[ravel96]

I haven't posted much in the forum, so many of the regular forum readers may not know me (although some know me from my time in the Babypips chatroom). Even though I don't post much, though, I enjoy reading through forum threads periodically to see what interesting and new ideas are being discussed. Of late, I notice that there seems to be an increase in the amount of arguing and mudslinging going on (perhaps some of it justified, and perhaps some of it not), and I'm sure most can probably guess what topics and threads this pertains to. My opinions and ideas are not necessarily any better than others, but I feel compelled to make a few points for what it's worth because I am quite interested in seeing new traders learn to succeed. New traders, in particular, often ask a variety of questions related to these points when they visit the chatroom. So here goes......

There is no perfect system that will guarantee that all your trades will be profitable. They cannot even guarantee that the majority of your trades will be profitable. The same can be said for trade signals and for indicators, whether established and publicly available or self-developed and privately or commercially provided by an individual or company.

There are many people who want to sell you systems, trade signals/alerts, and/or indicators. You have a simple choice to make regarding those: you either pay for them and use them .... or you don't. (More on this in my final paragraph in this posting.)

There are many experienced, successful, established traders who will agressively attempt to warn new traders of the dangers of those who wish to sell the aforementioned items. There is good reason for that, specifically that new traders in particular are taken in again and again by hucksters who promise a pot of gold if you simply trust their product. In addition, there are those who are not quite "above board", who offer a variety of free products but who hold out some of their most "important" strategies, etc., until remuneration in some form or fashion is received. Established traders generally feel protective of new traders and wish for their success as well. So for those who hawk products, who don't quite tell the whole story, or who are reluctant to post real-time trades, etc., you should expect to feel a backlash from the population of experienced traders who do not wish to see new traders taken advantage of.

Many experienced and successful traders will tell any new trader these things:

There's a lot of FREE info and help available on the web. Use it.
You're better off learning to trade rather than paying someone else.
Just because an indicator says the price will move up, doesn't mean it will.
Judgement and instinct are important aspects of successful trading.
Time and practice and patience are necessary to be a success.
No single person has all the answers.
There is NO holy grail of trading systems or indicators.

Now, back to something I said earlier. You have a choice to buy a product or service. Maybe it will help you succeed; maybe it won't. You have to decide whether or not it's worth applying your financial resources to it. However, consider this: there are many people who are successful and happy to help you develop your trading skills free of charge. Many are on this forum and have spent considerable time and effort to help educate traders on a variety of techniques that they have found successful. And there are mentors who mentor simply out of their desire for others to succeed. Why do they ask for nothing in return? Because they are successful already. I see many people who claim to be fantastic traders who instead of trading seem have turned their efforts into marketing and selling systems, alerts, and indicators. I know many successful traders who simply scoff at that because they themselves wouldn't bother marketing and selling -- they are already successfully trading and can make more than they need. For them, stepping out of trading to instead market and sell would be a career move that might actually drop their level of income. I'm not trying to say here that everyone who markets a product is simply a trader who can't trade .... but I am saying that the general consensus among the successful traders that I know is that most of those individuals can't actually trade their own systems, alerts, and indicators profitably in live (as opposed to demo) trading and instead turn to marketing and selling those products. So if you're one who is trying to sell something to traders that you believe will work but you won't post real trades, you won't answer valid criticisms and questions, or have wild claims of success that you can't back up in real time (which is the only way to prove them), etc., then you have to expect a backlash from those who are concerned about the success of other traders that are still trying to find their foothold in this business. And if you're one who is buying a product or a service, then do so with your eyes open and with your mind working logically and pragmatically.

Let me just say as a epilogue to this rather lengthy post ..... kudos to those on this forum who I see have expended considerable time and energy to impart their own experience and ideas so that others can develop their own skills.