It’s not only about transparency… It’s also about learning… by displaying your performance there’s accountability. If you make a bad trade, everyone can see… everyone can help and everyone can learn from your mistakes (and successes).
In instinctively agree with you, although I also think that it is a shame that recently on BP there seems to be a feeling creeping in that noone can trust what others say - there is an assumption that any claims of trading success are nonsense if not backed up by hard evidence.
The romantic in me finds that a shame - I’d rather take such things on faith, as I would never trade something recommended on an anonymous internet forum anyway, so there is no downside to listening to advice and weighing it even when that advice is not supported by documentary evidence.
This issue is why, these days, I give generic, generalist advice on the occasion when I feel I have something to add, but I no longer discuss specific trade setups or trading performance - if I say I shorted a particular pair, there is now invariably a cry of ‘hindsight harry’ or similar, and an implication that I am so insecure that I might be pretending to have taken a setup that actually I did not trade.
So while I see where you are coming from, there is such an undercurrent of mistrust on here, these days, that many contributors are electing not to post trade-specific advice, which is a shame. Personally, I am full time at this but have no interest in posting my results - it’s just an extra layer of book keeping with no benefit to me - it’s a career, I don’t use MT4 etc anyway, trading is not my hobby it’s my job, so I find unnecessary admin a bit, well, unnecessary tbh. So it seems that in this modern era that exempts people in my position from offering the benefit of their experience in anything but the most general terms, which is a shame. I found the site more informative before this new insistence on proof.
Anyone who knows what they are doing can spot the chancers and fantasists a mile off, anyway, and anyone who does not know what they are doing should not, in my opinion, be taking trading decisions based on what someone on an anonymous internet forum said, imho. So proof doesn’t change anything for me.
Anyway, apologies for the ramble, I’ll stop as I have no wish to derail this thread further. I would like to stress, however, that my take on this and my dislike for how the forum has changed recently is not aimed at anyone on this thread specifically.
I’ll butt out now, happy pips to you all.
ST
Hi ST,
Nice post. The benefit isn’t for you but for everyone else who is learning and wanting to become a consistently profitable trader. There is downside when you are taking advice from someone who consistently losses. Chances are, you will lose too.
I believe, this is what BP is about, no? Helping others?
For those, like yourself, who are full time, pro traders, it would be nice to see how, why, what you trade.
I would give more weight to someone who has a verifiable track record then someone who doesn’t. But that’s me.
By the way, there’s no “insistence on proof.” This is 1 thread of thousands in BP. You may be satisfied in taking advice from anyone… but I like to know that the person commenting knows what they are talking about. But again, that’s just me.
Best of luck to you.
Simon Simon Simon if I only have the way with words as you do I would not have come into this thread on the wrong foot. The post above by ST was exactly what I was try to say on my first post that came out so wrong.
Also I will have to add some of the tools I have picked up along my path have come from people that were not profitable at all. But they had a concept I could use to better myself as a trader. You dont have to be profitable to be able to advise someone on trading. In fact someone trading not for profit can actually give great advise on what not to do.
Apologies for the hiatus - school run intervened lol.
I don’t want to overextend this, as it is not the point of an otherwise-interesting thread, but I’d like to clarify that I do get that BP is for learning, I don’t feel that my post said otherwise but if I left it ambigious I apologize. I obviously get that posters want to learn on here. All I am saying is that it is possible to learn without posting trading results to show that I am successful in my approach and know what I am doing. I have discussed a couple of specific trades recently and have been basically told to put up or shut up - post my results or keep out of it.
I don’t feel that anyone would be wise to allow their trading to be influenced by anyone on a forum without some rapport having built up with that person over a period of time - that has worked fine in the past, I know who on here I think talks sense and who I think talks a good game but is actually a novice with a nice line in blather. I have never looked into anyone’s trading results on here as most of the detailed posts either fall down in the detail or make sense. I think that we get into dangerous territory if the advice of people with posted, seemingly-good results is the only detail on here that carries weight, and that seems to be where the site might be heading. Results can be faked, results can look great but not be sustainable, there are all sorts of variables to trading, many subtleties, that can be masked by a simple list of statistics. There have been some high profile examples, both historically and recently, of traders posting results, looking good, then everything going off the boil, some might have been unlucky, others were a little more sinister - anyone remember the CERTAINTY days…?
You mention wanting to listen to advice from people with a verifiable track record, but for me, particularly given the range of markets we have had in recent times, a track record of anything under two years would give me no added confidence, it means next to nothing compared with some well-directed questions. A record counted in months doesn’t mean anything, imho, that’s still a novice and can go anywhere. It can be an interesting exercise and a bit of fun, but it’s not something a third party would be well-advized to model their trading on, imho.
And I hope that you did not take my ‘insistence on proof’ point as being directed at you or this thread personally, it was not, it was a general point that I have seen creeping in on this site in general and which I stand by.
Anyway, I don’t want to talk us into a corner, I sense that we disagree on the detail while not necessarily disagreeing as people, and that’s what keeps the world interesting, so it works for me. Sorry to take up so much space with posts that might, in hindsight, look a little irrelevant to the issues being discussed.
And of course I am not happy taking advice from anyone lol, I just don’t need to see trading results to know when I hear sense.
ST
Lol thank you for that, Bob: I spent 10 years working for the British Government prior to trading, which means I was sent on more writing courses than I knew what to do with - we Brits do love a nicely drafted letter, after all…!!
And I completely agree with you: some awful practitioners can make great teachers, and that goes for many areas of life.
ST
Ahh yes thats where us Americans differ from the rest of the world we like to open mouth and insert foot. We are quite good at it. lol
I thought you were butting out? lol j/k.
Valid points. Let’s leave it at that.
Again, for those who wish to share their performance… welcome. For those who do not, that is fine as well.
I always appreciate transparency. Profitable or not, we can learn from each other. And that’s the point of the thread.
Thanks and good luck trading!
USA! USA!
3% up so far this week! Go USA!
Probably about dead even over the course of my entire trading career (talking strictly forex that is).
It was an expensive learning process for me with big losses early on and consistent profits these day. I’ve climbed out of that original hole so now it should slowing start improving over time.
Thats a shame ST… as I recall the last one we picked out was good for 200 pips! LOL
But understand where your coming from. The longer I remain on this site the less inclined I am to post specifics outside of one thread of largely experienced traders who can quickly deduce the merits or otherwise. Agreed, I don’t want or need to see the stats of any given trader… given years rather than months, its pretty easy to spot the ones who are making the money. 