16 candles in the '58 edsel'

You are aware aren’t you that most institutional/cta types are (also) long-term net losers. It would make your eyes bleed if you could see the carnage they cause on a regular basis. I wouldn’t trust most of that mob with my kids pocket money let alone the vast amounts of punters dough they casually throw around like confetti.

As skip say’s & todd alludes to, there’s no magic pill or perfect scenario.
Some days & weeks you’ll keep all your plates spinning efficiently, other days & weeks the stop-start frustration will drive you bonkers.

Just continue to spin your plates each day to the best of your ability based on the logical cycles the market continuously offers & ensure you manage your pot & stakes with a disciplined structure.

Thank you Double 6 & On The Bid for offering your perspective - which is what I was after anyhow.

Speedbump I apologize if you’re annoyed by my questions but I’m seeking understanding and perspective, and since the only examples of successful coin flippers are in this room, I need to use the methods & setups I see here as a basis for asking these questions.

Trade management is (in my humble opinion) the most difficult part of the puzzle. And amongst the various management methods I think TIME stops are the most complex also. And once again there isn’t any quality material out there.

Cheers

I’m not in the least bit annoyed by your questions forexspot, but the solutions to a lot of them lie at your own feet.

Often you appear to be the architect of your own barriers & obstacles, most of which wouldn’t even be an issue if you had in place a concrete plan & a solid eventuality for each stage of your activity (prep/entry/management/exit).

Revisit the content because there are multiple examples, tips, advices & solid statements relating to that process throughout the thread. It’s exactly the same content that has led sketcher to where he’s currently at & also responsible for the impressive track record that wyntac & stakz are presently proofing.

Don’t overthink or overcomplicate it. I realise sometimes it’s difficult, but focus solely on your own activity, not that of other posters because you simply don’t have a window into their (whole) world.

Haven’t seen him around since before xmas, but do recall him mentioning he’d be off the radar while he familiarises himself with his new regime.

If you’re looking in, how’s it going sketcher?
As a matter of curiosity, what was the driver or drivers that legged you up into your current situation?

I’m not looking to replicate it (well not for now anyhow), but I’m interested to know what & how you/they were seeking when looking to enter into a business relationship.

It’s going all right mate.

On reflection it’s been a bit of a springboard operating at this level because much of what i’m currently exposed to, working alongside Art Krantz, jjay, Kevan & Jocelyn bears little resemblance to what i’ve previously been doing on my own funded accounts.

I’m much more heavily involved in, & exposed to stock & currency options & futures with slightly less emphasis at the moment on spot activity. There’s a lot of automated/algorithmic template work going on which i’m finding challenging, but interesting.

When i initially met with Tess, JimmyMac & Andre, they focused more on behavioural attitudes, such as how i applied myself to, & operated under a strict disciplined model, especially the problem solving side, overcoming & readjusting to obstacles & setbacks etc.

My performance record merely indicated & evidenced i possessed the ability to identify, correctly filter, execute & manage higher probability gambles using their profiling guides, as well as the ability to quickly recognise when the approach was underperforming & make the necessary adjustments to ensure i was responding to the templates strengths v/s its weaknesses in a timely manner when experiencing dissipating volatility conditions.

The structure & framework the guys offer up here affords a huge advantage in operating the type of approach from this particular angle. It’s presented in a manner that makes the process more efficient, less complex & ultimately more profitable, which is obviously intended to increase & maintain confidence. There’s definitely a method to their madness.

But essentially they were interested primarily in behavioural disciplines & competencies as well as observing how using initiative directly related to applying & operating under a simple set of rules & guidelines with minimal outside interaction.

The point being if i could make headway & progress as well as problem solve playing at this less frenzied level of the game with very limited resources, experience, software & input utilizing a simple approach, then stepping up & playing under slightly different conditions utilizing differing rule sets shouldn’t pose too many barriers.

Apparently it’s a similar process one or two of the other guys from here & FSR went through, all of whom are still engaged in one form or another.

Who knows what’s round the corner, but for now it fits with my current aims & expectations. It’s certainly an eye opener but also a welcome financial step up, which helps to grease the wheels!

