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I decided to create this thread, because I see it as the first step in my trading journey. I've been interested in trading for about a year now. I've never actually made a trade yet. I've made many paper trades--some winners, some losers. But for right now I see myself in "learning mode." I'm sort of learning to crawl in anticipation of one day running a marathon.
In the past year I've set several goals for myself.
Don't enter just to enter--have a purpose.
Get better at seeing the overall trend of the day and entering with it.
Try to make trades with an eye toward riding a winner to the next pivot or resistance point.
Get comfortable using a finite number of charts and indicators and stick to them.
I'm a programmer by trade, so whenever possible I try to code myself indicators that will help make things easier. I also like to look at charts and try to come up with new indicators or combinations of indicators.
I think maybe for me half the battle is identifying what kind of trader I am and developing comprehensive system that will help me be that trader. We will see.
I am very dedicated to getting good at this, so I know that I will evolve from the guy on the sidelines running backtests to a successful trader. It's a matter of when. Looking forward to working with you all.
More later...
The following 4 users say Thank You to Curbfeeler for this post:
Excellent, well thought out intro. I think you are on the right track. I have only one word of advice; spend more time learning to read price and less time thinking about how to program indicators. The indicator journey is in all honesty, a black hole. If you find you need an indicator, the simpler the better and less is definitely more. I think you will find the best traders, even the ones with strong programming backgrounds trade with naked or nearly naked charts. they have realized that indicators are often a crutch for lack of skill or dedication to learning how to read price action. I speak from experience on this.
If you are a programmer, you probably will have little difficulty recognizing patterns and what they mean. Trade those patterns and you will do far better than most traders who chase indicators.
Good luck and I look forward to reading more of your journey.
Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication, Leonardo da Vinci
Most people chose unhappiness over uncertainty, Tim Ferris
The following user says Thank You to PandaWarrior for this post:
Well said and many thanks. When i first registered for an account here I decided to make it a personal goal to get good at trading. I have tried a lot of things (including many indicators) since that time. Lately I feel like I've really turned a corner, and it seems like lately I'm almost always profitable or at least BE with my papertrades. The difference is that I'm reading price action, not indicators. The indicators I use are there to help me read the price action, but they are not designed to be a holy grail. For instance, I use the swing() indicator. All this does is draw lower lows and higher highs, but I find this highs and lows to be the most important thing. I also use an indicator which measures ticks per minute. Again, a way to see price action. Finally, I often manually mark past daily and afterhours highs and lows on my charts. I find that these are often key S/R lines, where price tends to react more than just once.
I need to make the time to update this, since as I read it now I realize that I set out to show off my programming skills. Turns out that reading price action is what this is all about.
Good luck all
Dan
The following 2 users say Thank You to Curbfeeler for this post:
Hi @Curbfeeler, I hope that wasn't a "goodbye" and good luck, etc. Now that you've taken some time, what have you learned? Have you modified your method or plan? I hope you'll revive this journal and share your trades.