Who trades order flow? how long did it take to become profitable?

[elecotop]

I would love to hear if anyone trades order flow full time

How long did it take to become profitable?

I've been going since November 2018 and seem to be a profitable trader, I do wait and pick the right opportunities.

The reason I ask is that I wrote a post before saying is it just beginners luck, winning most of my trades in such a short time of trading, then I see other traders can take years and I just feel I'm just being lucky at the moment, or have I really just picked trading up quite easily... not easily but quickly as I have watched and recorded endless videos.

Since November I've watched pretty much all Peters and Caan videos years back, I've recorded over 200 pre-race markets and have also watched them multiple times.

The main thing I've learned the most is knowing when to close trades either is that profit, scratch or loss... I just cut them off... From what I've learned I think that the key to trading is knowing when your trade has gone bad and get out, then the profits will follow..?

Am I really on the right path...

I also heard its a tough time of year to learn to trade due to market conditions and if you were to get good at it now it will get easier at this year will go on as markets are easier to read.

Anyway just after some thoughts really

[ShaunWhite]

Everyone is different. Might take a month, might be never. If you're doing OK and don't feel you're taking too much risk, then crack on.

The key word there is risk, what will your inevitable bad patch cost you, will it be all you've made to date, or just a manageable blip on the chart? Have you had any technical glitches that have cost you? Because you're going to have one of those too eventuality.

Sounds like you're running ahead of your likely long term trend, just make sure the bad days only bring it back to some sort of normal.

[elecotop]

Great point "how much will my bad patch cost me"

[ShaunWhite]

Great point "how much will my bad patch cost me"

Look at your average win and your average loss amounts. Then look at your strike rate. Long term if you're really pretty good, trading the ladders manually, most people would be happy with a 70%sr. Peter is probably 75%+.

So how would your avg win - avg loss look if you settled down to say a 60% strike rate?

[spreadbetting]

From what you say it looks like you've taken the right approach to trading and put the effort in to build the right foundations. Some people just naturally 'get' trading whereas others will plod on for years making up excuses as to why they're losing.

Just stick at what you're doing and ride out that 'beginner's luck', people love to overcomplicate trading don't fall into that trap when what you're doing is already working.

[ruthlessimon]

it looks like you've taken the right approach to trading

You're advocating backtesting via videos are you?

I went down that route; but I aint enough of masochist any more!!

[ruthlessimon]

In all seriousness though I do recommend using vids for idea generation only - to then be tested/manipulated/optimised on a dataset.

Paramount for accuracy, as well as sanity!

[ShaunWhite]

In all seriousness though I do recommend using vids for idea generation only - to then be....

... given a little rinse in the live market with a few quid if you don't have the data or the skills to analyse the data. Remember if you don't have a background or keen interest in analysis, then excel can give you false hope just as easily as disproving anything.

[spreadbetting]

it looks like you've taken the right approach to trading

You're advocating backtesting via videos are you?

I went down that route; but I aint enough of masochist any more!!

Can't think of anything worse than watching old videos , I was simply saying it looks like he's put in the ground work first by watching Peter and caans videos to understand why markets move, being selective and seems to be cutting his losses short/letting profits run. Beginner's luck is a rarity in trading , certainly to last a couple of months.

Trading really isn't too hard there's no need for him to spend years if he gets the basics right from the off. There's so much good info out there these days for free I sometimes wonder how people still fail

[ShaunWhite]

There's so much good info out there these days for free I sometimes wonder how people still fail

Maybe because so many people aren't prepared to digest all that info. Luckily for those who make the effort, there aren't enough people in the lazy entitled western world who can be bothered to do that graft, so it's still a reasonably fertile pasture for those that do.

But tbf there's lots of reasons people quit before they succeed (aka fail), and it's not always their fault. If you work 50hrs a week and come home to nothing but mayhem, stress and you don't have the spare money to invest in a big enough bank or sky tv and other subscriptions, you're going to be on the back foot.

If you've already carved out a reasonably comfortable life, or you're young enough that your mum still makes your dinner, you definitely stand a much better chance.

[ruthlessimon]

Maybe because so many people aren't prepared to digest all that info.

This.

I think most people know exactly what they need (to give themselves a good chance), but taking that step to do it, immediately cuts out at least 50% of all participants.

I remember this being one of my very first videos; & it was the reason I demoed BA, all that time ago: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGnX7-Wtp54

It then probably took me 1yr to get one for my own needs - 1yr wasted, imo.