Search for the Holy Grail in Trading

[Joe Ross]

Search for the Holy Grail in Trading
by Joe Ross

We’ve almost all heard the question, “How’s the market treating you today?” When I hear that question, I have to laugh. The market does not wake up with an attitude. It is not grumpy and complaining. It is not angry with me having decided to ignore me. Neither does it start out as benign, wanting to give me a loving hug.

The market is neither good nor bad. It is neutral, but at times seductive, coaxing me to place my bet so that it can diabolically grab my money. If I am right on my bet, I am happy. If I am wrong, I’m unhappy. The market is forever making someone happy and someone else unhappy. This is true whether the market is rising or falling. The only market participant who is almost always delighted with the market is your broker. He wins when you win and he wins when you lose, at least for the short term.

Presumably, everyone reading this is currently trading or intends to start trading soon. If you have never traded before and are tempted, how should you proceed? Is there truly an opportunity out there to make a killing in the market, or are you the one who is most likely to have your head handed to you?

Let’s examine three viewpoints.

The first viewpoint is from those who have tried trading and failed. It unravels as follows: Those most closely connected to the action — brokers, advisors, and money managers — badly want your body (or is it your money?). Why is that? It’s because recruiting new lambs for the slaughter is actually the business that they are in. They need fresh blood to replace the burned-out cases ready for, or already on, the discard pile.

The second viewpoint is from those who have never traded, but have the inside scoop from a friend or distant relative, or from wherever. It goes something like this: “Oh, you better not mess around with commodities. I heard about a guy who lost his shirt trying to trade those.” Or, “Man, you don’t want someone delivering a freight car full of pork bellies to your house, do you?” However they say it, they will give you an abundance of horror stories about someone they knew or heard of who lost heavily, and had bushels of wheat arriving at his front door.

Both of the above are bunk. Lies, half-truths, and not to be believed.

The third viewpoint is also in need of debunking. It goes like this: “Call market tops and bottoms. Buy my geocentric, astro-parabolic trading system, and never have to work hard another day in your life. That’s right, you can live like me. Drive a Rolls Royce. Sail your own yacht. Live and work anywhere in the world while beautiful women in bikinis wait on you hand and foot serving you delectable food and drink. I used to be poor but then I discovered the secret of the markets. You can too! Why am I willing to reveal my secrets? I just have so much, I want to share. Even now, I can’t possibly spend all the money I make while sitting back and letting the markets work for me.”

Based on statistics, the average trader is up against formidable odds. You can understand that, can’t you? It is because the average trader expects to beat the market without doing very much thinking. He expects to win doing what everyone else is doing. But you cannot beat the market thinking like an average trader. In fact, you can’t “beat the market” (I hate that term) at all unless you are able to develop a considerable trading edge over the crowd.

If you expect to make some fast, easy money, with little or no effort, you are in the wrong place. Yet such nonsense continues to be spewed out to those who don’t know any better and to those who ought to know better. The search for the holy grail goes on.

Joe Ross
Trading Educators Inc.

[autofx]

You're solidly, squarely in the middle of the "don't get it"
category.

[rob]

Originally posted by Joe Ross
Search for the Holy Grail in Trading
by Joe Ross

We’vThe third viewpoint is also in need of debunking. It goes like this: “Call market tops and bottoms. Buy my geocentric, astro-parabolic trading system, and never have to work hard another day in your life. That’s right, you can live like me. c.

Don't let on about that here Joe,
a good proportion of members are trying to promote their systems. If newbies figure this out what will the vendors do.

[TrendlineBreak]

I wouldn't say a good proportion Rob, there are a lot of people on this board trying to develop winning strategies by helping each other (me amongst them)

[autofx]

If you expect to make some fast, easy money, with little or no effort...

You mean like this?

Without looking at your screen or touching your computer?

As in, possibly letting a computer and the market do all the work?

Blasphemy! It can't be! It can't work! The mere mention of it
insults all the screen watching and brilliant analysis I do!

What is Joe Ross selling? HIS Holy Grail where he takes your
money for telling you the Holy Grail is that there is no Holy Grail?

[This should be in the class. section.

Yes Joe is selling something BUT he also provides quality analysis and thoughts in his posts with the merchant side linked at the end. Take it or leave it thats your choice. Rezo for example did much the same.

The problem for moneytec in regards to promotion is when people provide no analysis and share no thoughts of there own, just HERE IT IS (no real explanation of who it works) BUY IT. These types of threads belong only in the class, section]

[Makedon]

I will only buy a Holy Grail system from these people; William Gates, George Soros, Aristotle Onassis and William Shatner.

I think there is no such system. I think that the human brain is the best system in the universe and that no-one can sell a purely mechanical system that will be profitable as it will be competing against other human brains that use systems too.

I don't see William Gates, George Soros, Aristotle Onassis and William Shatner peddling their systems here, OK, Ari O. is dead, but the other three aren't.

[MickMason]

Originally posted by autofx


It can't work!

Well one thing's for sure, yours don't

What was it now, oh yes, this is Autofx's holy grail, lol, too funny....

Taken from Autofx's website:
System 1 is an intraday trading strategy that trades in the 15-minute timeframe, using three consecutive higher lows (indicating long) or lower highs (indicating short) as entry triggers, with 30-pip stops and 115-pip limits. Profits ranging anywhere from 12 pips up to 115 pips can be taken.

System 2 is an intraday trading strategy that trades in the 15-minute timeframe, using three consecutive higher lows (indicating long) or lower highs (indicating short) as entry triggers, with 30-pip stops and 115-pip limits. Profits ranging anywhere from 12 pips up to 115 pips can be taken.

Bwaaaaaaahahahaha

Mick

[rob]

Originally posted by TrendlineBreak
I wouldn't say a good proportion Rob, there are a lot of people on this board trying to develop winning strategies by helping each other (me amongst them)

Quite true, no offense meant to you trendline.