How many of you trade with a trading buddy? I define a trading buddy as someone who you are talking with (not typing) real time about your instrument and trade setups. In other words, LIVE real-time.
I like to get my trading buddy on screen in skype before I place my first trade of the day. We discuss any overnight developments. He usually knows this stuff better than me. He also tells me what times news will hit.
Then we start looking for trades. We share our charts with each other as we have different triggers, but still mark support/resistance areas in similar way.
I find my trading buddy to be invaluable. He helps me follow my rules, and I help him follow his. Primarily for me this means not overtrading. Not to mention, things become a lot clearer when you have a discussion about it with a fellow trader. He can tell you when you're over analyzing something or if he thinks you are flat wrong, and it's important to get that feedback so you can make sure you are following your own rules, double check your entries, not in chop, etc. It is for all these reasons I am listing this thread in the Psychology forum, because I think a trading buddy is there to help you in that regard.
I have a lot of trading friends on my Skype list and I know a lot of you type to each other during trading, but I think there is no substitute for live voice chat, especially sharing a chart so you can show your cursor and talk about a move, price, etc.
How many of you have trading buddies?
I think it would also be cool if you guys wanted to use this thread to find new trading buddies. Just mention what instrument you trade and your skype name and we can try to get some new buddies made
Mike
Need help? 1) Stop changing things. No new indicators. No new charts. No new methods. Be consistent with what is in front of you first. 2) Start a journal and post to it every day with the trades you made. It will show your strengths and weaknesses. 3) Set goals for yourself that you can reach every day. Make them about how you trade, and not about how much money you make. 4) Accept responsibility for your actions. Stop looking elsewhere to explain away poor performance. You must look within. 5) Have a question? Create a new thread so the community can help.
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This is an excellent suggestion and one that works really well. All traders should try and commit to this as their trading results should improve as they now have a buddy to confirm trades with and somebody who is there to "whack them over the head" when they jump in and take a trade "just because they thought it might be a good idea", which ends up a loser.
I know of a group that promote a similar concept. They set up accountability teams (AT). There are normally 3 to 4 traders in each team and they do a similar thing, however they go one step further and make each other accountable for their trades and actions. At the end of the day or week, they send each other their trades and explain why the entered and exited at those particular levels. The idea to to ensure that all traders understand their rules and manage their entries, exits and emotions.
The only difference between these traders and the ones on this site, is that all those traders trade exactly the same system, on the same instrument (YM) and this makes it a lot easier for all members of the team.
In order for this to work well on BMT, I think that the traders in the AT teams and team buddies should ideally all trade the same instrument. The ideal scenario would also be to trade the same set ups and same system, however this will not be possible, unless all members agree on a system from the forum, such as Holy Grail or All You Need as examples (both of which are possibly feasible)
I still think that all traders will learn a lot more by making them accountable and trading in a team / buddy environment. It will be like a mini trading room for each group. If this becomes successful, then it could lead to a BMT style trading room in the future!
I believe that this is certainly worth a try.
The following 12 users say Thank You to Alan for this post:
Only one answer, nobody have trading buddies ?
I have some, and it's very important for me.
We are all trading the same instrument, not exactly the same setups, but there are quite close, and in most cases we all have the same vision of the market. If we don't have the same view, no problem, we talk about it, to see why we this this or that.
Other point, their is always someone to tell you " hey, remember, beige book in an 30 minutes !!!".
Am I the only one to have forgotten an important news ?
Another good thing, when you are in a very bad situation, your bodies can give you advise: "cut your position, now !" or "don't worry, I don't think it's going to go lower, but close all after this level". These kind of advises are priceless.
I'm not going to say that without my buddies I can't be profitable, but it's easier with them !!! An external point of view is very very useful when you're stressed and in bad position, and you can have it with this.
One of these guys is a real master, and after few years of daily audio chat, I still impressed by the guy. No fear, no stress. He makes bad trades, sometimes, and when I write bad trades, I mean very very bad trades, a lot of money involved.
And the guy still very very cool, very very impressive.
So, when a guy like this says: "hmm, you should cut your losses now, ...", or "hmm, you should not sell now, keep cool...", this is really great.
Hey, great now ?
But, their is a but...
You have to know your buddies. I mean, really knowing them, how they trade, why do these guys are trading, what are their limits, who do they manage stress, what are the systems they use, are they Short in most cases, or Long, or they don't have any bias, etc, etc.
If you're not very close with them, well it's unavailable, you won't trust them, and this will be not very useful.
So yes , having trading buddies is a very very good thing, if you know and trust your buddies (and this not happens in few days).
The following 5 users say Thank You to sam028 for this post:
Anyone who wants to trade ES or CL, please skype me @ ctrl-brk and tell me your forum username. I will create a large skype conference group, text-only no voice, and lets see if we can get a make shift "room" going.
My purpose in this is simply to help people, I think that a group effort of traders here on the forum can be beneficial to many.
