Vince50

Sadly. Very,Very sadly. Boxing and Trading have almost exactly similar mind sets.......and horribly, results. #1-Discipline is very important but paradoxically in the end it means nothing. Boxing just like trading is a zero sum game. Unlike normal professions that add to the world, for every dollar we win, someone has to lose a dollar. For every boxer that goes home to celebrate and has a bevvy of women waiting to please his every disire, the other man who lost is going home to put his face into a sink full of ice and maybe a stop by the liquor store for some anesthesia on the way home. The trader: Both traders stayed up all night analyzing charts, one lost his weeks pay, one made his weeks pay. Both boxers did every single thing their trainer told them to do,yet one is the winner the other no matter how much discipline, is not. In the end: This is very surreal, ephemeral and hard to decipher. But in the end, dont 95% of the great boxers(let alone the bad ones or the has beens!) wind up with brain damage, impairments of some kind, and a feeling of having no use after their career is done. Dont most winning traders live in isolation in one way or another, lose many happy times with their friends and maybe family, and when thier career is over, maybe they are not brain damaged, but what is left when you look back on your life and ask yourself, "What did I do in this world that made any difference? The answer is nothing. If you dont care,(and some traders dont) its easier to feel empty when you cant or wont trade anymore.At least the boxer can say he entertained people and brought smiles to peoples faces. But in the end..........money aside, dont they both die and are forgotten? So why do I want to trade you may ask? I have personal reasons. I want to use trading to give back. Very few people know how to do that. Warren Buffet waited till he was over 80 before he left his money to charity. Im still waiting to hear what good things occured or how the world is better for it. OUR FOREFATHERS OF TRADING! IS IT AN ACCIDENT THAT LIVERMORE, ELLIOT,GANN AND DOW NEVER LIVED TO AN OLD AGE? AND THAT ONE COMMITTED SUICIDE, ONE DIED OF ALCOHOLISM AND THE OTHER 2 DIED DEAD BROKE AND ALONE. ALL 4 WERE SICK MOST OF THEIR LIVES!

DB, Your statement cannot be argued with. It is fact. And that is what is very scary. We are a divided nation on this subject. Thats bad. But that so few are even willing to say, "I really dont know what would solve the problem but I need to do more research before I give my opinion all over the Internet is never spoken! You mean the answer is black and white. Its either ban guns or buy more of them? LOL Does this sound remotely right to any sane person? I hope not. I believe I know what we must start with. And that are things that might help,without having a war among ourselves politically and verbally over it. 1-YES! EVERY COUNTRY....................every country that limits the amount of violence movies can show,and Im betting money that the "awareness" of keeping violence to a semi-reasonable level is much more important to Swedish,Finnish and Denmark parents than us. Now more than ever. Do you know what fools this country looks like as the headlines of that school massacre make its way to those countries and they shake their head and go, "Do these Americans have to lose 60% of their children before they think about banning violence watching on TV And ion Video games before they catch on? Ok you guys say, this is all suppposition. Really? You know what is supposition? If the Euro is going to be up from where it is now by same time next year is supposition. But if you arent convinced by now that a kid watching an average 14,000 murders on TV alone by age 14 is not going to be much, much more prone to violence at some point ,that its just supposition I will do this. Seiously. I would gladly close my Forex account and quit trading forever if someone would let me put up my entire net worth AND my house on a bet that going the other silly extreme of having no violence on TV at all would not make murder and violent crimes go down within 2 years...............in a huge way! I would be willing to leave myself penniless on this "supposition" Now here is another question. 20 years ago we still had plenty of guns around. Why was this issue not even on most of our radar at that time. This discussion would bore most people at that time. Why? What has changed in 20 years to make so many more people irresponsible with weapons? Besides violent movies,TV and such? I think if we focus on that, the problem will fix itself! Shall we take a stab at it ,folks? We might even get lucky and have a big politician or journalist who trades and is on this thread that will hear us. Lets go for it. The floor is open! Remember ,we arent going to talk solutions,for now. Lets talk about what changed so much in 20 years, so we will only be dealing with facts! (smile) Anyone care to start it off?:haha:

Tams, Im just as confused myself. What chance would we all have against the Army of the United STATES if our govt ever became fascist or socialist and we didnt like it. However if you saw a 280lb animal attacking a woman or raping or intimidating another, yes there ARE many course of action you could take. Here is one given to me 30 yrs ago by a cop, "If someone pulls a knife on you....start to run away, if he chases you come to a dead stop, turn around and shoot him. If you have no weapon. Turn to your side and side kick him throwing all your weight into it and break his knee cap. If he doesnt chase you, nothing to worry about."

