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Self evaluation

  • #1
  • First Post: Sep 30, 2006 2:31pm Sep 30, 2006 2:31pm
I haven't seen something like this around here, so I thought we could give this a try. Post what you think about yourself, your development in FX, faults, strengths, etc.

I'll start. I think I have come a long way in realizing many important things in the past year (been studying for about 2 years). I do not overtrade anymore, I can go for days, even weeks without taking a trade if there are no setups, however if I do see a setup nearly formed sometimes (not often) I jump in a bit early. I've got a fairly solid money management system, simply 1% of capital per trade risked, with a risk:reward at 1:2 - 1:4, with a winning expactancy between 50% - 65%. I have no problems taking (small) losses where the stoploss is placed. One thing I could really work on, is setting takeprofits and exit strategies. I think sometimes I set them much too high. for example: I set a t/p at 100 pips, and it gets to +75, but I don't touch it at all, just set stoploss to breakeven, which it eventually hits. I think a solution to this could be to move the stoploss up a bit higher, and possibly scale out of trades, or just re-evalute my t/p's, lol. Also, I am having a bit of a difficult time turning mostly discretionary price action (no indicators, mostly just trend lines/patterns) into a completely mechanical system, perhaps it may never be able to be all mechanical, and I will have to use discretion, does that sound right?
  • #2
  • Sep 30, 2006 5:16pm Sep 30, 2006 5:16pm
I have been trading for 5 years now & turning my 6th...This is what I have learned so far (Still need to learn much more):

1- I learned to listen to the market & digest what it is saying...So when it is saying "UP" I never trade from the short side, no matter how strong & severe the sell-offs are...Unless the market changes what it is telling me, I'm gonna go with the market anyway

2- I learned to be a contrararian at the extremes...This also stems from listening to the market...I learned to listen to the market very carefully at the extremes...At extremes, the market usually sends only 1 signal before it turns around...I learned to wait for this signal (If any)...This taught me not to buy at the exact top or short at the exact bottom

3- I learned that nobody makes millions overnight, it takes patience to make a living out of the markets & it takes your whole life to make millions

4- I learned that I might work extremely hard & still achieve nothing, because the markets doesn't really care about the QUANTITY of your work as much as they care about the QUALITY of your work

5- I learned that there are a million ways & strategies that can make consistent profits out of the markets & I also learned that I only need 1 of them

6- I learned that every market have a different personality than the other, but at last, they are all MARKETS

7- I learned that money management (Including risk management & position sizing) can really turn tables 180 degrees around


Thanks,

Nader
  • #3
  • Sep 30, 2006 5:38pm Sep 30, 2006 5:38pm
Narafa: I've learned a lot reading your posts over time. In point 1, listening to the markets. I am struggling with clearly seeing what is there and shutting out my prejudices and preconceptions of what 'should' be there.

Do you have any methods, practices, etc that you have found to help you see clearly. i.e. I have been trying to 'stay present' and not allow past or future to affect my perception of what is happening as I evaluate the charts.

What do u mean by listen, is my trying to 'see' getting in the way of listening?

Thank You

Quoting narafa
I have been trading for 5 years now & turning my 6th...This is what I have learned so far (Still need to learn much more):

1- I learned to listen to the market & digest what it is saying...So when it is saying "UP" I never trade from the short side, no matter how strong & severe the sell-offs are...Unless the market changes what it is telling me, I'm gonna go with the market anyway

2- I learned to be a contrararian at the extremes...This also stems from listening to the market...I learned to listen to the market very carefully at the extremes...At extremes, the market usually sends only 1 signal before it turns around...I learned to wait for this signal (If any)...This taught me not to buy at the exact top or short at the exact bottom

3- I learned that nobody makes millions overnight, it takes patience to make a living out of the markets & it takes your whole life to make millions

4- I learned that I might work extremely hard & still achieve nothing, because the markets doesn't really care about the QUANTITY of your work as much as they care about the QUALITY of your work

5- I learned that there are a million ways & strategies that can make consistent profits out of the markets & I also learned that I only need 1 of them

6- I learned that every market have a different personality than the other, but at last, they are all MARKETS

7- I learned that money management (Including risk management & position sizing) can really turn tables 180 degrees around


Thanks,

Nader
In trading, there is no bullshit. You either make money or you don't.
  • #4
  • Sep 30, 2006 6:05pm Sep 30, 2006 6:05pm
ScottH : You are describing where I am at also. I oft times over estimate how far the move will go an invariably give back a lot of the profit I shoudl have pocketed. When looking back on the trade I see signs that I missed that indicated the move was over. This is what I was trying to convey to Narafa in my earlier reply.

