[torero]

We sure miss feb! Hope he comes back.

If you really love the market, you're willing to do it for free? I paper traded for a year without thinking if I was going to make money. My only idea was to understand the market and eventually with luck and readiness I can start trading for real. Money should not be part of the equation, it's an afterthought. If you think about it before, during, and after the trade, you're off to a wrong start. Believe it or not, it's not about the money. It's the whole irony that makes most of us lose in the markets. If your surgeon think about how much he's going to make on your operation and not about saving your life, you'd think twice right?

Take some rest and see if this is what you really want to do, write down 2 columns with pros and cons, and see if it's what you really want to do, even if it's for free. If you do decide to go for it, think of it as an internship, no pay, just learn the ropes until you're ready to be hired as a fulltime employee.

The other thing is a couple of months is very little. Took me a few years to break even. Lots to learn, relearn, develop, redevelop, define, refine, repeat, etc. All these takes time.

Good luck.

[redlew]

Newtrader,
Some good advice from the others here. I would add that my trading improved a lot when I came to the realization that I was looking at indicators because I wanted to be told what to do. When this line does this, then I should do that. The problem there is that all those lines are generated from the past price action and really just tell you what you should have done, not what you should do now. A trader is just one auctioneer amongst many other auctioneers, and all are in a two way auction. So your job is to try to find what value is in the market you are trading. In other words does the price want to go up or down? And then try to position yourself accordingly. I got away from all the high powered computing and started to study the people who first figured out what really constitutes a market. Take a look at the old guys. Richard Wyckoff is my favorite.

[torero]

Agreed redlew. Those old guys are the real gurus of the market! Why? Even if they're not around anymore their books are still selling. It only validates their methods, and they are still valid in today's markets and that says alot without marketing machines.

[Soultrader]

I agree. They are the original market thinkers. Every methodology that you learn today is just a altered version of the old timers. Humprehy Neill is one of my favorite teachers... these guys used simple methods and made a killing in the markets. Which is why I like to keep my trading simple as well.

Grab the entire Frasher Publishing collection... its pure classics.

[Reaver]

It's just like in the military, when you are trained, you are trained using very simple methodologies. In close quarters combat for instance, what you learn is basically to strike a target such as the nose throat or groin instead of some fancy spin kick cartwheel maneuver. Why? Because when the {crap} hits the fan, you have to be able to react and not let your mind get delayed from thinking what to do. -Slow is smooth, smooth is fast- Everything is has to be as hardwired as possible, meaning keep movement efficient and smooth and not too fancy (unless you're on a movie set). I think the same thing applies in trading. You don't want to have to reference 30 indicators or try to pick apart 20 different fibonacci lines,etc You may get confused, even if you know what you're doing...sometimes you have what we used to call a brain fart, or experience what Marty Scwartz used to call "The Sunspot Factor" which means you willjust completely do something irrational even though you otherwise wouldn't have.

[dementyia]

Wow, just wow.

I think this is the thread I've been looking for. Simply amazing!

I'd say I'm ready to open this up and see how it really works now. *grin*