The Race

[Attila 10]

Statement for 09/13....

[Attila 10]

So about that Long signal at 10:00am (NQ 1915) this morning... "Looking like a messy, slow day" was my excuse for not taking it. The more you ignore signals that turn out to be good, the more you think the next one will be the bad one that gets you... the good signal streak will end with the one you take.

 

Watching near 20 points go without me but good to learn that I CAN move on.

Edited September 14, 2010 by Attila

[Attila 10]

Today's Journal.. Clearly I have bias as I had no trouble taking the short while I found a reason to ignore the long signal.. 2 signals so far today, Yesterday 3, all worked (+7 pts if taken). REALLY should hold this for the planned 7 target... at target as I type.. Another issue to work on.. Ideally a long signal should be my exit but fear won't allow that. 1 trade and done...

[Kiwi 16]

Bias is a funny thing (except when its xxxxing you up).

 

One thing is to be very careful of significantly higher timeframes. If trading 5m then looking above 15-60m puts you into a world of hurt, looking for trades that never happen - even 60 can do that. One of the easiest ways of dealing with bias is:

- put an ma in the 20-40 range on your chart (I am fond of 34, others like 20 or 21 or 18)

- keep reminding yourself that you'll be biassed and maybe even write down what it is currently

- keep reminding yourself how well it worked for you in the past (maybe have 3 charts in your folder marked up with particularly excellent examples).

- then having accepted that your bias is short but it never helped you ... trade in the direction of your ma

 

Glad you liked the Al Brooks reference. I just gave it to another person here who had been using floor trader method (which I started with too) but found it a bit weak when the intraday noise intruded on it - Al lives and breathes that noisy space.

[MightyMouse 12]

Bias is a funny thing (except when its xxxxing you up).

 

One thing is to be very careful of significantly higher timeframes. If trading 5m then looking above 15-60m puts you into a world of hurt, looking for trades that never happen - even 60 can do that. One of the easiest ways of dealing with bias is:

- put an ma in the 20-40 range on your chart (I am fond of 34, others like 20 or 21 or 18)

- keep reminding yourself that you'll be biassed and maybe even write down what it is currently

- keep reminding yourself how well it worked for you in the past (maybe have 3 charts in your folder marked up with particularly excellent examples).

- then having accepted that your bias is short but it never helped you ... trade in the direction of your ma

 

Glad you liked the Al Brooks reference. I just gave it to another person here who had been using floor trader method (which I started with too) but found it a bit weak when the intraday noise intruded on it - Al lives and breathes that noisy space.

 

 

Does Al Brooks know how to make money or is he a trading junkie who wrote a book about his experiences trading indexes?

[Kiwi 16]

Is anyone on the internet not a dog? Is a person really what he says? Or who he says? Can one photoshop large arrays of monitors from one's trailer park. Is the attached photo really my view when I leave my study to make a coffee?

 

I have no proof of his effectiveness at all. But unlike most people he actually discourages buying his book - he says he makes little money from it and that he wrote it very quickly making it hard to read. Bizarre given how many other badly written hard to read books are out there (anyone deja vuing on Mark Douglas's books). Also, unlike most he doesn't seem to attract that sort of guru criticism. I can usually smell them a mile away including the frauds such as we have here but I have yet to pick up a whiff of the stench.

 

My recommendation isn't based on knowledge of his profitability. It is simply that when I saw his stuff it is very similar to the best of my stuff. Also pretty similar to how I think Brownsfan trades. And similar enough to what Attila wants to do that it should reinforce his best rather than hinder him. The other thing I liked was that I got a couple of ideas that fit into "my stuff" which worked and improved me a little. Other ideas I haven't even tried as his book is a bloody awful read and his videos are not "tony robbins" style ... I can only take a little at a time.

 

.

Edited September 14, 2010 by Kiwi
jeez -- I can spell there

[Attila 10]

Bias is a funny thing (except when its xxxxing you up).

 

One thing is to be very careful of significantly higher timeframes. If trading 5m then looking above 15-60m puts you into a world of hurt, looking for trades that never happen - even 60 can do that. One of the easiest ways of dealing with bias is:

- put an ma in the 20-40 range on your chart (I am fond of 34, others like 20 or 21 or 18)

- keep reminding yourself that you'll be biassed and maybe even write down what it is currently

- keep reminding yourself how well it worked for you in the past (maybe have 3 charts in your folder marked up with particularly excellent examples).

