What Made You Profitable?

[Stockaddict]

Is there anything you did to change your trading 360 degrees? I am sure most of us has started by losing money.

What is it that you did in order to change from a losing trader to a profitable one?

I would love to read your comments.

[Soultrader]

Two things changed my life:

1. I designed proven setups and built a trading plan
2. I took all my indicators off

[MrPaul]

	Quote:	Soultrader
	Two things changed my life: 1. I designed proven setups and built a trading plan 2. I took all my indicators off

I would have to say that is exactly what I did also. I actually have my trading plan sitting next to me while I trade. I now only use indicators to look for divergence on daily charts in a swing trade.

[Soultrader]

Hello Paul,

Are you mainly a swing trader? I would like to ask what kind of stop you apply when swing trading. Do you base it on a fix amount of points/dollars, S&R levels, or do you exit through indicator signals?

I am a day trader and I use a fairly tight stop on every trade. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks

[wsam29]

I looked in the mirror, realized I was the problem.

Took a couple of years to find the answers to my (psychological) problems.

Found some concepts for entry rules that I could trade with, without having to sit there all day to wait for the signal. Exit rules are set for each market.

Did not rely heavily on technical indicators such as MACD, RSI, etc.

Kept my trading to a minimum, commissions alone will chew into your profits or add to your loses.

Once you know what you are doing, the desire to trade and to be "right" will dissipate. The desire to want to make money rather than pick the right trades will also dissipate. Missing a key trading day will not frustrate you.

Once you get into the mindset of knowing what you are going to do when the market does what it does is where you want to be at. Once you are there, the money will follow.

[TinGull]

About the same as Soul and Paul. Took off my indicators and used price as the main squeeze, and devised a trading plan that works for me. The other thing I did that was a HUGE help was finding a contract that worked with my personality to use a learning tool to overcome some psychological barriers, and now I'm feeling like I'm ready to take on some more challenges. Trading's all about the challenges and breakthroughs for me, almost more so than the money. I love learning and I love learning about myself. This is a great game to be in if you want to learn about yourself...quickly.

[Bfbusa]

	Quote:	wsam29
	Once you get into the mindset of knowing what you are going to do when the market does what it does is where you want to be at. Once you are there, the money will follow.

wsam29, that is one of the best statements I've read here or anywhere. This is what you call a " ah-ha" moment because it changes ones view of the market.

[brownsfan019]

Addict,
I think it's as simple as being confident in your setups and then consistently executing your trading plan.

It's very easy to say, but hard to achieve. To first get to the level where you can trade your setups w/o hesitation is not easy to do. Until you prove to yourself that your setups work, you'll always being wondering if you should just tweak it a little...

And then to build a trade management plan and executing it the same exact way each time is part 2. As I mentioned in my blackjack strategy thread, I believe you must execute your plan the same way each and every time.

[walterw]

My experience:


_ One good setup
_ Discipline
_ Enjoy Trading


then I fool around with my curiosity but really never trade all does experiments.... just for fun.

Trading has to be a pleasant experience, and having only ONE good setup can be a good start to make it pleasant... cheers Walter.

[torero]

I think it's not about just being profitable but being consistently profitable. Anyone can at any point in time be profitable. But at some crucial moments where the old bad habits and self-idolatry sets in that gets the best of us. The problem is the maintain the state of mind and trading plan that keeps in the path of consistency. I know of guilty of fallacy from time to time. Old habits are hard to break (30 yrs of conditioning vs 6 yrs of rehabilitation), it's precisely the reason to rebuild and rehabilitate ourselves into a new routine that becomes almost unconscious routine. Hard to do but it's where it needs to be to get there.