What Made You Profitable?

[Stockaddict 10]

Is there anything you did to change your trading 360 degrees? I am sure most of us has started by losing money.

 

What is it that you did in order to change from a losing trader to a profitable one?

 

I would love to read your comments.

[Soultrader 12]

Two things changed my life:

 

1. I designed proven setups and built a trading plan

2. I took all my indicators off

[MrPaul 10]

Two things changed my life:

 

1. I designed proven setups and built a trading plan

2. I took all my indicators off

 

I would have to say that is exactly what I did also. I actually have my trading plan sitting next to me while I trade. I now only use indicators to look for divergence on daily charts in a swing trade.

[Soultrader 12]

Hello Paul,

 

Are you mainly a swing trader? I would like to ask what kind of stop you apply when swing trading. Do you base it on a fix amount of points/dollars, S&R levels, or do you exit through indicator signals?

 

I am a day trader and I use a fairly tight stop on every trade. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks

[wsam29 10]

I looked in the mirror, realized I was the problem.

 

Took a couple of years to find the answers to my (psychological) problems.

 

Found some concepts for entry rules that I could trade with, without having to sit there all day to wait for the signal. Exit rules are set for each market.

 

Did not rely heavily on technical indicators such as MACD, RSI, etc.

 

Kept my trading to a minimum, commissions alone will chew into your profits or add to your loses.

 

Once you know what you are doing, the desire to trade and to be "right" will dissipate. The desire to want to make money rather than pick the right trades will also dissipate. Missing a key trading day will not frustrate you.

 

Once you get into the mindset of knowing what you are going to do when the market does what it does is where you want to be at. Once you are there, the money will follow.

[TinGull 10]

About the same as Soul and Paul. Took off my indicators and used price as the main squeeze, and devised a trading plan that works for me. The other thing I did that was a HUGE help was finding a contract that worked with my personality to use a learning tool to overcome some psychological barriers, and now I'm feeling like I'm ready to take on some more challenges. Trading's all about the challenges and breakthroughs for me, almost more so than the money. I love learning and I love learning about myself. This is a great game to be in if you want to learn about yourself...quickly.

[Bfbusa 10]

Once you get into the mindset of knowing what you are going to do when the market does what it does is where you want to be at. Once you are there, the money will follow.

 

 

wsam29, that is one of the best statements I've read here or anywhere. This is what you call a " ah-ha" moment because it changes ones view of the market.

[brownsfan019 17]

Addict,

I think it's as simple as being confident in your setups and then consistently executing your trading plan.

 

It's very easy to say, but hard to achieve. To first get to the level where you can trade your setups w/o hesitation is not easy to do. Until you prove to yourself that your setups work, you'll always being wondering if you should just tweak it a little...

 

And then to build a trade management plan and executing it the same exact way each time is part 2. As I mentioned in my blackjack strategy thread, I believe you must execute your plan the same way each and every time.

[walterw 10]

My experience:

 

 

_ One good setup

_ Discipline

_ Enjoy Trading

 

 

then I fool around with my curiosity but really never trade all does experiments.... just for fun.

 

Trading has to be a pleasant experience, and having only ONE good setup can be a good start to make it pleasant... cheers Walter.

[torero 10]

I think it's not about just being profitable but being consistently profitable. Anyone can at any point in time be profitable. But at some crucial moments where the old bad habits and self-idolatry sets in that gets the best of us. The problem is the maintain the state of mind and trading plan that keeps in the path of consistency. I know of guilty of fallacy from time to time. Old habits are hard to break (30 yrs of conditioning vs 6 yrs of rehabilitation), it's precisely the reason to rebuild and rehabilitate ourselves into a new routine that becomes almost unconscious routine. Hard to do but it's where it needs to be to get there.

[dalby 10]

i hired a mentor, and i got serious about my trading. i turned it into a business, not a hobby. that did it

[ItalianSharp 10]

I agree with almost all the posts above. I'll throw in something that hasn't been mentioned yet and which made a huge difference for me:

 

ACCOUNTABILITY

 

You ought to be accountable for your mistakes and errors and learn from them. When I first started off, I used to find justifications outside of my trading plan to explain my losses...I used to say the words "THEY SHOOK IT PRETTY BAD"...or "IT JUST DIDN'T WANT TO GO MY WAY"...or "THIS MARKET IS MANIPULATED BY THE BIG GUYS"...

 

The difference between now and then is that the above sayings haven't changed, while I HAVE CHANGED. I started to focus on the market and try to learn its behavior...I've been stalking the mkt for hrs, lots of screen time...And more importantly, I started to take responsibility and be accountable for my trading. There no longer is THEY, IT, etc....it's just ME.

[walterw 10]

I agree with almost all the posts above. I'll throw in something that hasn't been mentioned yet and which made a huge difference for me:

 

ACCOUNTABILITY

 

You ought to be accountable for your mistakes and errors and learn from them. When I first started off, I used to find justifications outside of my trading plan to explain my losses...I used to say the words "THEY SHOOK IT PRETTY BAD"...or "IT JUST DIDN'T WANT TO GO MY WAY"...or "THIS MARKET IS MANIPULATED BY THE BIG GUYS"...

 

The difference between now and then is that the above sayings haven't changed, while I HAVE CHANGED. I started to focus on the market and try to learn its behavior...I've been stalking the mkt for hrs, lots of screen time...And more importantly, I started to take responsibility and be accountable for my trading. There no longer is THEY, IT, etc....it's just ME.

