aag, great post. i've been in pretty much the same situation as you for the past year or so, so i'm far from being successful. but here's my 2 cents anyway
i'm trading using 10m frame as well (in combination of 15m and sometime 30m). i reckon there are on average 2 or 3 good opportunities every week for a decent entry, or even less. i too traded between 5 to 10 times a week, which, with no exceptions, make up the causes for my losses.
but recently i've started to trade much less, and started to break even. so, in this business, less is definitely more.
you talked about the market being rigged. well. of course it is. but not quite in the same sense that you said.
the whole place is a casino, with everything, everywhere, designed and executed to take money out of your pocket. does you vendor have a hand in it? probably. mine certainly is a bit naughty every now n then, flashing couple of pips more than it shows on the chart. but being a casino, your vendor is the dealer, the last man in the line of commands. his main job is to keep you playing. Deliberate 'un-sporting' behaviour is unnecessary, and ruins his reputation in the long run, which will see him losing his job.
So why is it that time and again the market hits your (and my) stop loss before resuming your predicted direction? Why is it that you are (and I am) lured into entering at what turned out to be the worst place for an entry and bailing out at the worst exit so often?
I don’t have any actual data to back my answer to that question, but I’m pretty certain that you and I represent the average of such a large group of yet-to-be-successful traders, and our behaviours have been so extensively studied that the ‘house’ knows EXACTLY how to make us leap at an entry and an exit. and it will treat us like lemmings by doing it again and again, but we do behave like lemmings and keep on jumping. I know this sounds like all the other ‘trading know how guides’ and ‘trading psychology need to know’ stuff (seems hardcore advice, but really is unsubstantial non sense), but maybe you should (I am certainly trying) think about not just what the market is going to do next, but also what the market, or the house, want YOU to do next.
On a different subject. This is my own preference, and many people are indeed making a living out using indicators. But personally, I think trading using indicators is like waiting for the bank alarm to ring before jumping into your patrol wagon – you always get there a step too late and end up in a chase. Only the car you are chasing is driven by professional, and you only just got your driving license and had a few crash courses at the academy. The chances are, you’ll crash, and the getaway car keeps on skipping into the distance. And if you paper trade, it’s like giving chase in a video game - if you crash, there’s always a reset button.
Anyway, happy new year and happy trading.
i'm trading using 10m frame as well (in combination of 15m and sometime 30m). i reckon there are on average 2 or 3 good opportunities every week for a decent entry, or even less. i too traded between 5 to 10 times a week, which, with no exceptions, make up the causes for my losses.
but recently i've started to trade much less, and started to break even. so, in this business, less is definitely more.
you talked about the market being rigged. well. of course it is. but not quite in the same sense that you said.
the whole place is a casino, with everything, everywhere, designed and executed to take money out of your pocket. does you vendor have a hand in it? probably. mine certainly is a bit naughty every now n then, flashing couple of pips more than it shows on the chart. but being a casino, your vendor is the dealer, the last man in the line of commands. his main job is to keep you playing. Deliberate 'un-sporting' behaviour is unnecessary, and ruins his reputation in the long run, which will see him losing his job.
So why is it that time and again the market hits your (and my) stop loss before resuming your predicted direction? Why is it that you are (and I am) lured into entering at what turned out to be the worst place for an entry and bailing out at the worst exit so often?
I don’t have any actual data to back my answer to that question, but I’m pretty certain that you and I represent the average of such a large group of yet-to-be-successful traders, and our behaviours have been so extensively studied that the ‘house’ knows EXACTLY how to make us leap at an entry and an exit. and it will treat us like lemmings by doing it again and again, but we do behave like lemmings and keep on jumping. I know this sounds like all the other ‘trading know how guides’ and ‘trading psychology need to know’ stuff (seems hardcore advice, but really is unsubstantial non sense), but maybe you should (I am certainly trying) think about not just what the market is going to do next, but also what the market, or the house, want YOU to do next.
On a different subject. This is my own preference, and many people are indeed making a living out using indicators. But personally, I think trading using indicators is like waiting for the bank alarm to ring before jumping into your patrol wagon – you always get there a step too late and end up in a chase. Only the car you are chasing is driven by professional, and you only just got your driving license and had a few crash courses at the academy. The chances are, you’ll crash, and the getaway car keeps on skipping into the distance. And if you paper trade, it’s like giving chase in a video game - if you crash, there’s always a reset button.
Anyway, happy new year and happy trading.