- then having accepted that your bias is short but it never helped you ... trade in the direction of your ma

 

Glad you liked the Al Brooks reference. I just gave it to another person here who had been using floor trader method (which I started with too) but found it a bit weak when the intraday noise intruded on it - Al lives and breathes that noisy space.

 

As far as bias goes I am half-way there by not taking the long BUT waiting for the short.

 

Time-Frame wise fully agree and as of last week I am down to a 3 minute chart with a slow ma representing the trend of the 15 minute. In the morning I mark in relevant S/R levels and during the day keep reminding myself as a day trader I need no additional information.

[MightyMouse 12]

Is anyone on the internet not a dog? Is a person really what he says? Or who he says? Can one photoshop large arrays of monitors from one's trailer park. Is the attached photo really my view when I leave my study to make a coffee?

 

I have no proof of his effectiveness at all. But unlike most people he actually discourages buying his book - he says he makes little money from it and that he wrote it very quickly making it hard to read. Bizarre given how many other badly written hard to read books are out there (anyone deja vuing on Mark Douglas's books). Also, unlike most he doesn't seem to attract that sort of guru criticism. I can usually smell them a mile away including the frauds such as we have here but I have yet to pick up a whiff of the stench.

 

My recommendation isn't based on knowledge of his profitability. It is simply that when I saw his stuff it is very similar to the best of my stuff. Also pretty similar to how I think Brownsfan trades. And similar enough to what Attila wants to do that it should reinforce his best rather than hinder him. The other thing I liked was that I got a couple of ideas that fit into "my stuff" which worked and improved me a little. Other ideas I haven't even tried as his book is a bloody awful read and his videos are not "tony robbins" style ... I can only take a little at a time.

 

.

 

Nice view Kiwi from your study.

 

I wasn't criticizing your recommendation. I was just wondering if he actually makes money trading. And, certainly, you can learn how to trade from someone who cannot trade for a living if he doesn't trade for a living. If you can pick something up from his style and make it yours that is all that counts.

 

MM

Edited September 15, 2010 by MightyMouse

[Attila 10]

Statement for 09/14........

[Attila 10]

Today's Journal.. Encouraging.. Good to see System very effective so far 10 (1 scratch) out of 11 winners.. Can't wait for a different environment (news) to see how it does. Reached 3 trade limit and quit..

[Lazarus 10]

Today's Journal.. Encouraging.. Good to see System very effective so far 10 (1 scratch) out of 11 winners.. Can't wait for a different environment (news) to see how it does. Reached 3 trade limit and quit..

 

you using a new system?

[rluc99 10]

Today's Journal.. Encouraging.. Good to see System very effective so far 10 (1 scratch) out of 11 winners.. Can't wait for a different environment (news) to see how it does. Reached 3 trade limit and quit..

Apologies if you have already explained, but why aren't you trading your system?

[Attila 10]

you using a new system?

 

Yes. Basically I have decided I would rather have a system that trades pullbacks as such a system may not make a killing in strong trends but will at least avoid the psychologically damaging effects a choppy market can put a breakout/breakdown trader through.

 

Plus no more over-trading and system trades only.. Fell off the horse a bit today but back on tomorrow.

[Attila 10]

.…….………………Deleted…………

Edited September 16, 2010 by Attila

[Attila 10]

Apologies if you have already explained, but why aren't you trading your system?

 

I am honored your first post on TL is to me;)

Welcome to TL!..

 

That, my friend is a great question. Others have the answer.

[ekshay 10]

Apologies if you have already explained, but why aren't you trading your system?

 

Why indeed? :rofl:

 

Attila, I think what Rex meant was "why have you switched to this new system from your older one?"

... and your reply to Lazarus does explain that to some extent.

 

-----

 

Statement - 15th Sept.

 

Couple scalps. Totally by the system.

May the Tortoise win the race.

[ekshay 10]

Thales,

 

"Twenty weeks starting with the week of 4/26/2010" are already up.

 

My vote goes to Attila ... for tenacity, survival skills & never going AWOL.

 

 

PS: I intend to use this thread as a Log, but honestly the spirit of 'Race to a Million' has long been missing.

[thalestrader 14]

Thales,

 

"Twenty weeks starting with the week of 4/26/2010" are already up.

 

My vote goes to Attila ... for tenacity, survival skills & never going AWOL.

 

I agree. Attila, my hat is off to Attila.

 

... but honestly the spirit of 'Race to a Million' has long been missing.