I’m going to spend a little time with Scott (double echo) & AltTab + Dan’s crew & hopefully laine for a few weeks during the summer to observe how it all routes through the order flow process at the different brokerage tiers.

That part i’m definitely looking forward to.

We initially made a decision to begin winding down our activity in 2013 corpellan to focus on & maximise our other business interests, but circumstances always seemed to force us to postpone the timing. Early last year we agreed we’d step back at the end of 2018.

We wish to retain a percentage of our core client portfolios + our own speculative holdings, hence the structured & gradual handover to ensure that continuity. Why take this route rather than appoint industry trained personnel you might ask?

Well we do have a small core team of long standing experienced colleagues onboard, but what started as a bet a few years ago between us & our pop has actually morphed into quite a successful set up. He maintained we would fall short attempting to integrate non-industry trained folk into the fold & Jocelyn, being the gamer she is, took the bet.

Long story short, last year a pleasantly impressed old school campaigner divvied up his side of the bet contributing $25k to our chosen charity (cancer research) as a gracious concession.

Carll, Kevan & catcher who we first encountered on here & another outlet actually were 3, admittedly of very few successful integrations who are still live & kicking, but nonetheless we proved a point & it was definitely a worthwhile exercise because sometimes savvy, switched on individuals from outside the industry bring different views, skill sets, angles & perspectives to the table from the usual array of musical chairs industry job hoppers.

Choosing personnel, from wherever they’re sourced, is not too dissimilar to backing a financial instrument. Providing you do the simple things consistently & correctly like identifying & filtering the quality, the higher probability opportunity pendulum generally tends to swing your way more often than not.

That tactic sound familiar at all? :slight_smile:

We now have a small clutch of 5 non-industry trained colleagues onboard to compliment the team who will hopefully continue to carry forward the aims & objectives agreed at the quarterly performance updates/reviews.

Would you usually hang onto a bet that long if it only scaled one higher high in 5 or 6 trading days forexspot?

It’s by no means criticism of your activity because I have no idea what your performance data records show for this type of gamble, but don’t lose sight of what this approach is all about. You’re seeking confirmation of shifts in [B]dominant[/B] directional momentum.

If that shift begins to fade & dissipate then might your efforts & financial outlay merit keener value elsewhere until your focal pair begins exhibiting the type of behavior you’re seeking? Just a suggestion.

Don’t be afraid to cut, run & redistribute if a currency or pair isn’t performing as you expect, because there will likely be another 2 or 3 candidates showing more promise & if your focal pair decides to go on a bit of a jog you can run alongside it whenever you choose to by hopping on via the pullbacks.

As skip (on the bid) rightly advises, you should always adhere to your pre-entry plan whenever circumstances take a turn for the worse because as you correctly state, no-one knows where the eventual price will bounce or ease following an erroneous, rogue or price influenced shift.

Quite often, if the move is influenced by, or attracted to an area containing a mish mash of stop orders or a big round number for instance which more often than not is a magnet for options traffic, once the orders settle & aggregate you often witness a resumption of the dominant cycle as was the case in your AUDNZD example of the 27th February.

This typical scenario will usually offer you another opportunity to engage via a pullback or breakout trigger as prices attack & consume a prior day or week high/low level. If the dominant theme fails to resume your stake is free to pursue a similar behavioral set up on another dominant/passive pairing.

If your data records show a positive pattern & expectancy tracking & trailing your bets in the manner which you’ve presented then carry on in that vein & take the guys advices about ignoring other posters preferred stance & stick to your own tried & tested game plan.

Ah, but how many did you have to sieve to filter those out? :slight_smile:

It’s been mentioned by Dan & the other guys on here before, but although they gently dissuade & discourage any kind of range trading at this level of the game, presumably due to the opportunity costs & sub par execution etc, do you folks play that role much either in fx or alternative instruments?

& since you departed here back around 2010 & these fella’s picked up the slack a few years later, would you all kick anything else off over & above the template format presented here if you were starting from fresh again?

