As a retail trader, this is absolutely right. No matter how much you talk with others, and with how many, when it comes to the entry and exit, you are alone. Of course, if you “trade” someone’s mechanical or automated system then there are no such decisions to make, but then that is not really trading on a personal level.
Regarding advice, there is plenty of good advice in the quality reference books regularly posted in various threads but this is mainly useful in understanding the backbone of risk control and managing funds and various trading techniques. But one is still alone when putting it all together and formulating a comprehensive trading strategy …and then [I]implementing [/I]it in the market place!
Apart from that, the industry is stuffed with junk material and “advice” from sources that are only after your business and are only concerned with their own best interests at the expense of your’s. How can one evaluate and differentiate the wheat from the chaff? In the end one is left to trial and error and the “school of hard knocks”.
I guess one of the biggest problems is the sheer unpredictability of what is going to happen next. Nothing about price movement is constantly and consistently smooth and regular or rhythmic or cyclical. It is intensely difficult to incorporate an allowance for the totally unexpected within one’s trading parameters - and, of course, it is precisely the unexpected that does the damage, both financially and psychlogically.
Yes,I agree with you entirely. That is why I have often written about the dangers of trying to trade forex for a living. The pressures are huge and the need to perform consistently will draw you into making rash and risky trades - and when they inevitably fail they only increase the pressure to perform even more to recover from them. It is almost impossible without serious study and experience and a healthy capital balance - and even then it is not a very desirable way to make a living for many reasons.
I don’t think we disagree over this much at all, actually! Of course you cannot treat trading as a hobby if you intend to make significant money. But there is a world of difference between trying to be a professional trader and trading alongside one’s main income with a view to building capital and even the occasional “treat” out it!
All I have said is that if one wants to spend one’s spare time on learning and practicing trading then this time does not have to be quantified in money terms because it is not a business, it is a hobby. Kids’ parents here spend a fortune on kitting out the kids to play ice hockey and devote hours running them around from place to place, match to match, the value of that time is the way it is spent with their family. It is all about priorities and ambitions in one’s life. And what is right for one person is not necessarily right for everyone else - and vice versa. It is surely a totally personal decision how we spend our time (and money)?
Having said that, I am not advocating that trading as a hobby is should be approach in a sloppy and haphazard manner! The ultimate objective of trading is a net profit and that requires work. But that work is in the same manner as an amateur artist, author, car renovator, musician, and so on. If it is what we want to do and we have the resources to do it, then the time we devote to it is not valued in terms of money at all, it is a question of satisfaction and personal achievement.
I do know what you are getting at, though. I too have been (and still am) self-employed. In my earlier business, you never said “no” to a customer even if it meant working through the night to get it done. It was not just about money, but about customer satisfaction, reputation and repeat business. It that environment, time was certainly money. If one is to devote time and capital resources to trading part-time then it certainly has to be considered from an “opportunity cost” perspective - resources can only be used once.
Yep, I guess that just about wraps it up!