There is a thread on TradersLaboratory that I contributed to. The OP suggested I was keeping what I did secret and that I should "reveal all my secrets".
During the last 6 months or so since this blog began, I believe I have set out a short cut to success in this business. Following this roadmap, Kiki became CP (consistently profitable) in less than 6 months, albeit with personal mentoring from me, but still using the roadmap I set out in the blog.
I wanted to paste my answer to that TL post below in case you don't read TradersLab.
Guys, you are looking for a pre-packaged mechanical formula for discretionary trading. That is a contradiction. "Discretionary" means "discretionary".
To me a setup is like a picture. When the picture is "right" I enter the trade. Sometimes I draw on where the support is, sometimes momentum is more important. Order flow is always important but sometimes its the VB I want to see right and sometimes the CVD must be trending. It always depends on the circumstances.
The only way to "get it" is to do what I did: look at what happened just before a good trade triggered. That's why I push SIM trading so hard. Until you recognise FOR YOURSELF what the difference is between a good setup and no setup, you are doomed to lose. You want to run before you can walk. There is no substitute for the work to train yourself to see.
Now as far as the FloBot is concerned, that is not discretionary trading. Its mechanical trading, which is something different. The rules for FloBot are not discretionary. They are specific but general. The performance from FloBot will probably not be as good as a discretionary trader. Its strength lies in the trader not being required to focus 100% one hundred percent of the time and also because a trader can trade a number of markets at a same time.
If you can't work out your exits yet, why don't you do what I suggested in the blog: take all your profits at the first logical scale point or at a fixed minimum profit objective. If your win rate is as high as it should be, you'll make money.
Since I started teaching Kiki to trade and writing the blog, I have received many, many emails from people who have turned their trading around and become CP (consistently profitable) by using what was in the blog. It's all in there. Providing mechanical setups for discretionary trading is not doing you a favour and I won't go down that road.
There is no free lunch to becoming a trader, a doctor, a lawyer or any profession. A student needs to follow the curriculum, study hard, do the practice. The exams then are easy.
HI EL!! First let me say I really appreciate the blog about Kiki path to CP!! very good of you, thanks. Now, I'm going to be a little bit of a devils advocate here! The content is not really as negative as it may sound! But, I am pretty sure that for every email you get saying it helped there are 10 that say it didn't!! I really believe you & you alone was the real reason for KIki doing so well so quickly!! As I said earlier, this might sound more critical than my intent. I really appreciate your blog entries, make no mistake about that.
ReplyDeletePS, best wishes for your son. Maybe USA doctors would be better?
When I saw the post title in twitter I thought to myself the answer would be "there are no short cuts"....
ReplyDeleteI cant thank you enough for sharing the output of your 30 years of hard work. I am now following the path to CP you have laid out.... study, paper trade, sim, and everything else in the blog..cause it is all here.
thank you EL
Tom, while I am sure that there are people that appreciate the input at Traders Lab, I tend to avoid trading forums altogether due to the very same situation you have encountered. Whenever I reach out to add my input or advice, I'm either pounded with criticisms on my strategy, or accused of leaving out key information that would help someone learn my approach. In the end, the people who put in the time and effort to learn this profession correctly will profit. It's hard to explain to someone new that a trade will just "look" or "feel" right. You've given people an incredible groundwork here in the blog, so that they can get to that point, what more can you do?
ReplyDeleteTom, anyway to show a chart of es trades in US market for today? It was kind of tough session.
ReplyDeletezx12, I get very few negative mails or comments. Just about everything gets posted. The successful people put the effort in that's required. Its all there.
ReplyDeletedriven. I'll post the chart tomorrow. It's a very narrow range for the day with no follow through.
Hello Tom,
ReplyDeletecould give some clues, on how to deal with narrow range days?
Thanks