MightyMouse

Tradewinds it seems like you want to become a CTA. If you have less than 15 clients you don't have to become registered. If you have more you have to become registered with the CFTC. To attract money, you will need to develop a track record. Most people with a brain are going to want to see a few years of non back tested results trading with a live account.

His idea of a self regulating wall street was not diametrically opposed to libertarianism and in no way a display of centralized control. Apples and oranges.

I would say that it takes a lot of hard work to learn how to trade, but once you have developed the aptitude, a degree of luck does play into determining financial success in trading. I hope a lot of people do not struggle with this. MM

Depending on the type of trade, 2% might be too high. If you're taking 2-10 trades a day in my mind its too high. If you're taking 1 trade a day or a week 2% is much more manageable. And you are right. Absolutely nothing happens to you if you take a lose.

Right! Sure! The markets do exactly the same thing every time. You should crawl back into a hole until you are prepared to prove that you have a right to be arrogant. Otherwise you are plain BS. Once again, old man, you simply do not have the balls. Big mouth and no balls and a fear of being exposed. Sounds like a recipe for success. Whether or I know what I am doing, I at least have the balls to take trades in an open forum with before the fact information for all to see. Something that you fear. Carry on with the name calling. That is the only tool you have.

From your description of them, they seem to want to distance themselves as much as possible from the user. Intuitively, you know exactly what that means. So, listen to your gut on this one.

I trade certain markets, oil and gold, intra-day and others such as ES on a short term basis. Basically, 1 to 10 days.

I asked the question because you can only know if a stop was wrongly placed after the fact; meaning, when it stops you out. Thinking that there is a right and wrong stop based on structure is the equivalent to thinking that the structure you see is the only structure that matters, and if you are looking at the only structure that matters then you are looking at the holy grail. Since we know there is no holy grail then we know that the structure that you are looking at is not the only structure that matters and therefore there is no stop that is too close or too far based on structure. On the other hand the things you do know are how much you feel like losing and possibly how much pain you feel like feeling. Minimizing losses, which are trading costs, is a major part of maximizing trading profits, so the topic is a very important topic to discuss. MM

Yes, Blowfish. Each method of recording data will highlight something slightly different about the market and provide the trader with information that he can use to develop strategies to take money from the market. Unfortunately, the unsophisticated egos that frequent these threads need to exclaim that all that matters is what they choose to look at because they have looked at a zillion years or data and concluded years ago that all that matters is what they look at and what you look at can't possibly matter because you are a retail trader and his way is better than your way even though he does not have the guts to demonstrate all he claims before the fact. It's a great lesson in unadulterated myopia that new traders should examine and attempt to weed from their personalities so that they can develop into successful traders.

Does anyone actually place a stop that is either 1 or 2 if they know what they are doing?

What is a wrongly placed stop? Is it one that is too close or one that is too far?

Somehow you feel that posting a few trades with before the fact entries and exits is going to compromise the trust of your students and I am unethical because I asked you to do this. Wow! Its like listening to a mad man defend himself.

You couldn't be more wrong with your assessments and as expected you resort to name calling and you call me a 9 year old. Thank you again for making me correct.. I think it is clear to most that you simply do not have the balls to take me up on my offer. You just do not have the balls. One more time. You just do not have the balls.

I never trade futures without a stop. The stop size is a function of the size of the account, the type of trade, and your tolerance for pain. When I do get stopped out, which is frequently, I have no bones about getting back in. A lot of times it would have been better if I had not had a stop because I take a loss get in at a worse price from my original entry plus the loss. Other times it is a saving grace and I can laugh because I was completely wrong and would have gotten killed if I let price go all the way to what I deem to be support or resistance, but I got out with a small loss. Then there are other times when I enter and price just screams and it wouldn't have mattered if my stop was 1 tick or 100 ticks away because I got it right. Gains are not going to kill me. Losses combined with an extra dose of bad luck will kill me. Using stops gives me ultimate control over whether I live or die.

Rande, I probably shouldn't speak for SIUYA and John, but I feel pretty confident that what you are describing is not what they meant by self deception. You are calling a guy who ran a ponzi scheme a "real decent guy" in spite of his desire to steal others money who had entrusted him with it. I suppose John Wayne Gacy had some redeeming qualities too in spite of his one character flaw. MM