Mouse, What does this thread make you realize. It makes me reflect on the Gun fanatics position of extreme polarity, and how the human mind is so apt to do this. On ANY subjecut. I am stunned to say that here on a trading form, the most "level-headed" comments are being presented on this subkect than on any other forun Ive seen. It goes to show that many of us should be in politics and not trading, doing something about these matters rather than watching charts. It is a beautiful thing to see people having a calm discussion over matters of life and death. Let me take both sides in a nutshell" 1-CON: Now about the gun argument vs abortion,cars and other things that kill. That is the most imbicilic argument I ever heard of. We cannot live without cars anymore. 3/4 of the country could not get to work. That alone justifies the automobile. But yet, isnt there an argument that DOES hold water about cars......BUYING MORE CAR THAN YOU NEED! Dont sane, caring environmentalists tell us we can get off Arab oil dependence if we trade in our SUV'S and gas guzzling cars? And so wouldnt that equate to a compromise that one gun can be allowed in every family home.But it must stay home in the house as yes, police cant help you if a break in by a gang of thugs occurs ion your home. So maybe then its justified. We CAN compromise. Oh, and the gun must be gig enough so it cannot be CONCEALED! (that alone will stop hundred of murders,probably 50% of all murders per yr by gun.) 2- PRO: "Taken from a sign on the wall at my local gun shop. "It takes seconds for someone to break into your home." And dont worry....the police will be there in just minutes!" This is true, Over 85% of police calls,the police arrive to either clean up the mess or take the report. They do not do any PREVENTION AT ALL!*** **** This statisitic backs the argument that guns should be allowed in the home. And even then with restrictions. No felons, people with history of violence and for Gods sake, noone who has had a restraining order against them or has proven to police they are not emotionally stable should be alllowed to own guns let alone get a concealed carry permit which the only requirement is a 2 hour class and to have no criminal record. OH......MY.....GOD! Is this the best selection proces American lawmakers could come up with? no! no! no! Which then lead us to another rediculous NRA statement: "Guns dont kill .people do." My mother died in a car crash 2 years ago because she couldnt see the tree on the meridian on a darkly lit street. I dont blame the tree! But if there was a gang shootout at that same place and as my mother drove by she was killed by a stray bullet, yes I would blame the gun, the person who fired it, and the NRA for letting that youth/thug/criminal from getting his hand on it. In New York, where carrying a gun is an automatic 1 yr minimum prison sentence, Id like to see stats on that. What if we went a step further and really ENFORCED a law that said any person with a criminal record carrying a gun will get 10 yrs to life depending on what thier previous record is.If they were convicted of any violent crime its life in prison. You bet it would deter at least 40% of criminals from carrying. Im still dying to know how England can enforce their no gun policy law.

Tams, I thought it was long, long before 1996 since policemen didnt carry guns ever since I was born. And Im around over 50 years. This IS wonderful, but how did they enforce it? It could only stop the hunters and sportsmen. The criminals would still carry guns on the sly,no? And whatever they did use to enforce this ban, why hasnt the US even suggested this, why havent all the anti-gun lobbyists mentioned how England did it? Id love to know this! Great post. I need to look up how many shooting deaths in England occur each year.

