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The obstacles to trading

  • #21
  • Apr 19, 2011 1:11am Apr 19, 2011 1:11am
Quoting TJPLD
Mathematically:

1) Spread
2) Negative Compounding Effect. e.g. losing 1% and gaining 1% afterwards will not result in break even. Same thing the otherway around.
This will get worse the more you risk.

Psychologically:

1) Letting winners run
2) Cutting losses short

It's true that you can be profitabel with any winrate but frankly in over 5 years of trading I have never ever seen anyone making profits year after year on high winrate and ~ 1:1 risk reward ratio on average. Spread and compounding will have dramatic effects if you trade like...
Excellent post.
  • #22
  • Apr 19, 2011 1:21am Apr 19, 2011 1:21am
Quoting 2+2=4ex
LOL. What that "marketer" failed to mention was later that night (after the bbq) he lost $30k while at dinner with his wife.
hahaha. Australia is packed with them, no joke i went to a seminar for a trading room about 2 years ago. The boss of the company was saying things like "i like trading because i can work whenever i want, no one controls what i do, etc". i imediately thought.. arent you the CEO of the company? shouldnt you have alot of duties?

forex is like the new gold rush, the people selling the crap to people are making more than the forex traders themselves (of course there are exceptions but you know what i mean)
  • #23
  • Apr 19, 2011 4:26am Apr 19, 2011 4:26am
Quoting Kt100
FEAR.. i could paper trade well enough. have a fantastic system. but just cant seem to have the balls to make real decisions real time.
as for getting around the problem, i am still working on it. i sit down at the comp waiting for the setup, and everytime i miss it, i say to my self 'not next time buddy!' i have managed to take a couple of trades using this approach.
Yep, that's my problem too. Fear of losing, sometimes i miss some good trades because of it, and sometimes i use too tight SL.
  • #24
  • Apr 19, 2011 11:22am Apr 19, 2011 11:22am
Without saying any of the usuals, by far the biggest obstacle to my trading is my job. I work standard business hours on the east coast (US), and I like to trade from 2AM to anywhere up to 6AM, having to get up for work at 7AM. I put on trades at the Euro/London opens, set targets and price alarms, and go back to bed. I have gotten very good with my entries, but I just haven't found a concrete exit plan that fits with my lifestyle. Too many times I'm seeing nice 20-30 point moves off my entry only for a reversal to take place and knock me out at even or up a few while I'm sleeping. I would like to use some sort of dynamic trailing stop (e.g. start at 15 point trail, @ +10 move to 20 point trail, @ +30 move to 30 point trail) but I just haven't taken the time to really look into those.
  • #25
  • Apr 19, 2011 11:32am Apr 19, 2011 11:32am
Quoting smittens4212
I would like to use some sort of dynamic trailing stop (e.g. start at 15 point trail, @ +10 move to 20 point trail, @ +30 move to 30 point trail) but I just haven't taken the time to really look into those.
There probably is an EA or Script out there somewhere for dynamic trailing. I personally couldn't use one because I don't use Metatrader platform for trading. Even still I'm not sure I would depend on an EA unless it was moving and setting the stops in the broker server. The alternative is to setup price alert and then manually move stop when price alert is met. You may want to use a cell phone that gives you capability to make changes to open trades, assuming your broker has a mobile app and assuming you don't have access on computer at work. I know it's probably not ideal, but what else can you do.
  • #26
  • Apr 19, 2011 12:26pm Apr 19, 2011 12:26pm
Quoting smittens4212
Without saying any of the usuals, by far the biggest obstacle to my trading is my job. I work standard business hours on the east coast (US), and I like to trade from 2AM to anywhere up to 6AM, having to get up for work at 7AM. I put on trades at the Euro/London opens, set targets and price alarms, and go back to bed. I have gotten very good with my entries, but I just haven't found a concrete exit plan that fits with my lifestyle. Too many times I'm seeing nice 20-30 point moves off my entry only for a reversal to take place and knock me out at...
Learn programming and automate your rules.
  • #27
  • Apr 19, 2011 12:41pm Apr 19, 2011 12:41pm
Quoting smittens4212
Without saying any of the usuals, by far the biggest obstacle to my trading is my job. I work standard business hours on the east coast (US), and I like to trade from 2AM to anywhere up to 6AM, having to get up for work at 7AM. I put on trades at the Euro/London opens, set targets and price alarms, and go back to bed. I have gotten very good with my entries, but I just haven't found a concrete exit plan that fits with my lifestyle. Too many times I'm seeing nice 20-30 point moves off my entry only for a reversal to take place and knock me out at...
Lol, you just described my trading schedule. The difference is that I daytrade those hours and if i am not done, i stay up (sometimes sleep does overcome me).
  • #28
  • Last Post: Apr 19, 2011 1:18pm Apr 19, 2011 1:18pm
I am my biggest obstacle. Forget the whole waking up @ 2am to trade then working a full time job...I've done that for years (your body will adjust). But when I go back over every trade that I've made, and see that if I just followed my very basic/simple rules and not interfered with myself, I WOULD HAVE MADE MONEY.!

The obstacle is: Me
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