Best Thread Why do you think you can make money trading?

[meanreversion]

Only after the event.It is now due irrational to the euro and financial crisis.

What evidence do you have to prove your claims?Where is hard evidence ?Prove it in forms other than claims fictitious claims by internet marketeers , authors and book sellers or mentors.

I'm not quite sure what the question is. However I think what you mean is that you want some proof that mechanical trading works? (You wrote 1,000 posts about how mechanical trading was the only method to use, but I can see you've completely abandoned that idea - this in itself is embarrassing)

JW Henry (who owns the Boston Red Sox) has used a mechanical system for 25 years. Mann, world's second larget hedge fund, uses black box systems. Richard Dennis made over $100mio using mechanical trend systems.

They didn't become wealthy by trading discretionary on demo accounts.

Can I ask how you determine if a market is irrational? Is it either rational or irrational or are there varying degrees of rationality?

 

[Shanghai]

How do you define rational and irrational in any case?* Random or non-random is a bit easier to quantify.



*with regards to the markets at least - I know what it means regarding my wife..

 

[meanreversion]

Only after the event.It is now due irrational to the euro and financial crisis.

Ah I think I've worked it out. You can only know AFTER the event whether the market was irrational (see above).

Thus at any given moment, you cannot know if the market is irrational.

Therefore mechanical systems can be of no value because you might be operating in an irrational market (under which conditions these systems don't work, according to ODT).

Thus mechanical systems, using his logic, are of no value. But he says they are in another post.

More self-contradiction, or to put it another way, total b*ll*cks.

 

[N Puri]

Thought I would choose this thread to make my first ever post on Trade2Win.

I've seen other discussions are going on here, but to get back to the original question - I know (not think) I can make money trading because I was willing to learn everything I could from day one and continue to learn constantly. I know the majority of people in the market are not willing to spend the time working on their craft and take easy routes, which is why in 'a zero sum game' I (and others like me) will continue to come out on top. Setbacks just pave the way for comebacks and a stronger focus and strategy next time.

 

[drtro]

The best traders I know always tell me to "ride the wave"

They don't use indicators or try to predict reversals or breakouts or any other chart patterns. They just go with the way that the market wants to go. I didn't understand what they meant until I started joining public trading chatrooms and saw how stupid many people are that try to trade for a living. They use 5 different indicators and this and that. They make things more complex than it needs to be. They are changing strategies every 2-3 days because they had one bad trade. They sit out on a big movement because they didn't get in on the bottom then try to predict a reversal then get stopped out. Just a lot of stupid people, no offense.

I have realistic expectations. I don't expect to be 100% successful. I don't expect to turn $10K into $10MM over 1-3 years. I just trade because I love trading. I enjoy learning about it. Weekends drive me crazy. My passion is fuel to motivate me to get better even when I feel I'm good enough. People who say "if it's fun, you are doing it wrong" have no idea what they are doing.

 

[petersol]

Its not that difficult. What is most difficult is sticking to what works.

 

[Pat Riley]

If you asked a broker this question they'd explain that making money from trading is finding a facilitator's position. If you can sell what other will buy for more than others will sell to you, well, that pretty much does it every time.

We've all moved on a tad in terms of technology, but the basics still hold true.

 

[Pat Riley]

That's all v nice, but broker's can't trade - that's why they're brokers. Anyway with all due respect, isn't that advice as useful as a poke in the eye with a blunt stick? It's even more generic than "buy low, sell high". Funny that hardly anyone can manage it on a consistent basis, except on forums ofc...

Brokers can't trade? I'm guessing you're not a broker are ya? They do. You'll have to trust me on that one jimmy.

I don't know if anyone else finds it more useful than a PITEWASS but gettin back to basics in trading of any kind seems like a sensible stance from time to time. Especially when you think you're on top of it all.

Anyway, good luck to you.

 

[SpreadDoctor]

That's all v nice, but broker's can't trade - that's why they're brokers. Anyway with all due respect, isn't that advice as useful as a poke in the eye with a blunt stick? It's even more generic than "buy low, sell high". Funny that hardly anyone can manage it on a consistent basis, except on forums ofc...

I think he may be referring to the brokers book when he references that brokers can trade. Of course this is broker dealers and not brokers in general. GLGT

 

[Pat Riley]

I think he may be referring to the brokers book when he references that brokers can trade. Of course this is broker dealers and not brokers in general. GLGT

Me point was even more basic than that. If you're buying at the bid and selling at the offer all day, every day, across all asset classes, that's just about as basic as you can get. Everything else is just bells & whistles.

 

[stuie1963]

Interesting thread, hadn't seen it before although it goes back a few months.

On the basis that trading is a zero sum game, the way to make money is to avoid doing what the 85 pct of retail traders who lose money are doing. In other words, you need to take money off them (after the brokers have had their slice).

I think the three biggest errors are

1. Taking profit too soon/running losers (can't admit to being wrong, ego won't let go)
2. Trading countertrend and trying to pick tops/lows
3. Overtrading

(And this applies to traders at institutional level as well, people in general are very rarely natural traders)

So ..... cut your losers quickly, trade with the trend, and don't devise a system which trades 20+ times a day as you're only going to line the pocket of your broker.

Hi Mean
no:2 on your list has been my downfall this week, trying to get the large movers to reverse, got killed every time.thanks for your insight.
stu