I see that there are a lot of people who have been in the market for many years, who have very good and very wide knowledge, they know many trading methods and many of them are really good.
But it's strange that they still keep changing the method they're using, it's obsolete, no, it's because they don't persist in pursuing any method to the end, they just want to experiment and find more because they always doubt their own current method.
And I believe they will stay like that forever and can't be stopped for a lifetime.

Kevin1802 

I see that there are a lot of people who have been in the market for many years, who have very good and very wide knowledge, they know many trading methods and many of them are really good. But it's strange that they still keep changing the method they're using, it's obsolete, no, it's because they don't persist in pursuing any method to the end, they just want to experiment and find more because they always doubt their own current method. And I believe they will stay like that forever and can't be stopped for a lifetime.

Where are you getting this information from?

You could say the same thing about a lot of things - weight loss for example.

A lot of people know good weight loss plans - ones that do actually work - but they can't follow thru on them, and usually just jump from one hot new technique to another.

I've seen people give up on historically good trading strategies, only to jump on an unproven and ultimately unprofitable approach.

It is kind of sad.

Kevin1802 

I see that there are a lot of people who have been in the market for many years, who have very good and very wide knowledge, they know many trading methods and many of them are really good. But it's strange that they still keep changing the method they're using, it's obsolete, no, it's because they don't persist in pursuing any method to the end, they just want to experiment and find more because they always doubt their own current method. And I believe they will stay like that forever and can't be stopped for a lifetime.

Market environments change. Volatility conditions change from expanding to contracting. The general environment changes from trending to range and so on. A good trader or trading methodology / system will adapt to the current environment by using different strategies or setups to suit the situation. Simple enough, right?

What seems to happen to less experienced traders is they adopt a new approach because A. their current approach is suffering a drawdown and / or B. this other approach appears to be 'crushing it'.
The grass is greener. We can all guess what happens next. After a few winning trades this 'new' approach seems to turn sour on them and go south.

The trader feels like the market is out to get them. No matter what they try it always seems to lose, and so on. But the market HAS to change. That's how things work. Once the crowd catches onto the game - the game changes. Once you find the key - they change the lock. Experienced traders anticipate the change in conditions.

IMHO, this is the biggest challenge of trading. Either trade just one type of strategy / setup and only trade stocks / markets or days that favor that setup. Or learn multiple setups and trade the setup that matches the environment or day type.

A simple day trading example (but the general idea applies to all timeframes) - if you're trading the NQ and yesterday was a trend day, you might have had great success trading small continuation patterns. If you came into the next day expecting the same environment in the am session - more often than not - you're gunna whipsawed all day. Conversely, if yesterday and the previous few days were narrower trading range days and you cleaned up fading new highs and lows... you might just get run over when an order imbalance hits the market.

Experienced traders either 1. sit it out when conditions don't favor their method. 2. Find a different market or stock that does. or 3. become proficient at adapting which setup to use given the situation. Most traders never quite get there. For most, they should probably learn one trade and learn when to and when not to trade it. Learn to manage it proficiently and then ad additional plays to their playbook once they are proficient at their first 'play'.

sloth 

What seems to happen to less experienced traders is they adopt a new approach because A. their current approach is suffering a drawdown and / or B. this other approach appears to be 'crushing it'. The grass is greener. We can all guess what happens next. After a few winning trades this 'new' approach seems to turn sour on them and go south.

Yes. When you start, you keep jumping from one thing to another. The new things generally don't work too well either, because when we start, it's us, not the "system," that is the problem. Add in the fact that markets are always changing anyway, and things get pretty rough for traders.

sloth 

Experienced traders either 1. sit it out when conditions don't favor their method. 2. Find a different market or stock that does. or 3. become proficient at adapting which setup to use given the situation. Most traders never quite get there. For most, they should probably learn one trade and learn when to and when not to trade it. Learn to manage it proficiently and then ad additional plays to their playbook once they are proficient at their first 'play'.

This too. The markets change, and traders have to recognize it. Maybe that means a totally different method or approach, maybe just using what has worked in a way that is adapted to the new conditions. But change happens anyway, and we need to meet it.

Bob.

strong first post. Don't know why people do what they do and don't care.

For personal growth its better to internalise process, trading is highly personal and in case successful highly private affair.

It would be even bigger waste of time to try and figure out "Why" in this than doing actual jumping from strategy to strategy. imo

So, even if they are strong, will agree with words in above post by massive.

knowing and applying is different maybe?

Kevin1802 

I see that there are a lot of people who have been in the market for many years, who have very good and very wide knowledge, they know many trading methods and many of them are really good. But it's strange that they still keep changing the method they're using, it's obsolete, no, it's because they don't persist in pursuing any method to the end, they just want to experiment and find more because they always doubt their own current method. And I believe they will stay like that forever and can't be stopped for a lifetime.

Everybody searches for that holy grail in the beginning. You can make money from a thousand things in the market so of course a lot of traders try them out.
In the end you most likely stick to what you find work the best for you though. Sometimes the most basic retail trader setup is the one that will make you the most profits.

edge is elusive yet discoverable....but just like a spring in the desert it can evaporate over time...especially when one is dying of thirst