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My name is Scott and I have been interested in trading for quite some time. I have been reading books on trading for 8 years now and have been paper trading with fire tip and OEC trader for 1 year. I joined the forum because I thought this was the best place to learn as I transition into live trading by February.
My strategy at first was to scalp the bid ask spread for just 1 tick (this was a year ago). But I noticed it's really hard because it causes you to chase the market. It's also not realistic because you might not get filled. I have changed the strategy to watch for market trend, and use bollinger bands to gauge overbuying and overselling. I am always more successful shorting the market, so I short on hi's and buy on lows. This has made me consistent daily profits/gains for 5 months now. I gain anywhere between 3 - 8 ticks usually per trade. I Cut losses pretty quick too.
I am posting this because I need advice . Is this realistic in a live market? Or is it a "if you can handle your emotions" thing? It was hard at first , but now it is becoming easier to gauge price action and enter at the time I am comfortable. My account will not be huge, but it is lose-able, there's not a lot of emotion tied to this money. I have ADD and apparently this helps alot! lol! It does not take me long to make a decision. I am fast. So the real question is, if people are great on sim, and then suck going live, is it all emotion that makes them fail? Thanks, and I hope to learn something from you guys.
Can you help answer these questions from other members on NexusFi?
Sim vs. real are not even comparable, in my opinion. The emotions of real money will cause you to make all sorts of bad decisions.
Are you sure your sim can be believed? Is it filling your limit orders as soon as price is touched? Is it simulating your position in the order queue? Many simulators are junk.
The first sim I used was much more believable than the current one I am using. It was through "Open E Cry". The one I am using now is good, but I only count the trade as successful if it trades through my target price. This makes my trades more realistic. What you were saying about sims being unrealistic like filling your order as soon as it touches, is what made me also abandon the short term scalping strategy that I began with. I believe a live account will help me much further too. Thanks!
That is good you noticed the bad sim. Most people never do.
As far as correlation between sim and real trading, I'd say it is really really low. I see a lot of great sim traders, but 9 out of 10 of those folks lose real money trading the same approach. Just keep that in mind.
I will keep that in mind. That is what I have been nervous about. Is it the sim or the person? The sim is doing the same thing as the market, the person reacts differently when emotion is involved. That's what it seems like anyway.