So, if you don't have skype, now is the time to get it. Skype me @ ctrl-brk, give me your username, and specifically let me know if you are trading ES or CL and want to join the buddy group.
Mike
Need help? 1) Stop changing things. No new indicators. No new charts. No new methods. Be consistent with what is in front of you first. 2) Start a journal and post to it every day with the trades you made. It will show your strengths and weaknesses. 3) Set goals for yourself that you can reach every day. Make them about how you trade, and not about how much money you make. 4) Accept responsibility for your actions. Stop looking elsewhere to explain away poor performance. You must look within. 5) Have a question? Create a new thread so the community can help.
If you want to support our community, become an Elite Member.
The following 7 users say Thank You to Big Mike for this post:
Anyone who wants to trade ES or CL, please skype me @ ctrl-brk and tell me your forum username. I will create a large skype conference group, text-only no voice, and lets see if we can get a make shift "room" going.
I think this is a good idea but I'm not sure when I can and can not attend since I'm not a full timer. I will pm my skype name and see how it goes.
I'm in a live chat on another site and the text chat is very active during market hours and during the evening sessions. The big issue is many of the traders are simulators and are 'risk free' which is a whole different ball game.
What about 6E or other futures currencies?
I trade that more than anything.
(I like the adrenaline rush I guess)
Yes for sure, 6E as well. I don't trade it, but if there are a few that do I will create a group for it.
Mike
Need help? 1) Stop changing things. No new indicators. No new charts. No new methods. Be consistent with what is in front of you first. 2) Start a journal and post to it every day with the trades you made. It will show your strengths and weaknesses. 3) Set goals for yourself that you can reach every day. Make them about how you trade, and not about how much money you make. 4) Accept responsibility for your actions. Stop looking elsewhere to explain away poor performance. You must look within. 5) Have a question? Create a new thread so the community can help.
If you want to support our community, become an Elite Member.
I have no affiliation with these guys and I'm not a member.
I went to the page and to keep sim traders down, they want access to my live trading account... (Are you kidding me !!!)
So I did not sign up.
Wow, that is rather invasive and is not at all interesting to me. I would rather see smaller more personal interactions, so you can communicate with each other about your style, and not just blindly follow a group. If you want to just follow a group, I think you can go to Edward Jones or Vanguard, etc.
Mike
Need help? 1) Stop changing things. No new indicators. No new charts. No new methods. Be consistent with what is in front of you first. 2) Start a journal and post to it every day with the trades you made. It will show your strengths and weaknesses. 3) Set goals for yourself that you can reach every day. Make them about how you trade, and not about how much money you make. 4) Accept responsibility for your actions. Stop looking elsewhere to explain away poor performance. You must look within. 5) Have a question? Create a new thread so the community can help.
If you want to support our community, become an Elite Member.
Mike, just a suggestion here. I tried getting involved with a group that used Mumble , an Open Source Voice Chat. The software was acceptable. But issues popped up when people were trading the same instrument using totally different methodology. It became confusing and stagnating. Nothing is worse than second guessing your decision to enter a trade because there is an opposing view. This idea would probably be helpful if the entire group were looking at the same charts, same indicators, trading the same methods. Chances of missing a setup with multiple eyes will be reduced this way.
Experience has shown me that any variation in an individuals trading style from the groups will cause many problems. That is the reason a left that group.
But give it a go. Idea has merits.
Unless you know it to be true, don't believe a word I say until you confirm it yourself.
Everyday I crawl out of bed I have but One Goal: Transfer your Account into Mine.
The following 4 users say Thank You to TAJTrades for this post:
Thanks Mike for the initiative , I like to trade the first 2 hours and go on with my daily life , the skype group is defintely a good idea , today was the first day , I cannot say anything yet , but what I want to see is maybe discussing a high probability entry as the market unfolds , I personally would not mind doing it
Cheers !
Soumi
Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time.
-Thomas Edison
The idea of our skype group is to hold each other accountable, and for less experienced traders to see more advanced trading methods. It is not a room to blindly follow trading calls, as I've said in the room - the person making the call can benefit because of the accountability, so people will and do call trades, but that no one else should take those trades simply because someone else did.
So yes, we'll see how it unfolds and if people can truly understand that. If it winds up people are just blindly following trading calls, then it will have completely missed the point.
Different styles are to be encouraged I think in a large group. From this group the individual traders can find another Trading Buddy they like in chat and maybe pair off with them 1-on-1 if they have a more similar market strategy.
Mike
Need help? 1) Stop changing things. No new indicators. No new charts. No new methods. Be consistent with what is in front of you first. 2) Start a journal and post to it every day with the trades you made. It will show your strengths and weaknesses. 3) Set goals for yourself that you can reach every day. Make them about how you trade, and not about how much money you make. 4) Accept responsibility for your actions. Stop looking elsewhere to explain away poor performance. You must look within. 5) Have a question? Create a new thread so the community can help.
If you want to support our community, become an Elite Member.
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