What Made You Profitable?

[throughthemud 10]

if you want to improve yourself you have to change yourself. its that obvious. not just in trading but everything in life. improve yourself or change yourself into what it takes to be a good trader or just dont trade

[zdo 20]

What makes you think I'd want to respond?

 

wasn't really thinking about whether you would want to respond or not...

was just asking sincere questions in the Trading sychology forum

[OpenMind 10]

wasn't really thinking about whether you would want to respond or not...

was just asking sincere questions in the Trading sychology forum

 

I wasn't trying to come across as a smartass. What I am trying to tell you is this:

 

A. Trading is part of a package, the package being the individual. One part of the package cannot suddenly excel, that too in probably the most difficult endeavour known to man, if the package overall is of poor quality.

 

B. Once you have experienced this realisation and have acted on it and seen the results, it doesn't matter what others may or may not say, or whether they agree or disagree.

Edited September 15, 2009 by OpenMind

[wits7yle 10]

4 Things that has changed my trading career and will change yours:

1) Follow an All or Nothing Management Policy until you can prove with valid statistics that you can beat it. (80% of all traders still cannot beat AoN trading)

2) Trade WITH the market and in the vast majority of cases WITH the trend of the stock you're trading

3) Review all your trades end of day and weed out your mistakes until you've eliminated all your demons

4) Trade a strategy in your plan. (You'll be in awe when you review your trades and how many of those losing trades were the result of a violation of your trading plan/rules)

[AppliedPeople 10]

4 Things that has changed my trading career and will change yours:

1) Follow an All or Nothing Management Policy until you can prove with valid statistics that you can beat it. (80% of all traders still cannot beat AoN trading)

 

Sorry, but could you elaborate on what an all or nothing management policy is? Thanks.

[strtedat22 10]

4 Things that has changed my trading career and will change yours:

1) Follow an All or Nothing Management Policy until you can prove with valid statistics that you can beat it. (80% of all traders still cannot beat AoN trading)

2) Trade WITH the market and in the vast majority of cases WITH the trend of the stock you're trading

3) Review all your trades end of day and weed out your mistakes until you've eliminated all your demons

4) Trade a strategy in your plan. (You'll be in awe when you review your trades and how many of those losing trades were the result of a violation of your trading plan/rules)

 

clear and concise. couldnt have said it better

[nyctrader 10]

By an "All or Nothing Management Policy" do you mean go in with all your contracts (for any single trade) and have a fixed target for all, as opposed to (1) scaling in or (2) scaling out?

Edited September 21, 2009 by nyctrader

[Fx Riot 10]

Really and truly im must say that its the fact that i did collect my profits and stop allowing the greed to take control of me by wanting to make 100 pips or more on every trades. When i just started out trading forex in 2006 i lost thousands of dollars and it affected me so bad that i kept profitable positions for too long without closing or i would just move my sop to BE and it would come back and hit me. the long and short of it was that i was looking for a home run to make back my thousands, How crazy was i ? But the fact that i started taking profits and leave a little piece of the position open if possible, that was what turn around my Losses in to Good profits

[dstrafling 10]

Leave your ego/opinions at your trading room door - trade what is actually happening, not what you think should be happening!

[chuckt101 10]

1) Follow an All or Nothing Management Policy until you can prove with valid statistics that you can beat it. (80% of all traders still cannot beat AoN trading)

 

Where did you find this statistic?

[dangermouseb 10]

Where did you find this statistic?

I've seen that come up in a few places. Velez have that opinion. I'm in the process of developing a framework to explain it - I know from my own day trading it is easy to do emotionally driven stupid things, that shoot myself in the foot. Using an asymmetric bracket order (say 2:1) at least keeps me from tending towards a non-profitable 1:1.

 

-- DM

[Uli Schmuli 10]

4 Things that has changed my trading career and will change yours:

1) Follow an All or Nothing Management Policy until you can prove with valid statistics that you can beat it. (80% of all traders still cannot beat AoN trading)

 

If you trade one contract, or several, each contract has its own trading plan and set of rules. Think about it: If you are scaling in, there are different entry rules for each contract. Same goes for scaling out. Therefore: EVERY TRADING PLAN IS ALL IN / ALL OUT

 

It's just that when trading more than one contract, you are actually managing different strategies. So the real key here is to find a trading strategy that works, and trade it live until you are consistent. Then you can add other strategies into the mix.

[Grey1 10]

I wasn't trying to come across as a smartass. What I am trying to tell you is this:

 

A. Trading is part of a package, the package being the individual. One part of the package cannot suddenly excel, that too in probably the most difficult endeavour known to man, if the package overall is of poor quality.

 

B. Once you have experienced this realisation and have acted on it and seen the results, it doesn't matter what others may or may not say, or whether they agree or disagree.

 

 

well said such a word of wisdom my man

[Gulam 10]

Hi Guys,

 

I am not sure if this is the right thread to type this message, but I hope in 6 months I will be able to post live trading results with confidence. God willing I feel that this is going to be my turning point.

 

I had the pleasure of watching Grey 1 trade in his house, and I must say since I been, I can't sleep, thats how good its been for me

 

I have never seen anyone trade the way he does. So relaxed and confident. Before he traded he said he will make money God willing. End of the day he did make approx $2.5k inc his program trading.

All his position didn't go into profit immediately, but waited until the market turned into his favour. He didn't get phased out or feel uneasy, just waited calmly.Its all about risk analysis and using position sizing to reduce risks.

