TheDude

Only at shooting up school children though - not very good with them in wars eh?

How come Americans are so fascinated with guns? I mean if they knew how to use a freaking gun, I could understand it, but the facts demonstrate Americans have no freaking idea on how to use a gun properly. If Americans knew how to use guns, they'd be a bit better at fighting wars. Lets look at Americas track record in wars: 1. 'War of Independence'. This is when a bunch of gorillas fought in a civil war against the British. The common day name for gorilla warfare by Americans is TERRORISM. Any freedom fighter today is now labelled a terrorrist, yet interestingly, it is through terrorism we see the only victory America has ever seen. Maybe we should put the 'founding fathers' into Git'mo Bay? 2. World War 1. No show. 3. World War 2. Took a few years to decide which side to back. They wouldn't have won the Pacific war with out the help of the British. They claim victory against Hitler, but of course it was the British and the Battle of Britain that put the nails in Gerry's coffin. 4. Vietnam. Lost badly. 5. Iraq. No victory there. Replaced one dictator with a bunch of war lords. Iraq is in a worse state now and more violent. 5. Battle of Mogadishu. Ouch! A bunch of bush men kicked Americas ass into humiliation. 6. Afghanistan. Still no victory against a bunch of fanatical sheppard's and herds men after 9+ years is it now? 7. Everyone's fave: The War Against Terror!!!!!! Which terror? The one America financed and started? Have they won that war yet? Will they ever? So, if America wants guns, who cares? Remember, if an American points a gun at you, have no fear. Chances are, he doesn't know how to use it anyway!!

WTF???? How many vets are there in 'the ghan'? what kind of statistic is that? WTF??? You really think they can afford vets in the ghan? No way. If their horse is ill, they'll freakin eat it, not seek medical help. WTF!!!!

'Random is a word used to explain outcomes where we do not know or understand the cause of' NN Taleb

But the sky at night down here is absolutely BITCHIN'! - and the sunrise and sun sets last for weeks which is awesome

No sorry - I live in Antarctica.

What markets are you trading? Treasuries or ES (especially afternoon when its a bit slower) tend to be the best places to start because of the liquidity and volatility. STIR's and CL for example wont be very good markets. FX futures are probably a bit too volatile and dont quite have the liquidity for a novice. FOREX (retail) - obviously forget it as there is zero order flow - just a broker raping you. When you've got a market that trades, just put a few months in watching. Dont even paper trade - just watch and you'll start to see the same games reoccur.

MD Trader from TT (a DOM). Time & Sales. If they do use charts, it's mostly Market Profile.

I think TA only has some merit for trading on EOD data and above. For day traders, charts are almost useless (traditional ohlc bars/candlesticks). This is why prop firms dont use TA/charts for day trading. This is why prop traders who have never traded before start making money in 3-9 months, where as 'retail' day traders take years before they finally throw in the day trading towel - and their charts with it!

When I was a kid, I remember being able to piss really high into the air. My mates at school would see who could stand furthest back from the urinal and still hit it. Looking back, I feel real sorry for the janitor having to mop up all that piss from 7 year olds. :rofl:

Nope. I think burn out or boredom is the reason most successful scalpers quit after a while - assuming they are ahead. When you've got a millions, why sit behind the screen all day? The real big hitters I know who made their money scalping either position trade now, set up prop firms or go into private equity, set up funds etc. And of course, you cant compound continually as you suggest scalping - or any kind of trading as you reach liquidity issues in any market. You simply cant compare a successful scalper like Rotter et al with Buffett. One is a trader, the other owns a conglomerate thats mostly involved in insurance and also happens to own some shares. Neither can you compare a trader with a hedge fund. It's just daft. HF's have regulations etc they must abide by. Independent traders dont. They can do what they like. The trader will have less than a mil in his account and can make that into another mil fairly quickly in one or 2 markets making quick decisions. The HF may have billions, and has to think about liquidity, diversification, AND regulation. HF's also need to appear as being very complex and sophisticated in what they do to justify fees and attract investment. The more of a dark art it looks the better. HF needs a smooth equity curve, nice sharp ratio's etc.

