hi onoffon, good question, many many answers, i apologise
in advance if my answers are too simple.
your question tho struck a note with me as i am in the middle of
re-writing my trading plan, again, after straying from it
again.
trying to keep post short, i have been trading on and
off for twelve years, i have been profitable for several years ,
but i love learning, trying to improve myself and as i learn i
start to add more and more things to my trading, and then all of a
sudden i am losing money.
since i joined this site (3months) i have learn't a lot and
i have also lost money again. there are so many trade ideas put in
front of you, you get sucked in to thinking there are so many
people making so much money from all the chit chat that you read,
that I lose sight of my trading plan, and find myself doing
all kinds of things that do not suit me. In my case i usually find
myself trading shorter and shorter time frames as i see more and
more set up's appearing.
it all comes back to having a simple repeatable trading
plan. do not stray from it, if you want to try something
different , open a separate account for it and test it.
SIMPLE- can be as simple as - i trade only
divergent hi's and low's ( using maybe macd and
stochastics), on one timeframe, say 60 minute
chart, as per matt and steve's charts, and then some
money managment rules, max trade amount, max risk amount. then an
exit rule or two, and a stop loss. you can flesh it out a bit
, use some trendlines, but really that simple will
work, if you repeat it exactly each time. which is where i
fail, and i guess many others too.
REALITY- is a 50% win rate is good, in fact better
than average. this one realisation made the biggest difference to
my trading. go read some market wizard books (schwager), or,
everyday traders by nick radge, and you find out that many
(most), big time traders make their money with a less than 50%
win ratio, losers are stopped out cheaply, and winners are allowed
to run a bit.
Get over thinking you
have to win 80% to make a dollar.
i agree van tharp is good.
anyway prob enough of a lecture for now, good luck.
Title: got a plan, and
trading
Posted by morgan8 on 27th of Sep 2011 at 02:48 am
hi onoffon, good question, many many answers, i apologise in advance if my answers are too simple.
your question tho struck a note with me as i am in the middle of re-writing my trading plan, again, after straying from it again.
trying to keep post short, i have been trading on and off for twelve years, i have been profitable for several years , but i love learning, trying to improve myself and as i learn i start to add more and more things to my trading, and then all of a sudden i am losing money.
since i joined this site (3months) i have learn't a lot and i have also lost money again. there are so many trade ideas put in front of you, you get sucked in to thinking there are so many people making so much money from all the chit chat that you read, that I lose sight of my trading plan, and find myself doing all kinds of things that do not suit me. In my case i usually find myself trading shorter and shorter time frames as i see more and more set up's appearing.
it all comes back to having a simple repeatable trading plan. do not stray from it, if you want to try something different , open a separate account for it and test it.
SIMPLE- can be as simple as - i trade only divergent hi's and low's ( using maybe macd and stochastics), on one timeframe, say 60 minute chart, as per matt and steve's charts, and then some money managment rules, max trade amount, max risk amount. then an exit rule or two, and a stop loss. you can flesh it out a bit , use some trendlines, but really that simple will work, if you repeat it exactly each time. which is where i fail, and i guess many others too.
REALITY- is a 50% win rate is good, in fact better than average. this one realisation made the biggest difference to my trading. go read some market wizard books (schwager), or, everyday traders by nick radge, and you find out that many (most), big time traders make their money with a less than 50% win ratio, losers are stopped out cheaply, and winners are allowed to run a bit. Get over thinking you have to win 80% to make a dollar.
i agree van tharp is good.
anyway prob enough of a lecture for now, good luck.
Great advice Morgan8 - thanks
Posted by pebs on 27th of Sep 2011 at 07:27 am
Great advice Morgan8 - thanks for sharing.