This post was contributed by a guest author, and does not necessarily reflect the views of Richard or MovetheMarkets.com
After reading Richard’s post, I was going to leave a comment. However, it was much too long, and I decided to write a separate article instead.
On the surface, I agree with some of it, and other areas I’m not sure about. I do agree that many people make excuses for their losses. They may even make up reasons to justify not trading (that’s the part that I’m not sure about). However, I’m open to the fact that this may very well be an excuse. Or it may be something deeper.
My purpose is not to debate Richard. He is a profitable trader that covers his living expenses by taking money out of the market. I’m not. It’s very possible that he isn’t right about everything, but you judge a tree by its fruit.
With that in mind, instead of bringing up what I may disagree on, I carefully considered his post. The one part that stands out is that I probably (read definitely) don’t have a system that either works, i’m confident in, or have enough experience trading the system to do so profitably. At this point, I don’t believe that taking a few days off is the answer. Neither is the advice to keep swinging. However, his advice was to keep swinging if you have a solid system. Recognizing that fact, I’m starting from scratch.
It’s time to review what I think I know, what beliefs may be misplaced, and how I can reach my goals in trading.
This post was contributed by a guest author, and does not necessarily reflect the views of Richard or MovetheMarkets.com
June 22nd, 2007 at 2:06 pm
I think we probably agree on everything. I’m saying that, when you have a system and you know you have a statistical edge, there’s no rational reason to stop trading it due to losses. If you look at the article on making consistent profits, you’ll see that the key is actually to trade as much as possible, so that you have more chances to have winners in each time period.
So, in my mind, any reason you stop trading your statistical edge has to be some kind of rationalization or your part. It would be like saying “this coin came up tails an awful lot before noon, so I decided to stop flipping it until tomorrow.” Sounds silly, but if you have to pay someone $1500 for each time it comes up tails, you might be inclined to say just that. I know I would!
June 22nd, 2007 at 2:26 pm
Or, on second thought, maybe we don’t agree on everything. I try my best to talk mainly about myself, in my articles. I know that I definitely made excuses to quit in the past, that I think are silly now. Maybe I’m the only one that does that.
June 22nd, 2007 at 5:45 pm
i don’t think we agree on everything, but that isn’t necessary…instead of debating points with a profitable full-time trader, i am at the stage that i would rather see if i can glean anything that will be helpful to me…i guess i didn’t communicate that properly…anyway, your article helped
btw, i may be making excuses and not realize it…that’s human nature
June 23rd, 2007 at 7:42 pm
Call me an idiot… but I don’t see any food around here! Dang it all! Lure me over here with a mouth-watering post title and then… what? Not a peep about sauteed mushrooms, nada on Chicago-style pizza, absolutely zippo on steak, not even the slightest aroma of food anywhere!
I am severely disappointed…
June 23rd, 2007 at 10:02 pm
Oh, my! I apologize! I see that you do indeed have an “edible” word in your post…
“fruit”
Now, is that your round-about way of implying that Richard is gay?
June 24th, 2007 at 8:55 am
hehe
June 24th, 2007 at 1:50 pm
I thought I was the tree, and he was judging me by my gay profits.
June 24th, 2007 at 2:40 pm
plenty of gay fruit on that tree…errr profits
June 24th, 2007 at 3:31 pm
yes, I hope to be the gayest looking tree in the blogosphere soon.
June 25th, 2007 at 8:00 am
u are well on your way…are u still growing your hair? that may be the secret
June 25th, 2007 at 12:37 pm
Maybe so… yep, my hair is longer than ever.
June 26th, 2007 at 10:43 pm
oh! Pardon me! I should have knocked first - didn’t realize I was going to walk in on such an intimate convo!
Gosh! This is so … awkward!
*blush*
June 27th, 2007 at 11:28 am
tg: i like keeping my head shaved, but i’ve decided to grow out my pubes to see if i can get that samson effect richard has :-)
June 27th, 2007 at 7:48 pm
John,
LOL! - “head shaved”!
That must take a steady hand…
June 28th, 2007 at 3:51 am
the taint is the tricky part