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TEN-THOUSAND IN EDUCATION, FINALLY PAYING OFF


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TEN-THOUSAND IN EDUCATION, FINALLY PAYING OFF

  #161 (permalink)
 
bobbyacim's Avatar
 bobbyacim 
new york
 
Experience: Intermediate
Platform: ninjatrader
Broker: mb trading
Trading: 6e
Posts: 184 since Feb 2010


Trafford View Post
I have probably spent as much as you have if not more but what I know now is priceless. I did a MP course with Dalton and to be honest sometimes he did lose me but sometimes I got it. One thing he said to me was place a pin on your chart where you took your trades, more often than not I had terrible trade location. I sold the low when the smart money was buying, I bought the high when others were selling. Why, because I felt comfortable entering when the selling was under way not realizing you have to do the uncomfortable things in trading to make money and succeed. It is a journey, for some you have to try every single indicator and system to prove one thing, that they don't work and there is know easy ride but what you do gain is an education that is priceless and soon you will have the edge, your personal casino. You will gain a skill others will pay a fortune for.

He also said bad trades keep you of good trades - so true!

Your right about "gaining a skill others will pay a fortune for"

hey, any trader I ever came across who actually could produce a broker statement of live, succesful trades was asking for hundreds an hour to do one-on-one tutoring.

Succesful and consistantly profitable traders walk on air. Imagine, being able to create income anywere in the WORLD at any time- Income on demand!!!

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  #162 (permalink)
 
forrestang's Avatar
 forrestang 
Chicago IL
 
Experience: None
Platform: Ninja, MT4, Matlab
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monpere View Post

You achieve the 1st one by verifying the method works historically. It seems your history has been to buy a system, get excited, throw real money in the market with that system based on the vendor's word that the system works. You need to look historically for yourself to verify that the vendor was telling you the truth. Once you have verified that, then trade it sim for a while to internalize that method. This is the process that will bring you the proper 'confidence' in the method, rather then trusting the advertising hype.

Just my thoughts since this is a discussion. Sometimes I feel like Monpere is typing out my thoughts on these particular matters.

One Day, I am going to create a post somewhere, probably in the psychology section about every supposed method I've purchased with regards to trading, and my thoughts on that method. I think this above portion in red is key!!!!

There was this one system I purchased, and luckily I never lost a dime trading it live.... as I did just what Monpere suggested here. Not only did I spend probably several hundred hours backtesting it over historical data, I walked it forward for a many weeks and achieved about the same results.

What were those results? Complete and utter b.s.!!!! I was sooooo frustrated. The system was clearly defined and unmistakable about what to do. But the performance was atrocious. Now indicators on different machines, with different data feeds are never going to line up. You just have to deal with your flow of signal. So I didn't expect everything to line up with what they were claiming. BUt the problem was my results were literally 180 degrees out of phase with what they were claiming. They were obviously giving themselves the best possible fills, leaving things out etc. They would have a day claiming the system made $500 for that day. My results where -$340 or so.

And sure our entries and exits could differ slightly, but that type of CONSISTANT disparity I saw was frustrating.

Now, while I had obviously wasted another $1500 on this method, luckily it was all I wasted. I was able to verify that this system was completely useless. So, this is just my experience.

If you can prove to yourself that a method works via historical backtesting, and then walking it forward for a time..... that's what you probably need more than anything else.

I had similar worries as you, but I may have come to a different conclusion a long time ago as to what my problems are. I started a thread HERE in an attempt to solve one of those issues. Which was OBJECTIVITY in my trading. The conclusion that I had come to a loooong while ago where 2 main issues........

KNOWING what to do in any situation, and KNOWING how your method performs imo are the two things that you have to sort out. Everything else is just noise.

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  #163 (permalink)
 
bobbyacim's Avatar
 bobbyacim 
new york
 
Experience: Intermediate
Platform: ninjatrader
Broker: mb trading
Trading: 6e
Posts: 184 since Feb 2010



monpere View Post
There has been 17 people in the last 5 post that have said "Work on Yourself". I guess that means, go to the gym 3 times a week, hire a personal trainer, buy some Tony Robbins tapes, eat more fiber, drink 8 glasses of water a day, and don't have unprotected sex. If that is not what these guys mean, then maybe they can elaborate.

You don't need inspiration right now. Inspiration + $1.25 will buy you a nice cup of coffe. Here are some tangible suggestions. I think you need 2 things:

1. Find a method you have confidence in.
2. Trade it with risk capital.

You achieve the 1st one by verifying the method works historically. It seems your history has been to buy a system, get excited, throw real money in the market with that system based on the vendor's word that the system works. You need to look historically for yourself to verify that the vendor was telling you the truth. Once you have verified that, then trade it sim for a while to internalize that method. This is the process that will bring you the proper 'confidence' in the method, rather then trusting the advertising hype.

The 2nd point may be the difficult part. Trade with risk capital. If you are trading scared money, you will have a hard time succeeding, because that is the number one psychological barrier a trader can face, making trading decisions based on fear of losing any money that will adversely affect your life. It is not all lost though, because if you have achieved point #1, confidence in your system, then point #2 becomes less of an issue, as you will have less of the 'fear' psychological barrier.

WOW!! Monpere, I don't think anyone can say it better- Thank you for getiing to the crux of the issue with laser precision.

Too bad this setup I have returned to can not be backtested automatically, cause as you have explained; if it can not be coded, it can not be auto backtested. I did take about 200 Sim trades with it a while back with good results.

From what your telling me, lots of Vendors who's system is mechanical with a dash of subjectivity have the perfect "out" for not giving you your money back. Cause if it can't be auto backtested, then they can say that "you are the problem not the system"

You know, Traders international, R. felton, etc all have systems that are almost all mechananical, but with a sprinkle of subjectivity, thats whey they can not just give you a manual, they have to show you the NUANCE of the system(subjective)

So when it does not work, the problem is you!! OUCH....





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  #164 (permalink)
 
monpere's Avatar
 monpere 
Bala, PA, USA
 
Experience: Intermediate
Platform: NinjaTrader
Broker: Mirus, IB
Trading: SPY, Oil, Euro
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bobbyacim View Post
WOW!! Monpere, I don't think anyone can say it better- Thank you for getiing to the crux of the issue with laser precision.

Too bad this setup I have returned to can not be backtested automatically, cause as you have explained; if it can not be coded, it can not be auto backtested. I did take about 200 Sim trades with it a while back with good results.

From what your telling me, lots of Vendors who's system is mechanical with a dash of subjectivity have the perfect "out" for not giving you your money back. Cause if it can't be auto backtested, then they can say that "you are the problem not the system"

You know, Traders international, R. felton, etc all have systems that are almost all mechananical, but with a sprinkle of subjectivity, thats whey they can not just give you a manual, they have to show you the NUANCE of the system(subjective)

So when it does not work, the problem is you!! OUCH....

Exactly, the moment a vendor mentions the word discretionary, then if you make money, then it is because of their awesome system, but if you lose money, the problem will always be you, not their system. It is a win-win situation for them.

You should approach any discretionary system you buy as a learning opportunity, not as a money press. Even though a system may not make money for you, you may be able to learn a couple of good nuggets from it, that you might use in your own personally derived system later on. I didn't pay $10k for systems, I only paid $2500 for one system, and it was a piece of crap, but I did learn a couple of things in the process of learning and attending the associated trading room. Everything else I learned was on free trials to various rooms, where I learned different market concepts. I am mainly a divergence trader, and I was introduced to divergence in a Felton webinar, and learned the basics of it in the Felton free trial. I never did pay a dime to Felton... I guess I should send him a thank you card now or something

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  #165 (permalink)
 
Big Mike's Avatar
 Big Mike 
Manta, Ecuador
Site Administrator
Developer
Swing Trader
 
Experience: Advanced
Platform: Custom solution
Broker: IBKR
Trading: Stocks & Futures
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monpere View Post
There has been 17 people in the last 5 post that have said "Work on Yourself". I guess that means, go to the gym 3 times a week, hire a personal trainer, buy some Tony Robbins tapes, eat more fiber, drink 8 glasses of water a day, and don't have unprotected sex. If that is not what these guys mean, then maybe they can elaborate.

No, what it means is stop looking for an indicator setup to make you profitable. Stop looking for a system to make you profitable. Stop looking for a handbook to make you profitable. Stop looking for a chart template to make you profitable. Stop looking for a trading room to make you profitable.

What it means is start looking at yourself. Look at your own actions. How about starting with the obsession of chasing the holy grail. How's that working out for you? I would suggest you lay it all out. Get a piece of paper, start a word document, or whatever and think back to the first day you started trading. Then start writing stuff down that you've done, decisions that you've made. Write down what you thought was going to happen, and what actually did happen.

At the end of the paper you will likely find that you've not done much at all for yourself, but instead you've been searching and searching and searching to find someone else to do it for you. Let me be clear, reading books is not doing it yourself.

Working on yourself means to know yourself, your personality, your traits, your strengths, your weaknesses. Devise a trading method that is your own. Know your method. Know what you want to avoid, know what you want to capitalize on. You don't need vendors for this, you are simply trading their method - not your own.

Ask yourself, are you able to trade in sim mode profitability? Have you even tried recently, or has everything been cash? That itself is a sign of a major problem, if after huge losses you are still trading cash. But, if you have tried sim and you are profitable, then you've proven that the weak spot is on your execution - and not on the combination of methodologies being used.

Focus on execution. The best way to do this is to start a trade journal. I do not mean a spreadsheet full of statistics. I mean that when you place a trade, you write down instantly your reason for taking the trade. I'm talking about 5 or 6 words, it will take 5 or 10 seconds. Then when you exit the trade, write down why you exited. It is important to do it as quickly as possible next to the actual entry/exit.

After you've done this dozens or hundreds of times, you will have so much information that you will likely have several major epiphanies on how to move forward. You'll see all kinds of behavior patterns, strengths, weaknesses, based on your own reading of the market. You'll see patterns that you won't believe and never previously considered. All of which is where you can work on yourself to improve your trading.

You are also still trading futures, and apparently 3 contracts, if I understand correctly. Why? Go open a mini or micro forex account with MB Trading or another very reputable brokerage. Set your risk to $1/pip at maximum. Don't for an instant think that you can't make money this way. What we need you to do is stop losing money. Making money is a long way away from where you are today.

Mike

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  #166 (permalink)
 
bobbyacim's Avatar
 bobbyacim 
new york
 
Experience: Intermediate
Platform: ninjatrader
Broker: mb trading
Trading: 6e
Posts: 184 since Feb 2010


Big Mike View Post
No, what it means is stop looking for an indicator setup to make you profitable. Stop looking for a system to make you profitable. Stop looking for a handbook to make you profitable. Stop looking for a chart template to make you profitable. Stop looking for a trading room to make you profitable.

What it means is start looking at yourself. Look at your own actions. How about starting with the obsession of chasing the holy grail. How's that working out for you? I would suggest you lay it all out. Get a piece of paper, start a word document, or whatever and think back to the first day you started trading. Then start writing stuff down that you've done, decisions that you've made. Write down what you thought was going to happen, and what actually did happen.

At the end of the paper you will likely find that you've not done much at all for yourself, but instead you've been searching and searching and searching to find someone else to do it for you. Let me be clear, reading books is not doing it yourself.

Working on yourself means to know yourself, your personality, your traits, your strengths, your weaknesses. Devise a trading method that is your own. Know your method. Know what you want to avoid, know what you want to capitalize on. You don't need vendors for this, you are simply trading their method - not your own.

