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There have been some incredible replies thus far. Hopefully you take the time to truly take in and analyze the advice you have been given. I feel that BigMike gave you very simple steps towards becoming successful.
First, stop buying courses. The logic behind purchasing a course to become a successful trader has always perplexed me.
If an individual were to truly have a major edge in which they were consistently profitable, WHY would they ever turn around and try to teach the rest of the world about their strategy? It makes no logical sense. Also, if they truly possessed this incredible trading/investing talent, why waste their valuable time disclosing all of their secrets to the world, thus, removing their edge and making them unprofitable. You must be careful of their "apparent" luxury lifestyle that the are selling as well. It's very possible they made their money off of people like you buying courses from them.
Holding yourself accountable is also an extremely important aspect of success, in any field. It's very easy to complain that the market it wrong, the sellers are wrong, buyers are wrong, blah blah blah. The truth is that YOU..were wrong. If you lost money, you were not right on your call. Instead of looking around for things to point at and blame, the productive path is to look over what happened and figure out WHY you were wrong. Analyze your situation and learn from it, determine how to make your next call stronger because of your past wrongs. If you always point at people to bitch about how he/she/it is at fault, and not you, it will be impossible to grow as a skilled individual.
Thanks for your reply “Limitless100”- simply laid out and makes perfect sense! I appreciate what everyone has shared and contributed to my post. It really is all about “looking within yourself”, better interpreting price action, and understanding what the chart “set-ups” themselves are telling you!
A couple things come to mind when I read your story Shaun.
1.Learn How to Trade: It appears that you are under the belief that you can be taught how to trade and personally I think that is something easier said than done. There are a ton of nuances in both trading and the markets that I feel are impossible for even the most comprehensive book or course to cover. So I think trading is hard to learn partially because it is hard to teach. Sure there are always outliers like the Turtles or Joe Guru saying "I can teach anyone to trade", but the devil is in the details.
2. Those Who Can't Do, Teach : We can also all make the argument for "those who can't do, teach" and I am not looking to start a war with trading educators, but this is something that needs to be strongly considered.
3. Basic Education Versus a Trading Style - it seems like a good amount of the trading education out there addresses a particular niche or trading style....Market Profile, Price Acton Purists, the flashing signals program, Order Flow, etc. Although this stuff has it's appropriate time and place, too many try to substitute the basic foundation and building blocks with what I consider top of the pyramid stuff.
4. The Devil is in the Details - You mentioned Stephen Bigalow and I happen to think one of his candlestick books is probably the best one out there, BUT look at the details. If my memory serves me correct, most of his stuff is with longer time frames, daily, weekly charts and stocks. Most retail traders are trading futures and spot forex on an intraday basis with very small time frames. Now I am not saying learning Bigalow's stuff won't apply to a 1 minute chart, but applying that knowledge to your chosen area is something you must undertake and it is not necessarily easy.
5. Where are the basics - You mentioned lots of courses and software, but where are all the basic classic trading textbooks from guys like Edwards and McGee, Richard Schabacker, John Murphy, etc? That stuff is like Technical Analysis 101 and as basic as it can get. I firmly believe that unless you have the ability to sit next to a legit trader for a year and learn how to do this, then it is all on you to educate yourself. Educators can maybe fill in some blanks or serve things up on a platter, although in the end, this is really all on you.
6. THE Bottom Line : Once you get self-educated, Focus on the Bottom Line - The bottom line is putting trades on and taking them off, NOT being an analyst. Plenty of guys can analyze charts, make forecasts and predictions, and point out some pretty impressive things.......AND then there is trading. After the foundation is in, everything should reflect that bottom line and nothing else.
In a nutshell, learn the basics and learn them yourself. Best case scenario is to find someone to teach you hands on as a mentor. A legit trader, with a track record, who makes their living trading, not educating or selling product (again this would be a best case scenario).
Understand that the basic technical analysis 101 stuff will only get your so far, the rest is on you. I don't know of one successful trader who is using stuff straight out of a book or course, without really developing the ideas more on their own. They take the basic concepts and run with them turning them info something personal that is truly their own (putting their own twist on things). This comes from lots of quality observation, attention and creativity not just hours of screen time (I can show you guys with endless hours of screen time who still can't figure things out because they still can't see the proverbial forest through the tress).
Finally, and I might be one of the few who actually says this, don't be afraid to admit that maybe this isn't for you. Trading is not for everyone and for all different reasons. We would be kidding ourselves (especially when considering the statistics of how many don't make it in the trading game) not to think that there is some sort of specific mental, physical and emotional qualities needed to be a successful trader......the ability to think in abstract terms is always one skill that comes to mind.
Set a manageable goal and put a time frame on it........maybe contrary to popular belief, this shouldn't be something that takes endless years or a life time to accomplish.
If there are any questions, just let me know.
best of luck!
BTR
ps, And yes, DON't buy shit.......if you get things right, you will be able to develop your own shit and at least know that it really works!
If you can keep your wits about you while all others are losing theirs, and blaming you....The world will be yours and everything in it, what's more, you'll be a man, my son. - Kipling
Trading is a business, psychologically you should think of it as such. In terms of your particular challenge I'd recommend you focus on the mental aspect of your trading and examine how you treat trading as a business/not so, and analyse how you can improve how you run your operation.
Secondly, consider how you can change you mental state to be more confident in your business decisions. Trading is about confidence in ones perceptions enough to act on them. Personally I traded sim for about a 2weeks then threw myself in at the deep end. I'd recommend that this is a great way to learn as having money in the market has a great tendency to focus my mind at least. You only need to limit you transactions to a small number of contracts to tightly control your risk and you'll learn a great deal. At the point of do if that for a period of x weeks you find no substantial development in your trading you need to consider if this business is for you. Hope that you don't find yourself there but it's valid to mention.
Many thanks for your ‘Follow-up #3’. Often one joins these forums, and is left pretty much in the dark and to your own devices. May I therefore take this opportunity to thank you and the ‘Welcoming Committee’ for your interest shown and the warm welcome!
I was blown away by the great response to my initial post. The advice, help, and sometimes harsh criticism, made me sit up and take note of where I was in my day trading career, and the plans I needed to put in place going forward.
The abundance of resources and information on the forum, whether from fellow members posts or trading-related matters, has been overwhelming!
Thanks for the great ‘welcome to futures.io (formerly BMT)’.