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Are you a consistently profitable trader?

  • #401
  • Jun 6, 2012 7:21am Jun 6, 2012 7:21am
Quoting FX4Newbies
Hello Traders,

Saw the first two parts of this article on a thread at FF. Thought it might help some in their pursuit of profitability. Part 3 of the Top Ten Tips for Forex Success by Jade Gate takes a closer look at the trader.

FX4
Thanks Dongsky for the leads to those articles . Good lookin' out!

FX4
Trade what you see, not what you think or feel. Let the market come to you.
  • #402
  • Jun 8, 2012 9:41am Jun 8, 2012 9:41am
A word to the wise:

If you really want to make money trading, don't worry about making the money; focus on trading well. Watch the charts not your P/L. If you trade well, the money will be in your account: no ifs, ands or buts...

Take care,

FX4
Trade what you see, not what you think or feel. Let the market come to you.
  • #403
  • Edited 2:13pm Jun 12, 2012 1:38pm | Edited 2:13pm
More words to the wise...

Want to make money in the markets? Don't be looking for or thinking about a buy in a sell zone or looking for or thinking about a sell in a buy zone, UNLESS and UNTIL the market has clearly shown that something has changed.

FX4
Trade what you see, not what you think or feel. Let the market come to you.
  • #404
  • Jun 16, 2012 3:04am Jun 16, 2012 3:04am
Consistently Profitable traders coming in a little higher at mid-month: 42.49%. Let's see where it will be on June 30th.

FX4
Trade what you see, not what you think or feel. Let the market come to you.
  • #405
  • Jun 17, 2012 8:13pm Jun 17, 2012 8:13pm
Here's a great quote a successful trader sent to me:

“If you listen to financial TV, or read most market columnists, you’d think that investing is some kind of sport, or a war, or a struggle for survival in a hostile wilderness. But investing isn’t about beating others at their game. It’s about controlling yourself at your own game.”

 - Jason Zweig


Good trading wisdom for sure, but for me, there is a fight going on...that zero-sum "game" you know...


 FX4
Trade what you see, not what you think or feel. Let the market come to you.
  • #406
  • Jun 17, 2012 11:41pm Jun 17, 2012 11:41pm
Just come across this thread, a nice topic.
On a rolling year basis I have been profitable 11 out of the last 12 months (and the losing month was of similar magnitude to the average of the winning ones) so I consider myself consistently profitable.

As to why traders are consistently profitable or not I can only offer my own experience. For me, it was a matter of achieving discipline and consistency in what I did, far more than developing a "great" method. I don't have a great method - actually it's pretty marginal in terms of expectancy - but by grinding it out day by day without losing control is what brings in the consistent monthly profits.

It's too easy to lose focus, lose discipline, lose control. Frustration, anger, and desire to get back quickly what you've just lost causes you to do very stupid things which you then royally pay for. If you can just eliminate these stupid (and generally pretty big) losses the profits can come through.

I'll bet most losing traders take 80%+ of their total losses in just 10% of their losing trades, and these big hits are mostly the product of rash trading driven by loss of discipline and control. If you can just cut out these occasional big losses you are most of the way there.
  • #407
  • Jun 18, 2012 2:34am Jun 18, 2012 2:34am
most guys have voted they are consistently profitable, then how the hell statistics says 95% fails in forex?
  • #408
  • Jun 18, 2012 3:20am Jun 18, 2012 3:20am
Quoting Zorofx
most guys have voted they are consistently profitable, then how the hell statistics says 95% fails in forex?

http://www.forexfactory.com/showthre...52#post5585452
Trade what you see, not what you think or feel. Let the market come to you.
  • #409
  • Jun 18, 2012 3:24am Jun 18, 2012 3:24am
Quoting marcmarc

Just come across this thread, a nice topic.
On a rolling year basis I have been profitable 11 out of the last 12 months (and the losing month was of similar magnitude to the average of the winning ones) so I consider myself consistently profitable.

As to why traders are consistently profitable or not I can only offer my own experience. For me, it was a matter of achieving discipline and consistency in what I did, far more than developing a "great" method. I don't have a great method - actually it's pretty marginal in terms of expectancy - but by grinding it out day by day without losing control is what brings in the consistent monthly profits.

It's too easy to lose focus, lose discipline, lose control. Frustration, anger, and desire to get back quickly what you've just lost causes you to do very stupid things which you then royally pay for. If you can just eliminate these stupid (and generally pretty big) losses the profits can come through.

