Questions for Experienced Traders

Beginner Questions
1

So I know I said it would be a while before posting here again, but that was a few days ago and my mental context is different now.

That said, I have some questions for the experienced traders like @_bob, @TradeViper and others if they would care to answer.

First, what technical skill do you find to be the most valuable? Is it reading depth of market, interpreting price action, testing new trade ideas, etc?

Second, think back to when you were new to all of this. How did you learn to trade? Was it mostly books, webinars, YouTube vids or did you have someone teach you how to trade?

Third, when you first started trading, were you using a method that you developed yourself or did you use one that you found from someone else?

Finally, if you woke up tomorrow with amensia and had to re-learn how to trade, how would you go about doing it?

Thanks in advance!

2

G’day bro, see if I can get the ball rolling.

Programming , definitely programming. Don’t know how people can test trade ideas if they can’t program. You need facts to make business decisions.[quote=“jseymour84, post:1, topic:118903”]
How did you learn to trade?
[/quote]

Me, I don’t care much for other peoples opinions. Read a couple of books. Nothing beats screen times but. Just do it I say and find out if you have the ballz. [quote=“jseymour84, post:1, topic:118903”]
when you first started trading, were you using a method that you developed yourself or did you use one that you found from someone else?
[/quote]

I started using MA cross. You can find that failed thread here on BP’s.

Thats where I’m different to most. My journey is well documented here on BP’s. I would only have to research myself. But to a noobie I would say price and time. It’s the only two bits of information our broker give us. Its all we need.

3 Likes
3

I think a lot of people try to get away without being able to test ideas reliably, one way or another.

And lose money.

Repeatedly.

There are a couple of possible alternatives to programming, I suppose - you can employ soneone you trust to do it for you (if you can afford it) or you can buy special backtesting software designed for people without programming skills to be able to test things, but you’ll still need to choose the right one and learn to use it relaibly. Probably not ideal alternatives, really.

Exactly.

4

D’you know what ? I don’t think @TradeViper would agree that you "Need to be able to programme " to be successful at trading

My own view is that one needs to be able to think ! there are hundreds of thousands of computer generated trades out there - That’s good, they seem to be developing a certain "Predictability "

:relaxed:

5

For me it was lots of screen time and trial and error. I would not recommend the trial and error part. If I had it to do all over again I would have tried harder to find a mentor in the early days.

I trade price action and after hours and hours of screen time one day I just got it. Something clicked and it was off to the races.

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6

Yup you got the O’l VIPER right. I would say that IF you are a good programmer, then you would probably be better off running some math based algo, that runs 24/7, I was going to say that Avadhi financial, was running something like this for years, but, well, they went bankrupt :unamused:

So I leave you with the following.

The Ever “Human Behavior” VIPER

7

So I know I said it would be a while before posting here again, but that was a few days ago and my mental context is different now.

Bahahhaha, you’ve been bitten by the Trading Bug

That said, I have some questions for the experienced traders like @_bob, @TradeViper and others if they would care to answer.

First, what technical skill do you find to be the most valuable?

Technical skill, wow I have no idea. Remember, outside of game theory, or pure statistical (Quant) trading, this business is an art and a science, we deal with emotions and numbers.

First set of Emotions are the market participants in general. Don’t forget, while we sleep, many markets are open, so they have already formed opinions, bias, fear, and elation, BEFORE we have ever turned our computer on.

Second set of Emotions are our own, I and others have written extensively on this, and for a complete view of real life stories of failures and some successes please see The VIPER Couch, for the rest read all of Alexander Elders stuff.

Is it reading depth of market, interpreting price action, testing new trade ideas, etc?

All of the above, including Fundamentals. this is how I start my trading day, Bloomberg Daybreak, on. Followed by Bloomberg Surveillance. Check BP calendar, look at hourly and 4 hour to see whats up on the pairs I am interested in, check Reuters for world news, coffee, oatmeal, OJ, peruse Zero-hedge, make sure I am fading Dennis Gartman (no really, the greatest fade indicator in all history).

Then mix all of this info into something that looks like it may be profitable. The best way I can explain it is this, the difference between Virgil Fox playing Bach, and Dr Lonnie Smith improvising “Alligator Bugaloo”. Some traders trade with a very rigid form, with little room for adjustment, others such as myself take a more improvisational approach, neither is better, just different.

Second, think back to when you were new to all of this. How did you learn to trade? Was it mostly books, webinars, YouTube vids or did you have someone teach you how to trade?

When I got started following the markets I was 8 or so years old, so no to the above hehehehe. But when I got serious, in the '90s. I followed, RevShark, ICT, Market Surfer, and was a paying member of Jea Yu’s “Underground Trader” site, Murray Math, later I perused the James16 thread at FF, but couldn’t understand any of it. So I realized a few things early on.

