Angelo1 

I think the point of a "mentor" is firstly his process is profitable and is successful in his process to train someone to BECOME profitable, otherwise he shouldn't be called a mentor that said a forum would soon separate the real from the false. by means of recommendations from successful prodigies, a potential prodigy will be able to present his case of why he would be worth training. and so on, may not be for everyone but why it hasn't been considered other than the many many bloggers and internet gurus claiming to train you where you become a number, in a forum such as this it could become a reverse pyramid,,, 1 teaches 1 then 2 teach 2 etc,

I could spend a considerable amount of time explaining why, IMO, the above is not easily feasible but I have a feeling that it would not be good advice for you.

Plus, who knows, you may be right. You can always start a mentoring thread as you suggested. How about adding a framework where mentees wanting to make their case do so in a structured manner.

Good luck.

bobwest 

So what would be so bad about mystical new age mumbo-jumbo? Take what works. Bob.

If it works, then it's not mumbo-jumbo, at least not in my book (or yours). We agree.

xplorer 

I could spend a considerable amount of time explaining why, IMO, the above is not easily feasible but I have a feeling that it would not be good advice for you. Plus, who knows, you may be right. You can always start a mentoring thread as you suggested. How about adding a framework where mentees wanting to make their case do so in a structured manner. Good luck.

This whole forum is a 'mentoring thread'.

Having traded with several other people over the years, I found it was impossible to stay on the same page. Trading is an intensely individual thing.

Even 'Turtles', the legendary system traders, all got difference results... using the 'same' method.

Regarding mentoring:

xplorer 

I could spend a considerable amount of time explaining why, IMO, the above is not easily feasible but I have a feeling that it would not be good advice for you.

Anagami 

This whole forum is a 'mentoring thread'. Having traded with several other people over the years, I found it was impossible to stay on the same page. Trading is an intensely individual thing. Even 'Turtles', the legendary system traders, all got difference results... using the 'same' method.

I think this is the thing about mentoring, as well as taking advice and even learning from someone else, including from all these posts in this thread: trading is very individual, and so is learning it.

I have tried to follow other peoples' advice or methods, and had very limited success. When I learned something from them, it turned out that I ended up doing something that was very different from the original. I believe this is because, as many have said, it really is very individual and you're just not going to do "the original."

The originator of the Turtles system, the extremely successful trader Richard Dennis, famously said that he could publish his exact method on the pages of the Wall Street Journal with no concern about others copying it, because no one would follow it as he did. On the other hand, he also coined the term "turtles" because he thought that anyone could be taught how to trade profitably, and that he could grow traders "like turtles." I think these two viewpoints are slightly in conflict.

When he chose a number of would-be traders to train, as @Anagami said, even with Dennis bankrolling them and giving them the entire system, and even with it being a mechanical, no-judgment system, the turtles still got different results.

This variance was explained by saying that "some didn't really follow the system," which I am sure is true, and is also the point.

No one follows another person's system. They may fail or they may succeed, but either way they will have changed the system to conform to their own understanding and individual perspective.

Bob.

