Why trading is so difficult?

[shadowninja]

hmm...difficult one that, I've been 50 pips+ up twice in my current eur long taken yesterday, yet because my plan is to hunt for bigger pips, and according to my rules I've no reason to exit, I'm still in. Moved stop from 65 pips to 30 pip is the only management and adjusted take profit order to the 14400 line (approx 150 pip profit). If I start getting excited about 50 pips my plan falls apart, but I'm sure many on 'ere would have me sectioned for the times I let 50 pips slip through my fingers, but I have no alternative if sticking to my plan..which works ..for me.

Well this is it. If a beginner traded your system, when you're thinking "I'll exit now for 150 pips profit", the noob might think "This is worth 300, I'm sure" before seeing his formerly profitable trade now reading -100.

It's about knowing for any particular style of trading when to be in and when to be out.

 

[Mr. Charts]

I sometimes scale out of successful positions to lock in profits and always use a stop loss initially then a worst case trailing stop on firstly a whole position and then a partial after scaling out.
I honestly don't see why people can't have the self control to trade rationally and the strength of character to ignore the emotions of fear and greed they are experiencing.
Richard

 

[shadowninja]

I honestly don't see why people can't have the self control to trade rationally and the strength of character to ignore the emotions of fear and greed they are experiencing.

Two possible reasons:
1) They don't have self-control/strength of character.
2) They don't know what they are doing.

I mean, I don't see why people feel the need to get drunk and/or use drugs.











(Actually, I can, but I use the above words to illustrate my point.)

 

[Mr. Charts]

Agreed, but if you can't control the way you behave in your job, even if that takes time and practice and effort to achieve, then you clearly can't succeed, whatever the job.
I can't think off hand about any other work where people moan about not being able to control themselves. Some things in life aren't easy, they need time and effort to do successfully.
Richard

 

[barjon]

These platitudes...

Might be a platitude, NT, but that doesn't make it wrong. I would guess that if you shared you flawless entries amongst a group of traders then some would consistently take more from the trades than others and some would even lose.

Of course an elegant entry is good, but it leaves your bottom line unaffected. It's only your exits that affect your bottom line, although I'm in no way suggesting that a good entry doesn't increase your potential for exiting on the right side.

jon

 

[Black Swan]

I'm not sure what you need back up. I trade, I have my own data. My experience is that when you get the entry right your trade is in profit almost from the beginning and this gives you the courage and conviction to hold the trade all the way through to the end. If the market stalls and hesitates and gyrates then chances are you got it wrong and you will begin to doubt yourself. In my book, nothing but nothing beats getting the entry right. Like Jesse Livermore says, it pays to be right at the right time.

I agree and disagree, I mentioned this trade earlier and how I often see 50 pips whither, I reckon 90% of my trades go into profit at some stage but not all of 'em start well of the blocks. This single Euro trade so far this week hit my adjusted limit whilst I was out..this is a very *normal* trade for me; ebbs, flows, you think it's gonna turn and crash and burn..I never doubt the trades as I totally accept I haven't got a scooby what price will do next..

So yep, entry is important but dead easy..so easy a gang of monkeys coud get it right nine times out of ten..honestly (and imho) it means fook all..

 

[timsk]

Is it just me - or are Heineken charts swiftly becoming the chart of choice amongst T2W members? (I've started using them myself in the past few months.) How long before they're touted as the 'best charts in the world, probably'?
Tim.

 

[Black Swan]

Is it just me - or are Heineken charts swiftly becoming the chart of choice amongst T2W members? (I've started using them myself in the past few months.) How long before they're touted as the 'best charts in the world, probably'?
Tim.

Guilty, used them for 2 years+ now..pretty easy to spot the turns with the closed candles etc..like all the *stuff* though, none of it's infallible..

 

[Joey25]

A different way of thinking about it

This won't be to everyone's taste, but this is how I do it:

Given information on

1) Volatility
2) A simple trading signal drawn from the set {long, neutral, short}
3) Interest rates

I get an output of direction and position size. After some number crunching I could work out the postion (if any) I would have had in GBPUSD on April 3rd 1986, for example.

There isn't any anxiety about entries or exits - the profits come from the variability in the position size.