OK, I think I managed thru snagit, to send the file. If not I will try Jing as you suggested thanx 12-22-2012 6-43-34 PM.pdf

Jack, if that really is your name which I doubt,(smile) the answer to your question is much longer and more complex than you could ever imagine. But for now I wilkl answer your question with a question. Far riskier than trading, is asking a very desirable woman that you dont know to go out with you. It is also much more embarrasing and your risk is right in public,so sometimes many people get to see if you"win your trade." Yes? So then my question to you is: Why do almost all men keep asking women out when there is so much risk to it? And unlike trading where you can control your losses you cannot control your loss if a woman says no. So I will ask you again, why do almost all men not even think about giving up the risk of women? Because Jack, the risk goes much deeper. If you are very,very lucky and she says yes. Now there is the risk that she is not using you for something, the risk she will fall in love with you but you will not love her, and worse, you will fall in love with her and she will not love you back. The risk she is broke and will use you to pay her bills and pretend she loves you, the risk of her cheating on you, the risk of her becoming boring, the risk she has a disease that can kill you, the risk she has a big brother or father that "wants" to kill you, etc, LOL So there are so,so many risks in just that Jack. Yet most men who are still single at age 35 have either had several girlfriends or have asked out dozens or even hundreds of women. Why....if the risk is so great? In fact Jack, the reward may not be greater than the risk, and unlike trading you cant have a target and a stop loss with your feelings. So explain that one,please, Jack?

I took a free trial of snag it just to try to get a sample/example page to you. I tried" save as" straight from the page but it wouldnt let me save it to pictures or documents.maybe its a "chrome" thing. Anyway I hope I sent the right attacment. There should be 3 ads on this page. Thank you for your attention to this matter. PS- Uh oh, I went to preview this before sending and after going from "manage attachments" and then attaching it, I dont see it attached to my post in the preview. I dont have this problem on other forums. I must be doing something wrong. Sorry I will keep trying if I have to.

Thanks, I will try but I dont have snagit on my computer anymore which was the only way I leaned how to do a screenshot unless it was from my charts. What is the easiest way for me to take a screenshot in your opinion. And yes as I was reading your reply there was an ad for Vanguard IRA's stuck on my page with no x to click it off as all of them seem to have.

NO, NO. No scam. This was a legit newsletter I subscribed to that tracked the inside buying of stocks and who did well and who did not. Yes I know the garbage newsletters you refer to. Im an ex-stock broker, They are what is called "pump and dump" scams. I never got involved with that nonsense,thank God.

