09-18-09 11:45 AM - TheRumpledOne : Please do not harass me anymore
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09-18-09 11:24 AM - piersh : actually, i'm getting better results with currencies. i'm not done with you yet...
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09-18-09 11:20 AM - TheRumpledOne : piersh: you have reached your conclusion so please do not harass me anymore
thanks cunparis, i understand it takes skill and experience to be a successful trader (which is why i'm not in the market).
what i'm having trouble with is how to reconcile what you so eloquently say here:
with this:
i guess i have a deeper question about the whole backtesting thing:
BigMike and other have stressed repeatedly how important it is to have good entry/exit strategies, money management, etc... and to stick to them rigidly to avoid gambling. that sounds to me like excellent advice.
however, it would seem to me that any strategy that one can write down and stick to rigidly should be automatable. conversely, if trading is an art as you say and no such profitable strategy exists, how can one possibly stick to it and avoid emotion/gambling?
the main reason i like backtesting (even if it is useless), is that it's free and easy (i, like you, have many years of coding experience), and it's something to do to help me build up confidence to start trading manually.
I have learned a great deal from TRO this past couple of weeks. Actually, it's been more a case of UNLEARNING a pile of junk that I had previously considered "truths" about trading.
I can't say that I am trading *exactly* the way TRO does at this stage, but I have taken on board a lot of what he has said/taught and I'm slowly incorporating it into my personal belief system.
By far the most valuable lesson I have learned from TRO is LEARNING TO TRUST MY EYES. I have removed all the "squiggly lines" from my charts, and pay attention to the straight ones (highs/lows - bar, swing, daily). I can show my 5 year old daughter a price chart and she can tell me if it's heading up or down...don't need an indicator for that!
So thanks TRO, I'm enjoying the journey and feel I'm getting improving...maybe one day I'll be a real RAT trader!
Cheers
Simon
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