New Book

I ordered this book from amazon and it arrived a couple days ago, I've only read a few chapters, but so far I'm really impressed with it. The author has a nice writing style and I've looked ahead and the book looks like it's filled with actionable ideas. Once I'm done reading it I'll try to write a solid review that covers everything about the book. In addition to this book I also bought Market Wizards, I've been thinking about purchasing this one for years, but I stayed away from it since it wasn't about technical analysis.




I know what to expect from this book, it's about successful traders and their stories, more of an inspirational type of book if you ask me, however there are probably many lessons that can be learned from these pros and their trading/daily life habits, I'm also going to write a review on this book once I'm finished with it.

The price of freedom

To me trading represents freedom. Freedom from bullshit that average people have to deal with. I truly believe that anyone with the determination can be very successful in this business. I know for a fact that I will be such a person in a very short period of time. My main strategy for trading futures has proven statistically profitable over large sample sizes. I do not talk about my main strategy. Why not? Coz it's mine, I created it, it works for me and it's quite simple to understand, however I'm not going to just hand out answers, it's better if you find them on your own, else you will never grow as a trader, and ultimately fail. I am confident in my ability to beat the market, and it's thanks to a lot of hours put in. Still I could have been here years ago if I hadn't been so lazy in the past. Now all I need to do is save enough capital to refund my account, and I'll be back in business. However I'm not finished there, there's always more to learn, and more practice to be had, I've heard other bloggers mention the various levels that traders go through, some people say there are 3 levels others say 4-5, but the concept is the same, you go through various stages throughout your development as a trader. Profitability if reached around level 2-3 depending who you ask, some people reach a level where they're winning and they stop progressing coz they become complacent, or are afraid of messing things up. However the environment/market can change, so it's good to have the capability to adapt to changing situations, this is where knowledge comes in. So the more you read the more strategies/ideas you will come up with that could lead to higher profits and profitability in more markets, maybe you'll find that you like swing trading better, or options trading might be more suited for you, you won't know if you don't seek out information though. Success in trading requires an extremely high level of discipline and a solid work ethic, most people I'd say around 90%+ of the population does not possess these attributes. I have a low opinion of most people, they socialize too much in my opinion, they sit around watching idiotic sitcoms, or watching sports drinking beer on a Sunday afternoon, there is important work to be done, and still they do nothing, children are starving, the world is burning, civilization is crumbling, and their freedom is being stolen from them, and still they sit and do nothing. Most people can't see past the cloud of ignorance that surrounds them, too caught up in their own lives, they are unable to break free of unproductive cycles. Does it really matter what happened on "friends" last night, what is the point in watching television and socializing with lazy degenerates? If you want to be a professional you will have to change some things about yourself, you won't be the same person anymore, but it takes time and dedication.

Required Reading

Hullo there, I've been thinking of what to post, and I recently re-read "Trading In The Zone", by Mark Douglas. I thought it would be a good idea to start reviewing books that I've read, this is one of them. It's a good trading book and I highly recommend it to anyone with motivation problems. The book doesn't deal with technical analysis or any specific techniques for making real time trades, but psychology is something I feel is neglected by the majority. I see trading videos on youtube titles "money making secrets", and "automated/no-risk trading system", or whatever getting all the attention. It seems to me that most people are trying to get rich quick without putting any effort in, I think rather than buying an automated system, learn to trade yourself. In the past I have argued on such videos, and on random threads across the internet with random strangers (something I no longer do), people say things like "you think you can watch something better than your computer"! Well the problem with auto systems is that computers cannot think, they just buy/sell when a bunch of criteria is met, but context in the market is very important, so is structure and pattern formations. Anyway so the reason I recommend this book is coz learning to trade for yourself is what I believe in, and a big part of that is psychology, being properly motivated and believing the work your doing will lead someplace is very important. Furthermore you need to learn to master your fear over the market, in the past my losses have been so large, so consistent I would lay in my bed doing nothing for days, or just watching TV, anything but look at a chart, coz I thought the market would crush me again. Fear can really screw with your head, don't underestimate it, there are other problems people can have too besides fear, and this book addresses many of them and ways to deal with it.