Ingot, you have a very good point. I pray that you are right. This country will cease to exist as we know her if you are not. Case in point: 40 or 50 years ago an entire country of people started to really develop their hopes for a truly better life for the first time in their history. After all, they sat next to the richest country in the world. How could they possibly not benefit. They could either buy or sell to us in ways undreamed of in their forfathers day. And the best thing yet was they had modern police now, with police cars and radio communication even! My God, no more banditos. The govt will finally have theresources to protect them. life is looking preeeeeeety goooooood,senor!!! But because most people have no vision and make no plans for catastrophic events,(No Im not talking about U.S. citizens...the most savvy consumers in the world....am I? This countries people could not possibly imagine that in 3 or 4 years after the death of Columbias biggest drug lord, the entire balance of power,freedom,rights and wealth would be transferred almost instantly. In what seems like one day, a group of very shrewd criminals took over the entire country with bribes from drug money so they can get more money to sell more drugs to get more money to sell more drugs....to get more money to buy US political apathy??????????????? (Looks that way to me,but Im just a poor trader) So these hard working people, and I am talking about our Mexican neighbors who make what we think is a hard day of work, to them thats a vacation. They didnt know guns would suddenly be needed. And #2-they didnt know that 2 or 3 groups of people fighting over turf,would take alllllllllll of them. That would be just a bad dream 10 yrs ago. After all, they not only had their own police, they had the mighty United States literally next door to them. They would never let this happen. My point Ingot, is that if something so horrifying (we haven't begun to see how much....yet!) could happen in almost a blink of an eye, and if the working man in Mexico wasn't suddenly made into a frightened,poor,desperate being after all the years of work they put in without complaint for "affirmative action" we go and throw NAFTA on them to totally make it almost impossible to survive as an honest working man. All employment opportunity was/is now for the thug,the desperado, the lawless. So my point Ingot is that if it could happen to them, and we were supposed to be watching over our neighbor,its what people do for each other, isnt it? They now have been abandoned by their own govt, their police, our govt and our citizens who have no idea how to help them. I'm simply saying Ingot, as they took the JEWS away in railway cars.........still they werent worried. "This cant happen here!" was the cry of apathy for the day. Well it can and it did. And if history has taught us anything, it is that the older the world gets and the bigger it grows,on one hand, the faster it atrophies and falls apart. Put it in a traders prospective. Lets call what I suspect may happen, the black swan event of the century:Partial loss of control of certain pockets of the country. Did any trader ever think they would live to see a "flash crash" where the stock market swung 1000 points in almost the blink of an eye?" That was a ten million to one event. But it happened. Know why? Because if in trading there are 10 million different black swan events that could happen...one of them definitely will! So we as a Nation can expect a black swan event. My prayer is it can be dealt with, with least loss of life. So I am very hopeful you are right,Ingot and I should just relax. But.....I am in light of the insane events I just mentioned, I am very fearful if should you be wrong. Ingot, think of we traders as Mexican farmers. We toil all day tilling the soil(we pour over charts and books and log in thousands of hours of screen time) so we can reap a benefit. That is until one day, if you cant picture it I certainly can,where Prez Obama is saying on TV, after 30 or 40 gang members with military firepower decimate a small town in Virginia somewhere, I can here him saying..."What I need for everyone to do is to stay calm. Dont go running out and buying weapons. If you live near the Staunton Virginia area, please just remain inside, the national guard is on its way. You have my pledge, you have my pledge, you have my pledge......" and suddenly traders are getting too nervous by news events to trade. I have had it happen to me already where I woke u pin a good mood,booted up my computer and then read that pirates killed an entire crew of sailors to steal the cargo. Or (true story) they found the remains of 77 men,women and children buried in a huge pit in LAREDO ,TX. I as a humane trader, have taken days off out of respect for both the victims and my own sanity, because to just pretend it didnt happen like 98% of us must do to get thru our day, is not the stuff I am personally made of. So....... And as we are hearing "You have my pledge" in the back of Obamas mind is "They" better find out who sold us out, who got those files, who killed those ATF men." as he smiles and waves. Ingot I am not worried you might be wrong, I am worried I might already be too late to do anything gun or not...if you are! And while I appreciate you wanting me not to get excited, and Im not quite there yet or I wouldnt be here....LOL............When I think of all the mothers,thousands and thousands who come home to an empty house, because their husband is in prison for murder and their cute little boy with those adorable doe eyes was killed by 15 yr old "gangstas" for no reason at all. Can we tell them, not to get too excited. For maaaaaany poor souls here on US soil, the war has begun, and we lost it already. Traders are just human beings....,but to think in these times we will find that perfect system and just tune out the world in some villa in the Caribbean once was realistic. I dont think it is anymore. But I will be damned if I dont have as much joy and excitement from this great profession we call trading as I can. A drink for all my trader friends,tonight. I'm buying! :haha:

Why are we now seeing not one but 2 ads covering 2 posts on each thread so we cant read them?

I agree with Dith, here. If my normal bedtime when I was trading stocks or had a different type job was lets say midnight, how am I supposed to go to sleep at midnight knowing that in just 2 hrs, all hell could bust loose. Usually 3am but they make many a sleep deprived trader miss out by moving the mkts at 1 or 1:30am these past few weeks and its all over till NY buy 3am!!! So yeah, we have that now to contend with as well. The "high volume" times are not as clearly in boxes as they used to be. Plus, its not just missing the trade that keesp us awake. Here is what we dont talk about boys. Drum roll, please...................................... Ok, some of us have trained ourselves to go into almost a meditative state when the mkt isnt moving,so we get to constantly reflect on our trading plan or someone elses you just saw on this form, or even getting out of this crazy business altogether. We may not always have something to trade, but we always have something to be thinking about, or in OUR case ,something to analyze. And so now if you get thru the London session, its now 7am or so and its totally dead. But whats this!!!!!? The sun is coming up, birds are chirping, the news from all over the world is streaming. Plus the action for NY starts at 8 or 8:30am. Do we really want to miss that? I personally have no idea how anyone could hold down a full time job and also trade forex. I couldn't do it and would have a heart attack from the stress and sleep deprivation. All of thos sweet, polite, charming men who were interviewed by Jack Schwager in Market Wizards. So composed, so in control. Yeah...right! Catch them on friday morning at 10:30am when they now have almost zero chance if im forex to get even for the week, and they have been living on coffee and determination. Oh yeah,thats another thing. Would anyone here agree with me and say that the average trader probably drinks a lot more coffee than the regular working person out there? Heck, you can develop permanant sleep disorders just from caffeine manipulating your circadian sleep cycles long enough!!!! But cant you just set it and forget it as the swing traders do, we keep hearing? Sure.....try it for a few days. Let me know how much Valium you needed. LOL

