I found my way here looking for replay data. Thank you B.M. for that.

After being encouraged to make an introduction - i read through at what was then 27 pages which mostly consisted of phrases like "i blew up my account seventeen times, but oh i learned so much loosing a shitload of money".

And now what am i supposed to feel compelled to write something like it!
Wrong: as a cardinal rule i don't get in over my head, and i think that neither should you.
And yes before you get pissed at me for writing this , maybe i got pissed at you for being so respect less with you're money. Think about it , i sure did. But hey its you re money.

What did you really learn losing all that money - i suspect that Losing is a painful experience.
If banging your head against the wall is a painful experience , I'm sure it will feel better the minute you stop doing it.

If you blew up more than one account you didn't learn you re lesson the first time, and than you re just stubborn.
One of the most important things in trading is to learn from you re mistakes and that of others.
Read , read , read, and than read some more.
If you lose , lose , lose than basically you learn that you are a (you guessed it) looser.
Don't condition you re self to lose , condition your self to win.
Winning is nice, i like winning and so should you.
There is nothing like the sweet smell of winning.

When you learn something that means that you adapt your behavior, if not, you didn't learn so much did you?
If action A didn't work the first time and not the second chances are it wont work a third time.
Maybe you should than try i don't know something else!

Sim trading is a wonderful thing. Sim trade until you re consistently winning.
Before that point you will lose. If you lose until you start winning chances are you don't have enough funds left to take up trading serious. When you re ready to start - start small , the markets change and you need experience from different market conditions. The fact that you scored 10 points today don't mean that you will do the same at some other point in time.
Prepare for the worst , not just you're PT (Profit Target), maybe a mental stop and then a hard stop loss (SL). If you see signs of trouble ) i.e the mental stop getting hit - try to get out at break even or with a small loss. Don't wait for the hard stop loss to get hit - that is just you re parachute in case of the plane is crashing.

Sim trading is what I've been doing for more than a year with total dedication, and it has paid off.
Hard work , logic , a tight filter to separate the good stuff from the bad is crucial, the thing is you need to try different things, this is also how you learn,

but if i lose "sim-ing" , it´s not real money , i just learned another way to not make money, and thus I'm one step closer to making money.
at least 95% lose in the markets , that is 19 people of 20 , and number 20, that guy he will be taking the other 19 persons money and laugh himself silly all the way to the bank.
This tells you that you need an edge. You will not be a Olympic athlete just by buying a fly pair of Nike´s and do a couple of laps at the track. if you're aiming for the top - You get it. GET to WORK.
Do world class athlete's practice a lot? You betcha..! And so should you. Always come prepared.

And NO I'm not talking about indicators, they will simply not make you money. If they did how come everyone is not a winner in the market? Look at them , observe them , but never trade them and don't have them on you re screen as other than a highlight to make it simpler to read the market, not as a distraction.
And you can learn something from indicators , see them as a high-lighter and look at what the price is doing, and you can learn a thing or two. But look at historical data and realise that all indicators are right some of the time but hardly all the time, and they all show price or volume , or a combo of the two , and they lag.
So will you look at the road when driving or look at the treeline. Which way has the largest probability to get you to you're destination?

What should you do then. Study the basics is my suggestion.
Learn all the basic blocks till you master them.
Some you can surly learn here at the forum , but have you re logic filter on.
This is the part the kills the most: trading is more than an entry and an exit.
There are many facets to trading and you need them all.

I will write it again: The basics of trading is all that matters, learn them , master them.
Yes its hard , but its your journey, you need to take it by yourself, don't expect somebody else to just do your work for you. Its also a pleasure to achieve something , "something given has no worth".

If you're NOT aiming for pro, take up something else cause this is a really expensive hobby.
at least if you're trading live... and isn't prepared. (don´t believe me read previous pages in this thread).

Some people wont to lose. Yes you didn't misread. Some people play the market knowing deep , deep inside that they will indeed succeed at loosing. They play the market for the excitement it brings and to be able to call them selves traders.

You will simply not make it by luck either. This is called gambling. The problem with the human brain is that if you win sometimes, it will expect to win again, this is why people buy lottery tickets. even if the odds are millions to one, but the brain says if you can win small why not big.

If you look at it then go thinking hmm. than i must have one chance in 20 to make it in the markets, that's the same as 5% , and not one i millions like in a lottery.
Ouch...
Not really , cause you re in and out of the market in a heartbeat or less , looking at your charts feeling the rush of adrenaline to the head. than again , and again. And hey , you re broker loves this. Each time is a new flip of the coin, each flip and the odds are against you , stacking up. Oh. what is that , this rumbling and than you go "ShiiiiT" and the Niagara falls just flushed you away. (stay away from frames less than 5 min).

What do you bring to the table?:
MACD , and RSI and maybe reading a couple of pages in some books and hey you re ready. (the gambler in you loves this and you re broker does to).
Ready to go to war. Kill Kill Kill...
This is equal to attacking a bunch of SAS soldiers with pointy sticks, what are you the last Indian , they will shoot you down than eat you for lunch if nothing else is around. End of story, no more Indians.

So i don't gamble and neither should you.

And now i will get lots of replies saying that I'm so not-sensitive to you re emotions, but guess what the market does not care. Hope is only hope, and you re hoping and wishing that the market goes this way or that way does not make it so. Indicators might look like magic , but they are ipso-facto (or something) not magic. In fact magic does not exist or do you still believe in Santa (sharp learning curve ahead).
The fact is you don't need magic, you just want the easy path.
You re looking for a shortcut that isn't there. Get to work..! Stop being lazy..!

And please spare me this is a forum where we come together to learn from one another, so only spell in a flowery way that's not hurting my feelings.
Well i got you're attention didn't i..?

