Speculate on the markets using TA and you will lose 1% on average every month

[0007]

the only eeason 95% of traders lose, if this is true, is over leverage.
To lose trading long only stocks ought to be impossible otherwise.

It would be interesting to know how much leverage traders use and whether they proportion it to their profitability / success rate.

Anybody seen published data on this?

 

[DionysusToast]

the only eeason 95% of traders lose, if this is true, is over leverage.
To lose trading long only stocks ought to be impossible otherwise.

Not at all.

Many people will hold onto losers but cut winners short - a sure fire road to capital erosion.

Plus the fact is that more than half of the companies that IPO no longer exist after 8 years.

There's plenty of ways to lose money going long.

In my opinion, one of the reasons people fail - is the amount of misinformation out there. People that hang around long enough but can't trade end up with a lot of domain knowledge & often move into teaching or even writing a book or 2 on the topic.

I use TA, I will still say that mainstream TA is total crap though.

I am sure there are those that take to the markets straight away - 'naturals' so to speak.

I am sure there are others who get a good teacher straight from the start.

Then there's the rest of us - tonnes of bullsh1t to wade through, you could blow up on the way or simply lose the will to continue. Even those that 'never give up' might not make it if they don't develop good bullsh1t detecting techniques and learn that doing the same thing over and over whilst expecting different results is not going to do anything.

I know people have been at it for years and are STILL trying to find that perfect indicator to trade off. How mad is that ?

 

[montmorencyt2w]

Not at all.

Many people will hold onto losers but cut winners short - a sure fire road to capital erosion.

Plus the fact is that more than half of the companies that IPO no longer exist after 8 years.

There's plenty of ways to lose money going long.

In my opinion, one of the reasons people fail - is the amount of misinformation out there. People that hang around long enough but can't trade end up with a lot of domain knowledge & often move into teaching or even writing a book or 2 on the topic.

I use TA, I will still say that mainstream TA is total crap though.

I am sure there are those that take to the markets straight away - 'naturals' so to speak.

I am sure there are others who get a good teacher straight from the start.

Then there's the rest of us - tonnes of bullsh1t to wade through, you could blow up on the way or simply lose the will to continue. Even those that 'never give up' might not make it if they don't develop good bullsh1t detecting techniques and learn that doing the same thing over and over whilst expecting different results is not going to do anything.

I know people have been at it for years and are STILL trying to find that perfect indicator to trade off. How mad is that ?

Speaking of Bravo Sierra, check this out from FXstreet:

Next move for the Euro is South - Mizuho Corporate Bank

Thu, Jul 15 2010, 08:00 GMT
http://www.fxstreet.com
Related News

* Forex: Euro holds steady across the board
* Forex: EUR/USD on a new 2-month high
* Next move for the Euro is South - Mizuho Corporate Bank

FXstreet.com (Barcelona) - The current level of trading the Euro has experienced throughout the week, around the 1.2720 range on short coverings, apparently has an expiration date set in front of it.

The pullback has a lot of consensus, Nicole Elliot from the Mizuho Corporate Bank explains: "Inching up to the top of the daily Ichimoku ‘cloud’ with most economists agreed that this short-covering rally is temporary and that the next move for the Euro is South. The Euro is slightly overbought and momentum is bullish, and the 9-day moving average has done an excellent job pushing it higher".

The seemingly unavoidable retreat has a potential alternative though, "A weekly close above 1.2800 will probably set off another round of short-covering", Nicole Elliot says.

http://www.fxstreet.com/news/forex-news/article.aspx?storyid=93d69cb3-e92b-415a-bf14-b5ebce2c92c3

So, on the one hand we have a "seemingly unavoidable retreat", or a close above 1.28 (which looks likely), which will send it skywards.

So, er, it will either go up, or it might go down. Thanks for that insight.

Head in the Ichi-bloody-moku clouds?