 

Quite the contrary ... though the individual who initially prompted this thread has long ceased to be a part of TL, I think Attila's efforts jouranled here have been an honest, real-world, real-time demonstration of just how difficult it is to do what nearly every person drawn to the markets somehow thinks he or she is going to do - take a small grub stake and somehow (and quickly) make a killing, or at least make a living off the markets.

 

Watching Attila's efforts here over the several months, I was frequently reminded of Gary Smith's book, How I Trade for a Living. He makes several salient points. First, following Rick Pittino, he argues that too many use the dream as a goal. The dream, e.g. making a million dollars, trading for a living, is where we want to be. We must establish goals that will allow us to arrive at the dream.

 

Second, if we do not work hard to establish discipline in both our lives and our chosen activity, in our case, trading, then "all of our dreams will be pipe dreams, little flights of fancy."

 

And finally, trading is a profession (I prefer this view to the "trading is a business" mantra - though Smith, a former vendor, does himself echo the "TIB," though faintly). While I do believe the mechanics can be quickly and easily communicated to the open minded, it can and usually does take years for the adult human being to learn to trade with consistent profitability.

 

So, while you may think that the "spirit of the race to the million" has long been absent, I would suggest that the initial spirit was false and misguided, and that Attila has quite effectively laid bare the true spirit behind the dream. ST represents that dreamland where nearly everyone of us started and how easily the dream can be abandoned. Attila represents the self-examination and dilligence, as well as the difficulties in establishing the discipline required to achieve success in this venue.

 

I hope the both of you continue this thread as a journal. It is a real testament to the long, hard, and sometimes (seemingly) impossibly difficult road that is "trading for a living."

 

Best Wishes,

 

Thales

[Attila 10]

Why indeed? :rofl:

 

Attila, I think what Rex meant was "why have you switched to this new system from your older one?"

... and your reply to Lazarus does explain that to some extent.

 

 

Ok here goes.. The new system is fundamentally similar.. Key differences are waiting for MUCH longer trendlines to develop AND fading the first reversal rather than immediately trading the break (I will have to say "bye" to some trades as a result). A valid change of day mood trendline has to have swings within it where stops have likely been set.

 

I would rather have a system with a worst case scenario of not making money.. I don't know if this one is it but that is where I'd like to get to. Of course, how the goon behind the screen handles it is a BIG part of the equation.

 

Statement for 09/16..

[Attila 10]

Think OR Swim costing me today..! endless freezing..

[dwt 10]

And just to add insult to injury, it's always sooooooo bloody obvious in retrospect, isn't it?

[Attila 10]

Statement for 09/16..

 

Oops... that was the wrong statement and "statement"..

 

Statement for 09/15

[Attila 10]

survival skills

 

Ha!.. I wear brown shorts most of the time to hide all evidence of stains from "strained" trading..

 

Since the race is "over" here's to another 6 months, hopefully with less praying this time. Good to have you around..

[Attila 10]

Today's Journal... Took ONE system trade.. Just missed my take 7 target (need to adjust this somehow daily) busy most of the day but returned in plenty time to see and ignore the signal of the day... Somehow managed to overlook the very long Yellow TL stretching to yesterday get broken.

 

Don't know where Thales got it but "It's a bull market you know". Seems like any number of green days in a row is possible..

Edited September 16, 2010 by Attila

[Kiwi 16]

Someone asked why Atilla doesn't just trade his plan (I wondered if they'd ever traded a serious amount of money).

 

Here's something out of left field. I've always wondered where my own bad trading habits came from and struggled to get control over them. I've accepted that its because when you trade you're operating different parts of the brain to when you plan to trade. Just like if you plan to be celebate then go to a party and have a few drinks, some dancing, meet a pretty girl ....

 

Yes; the research does suggest that one part of your brain switches off (or down, down) as another switches ON.

 

Anyway; before trading I used to have a problem with procrastination so when I saw a book called The Now Habit (which is quite old but a newer book by the same author was released and generated some interesting comments) which purported to have a different take on procrastination (the why and fixing the why, not behavioural fixes such as I've always used) I thought I'd read it. And as I read it I realized that Firore is talking about "doing the wrong thing trading" not about "not doing the tasks you planned to do." So, I'm quietly studying it, trying to figure out whether you can apply his theories or something very close to trading. Maybe a book from me.

 

So, anyway, a recommendation. Might help someone fix one of their patterns.