The only one that is making yourself hurt is you.
The markets always bring you what you re asking for, if you re asking for pain you will get pain (Ed Seykota said something like this, and he is smart , remember to listen to smart people).

Stop the pain (=the drain of you re account).
This might get me banned, but i might just save someone some real pain so its worth it.

If you're still aiming for pro - i hope i see you on the other side.

This is you not listening

Hi Blackadder,



I agree with everything you said. Any experienced trader that makes money will agree, or should, imo.

And yes, this is a community about helping others. Your post should be an eye opener for some, and so long as your future posts are aimed at benefiting others then you will be welcomed and appreciated for sharing your thoughts.

The successful traders may be taking money from the unsuccessful traders when we play the game together, but off the field we are still friends and can help each other be better players.

Mike

Hello Blackadder,

Boy you sure hit us between the eyes with that introduction. Very well thought out and presented. I agree with everything you said. I find it amazing in my 3+ years of participating in forums that people discount the value of sim trading and jump right into the market with real hard-earned money. I make an assumption there. I guess that's the way they learned to swim too. Anyway, thank you for you comments and look forward to future participation.

Mike

Nice one Geeza, I agree with everything you said keep it coming

la la la la

Hello all,

I've been reluctant to introduce myself. I guess I'm just a lurker at heart but I know that getting involved will be better for my profitability.

Here's a little bit about me...

I tried to become a profitable trader about 5 years ago (in between careers) but was unable to make it. Lost about 10k and about 6 months. Went back to working.

About a year ago our business began to fail. At that time I knew I had to jump back into trading since (at my age) it is now about the only game in town for me. I believed (and still do) that given the right tools and mindset, I can actually make money at trading.

When I got back into the trading this time (about a year ago) I began with MetaTrader and Forex for a month or two without any success. I decided to go back to the futures but this time going for the GC gold and CL crude because of the large movements. I like the NinjaTrader program and I am eager to be able to use the finished version of NT7. It will be much better in many ways.

I have some pretty decent (in sim mode) manual trading methodologies (with my favorite whiz-bang indicators, of course) but when I trade live, the fear and greed demons play havoc with my normally profitable systems. I realized that my trading account may run out before I develop the nerves of steel that are a must for for manual trading so I have focused on finding, buying (or paying someone to write) automated NinjaTrader strategies that will work to make money. I would love to learn to make my own strategies for NT but with the limited time I have put into it, the instructions still seem pretty confusing. I guess I just have to force myself to take it step-by-step.

So, here I am. Diligently searching for information and tools that will that help me eek out some money. I suspect most everyone here is in the same boat except for those (I suspect very few) folks who are profitable now and are willing to help the others. I hope to be in the latter category soon.

By the way, this is really a great site. My compliments to Mr. Big Mike for not only his creativity and vision this site has, but having the perseverance to actually make it happen. Kudos! I think this site will help me (and others) tremendously to get into the profitable side of the group.

Richard

P.S. My avatar photo is popcorn because it is my favorite food.

Richard,



Sounds like you are heading the right direction, the tricky part is execution. I look forward to your other posts. The more you participate, the better trader you will become...as you start paying attention to things and holding yourself accountable for your methods/triggers, or questioning your beliefs and validating or discarding them.

I also encourage you to create a Journal. Even if it's a sim journal, it will greatly benefit you.

Mike

Hello

I also spent tons and tons of money on courses, indicators, the school of hard knox----donating money to other better traders etc.. It can be very hard experience and if you let it, be an elightening experience. I am choosing to look at all of this trading as a journey within myself and other human beings and just take everything as a learning experience.

I recognize that I have to make it extremely important to be nice to myself and let go of beating myself up which is very common. The more I master this way of being, and following my trade rules and coming up with good ones that seem to put the odds in my favor, the more I look forward to the future of having the kind of lifestyle I say I want for myself and my family.

This goal will happen and I am patient:-) When it does happen, I will say "oh, I guess I was meant to learn that it does not matter that I got knocked down, but just that I kept on getting back up and to stop running into the same wall and grow and progress."

This kind of power makes it all worth losing say $20k in a single day then another $10K then next day! The kind of power it takes to come back from this is the exact kind of power it takes to be able to pull out a six figure income every year out of the hardest thing to do----day trading futures!

thanks
Spencer

Hi Everybody!

New to trading the e-minis, been position and swing trading stocks and options for a few years. Hope to learn a lot and contribute something to this forum.

Thank you Big Mike!

Hello,

I trade the ES for a year, but I'm not satisfied with the results.
I use QuoteTracker and NinjaTrader. I'm glad that I have found this forum and hope to learn a lot here.

Thanks

Dirk

Hello fellow traders,


Just a short introduction, and to get in phase with the other traders, I too am trader!

I will trade for food!, and have jokes too. Actually, I started in Wall Street, in NYC, programming trading and trades support systems and grew through the ranks, eventually becoming a floor trader and later in life a proprietary trader on an equities desk. After that life, I became a futures trader and developer again.

I have multiple degrees and often participate on and in economic discussion threads, as well as trades related issues.

I have really appreciated what BigMike and the crew have done here and on this thread, as its through sharing openly that we all benefit and help others who are sincere in their trading too. Its through community like these that the average traders make both friends, compatriots and survive through this onslaught of salesmen, software vendors, questionable brokerage practices and such. In the futures industry, there is a common database that all (mostly all) brokers list their customers name, address, other key identifiers and their experiences with that firm, both good, and particularly bad. This is done to prevent a malicious client from wreaking havoc on consecutive firms down the line. Similarly, through websites and services like these, traders can and do post their experiences with firms, vendors and the like, in an obvious attempt to prevent being wreaked havoc upon themselves and others too.

So, again I applaud Big Mike and the crew!

Hope you guys welcome me too.

Cheers