99% Winners!!! Wow, what a place!!

[majamaem]

lol...my brother called me once at about 2 in the am...drunk. he had a huge short emini position on and was going to kill'm. made me get up. when i got my charts up i ask what the heck he was talking about? it was moving against him! what? he ask. and knowing these overnite markets i call drippers...like watchin a slooooow dripping faucet. anyway, he was watchin the swiss frank or something...drunk.lol i think he covered with several thousand profit but way far from killin. drunk luck i guess.lol

[MickMason]

lol, at least he made some money, it took me a few hundred dollars before I realised what was going on (hey, it was like 6 in the morning or something!)

Anyway, catch you later, have a good one!


Mick

[majamaem]

im not going to go thru alot of this posting my trade stuff but occasionally from now on, its way too much to keep up with. for those of you that call fibs what ever, or used some wha wha laggers there is a lesson in micks kiss method and good money management. did you study last nite mick? i sure didnt. heres my day so far as earlier posted with lot sizes:
i bought 6 at 18.75
covered 3 at 1975 and 3 at 2050

i bought 6 again at 17
covered 3 at 18 and rev with 6 at 19
i sold 3 more at 20 and 6 more at 21
i covered 3 at 20 then covered the other 3 at 20
i reloaded 6 at 21 and covered 3 at 20
and then covered all at 19 and got flat

(i got long again at 18.75 - 65% pull back)

i was biased to the downside, and it still may fail, but "take a shot at it". Theres always the barber shop strategy...NEXT!

later mick...have a good one

[danielfx]

hi mick

it is my experience that most new traders are not successful and most lose it all very quickly. most new guys struggle... i started my trading career in 2001. i started trading part time and after some time i decided go make trading a full time occupation. i quit my job because i felt i couldn't learn what i wanted to if i didn't commit all my attention to trading. in hindsight this was really stupid. i had a couple of {lookin back} lucky trades and i thought i had the magic touch. i have wiped a few small live accounts when i was still learning to trade, but thankfully i can now make my living at trading. the road to success is very hard in this industry.

i'm still relatively inexperienced compared to most of you probably. when i started learning and after doing some forex courses i was still very uncomfortable emotionaly to take a loss with my own money. it's not easy to lose when you start out. it's the emotions that causes us to make mistakes.

the greed and euphoria you feel when in a winning trade will make you reluctant to set a profit target or even take profit because you feel your profits can run higher. your fear will cause you to liquidate an initial winner that just retraces below your entry point, {not reaching your stop} for a loss, and then feel the anguish as that trade turns out to be the winner that you planned. in the beginning your expectations are the problem as you try to predict where the market will go {as if anyone really knows what will happen} its only after some time when you have matured a bit that you become less emotional. unfortunately most beginner traders quit after wiping their first account and never try again to master this art.

now it doesn't matter if you win or lose because you have now probably worked out a trading edge that put most trades in your favour. if you know that your system gives an average of 30 trades a month where you will win more than 60% of them and your % capital growth is positive, then you can trade emotionless and without inner conflict when you put up a position. when you get to a place where you can trade like a machine, not trying to predict what will happen next, but just react to what you need to do when the market does something, you will be consistantly successful.

yassir, i want to win every single trade, but i know i won't. it doesn't matter anymore because every loser brings me closer to the next winner. new traders will most likely keep quiet here as they came here for help to see what the successful guys are doing. i think forums like this can definately reduce the steep learning curve traders face. my general advice to guys who want to leave their jobs and trade full time is... don't do it!

they can consider it if they first demo and then on a mini account show a consistantly rising equity curve after some months of part time trading using a well worked out system. i have seen many guys blow their financial heads off with trading. i know the price i paid to get where i am and unless new traders understand this, it will be pure hell!

hope you all have a good trading day

danielfx

[MickMason]

Originally Posted by danielfx

i know the price i paid to get where i am and unless new traders understand this, it will be pure hell!

Great post, all very true.

The way I justified the losses I sustained during the learning curve was to compare it to buying a business and the initial outlay for stock, premises, training, etc etc. Also, most new businesses take around 2 or 3 years to break even. I felt a whole lot better after sitting down and doing the math

Have a great trading day people!


Mick

[yasirdxb]

Hi Daniel,

sorry for the mistake in the other post. what I wanted to say was "you dont have to win" not "you dont want to win".

By the way, I'm a newbie compared to you and mick. I started trading just one and half years ago. like any other new trader, I blew up few live accounts very quickly. it was only after that I realised the need of a profitable strategy and a probabilistic mind set.

by learning and experimenting many strategies, I developed a strategy which is based on trend following. I was well aware that there will be more losing trades than winning trades when trading this strategy and the only way to survive is to win BIG when you win.so it was never a problem for me to close out a trade when it goes against me and adding to it when it goes in my favour.I dont usually place a limit order when I enter a trade, rather I prefer following the market. You cant call it 'greed' when it is a part of a strategy.

though my equity curve is consistantly rising on a monthly basis, I dont think I
have learned everything and its time to go full time trading. I'm still trading part time and a mini account.

I really appreciate your comments and look forward to learn more from experienced guys like you and mick.

Thanks,

Yasir.

ps: here is my view of taking a loss and setting a target. actually its an excerpt from "Reminiscense of a stock operator"

"The successful trader has to fight these two (fear and hope) deep-seated
instincts. He has to reverse what you might call his natural
impulses. Instead of hoping he must fear; instead of fearing he
must hope. He must fear that his loss may develop into a much
bigger loss, and hope that his profit may become a big profit."