Scalping

Just finished a brief 3 hour scalping session. Scalping is another way I like to trade, there's lots of action and you can make a ton of money in a short amount of time if you know what your doing, but it's a difficult style to master. More trades = more decisions, and more decisions = greater chance mistakes will be made, especially since you have less time to think and the information changes quickly. Scalping is definitely not a style beginners should try with real money, you need to work on your skill first. Infact that's exactly what I'm doing right now, I'm working on my skill in simulation mode people, it may not be as exciting as real money, but you need to build a foundation before you go nutts and take on the trading world. I believe this is how it's done people, practice, think about what's happening, review each session, get your hands dirty, and stop looking for handouts. Below is a chart that is a nice overview of all 6 of my trades from todays session, however I was using a different chart to select my entries. Today I ended up down -$50.00, I'll try talking more about losing sessions/losing trades since everyone else on the internet is just promoting there systems and winning trades, real trading involves ups and downs, get used to the variance, control your emotions, follow your rules, and construct a viable plan that gives you a real edge and you will win.

Market Replay

Thought I'd finally share some trades/charts rather than writing a bunch of boring text. Firstly I don't yet have a live data feed, I need to deposit $500.00 into my account for them to turn my platform back on (ninjatrader), I have not done this yet. It's not 100% necessary coz I can just use older data and "market replay" for my simulation trades. So going forward I will try to post my daily/weekly results and other stuff, obviously I could be "cheating" with market replay, but what's the point of that? I'm only saying this coz there are a lot of people on the internet who don't think it's even possible to "beat" futures trading. I take a lot of trades, so I won't be posting all the screen shots, but each week I will post my stats like total # of trades taken, wins, losses, and so on, hope you enjoy!







This win was followed by a string of losses =(. For the current week I am market replaying through I've taken like 17 trades for a net result of -17 ticks or -$212.50 trading the 6E trading only 1 contract, still it's a small loss in the grand scheme of things and I am a bit rusty. Moving forward I will keep replaying old data until I reach the current market, I'm starting in August, so I have a couple of months of data to get through. I mostly trade off of range charts though, so that's mostly what I'll post. Hopefully after a few weeks of replay data the rust will be gone and I'll be profiting nicely. We'll see.

Trying To Change

I have something weird to admit, but what's weirder is that I'm admitting it to no one, I blog anonymously. I can't ever be myself it seems, not even on the fucking internet. I think trading has ruined my life. No that's not true, but it's the way I feel. I've lost more than you can imagine to trading, years of my life, friendships, and I haven't been in a relationship for a long time. All of these things sacrificed coz my crazy ass decided to skip college and dive straight into futures trading. But I didn't even take the game seriously, and here I am on the internet whining like a child to random strangers, I know how I sound, full of self pity and hopelessness. Most days I find myself wishing that I could go back, I think its been 5 years now. I used to be so naive and overconfident, I thought I was so intelligent and there was nothing I could not accomplish, but like most people I was humbled by the "market". But was it really the market that humbled me.. or was it something else? I've always felt I could beat this game, but something has been holding me back, I actually think it's a combination of things. The first is fear, always afraid of what might happen if I fail, I've never fully committed myself to trading, I had my second chance at trading a few months ago, but blew that account as well. Sometimes I feel I'm just wasting my time with all this, but I can't undue the past, I can't go back and start over, and at this stage in the game it seems like such a waste to just give up, especially when I feel so close to profitable trading. It really makes me feel like shit when I think about how close I was to profitable trading IN MY FIRST YEAR, its unreal that it's been like another 4 years and still I'm right where I used to be. I miss my friends, I got into this bullshit so I could spend more time with them, I wanted to help my best friend out and that was the plan so that he could work for himself. It's unbelievable how fast time goes by, it's precious, don't waste it. For months now I've been in this state of depression, I started this blog as a way to combat that depression by blogging about shit, I didn't think I had much to say, but I guess there's a lot of stuff inside me that I need to explore in more detail. I need to figure out all of the stuff that's been holding me back, and attack these issues one at a time, truthfully though I know what most of them are, it makes me ashamed to admit the a big one is laziness, how pathetic. I haven't ever done what needed to be done in order to successful, this is true of most who fail, it's hard to admit these things, and when I take a good look at myself I'm disgusted by what I see. I've tried to change myself before, but I'm so easily demoralized by a few losses that I quickly lose my enthusiasm and slowly slip back into the abyss of depression. Losses can make you stronger or they can quickly crush you, for me I've never taken it well, and the effects seem to get worse as time goes by. Still I'm not going to give up, I've decided to fight all of these issues and battle it out in simulation. All I need to do is work hard and I will succeed in life, that's my goal, to succeed in life. I would like to be a profitable trader, but if my next account gets blown out of the water it will be back to college for me. Lately I've been backtesting, I can't connect to my live data feed coz my account is dust, so I need to get a simulation feed, I use Ninjatrader as my platform with Zen-fire as my connection, so I'm gonna try to get a free simulation only feed and then begin posting my simulation results. I've got a crappy job, but I'm saving money and in a couple months I should have enough to resume live trading, I'll be trading the 6E, ES, 6A, and possibly some other markets with some very ambitious profit goals. I think making around 1k - 1.5k a week is possible on just a single contract we'll see. I came rather close on my last shot, and remembering that gives me the strength to move forward. Sorry for this depressing post, but life's a bitch ya know? And sometimes people need to get this sort of shit off their chest. Now that I've done my whining I can get back to fighting the seemingly invincible market, it takes guts to get back up and once again do battle with an enemy that makes you look stupid every time, but what's better, sitting around like every other lemming out there and complaining about my situation all day, Or fighting the ones who have done this to me, including myself.