 

Its been truly inspirational to me. The way he does things is a new dimension to trading and technical analysis. I feel everyone needs the CORRECT education.

 

Thank you Grey for your kind assistance and showing me the correct way to make money.

[Darkrhye 10]

I am reading through most of this but some of the terminology still throws me. I am a complete noob at this so if there is any good guide to see what is what, I would appreciate it. I'm trying out swing trading first to see if I can grow my little capital.

 

Made my first big mistake buying CLWT the other day and selling at 4 cents loss a little later. With commision, that's a lot of loss. Not staying in killed me.

[brownsfan019 17]

I am reading through most of this but some of the terminology still throws me. I am a complete noob at this so if there is any good guide to see what is what, I would appreciate it. I'm trying out swing trading first to see if I can grow my little capital.

 

Made my first big mistake buying CLWT the other day and selling at 4 cents loss a little later. With commision, that's a lot of loss. Not staying in killed me.

 

Attached is a book list I put together that would be a great start to a trading library. Many terms and such are discussed throughout the books. Good luck!

Amazon.com trading book reco's.pdf

[dokebilee 10]

It's not about what you see, it's about what you don't see. That implies to not only trading itself but also throughout everyday in your life.

[sevensa 10]

It's not about what you see, it's about what you don't see. That implies to not only trading itself but also throughout everyday in your life.

 

I don't really understand what you mean by this and how this made you profitable? Can you provide an example where that is applicable to trading please?

[dokebilee 10]

I don't really understand what you mean by this and how this made you profitable? Can you provide an example where that is applicable to trading please?

 

Gladly, when I started out trading with paper money as a beginner, I thought I knew everything that I needed to know about the market. I had my glorious indicators on-hand and my customized charts, fully loaded with colored volume panel but then when I started trading with real money, I nearly lost it all, and I was deranged with fear, over-confidence (or lack of it), and a whole mix of different emotions. I blamed the market for taking my money and I couldn't "see" it for what it was. After continuously losing capital each time I reloaded my account, I finally decided to stop trading, and I had to in a way "know thyself." I started investing further into education on trading, from trends, to psychology, probability, discipline, etc. I stripped the market down to see what made it tick, and what it was made of. I removed all of my indicators and studied price action, supply and demand, support and resistance, trends, pivotal points, and so on so forth. I removed myself from other traders and market news during trading hours. I built my own system for trading, and instead of trying to predict, I started to base my trading around probability. And finally, I added a "stop loss" post-it note onto my monitor.

 

I didn't get to go over all the points but that's the basic idea. I couldn't see nothing until I lost everything. Always keep an open mind, discipline yourself, and don't blame the market because it's most likely "you" that needs a little reevaluation.

[AgeKay 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?

 

It came down to doing the opposite of what I used to do when I lost money (kind of obvious, I know).

 

• Cut losses short and let profits run, instead of doing the opposite
  
• Go with the trend, instead of going against it
  
• Average up, instead of averaging down
  
• Trust my feel for the market
  
• Be more focused, more patient, and less emotional
  
• Don't use any technical indicators (this is just personal preference)
  
• Completely stopped reading trading books, forums and blogs (except Don Miller's blog)
  
• Started writing down observations and mistakes during trading and learn from them
  
• Started to understand how exactly the largest traders in my market manipulate the market I trade
  
• Started to take care of myself (go to bed early, live more healthy, do sports)
  

[gethim 10]

Two things changed my life:

 

1. I designed proven setups and built a trading plan

2. I took all my indicators off

 

 

i agree that no indicators needed at all .

[Grey1 10]

To become a profitable trader you must realise

 

1) Classical TA on its own is power less in market forecast,

2) Understand the concept of risk and how to diversify risk

3) learn modern TA and not stick to classical TA specially how Block trades are moved intra day ( vwap execution )

 

A profitable Trader is not blind to news even though most news are priced in ,

A profitable Trader understands risk .. Hence he concentrates on entry than exit..

A profitable Trader understand volatility and exhaustion theories in modern TA,,,

 

I used to trade for a bank for years and in 5 years did not see a single soul trading charts and classical TA to make a dime over the long period,, ( I have seen traders to have a lucky run though for few days )

 

ALL above IMHO ofcourse

 

Grey1

Edited December 22, 2009 by Grey1

[Grey1 10]

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i agree that no indicators needed at all .

 

Some indicators such as VWAP line is bench market for block trading .. This indicator is a must for stock traders ,,,,

 

Other indicators which are close to price action and designed to eliminate noise are very good too ... Most commercial indicators are of no or very little value though ..

 

Grey1

[thalestrader 14]

I used to trade for a bank for years and in 5 years did not see a single soul trading charts and classical TA to make a dime over the long period,, ( I have seen traders to have a lucky run though for few days )

 

Well, in that case, I am having one helluva lucky run.

 

Best Wishes,

 

Thales

[thalestrader 14]

Some indicators such as VWAP line is bench market for block trading .. This indicator is a must for stock traders ,,,,

 

I trade stocks, and I do pretty well at it. Apparently I am among the few lucky souls who manage to do so without even knowing what a V W A P is. And I'm not asking what it is, for I really do not care. And I'm not saying that for some folks, a V W A P, whatever it is, may in fact be useful. I am just saying that you are wildly overstating the importance of whatever it is you are talking about, and a bit less hyperbole would be appreciated.

 

Best Wishes,

 

Thales