Hi fellow traders (budding and other)
This is officially my first post to ASF and I must say that i am very pleased to have found it. Its been valuable in proving me with some giudance down this trading path I head. To give you abit of background about myself - I have been investing for the past 5 years and trading for about 6 months. I have had some great success (in hindsight mostly luck) and I recently started trading for a living on the aus equities markets. My current method is through scalping, no leverage, no cfds, just direct market acess. Though CFD's is where I made 90% of my trading capital. Despite my success, I have come to realise that loading up my position with 30:1 - 100:1 leverage on november 21st 2008 was pot luck and I wouldnt have even guessed it was going to be the lowest point of 2008. I have come to realise that I was being stupid and have reflected on my trades and have quickly concluded that i could have blown all my capital in one sitting. No risk management, no trading plan, no definative direction, no stop losses - just load 'em up and hope for the best. All this thinking has made me realise how much it is I dont know which has been the main catalyst for wanting to educate myself and become better at trading.
Since last November I have educated myself to a great extent. Workshops, seminars, courses ( i recently paid $1,000 for a trading course that has been going fro about 2 weeks and have found that to actually be quite hepful). I have read about 8 books since novmeber on trading plans, trading psychology, techincal analysis, trend following, fx, et etc etc. Which has been awesome.
The only issue (if you want to call it an issue) is that I have found myself reading copious amounts on books, literature, newsletters etc. The more i read, research and backtest the more I realise how much i dont know therefore wanting to learn more and more. I still find myself applying what i know, but i find that i now have an addiction towards studying and reading, how do i stop and when do i tell myself , 'joe enough is enough'?
Im sure many budding traders have gone through this so if anyone can shed light on it that would be appreciated. I spoke to a friend recently who trades for a living as well and he said that the most successful traders are the ones that keep their trading plan, stragegy and execution very simple. They dont complicate things with too many indicators and other variables, they stick to what they know and whats makes them a profit, 'if it aint broke, dont fix it' - blah blah blah
Keen to hear anyones thoughts on this?
This is officially my first post to ASF and I must say that i am very pleased to have found it. Its been valuable in proving me with some giudance down this trading path I head. To give you abit of background about myself - I have been investing for the past 5 years and trading for about 6 months. I have had some great success (in hindsight mostly luck) and I recently started trading for a living on the aus equities markets. My current method is through scalping, no leverage, no cfds, just direct market acess. Though CFD's is where I made 90% of my trading capital. Despite my success, I have come to realise that loading up my position with 30:1 - 100:1 leverage on november 21st 2008 was pot luck and I wouldnt have even guessed it was going to be the lowest point of 2008. I have come to realise that I was being stupid and have reflected on my trades and have quickly concluded that i could have blown all my capital in one sitting. No risk management, no trading plan, no definative direction, no stop losses - just load 'em up and hope for the best. All this thinking has made me realise how much it is I dont know which has been the main catalyst for wanting to educate myself and become better at trading.
Since last November I have educated myself to a great extent. