razorboy wrote:Pro,
there is a difference between not retreating/surrendering and deciding to stop eating sh*t for the taste of it. Trust me, I've been in your shoes as recently as last year.
Once you understand that the big money is made in playing longer term trends, the picture will become clear to you. The average (yes, the average) trader cannot make that much, if any, money day trading (for a variety of reasons). The big funds can only make money in the long term because they have so much capital to deploy the have to do it in a systematically discrete way that does not move the market against them when they enter.
At the end of 2008, I actually flipped out. For the life of me I could not figure out why I could not successfully day trade FX. Then I did about 6 months of number crunching and research and realized I didn't have to drive myself crazy daytrading (yes, I day trade equities now, but it is somewhat of a different beast, plus I have direct market access, but most importantly, I have the discipline imposed upon me by learning how to trade long term and a good understanding of statistical edges) as I would make a boatload of cash in the long run as a trend trader. This realization wasn't retreat or surrender.............it was the realization that I was fighting the wrong fight. In the last 6 months, I have made more (many many times more) net pips than I did in 12 months prior, all because I changed my focus. It has also had a huge impact on my psychologically as I no longer have any stress when putting on a trade. My wife and dog are no longer scared of my fits of insanity brought on by the feelings failure. And most importantly, I am not keeping silly hours to play the FX market (well, not totally silly - I still get up Monday @ 1 am to put on my weekly trades)
Abraham Lincoln may have said "Things may come to those who wait, but only the things left by those who hustle", but one has to really define waiting and hustling when it comes to trading........
Get successful at trading one method (IB's are stupidly simple) and you will start to notice the other opportunities that are open to you. If you doubt me, ask MO about his longest trade............
I understand the markets.
I understand (most) of what has kept me from succeeding.
I understand building positions in the market is where it's at.
I understand I have underachieved with what I see and know.
I understand. Even what you are preaching.
I understand how deeply you feel and KNOW what you say is True.
I'm slowly working on taking baby steps to what must be achieved for me to succeed.
Success for me will be when I'm able to apply EVERYTHING that I understand about the market through execution of MY plan.
It doesn't matter if I have $5mil in my account or $5.
I will say a big step for me will be when I've taken 10 trades in one direction, pulled out 80% profit on each entry and have a 1000 pip stop on the remaining positions and would still be B/E if it were to get hit.
Counter trend scalping(hedging) will be icing on the cake.
I have a plan, it's just a matter of psychologically allowing it to be and then following it.