400,000 beginning just by $20,000 thanks to that kind person, what do you say????
;-)

 

[neil]

Well.....

If I were you the least you could do is buy that guy a large whisky

 

[FTSE Beater]

Trade Record

The bits of a record that are really worth knowing is someone's (mine are below) :-

No. of trades - 128
%Winners - 51%
%Losers - 45%
%Break-even - 4%
AvgWin - 64
Avgloss - 35

Orchard asked

Please may I know your secret??? I have been spreadbetting since april, but am now down to my last few pounds

Take a look at your statistics for your trading account. The %winners ratio doesn't have to be too high (40% will do) just as long as the AvgWin is well above the AvgLoss.

HTH

 

[Mr. Charts]

Making 400k from 20 k - maybe during the tech boom.
You are not a 73 year old builder, and you mustn't wish away the next 50 years of your life like that.
By the way, how's the job hunting going?
Thank you for your amusing posts ;-)