My Journey, day by day

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ruthlessimon
Posts: 2094
Joined: Wed Mar 23, 2016 3:54 pm

Sorry to hear about the health issues, but they do bring up an interesting point.

The callousness (& fairness) of markets

A guy could put in over 100,000hrs learning to trade - blow his marriage - blow his house - (literally have nothing to show for the effort) & the market doesn't give a toss! That's something incredibly difficult to deal with psychologically - knowing it could all be for nothing/worse.
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Derek27
Posts: 23468
Joined: Wed Aug 30, 2017 11:44 am
Location: UK

Original-Soultrader wrote:
Wed Feb 28, 2018 11:41 am
PS - If you had a 100k account - would you be tempted to fuck with the market and just have some fun? It seems to be that it would be easy to manipulate this thing - of course getting out would be the problem but i do hear a lot of talk about the 'manipulators' - i have the funds to do that so it could be fun! - discuss.
It all depends on how one acquired the 100K!

Most strategies work to small stakes and if successful can get scaled up. You have to be very careful about adopting a strategy that requires big money from the outset, without the opportunity to test it. It may have worked well in the early days of the exchange but these days a £5K order can be taken in one go by a genuine gambler or trader.
Halliday
Posts: 460
Joined: Sun Jun 12, 2016 3:40 pm

"this will be hugely entertaining for you to watch me blow up, all the neggies in here can laugh and say to themselves "knew this was going to happen" and feel all smug"

There might be a few like that and posting p/l is always a divisive issue. I personally don't see the need for it, especially when so many screenshots aren't genuine( and there's been a lot on here ) , and are taken with a pinch of salt by most

And it does put pressure on your trading ( maybe not in your case) , but I'd seriously think about not doing it, especially in your case as you say it's not about the money and you don't want to put the graft in. So your p/l ain't going to be motivation to others

And to many it will just seem to be case if " look at me " aren't I clever " ..your posts are interesting enough without p/l and as I say no need for it... especially in your case as your constantly telling us how sucessful you are and how you could put 100k in to manipulate the markets etc ..


I personally just like people to enjoy their trading and hopefully see it as a means to enjoying life .. rather than it be all consuming and taking over their life
Last edited by Halliday on Wed Feb 28, 2018 12:59 pm, edited 1 time in total.
spreadbetting
Posts: 3140
Joined: Sun Jan 31, 2010 8:06 pm

Original-Soultrader wrote:
Tue Feb 27, 2018 8:56 pm


Hi spreadbetting (something ive done a lot!)

I chose the nags for the sheer number of opportunities and the liquidity.

I love snooker, even have a table in the garage, i did trade a match in play last week and made a tenner but found that trading it took the enjoyment of watching the match away.

Ive found so many times in life that when you turn a passion into a business opportunity that you stop enjoying the thing you were passionate about. I dont need the money so simply refuse to do it anymore with things i enjoy as the base.

If i find that i have to be glued to a racing screen and have to study form on a rolling basis to make this work then i can assure you that i wont be around for long. Experience tells me that life is too short for that shit. No one sits on their death bed saying "if only i knew more about the horses"

This is just a challenge for me. I dont need an income, i just enjoy the tussle.

Re: the nags, markets don't equal opportunities and as long as the market has enough liquidity to close you'll be fine. Might be a problem if you're playing the dogs but football,tennis, cricket etc are around the clock and each market will throw up hundreds of opportunities and plenty of available liquidity.

I'd agree life's too short to study form as it's certainly not needed to trade sucessfully if anything it was a hinderance for me as it can make you overestimate a runners chances causing you to hold onto positions far too long. I take my hat off to anyone who can make it pay by gambling on their form choices certainly know I couldn't.

I know you'll see this as not being CONSTRUCTIVE i.e. not the advice you want to hear, but I think you're doomed to fail with the attitude you're approaching the markets with. You're continually telling us you don't need the money after selling over $4M in t-shirts (not sure that'd be one of the bggest sellers in the US, tbh) and how successful you are. I just don't think you seem to have the same hunger for this especially after a big operation and the need to acheive just isn't there.

