What is wrong with this? (LONG)

Hey guys,

I posted a while back about wanted to learn etc… and I got some good and some stock responses if I recall. Here is what I have found out and I need someone to critque this and because I am about 99% sure I have it and I need some experienced eyes who are farther away from the noise. I need someone to read this and tell me if this is what it was like for them.

I was lost in the beginning and nothing made sense. I was trying to figure out a way to re-invent the wheel and make gobs of money relatively quickly as I have done in other industries before( note: I have also been a splendid failure too). You just have to find the key or keys.

I was looking for grails and wild indicators and grilling people about their trading records trying to find someone fantastically successful to teach me/hold my hand which has been my modus operandi in other industries and works like a charm.

I needed to know what the unifying trait was for successful currency traders since the forums seem to be a lot of misery loves company or doctor heal thyself or bad traders giving advice. A small few seemed to be doing this consistantly successfully and even smaller full time. They were almost invariably selling services or grails and the majority was looking to get rich quick it seemed. The good traders basically weren’t very active in the forum and basically told people to do their own leg work and find out themselves.

There are/were exceptions of course and those people are gems. The other people basically appeared to know that most people are going to be mediocre and are “testing the water” and were more then happy to exchange your dollars for their systems which of course won’t work as well for you since you didn’t make them DUH. You would/could be marginally successful doing this don’t expect to retire soon. They have their cults that follow them and pay. It was like a idiot tax. No offense intended. they are perfect for a casual hobbyist. That was my take being brand new. I could be wrong. I am I always open to being wrong hence this post. Absolutes are dangerous.

I kept hearing about don’t enter trading expecting anything and most fail and this is a hobby/jobby or whatnot but not a real job be careful. All very prudent , if not hypocritical advice from some people. A light went on for me there and I realized something really good was here.

I remember in a recent past life telling interviewees that they likely wouldn’t make it, expect to fail and if you bust hump you can make oh MAYBE 30-50kUSD a year. Be good and stay the path and that will grow year by year but most people won’t make it… so sorry. I was telling them that because it was true because most people just aren’t disciplined or driven to be in a performance based position. Average people can’t handle the stress, they don’t live the business.

You could just smell the impending doom on someone. The key was being smart/driven/adaptable/ravenous/fearless all of those motivational posters;). The good people I could only give the frame work to and they made it their own and did it their way and ran with the ball. No one could ever do it may way nor I do it theirs. I told them what I do , but more importantly, why and gave them raw matierial to make their own castle. Still most people fall into the middle and are pretty happy to do so. Nothing wrong with that.

This whole time I was telling these people that I knew it was true, but I was pulling down many multiples of that easily doing the same thing because I breathed what I did and I loved it like a woman. So that being said a bulb lit up. I knew that not only could you make money at this you could make a lot of money. It doesn’t hurt that it is super interesting and gives me an excuse to bone up on what is going on with the world at all times.

So, all the advice I was getting was very prudent and very boiler plate. I wasn’t happy. So I began to read and in the mean time, I smacked MACD RSI EMA SMA onto a chart and went to demo town.

I was buying selling hedging trailing my stops having a great time. I wasn’t winning though. I knew if I went into a real account like that I would be cooked. I treated it like a game because it really is. So I got focused stepped back. I was staring at charts but not seeing them. It hadn’t clicked yet.

I listened to techies scream at fundies and vice versa I read and took signals. I won I lost. I read more still hadn’t clicked. I started to watch the charts and the markets and I started trading based off of the SAR couple with the EMA/SMA. I started winning more then I was losing. Still hadn;t clicked. I would wait for a candle to open opposite the last candle in conjunction with a confirming read from the ema and sma. I stopped trading anything below 1 hour. I used trendy pairs coupled with my knowledge of the news. I won more.

Anywho, I read a book that blew my mind and articulated what I had been doing without knowing it. I pulled some awesome stuff from that book but I disagreed with some fundamental principals plus I found out the guy apparently wasn’t too successful. I used the stuff still was half awake yada yada. Ran into a thread I had never read and BLAM! like a truck of bricks everything came together. It was like a moment of clarity. All this bs and clutter and confusion is useless. It was so simple I sat down and laughed. It was so simple I was scared of it. It was the most boring obvious thing I could have ever imagined. Successful trading is a yawn. You can make it really simple and kill it. This was in every book I read it was everywhere.