I'll bet most losing traders take 80%+ of their total losses in just 10% of their losing trades, and these big hits are mostly the product of rash trading driven by loss of discipline and control. If you can just cut out these occasional big losses you are most of the way there.

Very well said!!!
Trade what you see, not what you think or feel. Let the market come to you.
  • #410
  • Jun 19, 2012 9:32pm Jun 19, 2012 9:32pm
A little something that might be important to your bottom line.

http://www.forexfactory.com/showthre...05#post5774905

FX4
Trade what you see, not what you think or feel. Let the market come to you.
  • #411
  • Jun 21, 2012 3:01am Jun 21, 2012 3:01am
I consider myself has a successful trader that gains profits constantly. What makes me different from 90% of the traders is the fact that I understand the psychology of the markets in each candlestick that I analyze. I also have strict money management skills that keep my account green. The problem with most of the traders is that they believe that knowing technical analysis perfectly would give them the key for being profitable, but TA is less than 30% of a successful trader, the rest is mentality and good money management.
  • #412
  • Jun 21, 2012 3:24am Jun 21, 2012 3:24am
Quoting Zorofx
most guys have voted they are consistently profitable, then how the hell statistics says 95% fails in forex?

this has been discussed, and in fact, it's reasonable to say that this poll probably fails in just about every single way that one could determine the "real" answer of this question.

the question the poll is ACTUALLY answering goes something like this:

"How many people who visit the forex factory forum, and look up this specific thread, are willing to put in an anonymous, but very public forum, their current trading status of "success", limiting the definition of success not to an income, nevermind wealth, but simply approx. 65 trading days where at the end of the previous 65 trading days, your account is at least 3 cents higher than it was 65 trading days prior to this, and that every 21.66 trading days, your account experienced an increase of at least 1 cent?"

That above there, is the REAL question... and, it also would need the following disclaimer:

"RESULTS DISCLAIMER: for those interested in seeing the answer to this very specific question, keep mind that this is by no means a "properly controlled" test, and the demographic answering it is more informed than the average person who tries to trade considering that some of those 95% who try to trade never bother to look up anything about it, on a forum or otherwise. Furthermore, the 95% statistic applies to "day trading", whereas we are willing to consider ANY type of trader, day, swing, position, or otherwise. Last but not least, we acknowledge that this survey will by no means generate the number of answers necessary to help it achieve a high level of statistical validity.

But thank you anyway for your interest."

So you see... it is very possible that the vast majority who answer this ARE telling the truth. It's just such an audience biased, incredibly broad, loosely considered "truth" that honest answers will simply not actually give anything close to the "real" answer.

I personally feel that most answered honestly. I know of 3 people who did really well trading the eur/usd for a 2-4 months straight, only to have their asses torn open around September-October 2011, then in January 2012, and more recently last may.

depending on which 3 months the question was asked, these guys have lost money the last 2 years running, but, any 3 months? sure. in fact, most of the time they will be slightly profitable. year over year? net losers. And thats just one flaw in this survey of probably a dozen or more.

You don't need liars to draw false conclusions. you can get the same with invalid questions to an invalid audience.

But, that doesn't detract from the fact that such a poll has served effective as a catalyst for a good thread, and interesting discussion.

X
  • #413
  • Edited 11:55am Jun 21, 2012 4:20am | Edited 11:55am
Quoting forextraderx
this has been discussed, and in fact, it's reasonable to say that this poll probably fails in just about every single way that one could determine the "real" answer of this question.

the question the poll is ACTUALLY answering goes something like this:

"How many people who visit the forex factory forum, and look up this specific thread, are willing to put in an anonymous, but very public forum, their current trading status of "success", limiting the definition of success not to an income, nevermind wealth, but simply approx. 65 trading days...
A very good summary of some of the discussions about the benefits and limitations of the poll mentioned throughout the thread. Determining the "real" answer using any poll is always a challenge.

Very concise commentary. Nice .

As was stated before, this is a very simple poll, but to an audience such as this and seeing that only FF members can vote, it does have some degree of merit. Interestingly enough, the numbers here are similar to the Forex Magnates results and they actually get their data from brokers' reports. Not too shabby for a simple poll...mho.