I used to be in a decent paying job before going full time and large losses made no difference to me, it was only when I needed to earn money thru trading that I put in the effort required to win. Good luck with it but like you said earlier, life's too short, I think if I was in your position I'd have a lot better things to do with my time and money than learn to trade the nags
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ShaunWhite
Posts: 9731
Joined: Sat Sep 03, 2016 3:42 am

Original-Soultrader wrote:
Wed Feb 28, 2018 12:20 pm
Why didn't you ever use the systems you devised yourself?
Because frankly the whole world of financials and the people involved in it bores me to tears. I was on more than enough money without making my life even more dull. I 'retired' at 48, as you say, life's too short to do things you don't enjoy. Working hard for the first 50% and busking the rest was always the plan.

If you don't need the money maybe you should spend the time learning something useful?
Halliday
Posts: 460
Joined: Sun Jun 12, 2016 3:40 pm

PS - If you had a 100k account - would you be tempted to fuck with the market and just have some fun? It seems to be that it would be easy to manipulate this thing - of course getting out would be the problem but i do hear a lot of talk about the 'manipulators' - i have the funds to do that so it could be fun! - discusS"

And one other piece of advice related to what I said in my last post...

No matter how sucessful you've been in whatever walk of life .. it doesn't always pay to talk too much about it

Especially when there are people trying to succeed at trading , with a lot less money than you , and who put hours and hours each day into it to be a success

So try to be humble., and think of others .. it's a much nicer approach to life .really it is !!

And no one is really interested about how much money you've made in the past .. well are they ?

And I agree with Shaun that surely you could find somethng more useful to do if you don't need the money
Trader Pat
Posts: 4327
Joined: Tue Oct 25, 2016 12:50 pm

Original-Soultrader wrote:
Wed Feb 28, 2018 11:41 am


PS - If you had a 100k account - would you be tempted to fuck with the market and just have some fun? It seems to be that it would be easy to manipulate this thing - of course getting out would be the problem but i do hear a lot of talk about the 'manipulators' - i have the funds to do that so it could be fun! - discuss.
The problem with that approach is you would be spotted very quickly and watched for a while, then somebody with a 200k account would come along and wipe out your positions :)

Great thread though and a very interesting read but can I ask Soultrader if you dont want to spend hours in front of the PC why don't you automate your trading? You seem to have a fixed set of criteria for entry and exit so it should be simple to automate.

And lastly you say you have been a very succesful Forex trader but the market conditions changed. Would it not be easier for you to start over in Forex and find a new strategy rather than to learn a completely new disclipline for a lot less scalability? I think a lot of sports traders someday hope to build enough of a bank to then go and take on Forex, futures etc...

Good luck in your journey
Original-Soultrader
Posts: 67
Joined: Mon Mar 27, 2017 12:19 am

ruthlessimon wrote:
Wed Feb 28, 2018 12:35 pm
Sorry to hear about the health issues, but they do bring up an interesting point.

The callousness (& fairness) of markets

A guy could put in over 100,000hrs learning to trade - blow his marriage - blow his house - (literally have nothing to show for the effort) & the market doesn't give a toss! That's something incredibly difficult to deal with psychologically - knowing it could all be for nothing/worse.
yep, similar thing in life - in my case i've had the operations, more to come, and it could be pointless. Well, it WILL be pointless, we all die right?

Luckily in my case the treatment is curative and they are confident they have got it all out - so i'm cancer free right now (for the second time, neither were related to each other)

Everything in life is a gamble which is why i don't take this seriously, in fact i take very little seriously anymore. If you had been where i have then you would understand. in truth we go through our lives paying lots of attention to things that don't matter - rich or poor we all have a similar sized coffin.

I know that my flippant attitude to this will annoy some on here - I know that you guys put in SO much work to understand the markets and try to make your money. I know this because i was that guy in forex, there was very little that i did not study. I have been in your shoes.

