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AHA moments in your trading career

  • #101
  • Jun 5, 2010 10:46pm Jun 5, 2010 10:46pm
Quoting T.E.Lawrence
I thought I was the only one knowing that secret. And I would really like to read something about it.

Reading books about and watching movies about gambling gave perspective on why/how people want to lose.

The Gambler James Caan
Owning Mahowney

more......
  • #102
  • Jun 5, 2010 10:48pm Jun 5, 2010 10:48pm
AHA! Think like a hybrid cross of banker and bot.
  • #103
  • Jun 6, 2010 12:02am Jun 6, 2010 12:02am
My aha moment was when i realize after keep losing money i find out its not my system or me wh losing money but its because market gets stuck in flat market,i start losing money.
  • #104
  • Aug 2, 2010 10:44pm Aug 2, 2010 10:44pm
Quoting damosdmf
yeah it kind of went dead after that comment lol

regards damien
Anyway I can't really describe my major AHA moment - it was more about a realisation that the markets don't live by rules and are simply a collective mass of human emotion...

I had always known this of course but now I could SEE it and how theses emotions are used against people by the ones in the know.

Sounds sorta basic but had a profound effect on me. Its hard to explain
Time hides Nothing
  • #105
  • Aug 2, 2010 10:54pm Aug 2, 2010 10:54pm
most of them moments are basic. the simple shit that passes over your head cause you think no it cant be that. i hated it i'd been trying my hardest to trade couldn't do it no matter what. i tried tried all sorts of stuff with no success ended up full circle after awhile back to one of the first methods i'd used. and man something just clicked i felt like a dick all that time id wasted on the hard shit and something simple done it in the end.


regards damien
i pull the trigger when others are fearful---me
  • #106
  • Aug 2, 2010 11:10pm Aug 2, 2010 11:10pm
Quoting damosdmf
not so hard when you think about it. whats happened in the markets before will happen again its human nature fear and greed-jesse livermore
If you're going to quote him, quote him. Otherwise you are just crediting him with an idea that he didn't discover.

Quoting Crucial Point
Have you seen 'National Geographic' documentary about animal herds, flock, school of fishes? Grouping and staying within a bigger number provides safety. When you stray away from the pack, your lunch food for the lions and sharks.

So I stay within the masses for safety... but when they start jumping off cliffs or start to head to the slaughter house... I stop following them.

I am and have always been a free thinker. http://cdn.forexfactory.com/images/s...im/winking.gif AHA!!!
Not really, because you still view the herd as safe. I find no safety in the herd. In fact, running with them is dangerous, as their stampeding bodies block my view, and I may get blindsided by a large predator I didn't see coming. They don't care that I'm also a predator - meat is meat.

If I site on the periphery, I have a clear view of the plain. I can watch the herd run, and the apex predators cut them up. I can pick my prey, and the larger predators don't pose much of a threat as long as I remain wary. I have strong senses, an instinct to not fight above my weight, and my small size grants me tremendous mobility in this environment. The larger predators will often tolerate my presence, but if they are feeling snappy I know I'll have to move off, or become the next snack.

The food chain is more complicated than that, but it describes my position in the market. I'm not prey unless I let myself be, and I'm certainly a predator if I'm on my game. It doesn't matter that there are far bigger predators out there. In reality, they don't present much of a threat to me, again, if I'm on my game. I might get a little battered and bruised regularly, but that's part of the life. Occasionally I'll even sneak up on a larger predator and take a nibble .

Small traders don't have it all that bad. For us, the game is simplier. We don't have to play tricks, our size doesn't require it. Our strength is our mobility. We're in and out like *that*. Scalpers are the ultimate predators as they feed on everyone.
  • #107
  • Aug 2, 2010 11:18pm Aug 2, 2010 11:18pm
Quoting Old_Not_Dead
Whether someone is outwardly confident/arrogant or cautious/doubting doesn't necessarily indicate anything. It is my view that most of us are saddled with a limiting sense of our own self-worth in terms of what we deserve or what we can achieve.

This goes way beyond the touchy-feely quick-fix approaches to loving yourself and involves coming to terms with the acceptability of making money by looking at some pictures and then pressing some buttons (i.e. sitting at home trading electronically).

I'll try to expand a little. My father was a skilled...
I really enjoyed this post... I can relate and perhaps this is a bigger issue for me than Ive ever bothered to realise.

Me and one of my trading buddies were chatting last night about the 9-5, salary, time = money mentality that is pretty much in our blood dating back to the ancient days and I'm sure beyond.

Naturally we feel that effort is rewarded - and can falsly or subconciously take these beliefs into the market with us...

Where you sometimes try harder when you maybe want to make more or make back a loss when this is likely to be the complete opposite to what you should be doing...

You can see how this line of thinking could quickly compound in a negative way.

A bit like the way you make more pips simply by staying out than getting involved in the market...

Its not really in outr nature to think this way but if you can get a clear perspective on this, I believe i would do wonders for anyones bottom line..

Anyway I have often found myself feeling guilty when things are going well about the exact same issues OND mentioned and in bad times this guilt didnt plague me even though I was doin the same thing in trading...

In fact it was quite the opposite...

I hope my next AHA moment revolves around this philosophy and mind set issue.
Time hides Nothing
  • #108
  • Aug 3, 2010 1:16am Aug 3, 2010 1:16am
Most comments have been great. (actually read them all) Thanks for sharing.