Ask yourself, are you able to trade in sim mode profitability? Have you even tried recently, or has everything been cash? That itself is a sign of a major problem, if after huge losses you are still trading cash. But, if you have tried sim and you are profitable, then you've proven that the weak spot is on your execution - and not on the combination of methodologies being used.

Focus on execution. The best way to do this is to start a trade journal. I do not mean a spreadsheet full of statistics. I mean that when you place a trade, you write down instantly your reason for taking the trade. I'm talking about 5 or 6 words, it will take 5 or 10 seconds. Then when you exit the trade, write down why you exited. It is important to do it as quickly as possible next to the actual entry/exit.

After you've done this dozens or hundreds of times, you will have so much information that you will likely have several major epiphanies on how to move forward. You'll see all kinds of behavior patterns, strengths, weaknesses, based on your own reading of the market. You'll see patterns that you won't believe and never previously considered. All of which is where you can work on yourself to improve your trading.

You are also still trading futures, and apparently 3 contracts, if I understand correctly. Why? Go open a mini or micro forex account with MB Trading or another very reputable brokerage. Set your risk to $1/pip at maximum. Don't for an instant think that you can't make money this way. What we need you to do is stop losing money. Making money is a long way away from where you are today.

Mike

Dear Big Mike,

I read your post TWICE!

There was just too much wisdom for my little brain to digest on the first read.

I am assimilating it all, slowly, painfully slowly but surely.

Thanks to you and everyone else here on this forum, my new game plan will be:

No more holy grail chasing, that's why I turned down Roger Felton most gracias discounted offer to buy into his course.

I 've gone back to this system that is a Price-based pattern, the indicators are only there for timing.

Recently started a personal journal of my personality strengths and weaknesses, which will help me determine what kind of trading style I am best suited for or if I'm even suited for trading!

Although I have done close to 200 Sim trades with this system, I will refrain from going live with more than ONE contract untilI can recover at least 50% of my total losses.

Just thinking... with the collective knowledge and awe inspiring wisdom that exists on this forum.

How can success not be far away? for all of us!!!!

God bless us all and thank you

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  #167 (permalink)
adaseb
Canada
 
Posts: 58 since Aug 2010
Thanks Given: 2
Thanks Received: 36

I've met many traders in the last few years.

A lot of traders called themselves "Professionals" and wanted money in return for their knowledge.

A few traders I found to be very good teachers but live they couldn't trade profitably.

And many traders called themselves "Professionals" who didn't want money in return for their help just pure attention.

I read many forum posts, ebooks, courses, video courses, software, twitter, market profile.

I tried many instruments. Such as equities, options, forex, futures, interest rates, stock indices, etc.

And after wasting pretty much thousands of hours on all that I was ready to give up until I decided to give it one more shot and this time do it on my own from scratch. No indicators, no software, no outside help what so ever.

And in the end do you know what it was that helped me?

Experience.

Jesse Livermore once stated that you can put all your ideas on index card and give it to someone else. But one thing you can't give to someone else is experience.

Now I flip through the various currencies and commodities that I trade and when I see something that I like, I just take the trade. Its pretty much almost automatic or you can call it woman's intuition, I just see a setup and I tell myself "I just have to take this trade, i just have too".

I take losses all the time but I can pretty much have 5-6 loses in a row and it would take 1 winners to put me back into profit. I just jump in, and if the trade doesn't move immediately, I bail, losing spread and commission usually.

You know that old saying how a woman decides in the first 60 seconds if she will end up in bed with you at the end of the night? Well that's pretty much how my entries are. Usually within the first few seconds I can tell if this trade will end up working out or not, and will I make little profit or a lot of profit on this trade.

Everything I have learnt up until this point I have learnt on my own throughout my own experience. Now I can pretty much trade in any market and under any conditions. From the boring choppy Asian lunch markets to the fierce volatile Greek Austerity debate.

