Ridiculous Trading Myths

There are many low risk market neutral hedge funds that don't have such a track record. It depends a bit on the trading style, but I'd say you're probably in the 95th percentile if you manage to have that track record.

Low volatility (slow), High volatility (fast)

whipsaw is incorrect

but the last market condition is very tough to guess. (and no.. not volume nor time, not open nor close)

Hmmm, what could it be? Gap? Zero liquidity?

Crucial Point or any other smart ass please come and solve this Brain Teaser

Its doing my head in

my guess is... spread-bombs when news hits the market / broker feeds and all stops go to stop-heaven along with the dollars riding on them.

The answer is Q= 1x10

Tell hanover a blue bird told you the answer.

Explanation: The numbers that coincides with the letter are on the scrabbles game board

No

Let's not hi-jack this thread.

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Sorry for the interruptions.

aww, mr secret-pants

which leads to a myth i haven't seen listed so far (not that i was paying attention) : a profitable trader will show you his/her edge

I'll agree to that

Ridiculous trading myth:
"a profitable trader will show you his/her edge"

CrucialPoint, I am not on here to tout any success that I have had nor am I here to argue with anyone but the answer to your post is yes, I learned it all in 3 months. As I stated in a previous post, I did not know too much when I first started which I think helped me. I looked at some charts and looked at some setups that looked like I could trade them and make money and it worked. When i first started trading I did not even know what an indicator was outside of moving averages nor did I know that apparently a lot of people struggle with the forex market. As a result I just went about my business with a positive attitude and made money. I just discovered forexfactory a couple of years ago and I was shocked with how much negative energy there was here. That is a primary reason why I do not frequent the website all that much until recently. I have been having a good time chatting with people who seem to get it with a positive attitude lately. So again, the point is, it is possible to learn quick as long as you do not over complicate things.

people, don't believe the 10,000 hour nonsense.

If anything it may take some people that long to unlearn. The exact opposite of the logic to come up with that 10,000 nonsense. A 10 year old can do this stuff and be profitable within weeks.

For adults, we have to learn to let go of our adult minds and emotions. So it is not about becoming an expert. It is about becoming a simple non-emotional robot working from a basic set of rules.

I am an expert in a particular field. Spent years in school and many years learning the specialty. That required many hours because it was so complex. Forex is nothing like that. There is very little to learn but some potentially difficult things to unlearn. But unlearning can be done far far far quicker. Some may struggle with it and it may take them much longer than others. I think the time required varies a lot from individual to individual and is not a reflection on their IQ or potential abilities or lack thereof IMHO.

There is also the myth that highly educated experts in some fields like engineering have a harder time with this. That is nonsense to generalize like that but some aspects of it may be true for some individuals. A highly educated/trained mind is a highly organized one and it may take longer and more effort to essentially deprogram it to trade forex effectively.

Exactly, It was as if I didn't know any better. I did not have any preconceived ideas about how "hard" the forex market is or should be. I just did without really thinking about it.

Spot on Brenzaj42

"Nothing works in Forex" ..... or is that a myth, which in itself could well be a myth?

Learning Forex is kind of like what one of my Physics professors had to say some years ago about getting a Phd.

"You learn more and more about less and less until you know everything about nothing."

funny

Or theres the other side of the coin whereby

"the more I learn, the more I learn I don't know"

Ignorance is definetly bliss - (If I spelt ignorance wrong it was deliberate )

The "Holy Grail" of all myths is that trading must be complicated in order for it to be profitable.

Seeing CrucialPoint posting here reminds me of his very good thread (one of the best on FF, IMHO) that he used to post to. Well worth the read if you haven't done so yet. http://www.forexfactory.com/showthread.php?t=215432

In that thread he makes some very astute observations about reducing things to their simplest (as per Einstein's quote). He also makes mention of the importance of trend and references some past master traders and the reason for their success - yes, you guessed it - trend following. I especially like his posts about "drawing a line in the sand" - only Buy above and only Sell below. Pretty common sense stuff and simple too!

So let's put this complexity stuff to rest once and for all and all become simple minded. Duh

Is there a double meaning there perhaps? Ie...quantum physics?

I expect that you're right. Some points to consider:

1. Aptitude. Different people learn at different speeds; some people have a gift for seeing abstract things more quickly, or even seeing them at all, that others don't have. For many of us, merely staring aimlessly at charts, for hours on end, will never be enough; finding something revolutionary necessitates first having at least a vague idea about what one is searching for. Furthermore, a lot of trading is arguably counter-intuitive, which many (myself included) seem to find a stumbling block. It's also my view that some folk have more native aptitude than others, especially when it comes to some of the psychological requirements.

2. Quantity versus quality of time. I expect that much depends on how much time is spent looking at the 'forest', and how much at the 'trees'. For example, how should I best divide my time between 'passive' activities (like visually 'backtesting' historical patterns and phenomena), and 'hands-on' activities (getting closer to the action by entering and monitoring trades made in real time)? Or how I divide my time between shopping for profitable entry systems, and developing trade management skills? How much time should I spend working on my strategy, and how much on my personal psychology?

3. How much time is consumed following false trails. (I'm not saying that the following is true for everybody; it's just a personal example…... I spent a lot of my first 1-2 years looking at indicator-based entry strategies; then one day it suddenly dawned on me that virtually all indys, being derived from the same OHLC(V), were basically the same; and that there were only 2 ways to enter: with or against the trend, and that any indy could be calibrated to get me into the move earlier or later). If I'd understood things like that when I first started, it would have shortened my learning curve massively. Some people have a gift for filtering out BS, and breaking down seemingly sophisticated concepts into their first principles, to see what's really happening beneath the surface. I recall reading a post (can't recall the link, sorry) where the poster said that it had taken him something like 5 years to become profitable, but having reached that point now, he could teach somebody the basic outline of his winning strategy in less than 15 minutes. Alas, false trails are an inevitable part of any R&D process.