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You sound like you been trading for awhile. LOL. I will be honest and I was one of those traders scalping with big risk, small reward. My risk was about $300 per trade and my reward was between the $40 to $150 range for that $300 risk. And yes, my win rate was high, around 92%. But guess what, one or two losses would take away about 4 days of work. fast paced way to trade, but I had to trade alot to get that win rate up.
Now I plan my trades setups for minimum R:R of 1 and learn to wait for a cheaper entry.
I am currently in TopStepTrader, I was recently funded after 3 months of trying. Went up about $1600 in 3 days, then hit drawdown and a few mistakes and failed out. Now I take some time detail my trading plan and trade setups.
I can tell you this. It takes time. Markets conditions will change. Trade Management regardless of market conditions is important. It is important to KEEP going and trade everyday straight for 2 years. The eyes must see different situations. Correct practice is the best practice.
I am not consistent profitability, but what i think helps me is getting good training, journaling trades, studying, and taking trades and just getting experience
While I've been in the finance world since the 2008 crisis, I've only been actively day trading for 4 years. The advantage that I try to have is through community. I troll the forums a lot, run my daily Speculatorseth livestream, and chat on . So I come into contact with awide variety of retail traders and information.
That's why this particular issue just grates on me so much. I've watched a lot of people lose money with these kinds of strategies, and I find it really difficult to convince newer traders of the danger in them.
Hey Bubba1 thanks for the mention. That's actually my Instagram name. Twitch name is just "jtradeZ". Live trades everyday with Live P&L. It's Free and all are welcome.
I agree with you. This is why I try really hard to setup up my trades, with minimum R:R equal or greater than 1 and I wait for targets. Sometimes price and market conditions does not care about my profit target and, I have to re-think a new profit target, making the R:R less than 1. This is rare.
If the market setup will not allow for your minimum R:R, then you should just pass on the trade and wait for a trade that does work. Better to wait for what will inevitably occur than push a bad setup!
Persistence! Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence.
Talent will not ... nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent.
Genius will not ... Unrewarded genius is almost a proverb.
Education will not ... The world is full of educated derelicts.
Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent! Calvin Coolidge
I can only give you some general advice. I was a local futures floor trader for 30 years on the CBOT, the LIFFE Exchange and traded also on the Sidney Futures Exchange and the floor of the Brazilian BM&F. Screen trading is much harder because everybody is on the same playing field. Still here's my takeaway..
1) You'll have to lose money to learn how not to lose it. I lost money for 3 straight months, when I started, until suddenly I gained a "perspective" of the market that I was trading; it's like the penny drops and suddenly you have more awareness. Whatever you choose to trade, trade it every day, and don't miss days like it's a part time job. You'll lose continuity and rhythm. Get to know your chosen market like the back of your hand. After a while trading it should become almost a mechanical process. I'm a scalper, so this advice is more applicable to my type of trading.
2) Be determined as hell....that the market is not going to beat you...that no market will!
3 Trade small until whatever you're doing starts to work for you. Being consistent every day is your goal; Losing big at the outset will dishearten you, and the market will spit you out in a bloody heap. I know traders who even committed suicide over this. If it's a rough, choppy day, you're still down a few hundred by early afternoon - then quit. Trying to break even for the sake of it will end in tears. Call it a successful day. Tomorrow is another day.
4) If your account is ahead, then at the end of the month take out half of your profits. Pay rent and some bills. Connect your futures acct to the real world and get satisfaction that your trading is working for you. Build your acct by half of your monthly profits.
5)A word about automated systems (based on rules and indicators). Engineers and methodical people love them and hopefully they free you up to do your regular job, or if you can't stay in front of a screen. I've paid thousands for so-called proven systems, back-tested up the wazoo, traded by a professional broker on my behalf, that were written and devised by rocket scientists. They work great, until they don't. The market will always defeat them at some point. Simple as that. Trying to write your own rules based system will be a waste of time. The ability to create your own system is kind of cool, but it just sells hope for the most part. (sorry if I sound cynical).
6) On a personal note, I won't trade stock indexes. The algos and bots make it like swimming in shark infested waters. Absolutely everybody is trying to pick each others pockets is ES or whatever. I stick to traditional commodities like gold or financial instruments.
From your post, I sense perhaps some early frustration with trading the markets. I sincerely wish you the best of luck going forward.
#4 - I have a similar perspective, in general, when it comes to trading. Traders need to be consistent to be able to do this ('consistency' seems to be a theme in this thread). I think that, beside understanding that you need to enjoy the fruits of your labor. I think it actually can lend itself to keeping your trading grounded.
#4 (part 2) - I won't pay money for algos/automated systems, or even trade ones that have been given to me, for some of the reasons you mentioned. Mainly, backtesting is done wrong (refer to the writings of Kevin Davey, aka @kevinkdog). With that being said, I am an algo trader and yes, systems can fail after a certain amount of time, at which time it is okay to retire them. The most valuable thing I learned from Kevin regarding algo trading is portfolio diversification, especially building a non-correlated portfolio. That is kind of where we (my wife/trading partner) are with our trading.
I think people have a certain idea of what bot/algo/auto trading is, but the reality (having been doing it for many years) is something completely different. It is not the ATM that some people think (or promote) it is.