I am not going to talk about some rainbow journey to the center of my soul or how I walked a long path to get here or how trading has been this magical fun trip full of pain and sorrow but with a sweet center. This is what this is the rub is that it is this for me only other people have to have this moment for themselves and find their own thing.

I was still nervous but I was pretty sure after demo’ing and it is only money. You can always make more. I went live ( i know not spose to go live) I dropped my money in and kissed it goodbye and I traded. I saw little gains using sound money management i was at 1:1 to .5:1. I was winning. Correction. I wasn’t losing. I was up and down but I wasn;t booking losses. I got ****y broke my system and blam lost some, but then I gained it all back.

So anywho I am tweaking this thing and I assume the worst since all tech is the world can;t escape that the market is controlled by people and at its core is random and any order is given it by the people following the tech. I assume I am lucky. My stars aligned and here comes the pain. then…No pain. No stress.

This has been nuts. Yesterday I rocked a trade that I closed out this morning and I swear to god it was completely farked I executed yesterday and the thing went into the red immediately like badly , but I “knew” I was fine and the worse it got the more I bought until I had traded it 12 times. I wasn’t scared it was just what I was spose to do. I did as much as I could handle and walked away with a rediculous stop loss in place in case of armageddon. pays to be prudent. I excuted another trade in the red with a different pair and walked away too.

in real money terms because that was what I was concerned about when I started. I made 2500USD this morning. I took profits and using this I reopened again and I am currently up 850USD.

I am treating this thing like a pit viper in my pants though, but it really doesn’t shoot off losing trades( you will be in the red here and there) so far 2 weeks. in fact, if used properly you can’t lose money ever unless you break rules or don’t know what you are doing. Also, I can use leverage(which is super sweet, but will eat your heart if you are not careful) if I want and not pee myself. the system ( if you can even call it that) protects itself . Oh yessir and backtesting vets it out.

I need to hear from someone who is successful if this is how it is when you “get” it?

DISCLAIMER
I am only using this on two pairs and there are rules and there are ways to mess up if you are braindead. I feel like every one who is successful knows this and it is like some big joke watching all the new people do all these crazy things to win. I am sure I could do something that would net me more but absolutely nothing this rock solid. This takes a seachange to have it fail and even then Booyah we are back in action.

It is probably pretty obvious what I am doing so my questions stands as is this what is is like and I can only imagine most people never get here because this is so shockingly simple. I am up 955 right now. what is wrong with this? I have my trailing stops placed my money management rules and risk tolerance are locked to fit this system. backtesting vets it out. I know how my charts need to look I know where and when my stuff works. I have my perfect set ups ( but they really don;t matter) I know how to work losing trades and when to get out of winners…

I am just having a hard time accepting that something is this easy. I am on red alert for failure. If anyone has gone through this please let me know.

p.s. I closed out my trade for a profit of 532 a profit is a profit and still sweet for clicking a mouse. also I am not trying to brag or sell anything I am just so seveerely gobsmacked at this that I don;t know what to say.

Nice and entertaining description of your journey. Your destination is different to mine but certainly recognise all the false starts and blind alleys along the way. There is a well known Australian trader, Darryl Guppy who says that once you learn to trade it is as easy as you always thought it was going to be initially

There are two hard parts to trading 1) finding an edge that [I]you[/I] can employ, and 2) sticking to your plan. Everything else is easy. That’s not so say no work is required, but it’s not a struggle and in many cases is quite enjoyable.

Successful traders eventually get to this point. The problem is most folks fall out of the game before doing so. They either blow themselves up or get frustrated and give up.

As I’ve said repeatedly (maybe it’ll eventually get heard :slight_smile: ), trading is like any other pursuit. There’s a learning curve that needs to be worked through. It takes work to do that and there aren’t any legitimate short cuts for those after long-term performance. And most people aren’t going to be superstars, but that doesn’t mean they can’t do just fine for themselves and be happy.

(maybe it’ll eventually get heard )

Most people are blind or deaf & want spoon feeding
so they do not want to see.

It takes work to do that and there aren’t any legitimate short cuts They either blow themselves up or get frustrated and give up.

They are searching for the “jackpot” & believe all the bs
on the 'net about earning millions of dollars for doing
no work (or even earning when you sleep) therefore move
on to the next failure.

once you learn to trade it is as easy as you always thought it was going to be initially

What a great quote Tony.