Quoting ScottH
I haven't seen something like this around here, so I thought we could give this a try. Post what you think about yourself, your development in FX, faults, strengths, etc.

I'll start. I think I have come a long way in realizing many important things in the past year (been studying for about 2 years). I do not overtrade anymore, I can go for days, even weeks without taking a trade if there are no setups, however if I do see a setup nearly formed sometimes (not often) I jump in a bit early. I've got a fairly solid money management system, simply 1% of capital per trade risked, with a risk:reward at 1:2 - 1:4, with a winning expactancy between 50% - 65%. I have no problems taking (small) losses where the stoploss is placed. One thing I could really work on, is setting takeprofits and exit strategies. I think sometimes I set them much too high. for example: I set a t/p at 100 pips, and it gets to +75, but I don't touch it at all, just set stoploss to breakeven, which it eventually hits. I think a solution to this could be to move the stoploss up a bit higher, and possibly scale out of trades, or just re-evalute my t/p's, lol. Also, I am having a bit of a difficult time turning mostly discretionary price action (no indicators, mostly just trend lines/patterns) into a completely mechanical system, perhaps it may never be able to be all mechanical, and I will have to use discretion, does that sound right?
In trading, there is no bullshit. You either make money or you don't.
  • #5
  • Sep 30, 2006 6:15pm Sep 30, 2006 6:15pm
MrGreen: I am finding that candlesticks and volume (volatility) may help traders like us. Perhaps we are aiming just a bit too high. Once volume (difference between high/low, close/open, since you can't really know "volume" in forex, this is what I actually mean when I say volume) dries up over a few hours bars AND a bearish reversal bar comes into play, we should probably sell some of our position, but then of course it may just be a short selloff. What do you think we can do to better our exits?
  • #6
  • Sep 30, 2006 6:20pm Sep 30, 2006 6:20pm
I think what he means by listening, is having an unbiased view of whichever pair. You may want and think the eur/usd (for example) is heading up, however the market shows lower highs, and lower lows, and many people simply cannot accept being wrong. Such and such indicator says it's time for the market to go up. They think the market must go up soon so they buy into it, yet the market keeps going lower, and they don't know what went wrong. Also, the market gives out signs it may be time for a reversal or continuation, you just have to know how to identify these signals (I am still learning myself). Remember, the market does what IT wants, and it doesn't care what you or I think or want, and it certainly doesn't care if it makes us lose all our money.
  • #7
  • Sep 30, 2006 6:37pm Sep 30, 2006 6:37pm
ScottH: I think you are correct in that learnign more about Candlesticks can help with this problem. I recently purchased a copy of "The Candlestick Course" by Steve Nison in an effort to improve my understanding of them. I also picked up his DVD series "Strategies for profitting w/ Japanese Candlestick Charts" and "Samurai Trading"
These are starting to give me a much deeper understanding of what the candles are saying about the psycology of the traders that make up the market.
In trading, there is no bullshit. You either make money or you don't.
  • #8
  • Sep 30, 2006 6:44pm Sep 30, 2006 6:44pm
I've read a bit by mr Nisson, and from what I can see, he knows his stuff. If you want I can send you something to print out, its about 5 pages, sort of a quick refference to candlestick patterns, really helpful in learning to identify them in realtime.
  • #9
  • Last Post: Sep 30, 2006 6:50pm Sep 30, 2006 6:50pm
'You are describing where I am at also. I oft times over estimate how far the move will go an invariably give back a lot of the profit I shoudl have pocketed."

I posed that question to a veteran floor trader in the pits at the CME many years ago and he told me " Don't be a dick for a tick" I'll never forget that!

Translated= don't be a dip for a pip
Trade what you see - Not what you think
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