 

good point Italian ¡¡¡ asuming your responsabilty its a great step too success¡¡ and promotes objective thinking in terms of real world trading...

 

when you start justificating you automatically become subjective... and being subjective in this bussiness its letal...

 

nice thread here.... cheers Walter.

[Uli Schmuli 10]

Detachment from the outcome is what did it for me. A good trading plan executed with precision & consistency will allow that detachment because you have complete confidence that your edge will prevail over time. I'm thanking everyone in this thread for some really great posts.

[Hlm 10]

A few things off the top of my head (not a full list)...

 

• Keeping everything dynamic and letting the market tell you what is going on.
  
• Trends within trends in a fractal like manner.
  
• The problem isn't indicators that average or lag, it's that they don't start and stop at important/logical points. (back to being dynamic)
  
• Detachment from the outcome. (what Uli Schmuli said)
  

[artrading 10]

Addict,

I think it's as simple as being confident in your setups and then consistently executing your trading plan.

 

I couldn't agree more Browns, I think I'm actually getting to that point - which will also be why I'm starting to see success on a much more regular basis. Committing to your trade and seeing it out can go a long way to reducing stress and the urge to give-up long term as well. For every losing trade, the knowledge that you followed your plan does help a little. On the other hand, breaking with your system may have an even worse effect and play on your mind (and hamper performance) for future sessions...

 

Confidence is a huge factor and I personally believe your posts elsewhere (about taking every setup presented) were correct as well. Maybe the difference between the Pro's and the rest of us is using discretion to increase Edge, but for the majority consistent execution of the setup (and the plan as a whole) has to be vital in achieving success / profitability

 

Just my

[Tams 20]

Is there anything you did to change your trading 360 degrees? I am sure most of us has started by losing money.

What is it that you did in order to change from a losing trader to a profitable one?

I would love to read your comments.

 

 

 

I stopped arguing with the trend.

 

 

 

.

Edited May 26, 2009 by Tams

[sep34 10]

Enough screen time with my trading plan/strategies which created a solid ground to stand on durring the realtime fast paced action of what is intraday trading. Simply, confidence in what your doing and knowing there is very little if any ambiguity, which is directly linked to sticking to a method and staying committed for X period of time.

 

X varies from person to person.

[ant 10]

When I embraced the fact that trading is a game of probability and started to think in terms of probabilities/odds instead of trying to predict the market.

[b4gt 10]

I turn 360 degrees every day. I always start with a new idea and end up right there where I started. I really have to find a way to stop at 180 degrees.

 

Sorry I couldn't help myself.

:embarassed:

[taq 10]

when I became true chartist.

 

The Chartist's Prayer

 

May my assessment of today's price action be based upon the facts, all of the facts and nothing but the facts. May I not be influenced by fear, greed or the ill advised comments of others, which may be made in their interests and not in my own. May I take into account the past history laid before me on this chart and make my assessment based on my knowledge and logic, and not on my emotions.

 

TAQ

[jonbig04 10]

I nominated BFs post because I believe he did a great job in succinctly explaining, but not over simplifying it. I know this couldn't really be tested, but I wonder if there is a correlation between how much you know about trading, and how well you actually trade. I bet there isn't. I would guess that out of all the great traders out there, some of them are avid chartists, and some of them are just following a simple plan. I think one of the many pitfalls in trading is becoming to enamored with the analysis, caught up on working so hard and...well, over thinking it until it become harder than it should be and thus making success all the more elusive.

 

I know a certain person (haha if he reads this he will know) that will say: "sellers are having to auction the lower side in order to find adequate buying interest", instead of saying "oh yea price dropped". Not that that matters, but I do think we spend so much time working hard and so much time marveling at how difficult trading can be that we forget that we can do it. We build it up to this monumental task achieved by only a few elite, chosen ones; that we make it harder on ourselves.

 

Just my opinion.

[Head2k 10]

I know a certain person (haha if he reads this he will know) that will say: "sellers are having to auction the lower side in order to find adequate buying interest", instead of saying "oh yea price dropped".

Actually there is a significant difference in those 2 statements. The second statement describes a fact, while the first statement assigns a meaning to it. And that meaning carries some implications. I know the person in question and I think it is great that he thinks in this way. Because even if you just say "oh yea price dropped", you should know what does it mean to you and what implications it carries in a provided context. And by saying what he is saying he bears this in mind. He is not only describing what's happening, he is interpreting it. Or at least that's how I see it.

[86834 10]

For me personally... listed below

 

1. Ditched the indicators

2. Put the effort in and learned how to read price action and momentum

3. Gave the market my full attention from open to close, what i mean by this is that i stopped messing around with music and websites when it got quiet. There's always money on the table to take.

4. I stopped basing stuff on volume. Someone that i used to trade with ages ago, who did really well out of trading, always used to say that it was a load of bollox's that price follows volume. For me it took a long time for me to realize this, and my trading changed dramatically when i just focused on how price was trading.

5. I started off really young, and i'm still young now in the grand scheme of things, but as grew up a little bit and matured more, that took me from a good trader to a great trader.

[Tams 20]

Actually there is a significant difference in those 2 statements. The second statement describes a fact, while the first statement assigns a meaning to it. And that meaning carries some implications. I know the person in question and I think it is great that he thinks in this way. Because even if you just say "oh yea price dropped", you should know what does it mean to you and what implications it carries in a provided context. And by saying what he is saying he bears this in mind. He is not only describing what's happening, he is interpreting it. Or at least that's how I see it.

 

 

 

... and that, distinguishes someone who reacts, and someone who anticipates.