Truth is none of it matters. you need enough money to be debt free, live comfortably and have a few holidays. and truth be known most of what i studied didn't help in the slightest.

"easy for you to say" i'm sure will be a thought - at 50 yrs old I had like £5k left in the bank, at 52 close to a million, at 54 cancer - go figure what the price was for the success. you cant sweat and work every waking hour without a price. the price for my trading success was coelliac disease, (a known fact it is bought on by stress and a 'traumatic event - that's another conversation) the price for my radio success was vocal cancer, the price for t-shirts is what I have now (or had). 16 hours a day - 7 days a week is what i put in on t-shirts. The internet doesn't sleep. If you were on facebook in 2014 and saw an ad for a t-shirt then chances are that was me or one of my colleagues. My thoughts were that every year of that 16 hour days gave me 10 years off.

I ain't paying anymore. I'm no longer stressing over anything. My advice to anyone young would be go for it, make your money, pay the price - then enjoy your life. Letting go was the hardest thing - you reach success and then what? you're in a kind of limbo. success is the journey, not the destination. The destination is actually pretty boring after a strong rise.

Just noticed some new replies - why am i doing this? gotta do something. can't just sit there watching daytime tv whilst i recover (unless it's snooker)

regards learning something useful Shaun - isn't that what i'm doing? It's hard to think of 'something useful' when you are reminded daily of your mortality. I'm just having some fun - let me do that without having to take it serious.

Anyway, Ronnie O'Sullivan about to cue off - get onto Eurosport and watch some class :)
Halliday
Posts: 460
Joined: Sun Jun 12, 2016 3:40 pm

Original-Soultrader wrote:
Wed Feb 28, 2018 1:17 pm
ruthlessimon wrote:
Wed Feb 28, 2018 12:35 pm
Sorry to hear about the health issues, but they do bring up an interesting point.

The callousness (& fairness) of markets

A guy could put in over 100,000hrs learning to trade - blow his marriage - blow his house - (literally have nothing to show for the effort) & the market doesn't give a toss! That's something incredibly difficult to deal with psychologically - knowing it could all be for nothing/worse.
yep, similar thing in life - in my case i've had the operations, more to come, and it could be pointless. Well, it WILL be pointless, we all die right?

Luckily in my case the treatment is curative and they are confident they have got it all out - so i'm cancer free right now (for the second time, neither were related to each other)

Everything in life is a gamble which is why i don't take this seriously, in fact i take very little seriously anymore. If you had been where i have then you would understand. in truth we go through our lives paying lots of attention to things that don't matter - rich or poor we all have a similar sized coffin.

I know that my flippant attitude to this will annoy some on here - I know that you guys put in SO much work to understand the markets and try to make your money. I know this because i was that guy in forex, there was very little that i did not study. I have been in your shoes.

Truth is none of it matters. you need enough money to be debt free, live comfortably and have a few holidays. and truth be known most of what i studied didn't help in the slightest.

"easy for you to say" i'm sure will be a thought - at 50 yrs old I had like £5k left in the bank, at 52 close to a million, at 54 cancer - go figure what the price was for the success. you cant sweat and work every waking hour without a price. the price for my trading success was coelliac disease, (a known fact it is bought on by stress and a 'traumatic event - that's another conversation) the price for my radio success was vocal cancer, the price for t-shirts is what I have now (or had). 16 hours a day - 7 days a week is what i put in on t-shirts. The internet doesn't sleep. If you were on facebook in 2014 and saw an ad for a t-shirt then chances are that was me or one of my colleagues. My thoughts were that every year of that 16 hour days gave me 10 years off.

I ain't paying anymore. I'm no longer stressing over anything. My advice to anyone young would be go for it, make your money, pay the price - then enjoy your life. Letting go was the hardest thing - you reach success and then what? you're in a kind of limbo. success is the journey, not the destination. The destination is actually pretty boring after a strong rise.

