Are you a trend trader or a counter-trend trader? 29 replies
Baby pips style academy for other financial markets? 6 replies
from retail trader to full-time trader 17 replies
Discipline Trader and Voice Trader EA/IND 16 replies
Disliked{quote} I would appreciate a screenshot. Went long on GJ. Still trying to master 1m chart. One thing to note I find it difficult to convince myself in a matter of 1m and hit the button. And while I'm thinking the price there it goes away from me. And I'm left with the dilemma of going in with a wider SL or just to wait (hope) for price to touch back down. When you're trading lower TFs like 5min and down you don't get to think but to act as quick as you can and just try to blend with the flow. The hardest part (dilemma) on one hand you think to yourself...Ignored
Disliked{quote} That's me ! Somedays (often after few consecutive wins) I'm convinced that I'm almost there. Days that I lose one trade after another be it from wrong entry, wrong analysis or simply me being impatient and getting out early I do feel that I'm hopeless and question myself if I'll ever get this. But it's good to know that I'm making a progress although it doesn't always add up to my account balance. That's the foundation of my hope, and what keeps me going. I wonder what everyone else has to say about this. What keeps you going ?Ignored
Disliked{quote} Too deep for what? And I would disagree on your second statement: I've met many a candidate trader who were in it for the wrong reason - typically young people, daunted by the challenge of life ahead - and when they have failed it's usually blamed on the psychological challenges of trading, but the real reason was wrong motivation. Also, I've met people who succeeded for the wrong reasons. For example, somebody motivated by his dad's personal bankruptcy when he was a child - something that was very traumatic for the young lad....Ignored
Disliked{quote} Changing tack, this morning's Dax offered a wonderful opportunity for a long trade just after the London open on the 1m time frame, with the 200ema supporting on the 3m, 10m and 30m as well. Three give away long southerly candle stems gave loads of time to pick an entry, and an exit was offered on R1, which logically, once the price had got above today's central pivot, is the level traders would have been aiming for. I'll attach a chart shot if anyone would like to see it.Ignored
DislikedJust woke up and got settled into my daily routine. Amongst my first steps, I caught up with my goto thread. Medici/Cat - great debate. You two are like squabbling brothers who will always mind each others back. Your posts reflect years of hardened experience of life. May you live long and happy friends/brothers. As for me I spent most of post 7pm yesterday getting out of US30 hole created a few days earliers. I managed it. PS I woke up at 6:30am and after checking the state of play I went back to sleep as last 72 hours of trading had...Ignored
Disliked{quote} But that's not exclusive to trading, that can happen with any profession or with a student going to university. That's what being young and finding your place in the world is all about - experimentation. There are those who want to become scientists or teachers, and there are those who want to go into financial services and speculation, but their motives are very unlikely to be the same. Traders want to make money, it is their goal, their sole purpose, not because they necessarily see the acquisition of wealth as their be-all-and-end-all...Ignored
Disliked{quote} I don't disagree with anything you're saying, except this first statement. It is my experience that trading attracts people on a escapist mission much more than other pursuits. That's why I thought the topic worth raising.Ignored
Disliked{quote} Isn't that what we're all trying to do ultimately - escape? Nothing wrong with that. If the dream is there, the desire and the motivation, then that's all you need, whatever reason you go into trading for. For traders though, and I wrote a short piece about this above, the road can be particularly difficult because of the public perception of what a trader is or does.Ignored
DislikedThat's not escape, that's capitulation. Everything we do involves some measure of escape - we start out escaping from our mother's womb. We lock ourselves into our room or go to a friend's house to escape our parents. We get married and have children to escape the loneliness of old age. We go on holiday to escape the routine of everyday life, and we continually work to escape the confines of our lives which hold us back. Only when it is all over do we leave the final chain behind us. If trading is a form of escapism, then I'm right up there at the head of the pack.
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QuoteDislikedWe are lived by powers we pretend to understand:
They arrange our loves; it is they who direct at the end
The enemy bullet, the sickness, or even our hand.
Disliked{quote} and no need to worry about the bills. Trading and making money doesn't do that for you. Until you have faced life and yourself, you will always be on the run, like the chap still escaping his dad's bankruptcy. But trading can be an excellent way of facing yourself, and making money can be a means towards something, rather than an escape from something. But the money making itself is never the meaning or purpose.Ignored
Disliked{quote} I faced life and myself well before i came into trading in my mid forties. Before that I was never on the run, I was on a journey through life as I will always be even though ( I hope ) I have finally found my niche in the vocational sense of the word. You are right to say that trading forces you to face yourself for it exposes in the cruelest way possible all those weaknesses you knew you had but were never prepared to fully acknowledge. Once you have recognized and overcome these weaknesses, then you are on the road to trading success....Ignored
Disliked{quote} So my advice to people without life experience would be to first let themselves be formed in the fires of life - and after that consider trading as a career.Ignored
Disliked{quote} Thank you for sharing. We agree in the end although coming at it from different angles. Yes, I think it's a good idea to advice young people against a career as a retail trader. I know three people who never held a "real job" but made it as a trader right after school. They all have found "trading only" hollow after a few years, and have tried to find meaning by other means. One guy...Ignored
Disliked{quote} Thank you for sharing. We agree in the end although coming at it from different angles. Yes, I think it's a good idea to advice young people against a career as a retail trader. I know three people who never held a "real job" but made it as a trader right after school. They all have found "trading only" hollow after a few years, and have tried to find meaning by other means. One guy in particular comes to mind, whom I once interviewed for a job. He later ended up with a hedge fund, but due to his strange start to working life, he remains...Ignored
DislikedA post I read on this thread yesterday has prompted me to make this quick entry this evening, and it is on the subject of fear. Fear of pulling the trigger is something every trader who has ever existed has had to confront. Some manage to overcome it, others never do. The best way to overcome fear of course is to confront it head on, and in trading terms this means doing what you fear - taking trades when your strategy gives you the green light to go. It sounds straightforward, but it isn't, and most people will choke at one time or another, either...Ignored