Looking at the chart, it seems the largest volume is actually 3-4 pm GMT - which is the London 'close' (4pm) as positions are squared/books handed over. The US open has 2 components: Euro traders looking at US news releases, and of course the Americans, where as during the Euro open, only the London crowd are there as the Asians are more interested in their local currency (I guess)

The larger one. Because I'm a contrarian. Besides, you didnt say where the hospital was. If it was in the 3rd world (where over half of the worlds population live), there is a high probability ant female births would have been killed at birth and not reported. :helloooo:

ok maybe Im being pedantic. Let me put it another way - I dont like to focus on losses. 'Careful for what you wish for' as the saying goes. Learning to take a loss? I want to avoid loss at all opportunity. OK sure a loss is a fact of life, but if you learn to avoid them rather than live with them, I think we'll be in a better position (excuse the pun!).

Dunno about that. If you are trading with very low costs and scratch every trade UNLESS it pops a couple of ticks immediately you get filled,you will probably end up with 60% scratch trades, 24% small wins, 14% small losses - that also go against you immediately (1 tick max) and 2% of trades that dont look back and make big money. My % are approx. This is just an example for purposes of illustration. It is however a basic concept/theory of market making before you start to look at other markets to hedge against v place in queue etc. Can you think of ANY other business that doesnt go all out to avoid losses at every possible opportunity? Trading, at its heart, is no different from any other business. Id be interested in why you think otherwise.

But you still have to pay borrowed money back - or do you let them keep the stock (purposefully default) and not roll over the puts? BTW, my figure above re HFT was wrong - it was closer to $400k per day!!! High-Frequency Trading Prospers at Expense of Everyone - Bloomberg Although not a big fan of 'trading books', Irene Aldridge's High Frequency Trading explains the basic algorithms and concepts if you're interested and have a good understanding of maths, stats, equations etc.

My thoughts are that you should learn what you're doing first before entering any more positions. Take the advise given above, then go learn the basics.

I saw a report on Bloomberg about a HFT firm that makes $300,000 on average EVERY DAY in the ES alone. I thought that was pretty cool. I think it's more about the velocity of money. You can certainly make a lot of money very quickly if you have developed a skill in short term trading - thats why so many are drawn to it. However, the shorter the time frame, the more adaptable you have to be if you want to keep making money. This makes it more difficult as it's way more competitive. Looking at the other end of the spectrum, investing is perhaps more certain, but the rewards will be lower. SIYUA makes a good point about compounding interest for example. However, at the moment, that gig is bust. Consider this: Inflation is approx 2-3% (assuming you're in the western world) Margin rates are typically 4-6% to finance positions Tax will be say 20-30% of any profit. Given a bank deposit will be paying out around 3%, you will lose money (inflation will take away the returns - which will be taxed). Given govt bonds are paying out 2-4%, you will lose money. Good dividend paying stocks will return 5-6% - you will lose or scratch after bro' - assuming the price remains the same. Given good investments (structured products, hedge funds etc) are yielding 10% if you're lucky, you may end up with say 2%. Most are returning 6% or so - so again, you will end up just above 0. These figures are approximations - and just there to show that at the moment, yield investing is dead - until interest rates start to rise again. Speculation is the only choice at the moment.

I'll go make a cup of coffee before putting that stop in - markets a way off, I'll be fine.

Damn - I meant to click Buy, not Sell

Averaging in is the way to go.

How about Mother Teresa? One side of the coin suggests she was a saint, dedicating her whole life to caring for the poor in India. Another view however is that she in fact did a great more harm than good. Her religious stance meant that she would discourage the use of condoms in the communities in which she worked. This drove the population up - i.e. more people living in poverty, with even less resources to go round, not to mention the dramatic increase in STD's within the communities. This isnt a bash at the Catholic religion. I do wonder however that if Jesus was around today, whether he would agree with matters surrounding birth control. He did after all heal on the Sabbath which was thought to be against The Law at the time. Which position shows more love and humanity?

There's always another side to the coin of course!

Technical Analysis is my edge

We're doomed I tell you. Doooooomed! The end of the world is nigh - better buy some gold I guess. When 'their' evil plan reaches fruition and we're all starving and have no clean water, and trading with buttons, at least we can look at the pile of gold and realise, in actual fact, gold is pretty much worthless - other than jewellery and visors for space helmets. Both of which are low priority items when you're starving because 'they' have butt loved you with 'their' red, white and blue phalli.