Hi Guys.
Not been asking questions and posting for quite awhile.
Been feeling pretty stupid not "getting it" to be honest.
I've been trying to find my way for quite awhile before stumbling upon James' material, the FF thread & the PF.
Accumulated alot of rubbish along the way. Tried more indicators than I can count, systems, methodologies.
That stuff didn't work for me. (It probably works for someone else, but that's another story.)
I know the stuff here does work.
I see so many people using it successfully!
If it works for them, but I am having trouble with it,
then it only figures that _I_ am the problem.
It's the complexity trap!
I've taken a break from trading and inputting new trading material into my head.
And doing quite a fair bit of reflection.
Realised that I've been seeing the markets in the wrong light.
Technique focus, not market focused.
Analysis forcused, not trading focused.
It's one thing to be an analyst analyzing and a trader doing some analysis.
In trading, we need techniques, a certain framework to make logical sense of the market, etc.
However, important as they are, they are also not the main stay.
It is not to say that indicators and techniques are not important.
Techniques are important, for they teach you how someone else has managed to express himself successfully, previously.
The problem with techniques is that people see them as an end in and of itself. I did.
The technique is not only the expression of the person.
It is a teaching tool. Through mimicking what someone ahead of the road of us has done, we are able to glimpse and gain insight into how they use this technique/methodology to express themselves.
From there, we have to learn to express ourselves through the principles embedded in the technique.
We may thus take away different things from learning the same technique, because the technique is merely the medium of communication to teach us the rudiments of the way, the route, the path, the distillation of knowledge & experience of the elders ahead of us.
To repeat the techniques (demo-ing/betting small), is to do just this.
To discover and experience the essence of the techniques and the intention behind their expression.
The end goal is not mastery of techniques.
It is expression of oneself in the markets.
That is the goal of the trader.
To express himself as truthfully & honestly as possible in the markets.
PBs, PA, PPZ, MM, R:R, Location, Shape, Space.
These are all great!
These are the building blocks. The techniques.
It is what you do with them that is key.
It is important to try things out, so that you will understand through experience the nature of the tools.
Once we have understood the nature of the tools, we can then better use them to express ourselves.
The fact that they have been used successfully by so many proves their robustness & efficacy.
With a deeper understanding, we can then begin to zoom in on the tools and techniques that best express us.
And work to express ourselves in the market with an increasing amount of honestly and truth.
It is NOT about, in ABC situation, you do this and this and this. And manage the trade doing such and such and such. This is not school. There are no textbook answers.
It is not about the complexity of techniques and indicators and whatever permutations there are in between and mastering the 1000 variations.
As traders we cannot keep adding and adding and adding stuff.
The greater the system complexity the more uncertainty.
With greater uncertainty, the probability of success becomes exponentially lower.
The extraordinary aspect of trading lies in its SIMPLICITY.
It is to find what works for you, then to continuously reduce it to the core essentials.
We strive for freedom of expression, not the complexity of system.
It seems that I’ve been walking in the wrong direction.
I was blind, but now I see.
Not been asking questions and posting for quite awhile.
Been feeling pretty stupid not "getting it" to be honest.
I've been trying to find my way for quite awhile before stumbling upon James' material, the FF thread & the PF.
Accumulated alot of rubbish along the way. Tried more indicators than I can count, systems, methodologies.
That stuff didn't work for me. (It probably works for someone else, but that's another story.)
I know the stuff here does work.
I see so many people using it successfully!
If it works for them, but I am having trouble with it,
then it only figures that _I_ am the problem.
It's the complexity trap!
I've taken a break from trading and inputting new trading material into my head.
And doing quite a fair bit of reflection.
Realised that I've been seeing the markets in the wrong light.
Technique focus, not market focused.
Analysis forcused, not trading focused.
It's one thing to be an analyst analyzing and a trader doing some analysis.
In trading, we need techniques, a certain framework to make logical sense of the market, etc.
However, important as they are, they are also not the main stay.
It is not to say that indicators and techniques are not important.
Techniques are important, for they teach you how someone else has managed to express himself successfully, previously.
The problem with techniques is that people see them as an end in and of itself. I did.
The technique is not only the expression of the person.
It is a teaching tool. Through mimicking what someone ahead of the road of us has done, we are able to glimpse and gain insight into how they use this technique/methodology to express themselves.
From there, we have to learn to express ourselves through the principles embedded in the technique.
We may thus take away different things from learning the same technique, because the technique is merely the medium of communication to teach us the rudiments of the way, the route, the path, the distillation of knowledge & experience of the elders ahead of us.
To repeat the techniques (demo-ing/betting small), is to do just this.
To discover and experience the essence of the techniques and the intention behind their expression.
The end goal is not mastery of techniques.
It is expression of oneself in the markets.
That is the goal of the trader.
To express himself as truthfully & honestly as possible in the markets.
PBs, PA, PPZ, MM, R:R, Location, Shape, Space.
These are all great!
These are the building blocks. The techniques.
It is what you do with them that is key.
It is important to try things out, so that you will understand through experience the nature of the tools.
Once we have understood the nature of the tools, we can then better use them to express ourselves.
The fact that they have been used successfully by so many proves their robustness & efficacy.
With a deeper understanding, we can then begin to zoom in on the tools and techniques that best express us.
And work to express ourselves in the market with an increasing amount of honestly and truth.
It is NOT about, in ABC situation, you do this and this and this. And manage the trade doing such and such and such. This is not school. There are no textbook answers.
It is not about the complexity of techniques and indicators and whatever permutations there are in between and mastering the 1000 variations.
As traders we cannot keep adding and adding and adding stuff.
The greater the system complexity the more uncertainty.
With greater uncertainty, the probability of success becomes exponentially lower.
The extraordinary aspect of trading lies in its SIMPLICITY.
It is to find what works for you, then to continuously reduce it to the core essentials.
We strive for freedom of expression, not the complexity of system.
It seems that I’ve been walking in the wrong direction.
I was blind, but now I see.
One Mind, Any Market
.. Aha!!! 
)