Point well made! Had I just played around with trading for 2-3 yrs it would be easierr to do what you say. But, I havent got a lot to lose at this point, and all my experience I wont let go for naught. I may not have learned exactly what TO do, byut I have leaned exactly what NOT to do. Sort of Like Edison making his 10,000 mistakes and knowing 10,000 things not to do. Life has a way of sorting itself out. Thank you,though. Youve been a big help. I've got just a few things left to try and then there is nothing to do but......???????? When its no longer enjoyable, thats definitely the time to quit. peace

James , if you were hungry and hadnt eaten in 4 days, wouldnt it be foolish to go back to trading without "filling the tank up first?" Well some of us started training without ever "filling our tank back up" in many ways. For me it was an unresolved relationship. For others they need tpo lose 20 pounds to feel good about themselves. Some people just have too much baggage and shouldnt have been trading in the first place but cheated their way thru and thought they fooled everyone ,especially themselves but it came back to haunt you. Sometimes you have no choice but to stop until you wake up and get that "ahh haaaa, its time again" moment. One poster said you wouldnt do that if we worked for someone else, well...most traders(not all) especially want to trade so we dont have to ANSWER to anyone else. Exactly!

Milica, I really like your outline. But....some of us cant work and also trade. So when #10 in your guidelines comes up where you fail and say to yourself "Oh well, its just another one. I will try again." What do you do when you calculate in your head as I am doing right now, that you have gone thru over 1/2 of your lifesavings, not in trading, but for the last 3 years of paper trading, honing your skills as you traded live many times before and want to be sure this time. What happens when you wake up one day and go...I have 1 year to figure this out or I will not be able to eat "and" have a trading account at the same time. What can you possibly do to not let that pressure get to you. If you choose to take a break or take off and just work when you dont want to at all, it could ruin you as a trader. It almost ruined me,one time. I remember seeing a documentary on people in prison and how after a certain amount of years, these people cant they absolutely can "never" come out and live a normal crime free life again because they wouldnt know how to adjust to it. As some prisoners confessed..."At least here we know what to expect every day. I never had that feeling of belonging outside as I do in here. So..I will probably do something stupid to get myself right back in here." I think of myself. How I spent the last 4 years sitting in front of moving charts till 5 or 6am trading spot Forex and being able to sleep as late as I want to recover my sanity, I could never trade properly on just a few hours sleep a night as some lucky people can. So I know I have to come up with something soon ,because if I have to go back to work atmy middle age, I may lose the feeling for trading and get "too used to doing things another way" as a convict might say.. Then what?

I with Cooter here. If you need to jump start anything to get back into trading, its a sign something is very wrong. Maybe there are issues outside of trading that need taking care of first. I find when you are NOT trading, thats when you can trust your gut. Like right now, its friday at 6pm. I traded one of the longest weeks I ever had, staying up trading forex till 5 or 6am every day of the week. And now I am pissed I have to stop for 2 days. When Im dead I will have plenty of time to rest. Yet with my other hobby,martial arts, Im always happy on days there is no class. Hmmmmm......... I remember feeling like you did,and I promised myself I wouldnt trade until I felt like it naturally. Six months went by and still I didnt want to trade. So I pushed myself to paper trade and read books on trading. I accomplished nothing. My heart wasnt in it. Then my mother died. I was out of trading for 2 years. Yes I went thru half my life savings. But now I am like a man on fire. I want to trade 8 days a week.