Confused

I'm new to the blogging game, this being my second day and all, not sure what to say, but I feel almost compelled to say something to keep the blog rolling even though no one is yet reading. I guess my message for today is to keep working people, you won't get anywhere just sitting around and waiting for things to happen for you, your the one who has to make it happen, it won't happen overnight, but just keep pressing forward and progress will be made. Remember trading is a war, and your enemies will not be merciful, they want your money, I want your money, keep that in mind. I began testing a new method today, it's not something I read in a book, or that I saw another trader doing, this is completely 100% my idea, it's simple and logical, but it's too early to tell if its working or not so I will say no more about it. One of the things I've come to believe in over the years is simple ideas, trading is complicated enough, so I think you should have a clear understanding of your charts/setup and what your trying to accomplish when you put on a trade. I used to think subscriptions to special services, and fancy indicators were the key to profitability, but it's been my experience that they are mostly scams or total bullshit, rather than investing in some companies services / indicators, why not invest in yourself. Buy a book and read it, take what you can from it and test out some ideas, get your hands dirty, trading is not rocket science as much as some people would like you to believe it is, most of the "experts" seem pretty clueless to me at least.

And remember..

" The more you sweat in times of peace, the less you bleed in war. "

Trading is war.

Hello!

I am a "futures trader", I buy and sell electronic contracts which if you think about it don't even really exist, it's a game of speculation, you can never be certain on which direction the market will go, but you don't need to be 100% certain of anything (more on that later). It's my dream job mostly coz I don't have to listen/speak to anyone while I'm doing it, I can be alone. Completely alone with my own thoughts. It's challenging, sometimes frustrating, and if you aren't serious the market will crush your soul, and grind you into tiny bits, but profitability is not impossible, and I believe anyone who applies enough effort will be successful. I use a few different strategies, and am constantly looking for new ideas and ways to read charts and take money from the market. I don't know who you are or who will read this blog, but I suppose my intended audience is beginners / intermediate traders, and curious bystanders. Of course anyone is welcome to read and comment. I would like to say it doesn't matter if anyone reads this or not, but part of why I'm writing is coz I think I can offer some good advice to anyone who frustrated / just starting out, I've learned quite a bit over the years, but am still not a master, so always do your own research and test ideas thoroughly before trying anything with real money. The other reason I'm writing this blog is for myself, it will serve as a journal, and allow me to look back and track my progress, also I'm hoping it will help motivate me coz others will be watching (hopefully)


If you don't wanna read the above dribble ^^^.. maybe some music would be better..