AHAs for me:

1. The markets are not zero-sum. You have to be much better than average because of brokers,etc.
2. Treat it like a start-up home-based business. If you trade to just gamble, you plan to loose. Go buy a suit and redeem the money.
3. Success is in the mind. Most entrepreneurs are egotistical, believe they can beat the herd, and do. I don't have to be part of the 95%.
  • #109
  • Aug 3, 2010 5:26am Aug 3, 2010 5:26am
Early in my trading, read an article by someone to the effect that once a trend starts it usually will continue (not indefinately, of course).
  • #110
  • Aug 3, 2010 8:27am Aug 3, 2010 8:27am
Keep it simple, retain clarity. Learn to trade naked charts and forget about your indicators. Very much the 'AHA' for me personally.
"I made all my money by selling too soon"
  • #111
  • Aug 3, 2010 8:34am Aug 3, 2010 8:34am
That could be very much the quote of the year.

Quoting watchtower4x
AHA! Think like a hybrid cross of banker and bot.
forget about tomorrow, just steal away into the night
  • #112
  • Aug 3, 2010 10:41am Aug 3, 2010 10:41am
Quoting CindyXXXX
Me and one of my trading buddies were chatting last night about the 9-5, salary, time = money mentality that is pretty much in our blood dating back to the ancient days and I'm sure beyond.
Not really. Our strongest working instincts are hunting and gathering. Gathering is more like modern labour, but hunting requires tremendous patience and perseverance. The hunting mentality works very well for trading, but it has been suppressed by thousands of years of modern labour. First it was the fields, then the factories, and now the offices. The problem isn't in our dna, it's in our culture, and rightly so. Since we've centralised our population, the majority must be workers. It's no coincidence that the majority of us think the way to get ahead is through hard work. We're taught hard work is the way to get ahead so we become good workers. This isn't a global consipracy, it's just how our system works. No individual needs to tell us this, it's impressed upon us just by being part of the system. The problem with this is that real reward lies in quality, not quantity, of work. The vast majority are destined to be mediocre by the nature of the system, and those that get ahead don't necessarily work harder, just more intelligently.
  • #113
  • Aug 3, 2010 1:07pm Aug 3, 2010 1:07pm
You don't have to trade every day. You don't have to trade in every situation. Patience is key. Wait for text book examples. Trade only when you have got a very clear setup shouting: Please, trade me!
  • #114
  • Aug 3, 2010 5:15pm Aug 3, 2010 5:15pm
Quoting Mr J
Not really. Our strongest working instincts are hunting and gathering. Gathering is more like modern labour, but hunting requires tremendous patience and perseverance. The hunting mentality works very well for trading, but it has been suppressed by thousands of years of modern labour. First it was the fields, then the factories, and now the offices. The problem isn't in our dna, it's in our culture, and rightly so. Since we've centralised our population, the majority must be workers. It's no coincidence that the majority of us think the way to get...
Ah yes thats pretty much exactly what I was saying... In the ancient egyption days many slaves would work to build the pyramids for the Pharaohs - in a way nothing has much changed these days the whole process is just sugar coated

But I agree that this is just a social system not an illuminati world domination conspiracy as some would have you believe. And I would also hate to turn this thread into a NWO debate - PLease dont!
Time hides Nothing
  • #115
  • Aug 3, 2010 5:48pm Aug 3, 2010 5:48pm
I guess mine was when I realized I had to stop being lazy and stop reading random stuff on the forums and start working on my trading system
  • #116
  • Aug 3, 2010 5:52pm Aug 3, 2010 5:52pm
Quoting Jasus
I guess mine was when I realized I had to stop being lazy and stop reading random stuff on the forums and start working on my trading system
So right about now then? lol - Agree though I spent a long time away from the forums and it was only in that time I could focus and get a lot of things sorted out - These days I just come on out of shere bordem
Time hides Nothing
  • #117
  • Aug 3, 2010 10:43pm Aug 3, 2010 10:43pm
Quoting CindyXXXX
In the ancient egyption days many slaves would work to build the pyramids for the Pharaohs - in a way nothing has much changed these days the whole process is just sugar coated
I agree that social structure doesn't really seem to change. Any system we have produced on a large scale has resulted in a pyramid structure. Many think our lifestyles have improved in the modern era due to freedom, equality and democracy, when the truth is that is mainly due to technology. We're no more equal than we used to be, and we're probably even less free now.

I believe modern historians have shown that the "slaves" of the pyramids may have been paid labours. History contains a lot of bias and inaccuracy, so modern historians are correcting a lot of misconceptions about our past. Similarly, serfs were not slaves, and had rights (before recent decades, history has treated the Middle Ages horribly).
  • #118
  • Aug 4, 2010 12:37am Aug 4, 2010 12:37am
first of all
every person here has a aha moment when he learns the basic trading rules by not following them

this same is my aha moment

i have blown up three account
and learned three lesson

1) never put more than 10 % of capital
2) risk reward ratio should be at least 1:1
3) trade higher time frames

seriously i have read these for thousand time
but failed to implement this until lost three accounts

thank god my account size is small
  • #119
  • Aug 4, 2010 12:48am Aug 4, 2010 12:48am
Quoting Old_Not_Dead
....... This has potentially become more of an issue now we live in a world of relative comfort and ease of access to information. We can make money whilst sat in our underwear, never needing to leave the house or even get dressed. Our minds still equate success with hard work. What if trading becomes relatively easy? We are making money but don't feel we are 'earning' it by working hard .....
AHA, I've just had it. Excellent post.
Nothing worth having is easy.
  • #120
  • Aug 4, 2010 12:53am Aug 4, 2010 12:53am
Quoting MasterBlaster
I have AHA moments every day or at least I think I do. Hmmmm, do I? Damn short-term memory loss.

Seriously though, don't get caught up in price gyrations within a candle...MB whispers "they're designed to fool you".
i learned it a very hard way
loss more than 30 to 35 trades only because of this
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