When I try to help out a few newbies I simply tell them to observe the market live, 16 hours a day and find a way how to profit but they keep saying the same old, "can you put that in an ebook", "can you post your trades live", " can you post your live statement", "can you make an EA", "what is the name of your system", etc, etc.

I really don't think trading is at all that difficult. It's much easier, cheaper, and faster to get into than any degree or business. I think the reason why most struggle is because they are not willing to put in the effort. Like Mike said, they pretty much don't want to gain the experience on their own they would much rather pay to learn about someone elses experience. And the problem what that is that most of those courses, ebooks, programs are all pure scams. Because I know for a fact I would not waste hundreds of hours designing a PDF to sell for $49.95, and go through all that hassle of promoting that eBook since I could make the money much easier and faster by trading myself.

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  #168 (permalink)
iTrade2golf
Nashville, TN
 
Posts: 38 since Jun 2011
Thanks Given: 5
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monpere View Post
I guess that means, go to the gym 3 times a week, hire a personal trainer, buy some Tony Robbins tapes, eat more fiber, drink 8 glasses of water a day, and don't have unprotected sex. If that is not what these guys mean, then maybe they can elaborate.

You don't need inspiration right now. Inspiration + $1.25 will buy you a nice cup of coffe.

Yes for some people that can mean to do exactly these things. What I am trying to tell people is that trading begins with yourself. If getting in better physical shape by working out 3 times a week will make you more focused and alert then you should do that, reading some Tony Robbins books to help find your strengths and weaknesses then you should do that. I can't write out an exact plan that will lead you to successful trading because it is not black and white, because we are all different inside and out.

Just as I said and Big Mike did, and that is that successful trading starts from within with your strength and weaknesses. Don't just look at yourself ask people who know you well about your strengths and weaknesses.

inspiration is exactly what you need to help you in this game. A trader without inspiration is someone who will have a hard time picking themselves back up after having a bad run.

bobbyacim you said that after years of numerous indicators, methods and system you never found success, then try working on yourself. I can give suggestion but I can't do it for you.

I will tell you that my mentor that taught me this game over 17 years ago told me to learn about my self first and write a paper explaining all my personality traits, strengths and weaknesses and how to deal with them before he would start teaching me, I also took the Myers Briggs personality test and if anyone knows about it I am an ESTJ with a strong J, it just so happens that he was an ESTJ with a strong J.

So ladies and gentlemen if you think this is an easy game of opening a brokers account and learning chart patterns, oscillators, price action and any other indicator you want to throw in there, then why is there so many people that fail. This is High Finance and you are playing against some of the smartest people in the world and believe me when I tell you that everyone of them knows their strengths and weaknesses, so take my advice for what it is worth and continue down your road if it has been working for you, if not then think about why it is not working or working like it should and take a step back to take two steps forward.

And that's all I have to say about that.

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  #169 (permalink)
 
Lornz's Avatar
 Lornz 
Oslo, Norway
 
Experience: Advanced
Platform: CQG, Excel
Trading: CL
Posts: 1,193 since Apr 2010


iTrade2golf View Post
I am an ESTJ with a strong J, it just so happens that he was an ESTJ with a strong J.

Interesting. Although I take MBTI with a grain of salt, I always imagined most traders would be INTJ. Possibly INTP for automated traders...

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  #170 (permalink)
 
Lornz's Avatar
 Lornz 
Oslo, Norway
 
Experience: Advanced
Platform: CQG, Excel
Trading: CL
Posts: 1,193 since Apr 2010



monpere View Post
There has been 17 people in the last 5 post that have said "Work on Yourself". I guess that means, go to the gym 3 times a week, hire a personal trainer, buy some Tony Robbins tapes, eat more fiber, drink 8 glasses of water a day, and don't have unprotected sex. If that is not what these guys mean, then maybe they can elaborate.

Look up "Exercise-induced hippocampal neurogenesis"... Sufficient exercise should be be an important part of everyone's life...

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