xevanchan 

Well, i'm back. You may remember me "catastrophic loss days". I really hate to come on this forum just to beg for help, but I am truly at a loss and am contemplating giving up trading the /ES, something that has consumed my life for nearly a year now. I'm not usually so pessimistic or dramatic, but I am truly lost and have no faith. I'm doubting everything I know, and this may very well be my last post so i'm pouring it all out. I just cant get it. I have weeks, like last week (1/7/18), where I am immensely profitable, followed by this week, where I have lost almost every trade for 3 consecutive days and been margin called. This cycle has repeated itself many, many times. I sim trade until I am profitable for weeks, and then I switch and can't replicate the results. I took advice on my last post ( Catastrophic Loss Days I apologize in advance for all the questions and the long post. I'm sure posts like this are quite common, but despite trading being my #1 priority, I can't seem to become profitable. I have a clear edge... some days. I've been trading … I now trade on a 7500 volume heiken-ashi chart instead of 30s, and aim for 3-X point targets with a minimum 2-1 risk reward ratio. I've studied al brooks price action and his H1/H2 method, and have read Anekdoten's ET thread in which he details price action. Despite the pictures, I no longer really use indicators and trade solely off price action. I don't I suffer as much from overtrading anymore; I believe that almost every entry I take has good signals. These methods have helped me become a better trader... on some days. It seems every week I go negative, I identify problems and solve them, yet each recurring week new problems spring up; my portfolio is akin to a boat that is being continuously shot and sinking as I try to patch holes. My strategy in a bull trend is as follows; I identify trend, using price action. Next, I wait for a retrace of at least a few points depending on market conditions. Once I see the first bar with HH/HL I will set a stop by 1-2 ticks above the high of that bar. Assuming the market moves in my direction, I let my profits run as far as possible while moving my stop to BE or higher. I exit when I begin to see trend exhaustion. I'll also use basic patterns, like triangles, as well as trend lines and S/R lines. This strategy is fantastic on some days, but I've become convinced some days are just untradeable. I try to completely avoid trading in chop. One of my biggest (current) problems is not being able to find viable entries. I really still don't whether to use limit or stop buys; I've tried both and they have their pros and cons. I use a HH/HL method, similar to a 123 reversal pattern; this means on a 7500 vol chart often I am too slow to catch moves, and whole retracements can begin and end before I get an entry signal. I refuse to chase for obvious reasons; as a result, in strong trends I often miss out the the entire movement because there are no retraces for me to enter on. I end up just trading in chop, every time. My stop buy is often triggered by a fake out that immediately backs off and triggers my stop, though this may just be due to a small stop. I never seem to know when trends end, and never seem to know when the market will stop ranging. I attribute my down days to to lower trading ranges and markets more susceptible to chop and unpredictability, which is inevitable. I don't know what to do. I'm attaching images of my last three days. Many of the trades are clearly bad trades, as a result of my impatience, something i need to work on. Maybe I do still over trade. The 3 point gain today was a sim trade; I seem to do much better in sim, on a consistent basis. Last week I averaged 3 points a day sim trading. In summary; I'm lost at sea in a boat with more holes than I can patch, and have lost hope that the boat will ever sail again. I genuinely appreciate everything this forum has given me and apologize for the long rambling and whining. All advice is greatly appreciated, as I may just give the /ES one last shot. I will take any help I can get, so feel free to PM me.

Hi bro ,

I know it is hard but you should never give up.
Keep going.
If its hard losing money , turn to paper trading for a while.
I have been trading since I was 21 and after 9 years (30 now) I'm barely making a living .
I don't care. I am determined to eventually make money no matter what it takes.
I have spent countless hours , I have seen pretty much everyone in the industry , joined seminars , went through classes , tried every strategy out there , won a lot of money , lost a lot of money , blew out accounts .

Everyone is different and what might works for me or for someone else might be total garbage to you ,
but the one thing we all have in common is how our brains are wired to accept new information .

Our brains are designed to only being able to handle a few tasks at a time .
You need to keep it simple.
Avoid distractions at any cost. Turn off the tv.
Focus on your strategy totally and write down every single trade.

I realized after all these years that the simpler I kept it and the less distractions I have the better I do .
Even this site right now is a distraction (kidding ).

but in all seriousness , you have to turn everything off , tv , twitter , other traders , trust yourself , work your strategy like a fucking maniac , and don't be like this doesn't work and jumping onto the next big thing and you will be fine.

Good luck from me.

