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Futures journey


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Futures journey

  #1 (permalink)
 eroy 
annandale virginia
 
Experience: Beginner
Platform: ninjatrader
Trading: EUR/USD
Posts: 5 since Sep 2011
Thanks Given: 1
Thanks Received: 10

Hi

This is my first journal entry here at futures.io (formerly BMT). My trading experience probably mirrors the experience of 99% of traders everywhere. I started trading futures around 2007 when the Dow was making higher and higher highs. For about a year the market was bullish and basically if you were long, you made money. Then the bottom dropped out of the market. Then the market became choppy and , being a trend trader, I lacked the tools to adapt and failed miserably blowing out my account in the process. I funded another account and blew that one out also. After blowing out a third account I have finally began to take trading seriously. If I was to be successful I would have to treat trading as a business enterprise and not some cavalier endeavor.

So what I decided to do is start from scratch. I visited many rooms, almost all of which proved to be a joke. I read a few books most of which I found to be obsolete or did not apply to my specific trading style. I investigated many indicators and found that almost all of them were lagging. I continued my search until I eventually found a futures room moderated by a real trader who was also an educator. After buying so much junk I was happy that he provided a free two week trial for a test drive. Accompanying the live room was a ninja based strategy, a book and an on-line library full of information on subjects like trading state management, , neuro- associative conditioning, money management and trade psychology. I immediately realized that after four years of trying I did not know squat about trading. I also realized that the weakest link in my trading was me and that if I was ever going to be successful at this I would have to receive mentor-ship from someone more knowledgeable than I and follow the trade plan through thick and thin.

Anyhoo, I took the plunge, bit the bullet, shelled out five grand and bought a trading education. I immediately liked what my mentor was telling me. The first thing he told me was, if I was loosing money, stop trading. Even if I had funds in my account all I was doing was reinforcing bad behaviors. The second thing he told me was do not start trading again until I had traded successfully and profitably in sim. for at least ninety days. The third and most important thing he asked me to do is determine WHY I trade. Naturally my response to this question was I trade for the money. He told me that was almost everyone's response and if money was my reason for trading the chances of my failure would probably be about 99%. He told me that almost everyone has two base emotions about money-greed and fear. These were the drivers for all economic markets and unless I could accept,internalize and differentiate this fact it would be hard for me to be successful.He told me to come up with a list of reasons that specifically articulated why I trade. So, as a post script to my first journal entry, I would like to articulate why I trade.


WHY DO I TRADE?

-To be the captain of my own destiny
-To live a life off the grid
-To build a comfortable retirement
-To learn a profession with unlimited potential that i can eventually share and teach
-To amass the capital to purchase a business.
-To have the time and means to care for my parents as they reach their twilight years
-To have the energy and time to do volunteer work
-To have the time to take care of myself physically, emotionally and spiritually

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  #3 (permalink)
bloopoop
Canada
 
Posts: 25 since Jun 2013
Thanks Given: 0
Thanks Received: 8


regarding sim trading:

if the system you are using cannot be profitable in simulation, ditch it, modify it, add to it try to make it work.

If your system can survive the simulation, it does not mean it will work in real trading with $$$$$$$.

Emotion usually takes over and make you do stupid thing.

Or worst...If you succeed at first you will soon get sloppy and the market will bite you hard.

More often than not you will have to adapt it real fast if you do not want to lose too much.

AS for Ninja Trader, used to be a pain, it could not keep up during high volume periods, would freeze once or twice a week with no reason, would not let you log in cause it did not see you log out and sometimes would add positions you did not take.

The best, most solid, most reliable, no freeze, no lag trading platform I have ever used is CTS T4.
Compare to that, ninja is a toy(sorry used to be a toy because I did not use Ninja in the last 7 years maybe it is all different). I am talking about requirements for daytrading(multiple in/out daily) of course.

It has been 4 months, where are you at?

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  #4 (permalink)
bloopoop
Canada
 
Posts: 25 since Jun 2013
Thanks Given: 0
Thanks Received: 8

"Naturally my response to this question was I trade for the money."

" failure would probably be about 99% "

you came up with sentences to please your coach and to please yourself but the truth is that you still trade for the money.

If you ask me why do I trade?

My answer was and still is: I love the market, I love the continuous challenge it presents me. It was a passion form day one and still is today 19 years later.

That is a tough one to change.

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Last Updated on June 10, 2013


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