We’ve only faced off with, & taken forward 8 individuals via video link & live meets having filtered out well over 60 prospects through the usual performance & Q&A route. They didn’t all materialise through the forum network though.

There are very few retail based performance stats that stand up to scrutiny over an acceptable timeline when you drill down into the important elements.

Even those with a reasonable handle on things eventually drown through under capitalization which tends to fuel impatience resulting in excessive risk taking & holding onto stale positions too long. Once you get dragged into that spin cycle, psychological issues begin taking hold & it all goes to hell in a handbasket very quickly.

Only via high frequency bots engineered around either percentage deviations or anomalies usually (but not exclusively) influenced by event driven plays on specific candidates likely to offer a playable edge for that particular opportunity.

No, because we still believe it represents the best value to cost ratio over the long haul for the types of restrictive constraints you have to operate under down at this level of the food chain & that is borne out by the actual stats we’ve been exposed to when interacting with the guys mentioned above.

The margins at this activity level are as tight as a ducks ass & you absolutely can’t afford to waste energy, effort or money experimenting with sub par approaches that ramp up & minimise risk to oportunity costs. There’s a reason why the brokers steer punters towards the glamorous, fancy pants strategies & methods & offer tuition seminars highlighting the popular indicator led systems pushing moving averages, pivots, fibonacci, volume & the like.

Add into that, most folks simply don’t have the aptitude, psychological disciplines & maturity or financial wherewithal to fight & claw their way through the tough stages & you don’t need to look too far to justify the high failure rates.

It’s an awful tough gig down at this level unless you’re playing the game merely for fun. But as we always say, it’s just my/our view. It’s up to each individual to ensure they’re familiar with every aspect of their operation before screwing their serious head on.

This was quite an interesting post, for me at least. It appears you have engaged in a “Turtle Traders 2.0” experiment and once again have proven that the job can be taught, if the people have the right aptitute & qualities you spoke about. Also, donating prize money to charity was a great gesture, nice one.

If possible, can I ask for further clarity on your last comment “it’s an awful tough gig at this level”. From your perspective, is it objectively tough because non-industry traders lack the quality information/insight/lack of contacts that might be essential in order to float the boat? I recall Saul perhaps saying back near the beginning of the thread that it’s more about who you know than what you know).

Or instead is it more because of what you said above: capitalization issues that lead to overleveraging the account, lack of patience & fortitude when the going gets tough, and (for the people that never stumble over this thread & the similar ones here) lack of a model that is simple & subtle?

I might also add, having the capacity to sit on hands when the market contracts as it appears to be doing slowly these days…FX volatility as a whole is dropping and this will most likely mean less activity and going for short-term forays when something does setup.

But let’s say a retail trader is able to keep the ship afloat and make some hay consistently, percentage wise…what is required to be “promoted” to the next level? What actual return % and activity are required in order to either get funded or be inserted into the information loop (if that’s even a legit question)?

Back when Wyntac was speaking of GoldTop who apparently trades an account funded by your team, does that mean GoldTop is trading from home using his spin of this trend/momentum model or is he working with further inputs/gadgets from your team, that keep his margins wider than those of the retail world?

Thank you.

That comment has been backed up over recent years by a plentiful supply of data & research confirming just how difficult this game is & you only need cast a casual eye across a typical forum as a quick example, to witness any number the key reasons manifesting themselves.

Unrealistic expectations are clearly a major stumbling block, add into that operating via shoestring budgets, flaky/erratic discipline & temperament, a lack of proper direction & ignorance, & any one of those, let alone a combination, probably see off the vast majority.

Even if the typical punter had access to similar data sets, information streams & contacts they wouldn’t know what to do with most of it or how to get the best out of it anyway without close direction & personal interaction from those who do.

It’s not an amount per se, rather the story & personality behind the numbers that’s the important bit. The ones who stand out from the crowd tend to exhibit very similar character traits, certainly in our experience anyway.

They’re obviously confident, emotionally stable individuals (especially under pressure), possessing the ability to problem solve quickly, work equally efficiently in isolation or as part of a team requiring minimal supervision, bring strong math & programming skills to the table & generally think & act outside the box even when adopting, applying & undertaking basic rudimentary tasks, which is why they produce impressive track records, consistently outperforming their competitors in this type of environment.