Quote
Originally Posted by hayseed http://www.forexfactory.com/images/buttons/viewpost.gif
the poll results are not that far out of line with current profitability reports ....

are the numbers accurate...... who can say..... quite possibly they are......

it was a simple ability to profit poll among active forex traders about their forex results on a forex forum.... so we might should expect their profitability to be better than industry standards.....

just as we should expect the average member over at the equine forum to be more adept at horse riding than the average...
I personally feel that most answered honestly. I know of 3 people who did really well trading the eur/usd for a 2-4 months straight, only to have their asses torn open around September-October 2011, then in January 2012, and more recently last may.

So, given the context of the survey, they could say they have had a profitable month. Some might even be able to say that they have been but not currently. Every scenario cannot be dealt with effectively with one simple survey. That point has already been stated in the thread.

Thanks for your honest sharing of ideas.

FX4
Trade what you see, not what you think or feel. Let the market come to you.
  • #414
  • Edited 5:29am Jun 21, 2012 4:22am | Edited 5:29am
Quoting VincentG
I consider myself has a successful trader that gains profits constantly. What makes me different from 90% of the traders is the fact that I understand the psychology of the markets in each candlestick that I analyze. I also have strict money management skills that keep my account green. The problem with most of the traders is that they believe that knowing technical analysis perfectly would give them the key for being profitable, but TA is less than 30% of a successful trader, the rest is mentality and good money management.
Good for you...the psychology in each candlestick. Glad you're not in the red in your trading. Have you studied Steve Nison's candlestick work in detail? Other good candlestick studies out there too.

Keep it up!

FX4
Trade what you see, not what you think or feel. Let the market come to you.
  • #415
  • Jun 23, 2012 2:27am Jun 23, 2012 2:27am
Quoting FX4Newbies
So, given the context of the survey, they could say they have had a profitable month. Some might even be able to say that they have been but not currently. Every scenario cannot be dealt with effectively with one simple survey. That point has already been stated in the thread.

FX4
actually FX, if you asked thme in early january of 2011, they could say "yes, i've been profitable for 3 months in a row and therefore am a consistently profitable trader"... that is, if they had just opened a new account.

however, if you asked them that same question in april of 2012, the answer would be "I have been, but am not currently"

so, their answer would very much differ depending on when you asked, and of course that isn't covered in the survey. not faulting your survey man, it's just really really hard to get the "real" answer to this.

even some who have been profitable for years can suddently start to lose, and lose big, and never recover. Of course, their "strategy" was a function of a specific set of market conditions, and not actually on something fundamental about the market itself (think dot com equity traders who went long from 97-01...only to lose it all and never really get down how to ACTUALLY trade)

as far as your poll results being like those of that website you mentioned... there results really don't answer the question either, and are flawed for the same reasons.

because it's so hard to define, it's also so hard to answer. that's all i'm saying.
  • #416
  • Jun 23, 2012 3:43pm Jun 23, 2012 3:43pm
Quoting forextraderx
actually FX, if you asked thme in early january of 2011, they could say "yes, i've been profitable for 3 months in a row and therefore am a consistently profitable trader"... that is, if they had just opened a new account.

however, if you asked them that same question in april of 2012, the answer would be "I have been, but am not currently"

so, their answer would very much differ depending on when you asked, and of course that isn't covered in the survey. not faulting your survey man, it's just really really hard to get the "real" answer...
Yes, it is difficult to define. Things can and do change quickly in this business. Outside of the exceptions, traders who can be profitable for three consecutive months, imho, would have achieved a certain degree of skill that would help them to remain profitable overall despite some ups and downs.

I understand your point about the brokers' data in light of the poll question. At least their data would give actual numbers of what percentage of their clients were profitable that month so it's a help.

Thanks for your thought provoking discussion .

FX4
Trade what you see, not what you think or feel. Let the market come to you.
  • #417
  • Jun 24, 2012 12:39pm Jun 24, 2012 12:39pm
Currently profitable, not sure next month though.
  • #418
  • Jun 24, 2012 1:42pm Jun 24, 2012 1:42pm
Quoting duyk20
Currently profitable, not sure next month though.
SAAAAME boat duyk. GL to u tho

X
  • #419
  • Jun 24, 2012 2:14pm Jun 24, 2012 2:14pm
The reason traders aren't profitable is simply, they are taught all sorts of none fact based trading logic which has no real relevance in real trading.
Nothing to it, but to do it!!! Stick to the plan FOOL!!!!
  • #420
  • Jun 24, 2012 4:04pm Jun 24, 2012 4:04pm
Quoting Turveyd
The reason traders aren't profitable is simply, they are taught all sorts of none fact based trading logic which has no real relevance in real trading.
what are talking about?? my PSAR macd system is TOTALLY based in trading logic!
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