1. There are no free lunches
2. There are no free breakfasts
There are no free dinners, midnight snacks, desserts, bag of Fritos, or nachos, in Trading. You have to spend time to understand how markets work, and then how to profit from their movements. Also part of this alchemy is to know what kind of market you are stepping into, and if it is worth risking x amount on x trade, or is it better to pass, possibly missing opportunity, but safeguarding your capital.

Even if you pay, the teaching you get may not work. For example Jea Yu, has some very good ideas, BUT he does not trade a live account. Also after the .com bubble burst he had to reassess his whole system, and honestly, his site has never been the same after, and of course you had new regs which didn’t help either, but… The system was not viable in the long run, and outside the specific parameters of “that” market it broke down.

Also lets say you find a trader to mentor you, but the way they trade may not suit you. If you have a chance watch “Millionaire Traders” it was a BBC deal a few years ago, you won’t lean much about systems, but you will learn about people, and how some, no matter how good the teacher, will never learn.

Third, when you first started trading, were you using a method that you developed yourself or did you use one that you found from someone else?

I used the regular indicators and just looked for patterns that repeat, then I started using levels, and here I am. Everything I use is standard made by some other smart guy/gal. No mysteries.

Finally, if you woke up tomorrow with amnesia and had to re-learn how to trade, how would you go about doing it?

Well, read all of Dr. Elders books, study and understand basic indicators, Perry Kaufman’s book is great for this, immediately start to work on self control mental exercises in my day to day life, and of course follow my daily routine from the getgo.

Thanks in advance!
[/quote]

The Ever You Are Welcome VIPER

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8

Was a good TV show, here is how they are now:

Welcome documentaryvine.com - BlueHost.com re

But want to see how it is right now?.. go back to the 80’s

See the little Reuters gizmo - it gave the high and low of Asian, so if you wanted to buy at best then you needed to figure the fibo on the nearest computer.

Problem was that the computer (located on top of shoulders) was useless at computing fibos especially because of the smoke, so halfway was the easiest - hence the 50% fib was born, or is that mean?

Anyways, most guys have seen this before:

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9

Thanks @peterma Interesting to see that they all knew who was buying and people had partners on the other time frame exchanges - plots hatched, secrets kept - just think how well that could be achieved now with “email group contacts etc” - we really do have our work cut out, trying to profit in the face of that, plus they can now see where all the orders sit on the servers. We can’t ! :slight_smile:

10

You forgot Chaos theory :-

DSC_5266.JPG3872Ă—2592 3.9 MB
DSC_5265.JPG3872Ă—2592 3.28 MB

:slight_smile:

[Edit - the emotions come from our antiquated emotional system which is 20,000 years out of date - I don’t have this book, but have a couple of Thalers early ones - he’s good and explains it well ! (Not the evolutionary psychology, but the way our systems are in error ! )

https://www.amazon.com/Misbehaving-Behavioral-Economics-Richard-Thaler/dp/039335279X/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1509143555&sr=1-2&keywords=behavioural+economics

[Edit 2 - actually it looks as though my old Thaler books from 12 years or so may be out of date - I just bought that one too ! ]

11

Actually, the proper set of emotions are needed for survival in a post apocalyptic world. It helps to define trust and distrust, enemy from friend, and of course a fight to the death. So rather than being 20,000 years outdated, I believe they are more up to date than ever.

The Ever Self Reliant VIPER

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12

Or even the "Ever too early @tradeviper " - :sunglasses:

However - you may well be right, but by then we will not be trading as we do now. Our real emotions do conflict with the reality which is that a loss is of equal importance [Edited to put the “R” in } to a win, provided the degrees are equal.

13

Be consistently ambitious and greedy while keeping max margin utilised under 5% if leverage is 1:200, and under 20% if leverage is 1:50, per total position running.

SOUND STRATEGY is the keyword here. There is price based strategy and TIME based strategy. Gann’s 3 days rule serve as a good reference to extrapolate on your own holygrail.

Unfortunately, i can’t do programming. Thus, i have to make do with excel sheets. Using the old fashion way of data entry with copy and paste. Analysing data i collected by way of comparison and critical inference of what the data meant. Sometimes, the number tells you more than what you can see from the chart.

There are 2 links in babypip that make use of excel analysis which IMHO is praiseworthy to note.

1.Trading the Trend with Strong Weak Analysis
2. Leg0nd’s System 13 Trade Journal

14

Nothing beats price action trading.You need to find out for yourself how the market moves on the charts. This way, you are able to make sound trading decisions without risking your account.Also a little education doesnt hurt. You cant jump into battle without ammunition and preparation.

1 Like