Kostas

Angelo1 

Hi TraderTS thanks ! yes paying it forward, great words, are you offering mentoring to people in the Florida region?? doesn't help me unless you are up for skyping or such, then as a potential prodigy my quest is are you profitable and what would the criteria be for a match between the two parties such as, scalper vrs swing to name one, etc

First thing first,
Yep, prefer Miami, or Orlando, FL.
Sorry but you are not qualify--don't think you are a newbie!
You can look me up for my journal thread that already posted dealing with the above questions.
Long story short, my specialty is "Swing" trades on both sides using 1440M, 240M and 60M charts, especially for Rollover process and during Financial crisis.

iTS

kazz 

With all due respect, I think you are over stating how difficult it is to trade. You don't need to put in 10,000 hours to be profitable. Maybe to become a master of the craft. This 10,000 hours to learn a craft is often quoted bit the truth is everyone is different. Some learn quickly, some never learn sadly. You can be profitable trading in far fewer hours than that. Just my 2p. Sent using the NexusFi mobile app

With all due respect you are a beginer so i very much doubt that you are consistently profitable and not eligible to give advice on how long it takes.
In fact the 10,000 hours needs to be at least double or triple to even stand a chance of making it. it is very very very difficult.

Angelo1 

HEllo @maxmeier would you care to share a chart with a summary of your method for those of us that do not have access to a 30 year mentor, one thing that has always stunned me is the talent on this forum YET who knows how many members are never able to make it as profitable traders when i have read time and time again there is NO substitute for a hands on mentor and there seem to be enough replying to just this thread alone, why is there no thread for mentoring, perhaps i should start one, who knows maybe a % of future profit scheme would be a nice way to repay the privileged opportunity, anyway to the OP i have nothing to add that hasn't been said better other than it doesn't take years if you have a mentor but will if you do not have a structured process as some have advised you regardless of what type of chart you use AND hope you take up the mentoring offers you have on this thread i'm bewildered as to why it was posted to ME & who knows maybe the entire forum safe trading all

Sorry, I have signed a non disclosure agreement. I can't share anything.

maxmeier 

Sorry, I have signed a non disclosure agreement. I can't share anything.

Hahaha ok thank you,,

Then perhaps you are one of the best qualified to respond to all the people posting opinions about the topic of mentoring who have never had hands on mentoring like you,

i clearly have an opinion also but have not read about many people who have not succeeded when mentored one on one, as opposed to the commonly used Turtle method when it was provided as a recipe or instruction, the nuances that are required to bake the cake exactly like the originator will add so much more than can be written, that even he is unaware of unless in the process of making or baking the product.

Safe trading Angelo

Hello xevanchan,

I am more qualified to share that i am also in the same boat. In my three year journey, i've lost money for the first two years, and in the third year i've applied brakes to the loosing ride by understanding myself and analyzing the mistakes i am been making.

Some of the things that came to light were:

1. I have fear of missing out
2. I used to have a gambler's attitude. I generally used to go all in after winning small profits.
3. I never used to understand the markets and ask the question WHY the market moves
4. I started to shift my entire focus on trading and making losses everyday. I needed to take a break and should have focused on other areas.

I also had lost hope, but my newly born baby girl has been the source of inspiration and she is teaching me everyday that not to give up. It's ok to fall, but the most important thing is to rise again.

One of the first thing i started doing is i took a break for 6 weeks. Took my family out and focused more on them and other areas of life like (working on the business idea, learning to cook food, washing/helping for home chores).

In this process, i started to understand that markets are designed the way that you would loose money. It's all part of the game.

I started to learn volume profile, market profile, support, resistance identification and currently doing SIM trades.

I also developed a 5 year plan which is more like a map to achieve my financial freedom.

It easily guides me that if i make a mistake or loss, where i have to start again.

I would request you to set some guidelines first.

Next is don't make trading as the only thing in your life. Go out and do voluntary work, help others, socialize, read, drink water more (no alcohol), eat right, go for a vacation to Bali or Vietnam or Thailand or India (2 weeks is pretty good to explore a country. I can help you if you plan for India,)

Lastly, we are all playing single player game in life. So ensure not to loose hope, and keep on getting up.

Regards,
madhuram (aka maddy)