Dislikedbelieve me I don't know anyone whos made it that didn't shed some tears along the way....Ignored
There are two places on the journey where trading looks dirt simple. The beginning and the end. The path in between can be a world of hurt. When you start it looks so easy and effortless, you can't wait to start, trade big positions, give other people your money to trade for you....anything just to get the cash register ringing. Then you get hurt and bruised (inevitably) and you get paralysed by fear. You start associating pulling the trigger with losing because you become gunshy. (After all, when you're losing, a month without trading is a break even...your best result yet). And then you miss good trades and you get mad, so you pull the trigger and lose. And then you end up under the table, alone and feeling like a failure and thinking that this will never ever work. And who were you to think that you could trade for a living when even professionals lose money and you should just give up.
Been there, been there, been there.
Like Mike, I don't know anyone who trades profitably who hasn't gone through this and more. It's heightened by the fact that a lot of people lie about how well they are doing, so you think everyone is having a party and rolling in the pips while you're the chump in the corner losing day in day out.
There comes a point when you realise that this isn't easy money, it's going to take time and effort. And if you're one of the ones destined for success then somehow you get hooked. You get obsessed with learning how to do this. You don't let failure get you down. In fact, more than anything, what defines success in this business IMO is how people react to failure. Like Mike said, if you're the kind of guy who says I am just going to come back at this stronger, then you are more likely to be one of those who is going to reach consistent success.
But, and this part is crucial, you can't just come back shooting and try and force this thing to work. That's revenge trading, and the path to a blown account. It isn't just the time you put in, it's your willingness to make that time count, to earnestly look at your mistakes, to look at what holds you back as a person. Are you following the suggestions? Are you making difficult adjustments to your trading? Did you follow the minimum requirements? Because the road to hell is littered with people who thought they were "giving it everything" by trading 8 hours a day on the 15M charts without doing any research, having any discipline, or following any suggestions.
The rewards of success in this business are huge, and you are in the arena with some extremely smart, extremely committed people, who will do everything they can to take your money. And if you half ass it in any way, then you might as well write them a cheque now.
Ask yourself these questions. Have you proved yourself on demo over time? Do you have a trading plan written down with clear rules? Do you position size correctly and is your money management solid? Are you lying to yourself? Because it's one thing to say "I am willing to give it everything" but it's very different if your actions don't match up to that.
The key phrases you might want to look for are "I can't really take demo seriously. I need to trade money to make it serious", "I am just trading fixed lot sizes, I'll start positions sizing and all that stuff when I am profitable" "I'm not doing well, so I need to look at lower timeframes for more entries". "I don't keep records, I don't really need to". Believe me there were so many times on this journey where I lied and lied to myself. I even thought I was doing pretty well at one point because I was in total denial about my results and hadn't kept solid records. Needless to say I was losing.
If you're lying to yourself about any aspect of your trading, then you cannot fix it simply because you don't realise it's wrong in the first place. You need brutal honesty (it's why people keep journals), and a desire to focus on your weaknesses. Which nobody wants to do. But without that, as Mike said, no matter how much time you spend, you will just be reinforcing bad habits.
It's a much much longer and more painful road than any of us thought at the beginning. It usually takes years, not weeks. And it requires patience, hard work, and ruthless self examination. Half ass it in any way, and the other half of your ass will get handed to you by those willing to truly give it everything they've got.
Sorry for the rant guys, just inspired by yet another brilliant post of Mike's
Oh, and I wish I could take credit for the phrase "the hardest easy money you'll ever make" but like most good things on this thread, that one is pure James16
I took full profit at the 38.2 ext of the break and now watching for some more PA long. (This was no genius at work. I was asleep when it hit my first target so I just got lucky for once). We might get something interesting with ADP this morning. It seems it has been a while since that report was a market mover.