 

[shadowninja]

Agreed, but if you can't control the way you behave in your job, even if that takes time and practice and effort to achieve, then you clearly can't succeed, whatever the job.
I can't think off hand about any other work where people moan about not being able to control themselves. Some things in life aren't easy, they need time and effort to do successfully.
Richard

Not sure who you're arguing with there... but yes, it matters in all jobs; it's called professionalism. However, if you are unprofessional 25% of the time, you won't necessarily wipe out your account/it might not matter. For instance, a salesman needs to be able to take a "no". They can get used to it, but many fail. Also, in normal jobs, most mistakes can be rectified before they become a problem.

 

[Black Swan]

I honestly don't see why people can't have the self control to trade rationally and the strength of character to ignore the emotions of fear and greed they are experiencing.

Dunno Richard, I once went through a strange period and with the benefit of 20-20 hindsight I can now figure out what the problem was; I had the technique, an edge of sorts developing, but didn't have the experience to back it up..I had no 'reference points'.

There is no substitute in this game for doing and to even begin to develop a state of unconscious competence, were the game is effortless, can take years of practice..

At times in this game I wish I had the ballsy confidence I had back in my twenties (and my good looks ), but then again I'd have been a 5hit knee jerk trader twenty years back...

 

[timsk]

. . . At times in this game I wish I had the ballsy confidence I had back in my twenties (and my good looks

Don't be daft BS - you were always an ugly BS!
:cheesy:

 

[forker]

Dunno Richard, I once went through a strange period and with the benefit of 20-20 hindsight I can now figure out what the problem was; I had the technique, an edge of sorts developing, but didn't have the experience to back it up..I had no 'reference points'.

There is no substitute in this game for doing and to even begin to develop a state of unconscious competence, were the game is effortless, can take years of practice..

At times in this game I wish I had the ballsy confidence I had back in my twenties (and my good looks ), but then again I'd have been a 5hit knee jerk trader twenty years back...

You sure you weren't an ugly mug in your 20's

 

[Mr. Charts]

In a sense trading's a little like any potential or actual stressful experience. In my student days the first general anaesthetic I administered was stressful but you just have to get on and do it and ignore your emotions.
After qualification when you give your first GA unsupervised and the patient loses consciousness you feel a great sense of fear and responsibility, even an underlying terror, but, hey, you just get on and do your job. Does it get easier? Yes, but you still feel the same emotions but not with the same degree of intensity. Do you let those emotions control your actions? Do you hell. You ignore what you are feeling, it's not about you, it's about what you are doing so you do it right regardless of your emotions.
Same with trading though it's not as potentially fatal......
Richard

 

[scose-no-doubt]

Is it just me - or are Heineken charts swiftly becoming the chart of choice amongst T2W members? (I've started using them myself in the past few months.) How long before they're touted as the 'best charts in the world, probably'?
Tim.

?????

 

[Pi3141]

hehe yea I noticed that too.. Heiken Ashi charts I think?

 

[cooldude123]

Hi Guys,

It was quite true for me that trading was difficult.

Now, things are very different after I started to use the technique being taught by Mr. Tan of realworldforextrading.com

I have seen that when we trade higher timeframe, the profit target may be big but our emotions mingling with the trade is also a huge concern.

However, trading anything less than 60 Mins chart is not safe since there's lot of unnecessary noise.

Hence trading one hour timeframe being taught by realworldforextrading.com is what I really liked and enjoyed. I never thought trading could be this simple and profitable.

All the very best to all my dear members here.
Dude

 

[timsk]

hehe yea I noticed that too.. Heiken Ashi charts I think?

Correct Pi3141, Heineken charts = Heiken Ashi charts. Doesn't everyone call them that?

 

[safvan]

I think its sticking to their trading technique which causes the problems.

Almost always all traders would end up breaking even with a small loss if they manage money correctly based on their respective time frames with a winning system of less than 50% accuracy.

You can win big and I mean big if you do not day trade and have a system with at least 50% win ratio and ROCK SOLID money management and then STICK TO IT. STICK TO IT.

 

[0007]

Correct Pi3141, Heineken charts = Heiken Ashi charts. Doesn't everyone call them that?

What's wrong with the original Heineken charts then? After refreshing the unreachable parts, entry & exits no problem!

See this http://oovoo.tv/video/TLgetLmlggA - I believe the subject guy is a very successful fx spread bettor and uses no stops or money management - he puts it it all down to 1-min Heine charts.