I cant believe in my poll, not one person will admit that their back hurts after sitting in a chair all day? I should have checked that one off myself. Plus when you have a really bad day where you lost every trade, AND all the trades you held overnight went south...tell me you dont feel like you turned into an old man in one day? But no one checked that box. LOL I guess you guys are all triathlon athletes here then, or body builders. -)

I used to feel like smashing stuff when I would have the kind of losing day where everything I did was wrong, and...I had a bad day the day before too. As long as nothing happens to even dent my certainty I can make a living at this, Im ok. Now if I have 2 or 3 losing days in arow and I know I did everything right, I take a sleeping pill to get to the next day and get a fresh start. Day over! So what do you do now to get out of that wanting to smash stuff mode when you feel it coming on? Is there like one activity you can always turn to? I think most successful pro's DO have that one escape and the money they make is secondary to how they know how to stay in "state". Like for example Linda Raschke rides horses in the morning before she even trades. Thats pretty sweet, hah? My opinion after 15 years of trading and reading and observing other traders is that, if the trader has a good relationship and has several hobbies he can always pick one out of the bag to shut off his computer and go do. But if a trader is not in a good relationship or marriage, doesnt really like where he lives, then wow.....when you have a losing day, all 3 things come crashing down on your head! And you have no release valve. When I was in the Navy, yuh know what happened when we couldnt unclog the release valve in the boiler/engine room. Evacuate the ship! But how can you evacuate yourself? Its hard. I do it with a sleeping pill. But thats not a cure for a bad trading system..."if" thats why I am losing. Its one of the reasons I have tried on other forums to get people interested in forming a "trading club"....but with the goal of having a big beach house or condo overlooking something full of nature where we can all share our day together, and this way when you go home (if you dont live there) you have already vented and reviewed and maybe learned from the others what you did wrong. Maybe even a scenario where we got 4 or 5 people to share an office/beachhouse or cabin for 6 months a year and you go back home for the other 6 so you stay fresh. That would help soooo many traders and by reading market wizards I got the impression that some of them love to be on the go and fly all the time. The best trading year of my life was when I lived in a hotel in either Orlando or Daytona Beach, overlooking the beach,and watching my laptop and the women on the beach and the waves simultaniously all day....every day. Then you dont care if you lose because you can still afford to stay in the hotel. Awesome lifestyle! Maybe my next move would be to rent a cabin with a lot of trails near by to go for walks all thru the day while trading. I guess what Im saying is: GIVE ME THE RIGHT PEOPLE AND PLACE AND ITS GOING TO END GOOD NO MATTER WHAT. And no, I still havent gotten to that place where I can do that every year. But, one day soon..... I mean, why bother trading if you cant live where you want to and be around good people living a healthy lifestyle. The pubs at night with beer in a frosted mug is your business. "wink"

Penny bags, Im stunned. If trading is a big part of your life, how can your bad days not be from the thing that is so important to you....trading!!!!? Unless your choice of relationships are sooo bad you cant think of anything else, LOL I admit I never heard an answer like yours. Is that good or bad? Elaborate a bit if you dont mind....

I love your post. Especially about finding the patterns in noise and feeling the will of the market. This is mumbo jumbo to some, but that is the greatest achievement one can get as a trader IMHO. I say this because I am also a martial artist and not young anymore. Anyone is faster or stronger than me. But who will be able to see the will of that person before it manifests. That is what lets some of the old masters still fight ,live and BE old. Intuition,whatever you call it, I love when it works....yet it cannot be depended on as a complete system. -) I also dont think you are being realistic about the money part. You are leaving yourself with $600 to lose before you stop? You will never feel stress free on that little amount to trade unencumbered and correctly. I heard of only one person in the world making it on $600..............and he might have been lying. But you are on the right track. I'd like to hear more from you. Feel free to PM me and if I can help in any way, or if I can use any of my 15 yrs of trading to guide you, ask anything you like. Good Luck.