I’ve been kicking the Forex thing around for a few months - I opened a practice account in May, made about a 30-40% return in a month, then let it lapse since I had a new job that required most of my time. Now I’m demo’ing again. My returns aren’t as good, but I’m treating it seriously and trying to develop a system that works around my schedule.

It sounds like you’ve found something that works for you and you’ve got a handle on trading psychology. This is probably the toughest part for me, since seeing those losses add up when I “know” that price should go my way is killer. It sounds like you a using a MA cross, which seems to be where I have had the most success.

Best of luck to you, and I hope to join the club of successful traders, even if I plod my way there!

That sounds about right. It is as easy as I thought it was in the beginning before I even knew how to read a chart. Take the stigma of money of it it and it is just a game.

Yeah I got frustrated too, but I have been successful before so that helped. you have to 'know" you can do it. I know what you I to do and that is put in the work and saturated myself in the stuff. I spent literally all day everyday studying and reading and the whole shebang.

It really I guess is , even though this sounds so sappy, a journey and you can;t really be taught or use someones system you have to do your thing and I didn’t understand that until I did it. As far as being super stars yes most people never will be rockstars in anything. That is life. I think it is all mindset though and you hobble yourself before you even start. A lot of people look for answers in other people and no one was ever a smashing success who didn’t look inward I think.You can’t take orders to be successful or follow direction forever you have to flap your own wings. Don’t be a weenie.

I think you can be taught trade the issue become all psychological and personality based basically are you wired to succeed and can you handle it. Could I buy someones system and be marginally successful looking for their signals etc… maybe… but what in the hell is the point? isn’t that kind of missing the boat…? mindless robo trader. can you say no fun? and what did YOU really accomplish? you can take directions. Bravo.

The way you will end up successfully trading depends completely on you and who you are. It is very organic I think.

My biggest hurdle now is getting over the fear of success in the fact that my system or methodology is broken somehow because it really now seems too easy. I think you can never get complacent , but there is a fine balance.

I am getting comfortable and learning to live with my trading. It is like starting a new relationship. I don’t know when I am going to be 100% comfortable with this though because I still have the BS alarm set on high waiting for the bottom to fall out. last night I left a trade a couple g’s in the red and woke up this morning 4.2k positive which Fit my profit taking so I took. I am currently up again as I type after entering a trade that went south faster then a co ed on prom night. Just trusting the system. That is how it is with this. Looks gross and makes you want to run screaming into the woods tearing your hair out then poof a big dose of awesome.

I can’t even tell my friends or family about it yet because it sounds so ridiculous even to me and I am the one doing it. Everyone thinks I am just on a long vacation from life in the country. Smelling the roses as it were. Everyone is expecting me to start another business since unloading my last one… I doubt they were thinking a home based one;)

I really can’t fathom why everyone doesn’t do this. This biz has to throw off more millionaires then Football. It is mindblowing. I really get all tingly and sometimes like a sea sick feeling comes over me when I think about it. I feel like I won something but the results might be contested. I wonder if it will ever set in that is it really happening this easily. I suppose if I can keep it going for a year or maybe if I take a good loss it will make it more real.

My favorite thing right now is the freedom and not having employees whining all the time and having to solve their issues;) no vendors;) No assistant;( hehehe sigh

The money to stress ratio is insane and the money just grows the more successful you get at a crazy exponential rate. I pulling half my profits and investing them in long and medium term to be on the safe side though;) 

Any pointers on some caveats would be welcome like “stupid things people commonly do and don;t realize they are doing once they have something good going.” I think the obvious one if deviate from what got you there. Anything else?

        Thanks again I am going to go for a run and see if I can get the butterflies out of my stomach. I have felt permastoned since day 4 of success and it is only getting more intense with every day that goes by. In a month if this keeps up I might not be able to drive. hahaha. This whole thing is pyschological so crazy. So crazy. 

cJs

Thanks you will know it will just click and all the confusion will go away or at least that is what happened for me everyone is different. I found something that fit me perfectly(after trying things that didn’t but did for other people) and made it my own. It is like a bulb goes on and suddenly everything is easy. Again , though don;t listen to me do it yourself find your own way. That is the only right way to trade.