Steve, You have surprised me. I did not think you would take the bait and allow me to expose you. You are without doubt one of the best at explaining the market after the fact. I find it extraordinarily helpful to learn that there was demand when price went up. I learned your system. I know it so well that when I see the market hit a high for the day and recedes, I can be certain that you will say that you took a short a few ticks from the high. Admittedly, I still have not learned how to get an entry a few ticks from the low or the high when the market is 5 points away like you do. We are all working on that. You can compare miy thread to yours. I made mistakes and bad calls like a real trader would. I also demonstrated with all before the fact decision that one can make money in the market without being right all the time. I hope that was helpful to all struggling traders who are fed bullshit from wannabe traders who claim they can be right 78% of the time. I showed that what I do works, but I guess you can say that I accidentally made 70 ES points in one trade starting with 2 contracts in a span of 30 points. Personally, I think I was lucky for that trade to happen. If one followed along and were able to take the entries I said, before the fact, that I was going to take, one could have duplicated my results. On the other hand, your thread is all after the fact. " Here is where I got in" Here is where I got out" See? Past tense. All of it past tense. No one can enter where you did. Yes, a new trader will wish that he can do what you do. An experienced trader will say, BS and walk away. I am not that experienced trader. I am the guy who sees a snake and starts poking a stick at it. I am flawed. I think everyone who has gotten a "verbal slapdown" from you would also like to see how your system actually works with before the fact entries and exits. You admitted yourself you didn't learn my approach in my thread so others wouldn't learn yours if you posted a few trades. Oh, I am a little flattered that you tried to find out what i was doing. It makes me feel good that an institutional trader was interested. Thanks. I have an ego too. I stated that I was not going to teach anyone a system, but I was going to show how to make money. I do not mind helping people if I can, but I have no intention of teaching. I am probably not a good teacher and I need my time for other businesses that I am involved with. I do not make a living trading and I have posted that much in other threads. And it makes no difference to me if anyone knows that. I have also stated that one needs a great deal of capital to generate an income from trading. I suppose you you can get buy with a lot less if you live in a paper bag. I will give you a chronology of oldest tricks. They precede the internet by centuries. Oldest: Trying to pull a scam or a con Second oldest: Someone challenging the conman. Third oldest: The conman wriggling away from a challenge because he has something to hide or he is really weak and vulnerable. Next time make sure that you indicate that my post is the second oldest trick and not the oldest. Since you committed one and three you should have known this. Now be a good boy and try to prove that I am a bigger liar than you, or spout some hot air or call me names, or say I know nothing. Or, you and I can post a few trades together like gentlemen who have nothing to hide and no fear of being exposed and you can show us all how you have not had a losing week in 12 years and average 78%. I, on the other hand, have had losing weeks and months and average about 35% and I have nothing to lose by admitting it and I am completely willing to stand behind my offer in spite of the fact that my performance appears inferior to yours. Show us you are consciously competent, do not tell us. I do hope the hook didn't tear your lip. My intention was to throw you back.

I read and wonder why you both puff your chests out angrily exclaiming " I know more than you" when neither one of you would dare demonstrate that what you "know" in a real time situation. Before you both get all pissy, why doesn't Steve post a trade he is going to take before the fact and the exit he is going to take before the fact to demonstrate for all that he actually can be correct 78% of the time. He is certainly willing to boast about it, he should, then certainly be willing to prove it. Logic you too can prove your brilliance that you are so eager to boast about. Time permitting, I will be more than happy to join both of you. If you are having difficulty understanding the jist of the above, I am asking you both to put your money where your mouth is; otherwise, you are both a bunch of talk.

Negotiator, One can code a random strategy to take 2 ticks and risk 6 and you will likely breakeven, but it will be 80% profitable. He will break even, only if he does not jump the system. Breaking even would explain why he has to sell the system to make money. On the other hand, he could be completely full of shit and playing into the naivete of a dreaming trader. And, when I consider only my profitable trades, my trades are 100% profitable so 80% isn't that good. MM

No doubt a newbie and a seasoned trader can definitively be in the same exact trade in the same exact direction at the same exact time, but a seasoned trader can make more money on that trade or less less money than a newbie would. Over time the newbie increases his take from a trade and reduces his losses or dies.

Well its a good thing you got it then.

In all seriousness when you sell merchandise in a store or however you operate, you are buying the product at one price and selling at another, hopefully, higher price. Sometimes if you do not sell all your have bought, you have to start dumping out before the inventory becomes obsolete (no one wants summer clothes in the winter). A lot goes into whether that item is an item you can sell that season in your location. A lot of times merchandise is bought that you cannot find enough buyers to take it and you have to mark it down fast at a loss or be stuck with junk. On the other hand, if there is high demand for your item, you do not have to mark it down; instead, you will be able to sell all of it at the price you hoped to get. In the market when you buy, your hope is that other buyers will walk into the market and want to buy what you have already bought at higher prices. If the stock you bought, was bought wrong, you are going to have to dump out of it before it or you become obsolete, etc. A slight difference may be how you handle supply and demand. So, if you went to open your store and saw there was a line 2 blocks long for your item, you would not likely raise prices right there and then because of the incredible demand; you would sell out at your advertised price. Any other action would be seen as gouging and would make for bad will. However, if you woke up one morning and saw that the demand for your stock had risen, you would squeeze every penny you could from the buyers. Price gouging happens all the time in the market. It is very similar but the major difference is the liquidity of each. A lot of liquidity makes the market more competitive and harder to make money. MM

Awesome! Rare intervals! Sounds like you suspect you are being lied too. Do you expect to be in his trade room when you are 65? The life time package is designed to get the most money from you upfront because he does to expect his people to have a long trading life.

Trading and other businesses are remarkably similar. Sales, marketing, inventory management, profits, losses, costs, revenues, etc. I personally think that there are a lot of other businesses that are more lucrative than trading, given the amount of time and capital you need to commit. Trading is certainly fun, but if one does not have enough capital, its a waste of time.

A market ranges then eventually breaks from the range and trends until it gets to a new range and either breaks from that range in the original direction or breaks from that range in in the opposite direction of the previous trend and so on. It's never the same, its never simple, and there are a zillion conflicting signals while you are in the trade. You will get killed if you trade a range like a trend and you will get killed if you trade a trend like a range. Anything that most of the time helps you identify that you are or will be in a range is great tool. Anything that most of the time helps identify that you are or will be in a trend is a great too. It's foolish to try to do this with your eyes closed.

I personally do not care for the cheering crowds. I think it is in bad taste. Friend or foe a man is dead. Also, I think it has the potential to start more than it is finishing. Not that it shouldn't have been done, but considering who we are dealing with, it's a big possibility.