Just noticed some new replies - why am i doing this? gotta do something. can't just sit there watching daytime tv whilst i recover (unless it's snooker)

regards learning something useful Shaun - isn't that what i'm doing? It's hard to think of 'something useful' when you are reminded daily of your mortality. I'm just having some fun - let me do that without having to take it serious.

Anyway, Ronnie O'Sullivan about to cue off - get onto Eurosport and watch some class :)


Let's have a bit more of your trading journey as in your original post.. tone of the posts and content seem to be changing


And Be Humble . Every recent post seems to include how much money you've made .. were not interested stick to your £500 bank and your trading journey .. please !!
Original-Soultrader
Posts: 67
Joined: Mon Mar 27, 2017 12:19 am

Halliday and everyone, you all raise good points. I didn't want to sound like i was arrogant and bragging about what i've done - my journey was a hard one like most people and i guess i do feel the need to validate myself a fair bit when challenged.

Someone said they were looking at forex - well if you want to see a manipulated market then there is nothing else that is as manipulated as forex. I wouldn't recommend that anyone go into forex. back in 2005 IG Index took me for a slap up lunch to interrogate me on why i won - they thought i could manipulate the spread or something. anyway, in that lunchtime and with wine flowing they told me at 99.5% of their punters lost money. hardly anyone won consistently month after month.

I'm clearly not 'so clever' because i know nothing about this as is evident in my posts; and I don't want to piss anyone off so if i can i think i'll delete this post and just have a go at trading without the diary. Imay still ask some questions in the newbies thread tho if you will oblige me with answers.
Original-Soultrader
Posts: 67
Joined: Mon Mar 27, 2017 12:19 am

can't find out how to delete - can an admin do it please?
spreadbetting
Posts: 3140
Joined: Sun Jan 31, 2010 8:06 pm

No need to go overboard and start deleting things because people haven't agreed with you. But there's probably no need to try and validate yourself thru thing like t-shirts, forex etc because they're of no relevance to where you're at with your trading and success in other areas won't necessarily translate to exchange trading. I'd be very surprised if you've pissed anyone off, it's only a forum, be a bit dull if everyone agreed so no worries there most of us have thick skin.

If you want to carry on the trading diary keep at it, there's plenty of people on here willing to help but maybe cut back a little on the tales of IG lunches and being in the top 0.5%.
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LeTiss
Posts: 5386
Joined: Fri May 08, 2009 6:04 pm

Original-Soultrader wrote:
Wed Feb 28, 2018 1:32 pm
can't find out how to delete - can an admin do it please?
:lol: That went well

Keep going fella, but like I said earlier, this needs working at
Halliday
Posts: 460
Joined: Sun Jun 12, 2016 3:40 pm

Original-Soultrader wrote:
Wed Feb 28, 2018 1:32 pm
can't find out how to delete - can an admin do it please?


Just stop all the boasting .. like another poster said it's not relevant ... but posting your " journey " on here or any other message board isn't usually the best thing to do. And hardly something someone like you probably needs to do

Just ask your questions and do your trading ... and be humble if that's possible

The IG Index lunch reference was not required .. was it ? .. talk about name dropping !!
Original-Soultrader
Posts: 67
Joined: Mon Mar 27, 2017 12:19 am

fair enough, cant delete - line in the sand drawn, apologies.

Today with very few races on the card im concentrating on one thing - Shaun mentioned my avg loss / avg win etc and he's so right. let the winners run, cut the losers - age old advice. that's my focus now. I wont be going for the 1 or 2 ticks anymore and will be looking to cut the losers reasonably fast and let the winners run.

I also noticed that i was often placing back bets at crossover points. i've watched a few videos of this and note that most of them concentrate on laying at the points but it always seems to be when the price is falling to an xover rather than when price is rising to an xover. I saw this happen on the last race, price fell to 3.85 and did a reverse for a quick five tick trade.

couple of questions:

1) is it more effective to lay when at an xover regardless of the prior direction?

2) is there a way to stop betangel switching to the one click screen just after the five minute warning? is there a setting somewhere? cos it's really annoying!
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