They even share similar characteristics when generating a presence in these places. You’ll rarely see them wasting time & energy. Their whole demeanour is different.

He currently works at a tier 1 brokerage alongside 2 of the guys who occasionally post on the thread. When he worked with us he was office based in London working european indices + a small basket of UK & US stocks. He then spent a short 9 month spell in Sydney trading Aussie & Kiwi spot & futures as part of a diversified portfolio for an asian client.

The majority of the execution processes were/are automated, but as that is his forte it wasn’t an especially difficult transition. When he was working his own accounts from home he was using the same framework templates you see presented & recorded/evidenced a consistently strong track record.

The common elements most of them have presented & evidenced via their broker stats when punting this type of approach are the ability to identify & filter their stronger performing opportunities & when they do, follow rules with an iron discipline. It’s not as though there are a lot involved in this template, but the former is crucial to ensuring you offer yourself the best odds possible when stepping into the fray.

Thank you Tess, but also thank you to all the other contributors in here - I now realize just how much of a privilege it has been to meet & interact with you.

with that user name i’m assuming you used to post over at fsr with Joe, Jimmy & the other regulars?

if so what are you up to these days.
i’ve enjoyed casually leafing through the content on there, & as with this thread, there are/were some very impressive contributions on there.

One & the same :slight_smile:

These days I work for a data & news aggregating portal providing multi access information to the institutional sector.

Yeah there’s a lot of pretty cool content on the thread. Shame it was part of such a sh1t website.

Do you still have contact with any of them?
They were no slouches that’s for sure.

Yes, it seemed very much out of place on there. Like seeing a Porsche parked amongst a gaggle of beat up, rusty old Lada’s lol.

Nice to see you finally contributing over here.
Hope you pick up where you left off :wink:

I do as it happens. I speak to or see most of them during the course of a typical year. The only ones I don’t hear from as regularly as the others are midge, xerb & 2taps.

Sarah doesn’t trade much these day’s (additions to the family) & zilly experienced a health issue which side-lined him for the best part of last year, but the others are still very active in one form or another.

I don’t get too much time during the week, & it’s not as though the thread is short on quality content, but hopefully I’ll indulge in a bit of banter with one or two pirates from the other site who occasionally look in here.

This is a really difficult three piece puzzle ya’ll. I believe I finally have two pieces of it. So stoked. . . cuz I believe even without the third piece, the way I am now seeing things. … I might even profit without necessarily knowing the price driver(s) and how they work.
Thanks so much for the continued contributions to this thread.

Well it’s a man for all seasons which appeals to differing experience levels Perch Tird & it doesn’t really matter if person A finds it slightly more difficult or takes longer than person B to slot the pieces together, just as long as eventually they get the job done to their satisfaction with minimal damage to their capital into the process.

We’ve always maintained you only need to adopt as much as is necessary to achieve your objective/s, so if you can put the relevant pieces to work & generate positive expectancy into the bargain then you don’t really need to add anything else.

Keep your records up to date so you’ll be notified in good time if adjustments need to be tweaked and/or conditions begin to impact your bottom line.

Good for you mate. Hope you continue to press on! :slight_smile:

I’d be interested what your 2 of 3 pieces constitute perch tird & why you’ve found it a difficult set up to interpret. I’m assuming your 3rd is the identification of likely drivers & influences judging by the comments?

Has your development of the process been along the lines presented within the content? or have you been compiling your own preferred interpretations?

  1. Identify the clearer developing or established background trending/momentum biased structure based on the weekly & daily cycle flows.

  2. Filter out the using the strong/weak pendulum where appropriate along with the retail positioning weightings stats to narrow down the higher probability candidates.

  3. Execute via breakouts or pullbacks utilizing round number guides, prior day & week high-low barriers & average range data to gauge likely intraday/week movement potential.

That process has spotlighted oil & cac as strong betting profiles for the past 6 business sessions + eur & nzd v/s jpy so far this week on forex.