Isnt it amazing, and thats putting it mildly. If you wanted to be a Fast Food Mgr. I would tell you simply to just start off taking any job in Burger King or McDonalds. You want to be a car mechanic? Easy. Just take a cvourse in auto mechanics for the common mechanic, maybe go back to college to specialize. Oh, you'd like to be a policeman. No problem. Get into reasonable shape,act cordial and helpful and after you pass the test you WILL be called sooner or later and your dream of a steady job with the best benefits in the world is yours. Now we get harder stuff. Want to be a writer. 2 choices: Just submit a lot of articles to Blogs, Magazines both on and of the INTERNET, and you will get noticed if you have any talent at all. Want to be a Real Estate Speculator? Just start off as a R.E. Broker,and keep your eyes open for good deals. But you say you want to be a trader and consistantly make money every year, even every month for the rest of your life. What is the path? Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm...I have the answer-There is none! You can read all the books in the world until they have overlapped with the same information 5x and all youll get is common sense things about having an exact trading plan, staying disciplined and always use stop losses. But what rules should you use? Been on these threads from Traders Laboratory to Forex Factory and every one inbetween. There are systems that work for a while people will even post and tell you exactly what to do so you dont have to think, just follow directions. Why when I ask a year ,even 2 years later on that same thread who is still making a living with this system, no one answers? I would love to tell every trader what is normal for every other job: Pick a specialty, find your strong points and focus on them. So if you like Fibonacci numbers, spend 2 years viewing video lectures, buy the following books and in 2 years you can make a living by trading with Fibs. But I cant tell you that.. Is it because Fibs dont work? No, they do, some of the time, for some people. "Ok " you say :I will follow only moving averages and find the best ones to use on gold futures or the EUR/USD by back testing different ones." That should work............but everyone has done that already. What about Neural Network software and Artificial Intelligence and Expert Advisors and scanners and especially Fractals that repeat in nature all the time?' The books say 70% accuracy all the time!!!' I don't know. What about them? So what actually works for sure you say. I understand the desperation of the question. No one wants to spend 2 years studying systems and find none of them win over time, let alone win enough to let you live comfortably on a small bankroll under 25k. How about those of us who spent over 10-12 years and still cant find the wright system, strategy, tactics, or any path that is sure? All we long timers get is the same song over and over, and that is..."If you want to trade bad enough, stick to it until you make it. 10 years ago I eagerly embraced that philosophy. But I am still not making a living consistently. Do I pull the plug and cut my losses? Or do I use my 10 years of learning as a base to really push forward to succeed? There is no right answer.Not even for that? Each person must decide for themselves. And dont let the books tell you about all the greats that are now famous and made millions because they wouldn't give up. Those same books don't want to interview the other 90% who didn't give up and lost their house, their life savings 3 or 4 times, their family left them or......they are dead.(Suicide, heart attacks,stress related diseases of all kinds. Shhhhhhh....lets not talk about those people. It's bad for business. Let us go back to my first three words once more time-ISN'T IT AMAZING? Do

Your'e the man, mighty mouse. Take it from a guy like me who has worked as a poker dealer and a 21 dealer in Vegas for 9 years long ago. If red ever came up 99 times in a row on a rhoulette wheel, the casino would close the table, politely give everyone a few extra chips or drinks or even a dinner....but that wheel would be taken apart and inspected under a microscope. Know why? Yes you do. The odds of probability doing that is in the 10's of millions. The odds of a flaw in the wheel when it was made, or someone "rigging it" is way,way, way more probable than it being a chance occurance. So how does that benefit us at trading? Well, if you ever see any stock or Forex pair skyrocket 20 trading days in a row between 10-am and 10:05. I would hope you'd go long and let your winnings rife until you doubled it at least before even thinking of taking some profit off. I actually believe there are anomalies like that happening in certain instruments, but only a computer could pick up the pattern. 99 heads in a row...yeah....Elvis would come back before that happens on a legitimate coin. lol If any one can think of ways to exploit this in the markets open it up[ for discussion. I have heard many stories of certain months a specific commodity will go up 95% of the time. Things like that. (Mostly said by the guys who wrote the books...but still...) I WILL say this. There used to be a service that would rate insiders who buy stock and some guys bat 100%. They will have a piece of 3 different companies, buy 8 different times and every time they make money. If I ever go back to long term investing again, thats the newsletter I want to get. On the other hand, there are stocks that whenever they have a big run, no insider is buying. Could be 5 out of 5 times or more Amazing!

Would all of you still say it is a 50-50 chance for the very next one to be a tail again after 99 tails already came out?