Now I know why 95% of traders are on losing side
Did you learn to drive in a race car - with no helmet and no seat belt? Or did you start with a bicycle, then bumper cars and maybe a go cart? The FX is the professionals race track - big dogs with big money. Open a $2,000 account with a discount stock broker that allows options trading and learn how to do simple spreads. Try a straddle on the DIA. Think it's going up next month, try a Bull Call spread. Think it's going down, do a Bear Put spread. Don't know - try an Iron Butterfly. Don't have any idea what these are - go to the (OCC) options clearing website and read up. There is more education free on the web than you can read in the next six months. (And NO - I am not in any way associated with these folks.) Still want to trade forex - there are futures that trade parallel 24/6 (nearly) and these have options (maybe not 24/6 - NY not, Globex maybe?). There are real brokers that place your trade for a commission and don't take the opposite side of your trade. Spread on globex is 1(-2) pip. Some brokers $10/roundturn. Breakeven is 1(-2) pip. Baby Steps! ... OR ... take the opposite of James's or Iandekoker's trade - they could use a little Christmas money - couldn't you guys.
See my problem with this whole approach is: my dont you just buy 4 lots to start with and let those run while you adjust your stop loss so break even as soon as possible?
or am i a too stupid to see the benefits of his approach?lol
Guess what - the money MAKES you right...
If you don't mid, i'm placing that in my sigs....
....oh come on SL how can u be tired of it...u need some volatility juice. heheheh
Not gonna answer that last part, but the point is:
The risk is 4x as big if you start with 4 lots. Say it's 1% at 1. If you use 1 and move the stop and enter a new one risk is always 1%, if you use 4 right off, risk is 4%. The benefit of scaling in is that your risk remains constant or lower than going in directly, if done right, yet your reward grows as you have doubled your leverage per pip after the first addon e.g.
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I find it amazing how nauseatingly long this thread has gotten. Why?
Because it breaks down to one simple thing - ian, imho you haven't found the holy grail for the 95%, you've simply found that YOU can master the 5 pip approach easy.
i agree there are lots of ways to make pips....
That doesn't mean it's a superior approach or that it has the best odds or is best suited for beginners. It means you know PA, have a clue about charting and a lot of experience which makes it work FOR YOU.
Period. Why this needed a few hundred posts I don't know. Odds are what odds are, that's math, and as long as you can fulfill the conditions required (if you CAN win 100% of the time then you won't give a toss about risk/reward, period. But how many can? Good for those that can, bad for those that can't - that's all there is to it) then everything else is irrelevant and theoretical book bullcrap.
But saying "just 10 pips a day" is just as much BS as saying you can't win with a low r/r approach. If you can win 95% of the time or if you have scalped all your life profitably, then that's that. If you can't make 10 pips a day without having one day where you lose 40, then Rob Booker can grin and feel smart making silly number examples where you grow rich in 2 months all he wants, it won't ever be reality for anyone except the guy who can actually DO the theoretical example / put it into practice.
Same applies to you ian - if you can do it, YOU are the lucky guy and nobody needs to prove or disprove hypothetical odds and scenarios. Those that can manage and get away with it will, those that can't will look for alternative approaches.
Why is everyone always so needy to be SOLELY right about THEIR ONE way. There isn't ONE way. There are incredibly many.
These threads only get so bloated because people are led to believe there's right and wrong ways.
Thing is - the money MAKES you right. The net positive bottom line always wins and always proves you right, just as long as you never lose it.
That's really all there is to it. There's not really a need to constantly discuss the "one true way", although it does pass time rather well, doesn't it
I will however immediately concede there are approaches that are more or less likely to "get you there" - however whether the math also suits your personality is the reason this is always cause for hot debate. Find what fits - not everyone wears the same clothes or eats the same food, either, and thank god for that.
This is true for ANY and EVERY system. (Except for the part about mastering it "easy".)
NO system can be traded mechanically. Discretion is always used by profitable traders.
I had a discussion last week with a professional trader who I'm absolutely convinced can make money using any system. One (out of many) reason I'm convinced is because his "bread and butter" MA system was the absolute worst EA I ever programmed. Yet he's making his living with it.
He claimed that when a system doesn't work it is because of the trader not following the rules (we've all heard this over and over, but those who say it don't know what they're saying). I told him his MA system couldn't be traded mechanically, then began to show examples of him bad trade signals on the charts.
He countered that he wouldn't have taken this trade or that trade because of this or that, and I said so then that was not mechanical, that's discretionary!
He again argued that it was mechanical because he's seen these PA patterns so many times he knows what to do without thinking, and does it automatically.
I finally got him to see that what he does is discretionary based on his experience and a developed instinct.
Automatic responses are not the same thing as mechanical trading. Profitable traders go by their gut. No system works unless someone knows how to trade, and that takes time, work, and probably always pain.
Oops did i say that out loud....lol
i have to agree with the pro trader. i am not a big fan of a mechanical system. Unless that system takes support and resistance, pivot points and chart formations in consideration. Besides making use of a mechanical system is as good as giving ur wife a vibrator because you dont wanna do the "work" yourself
making use of a mechanical system is as good as giving ur wife a vibrator because you dont wanna do the "work" yourself
lol...i am not even gonna comment on this...it will only get me into more trouble....
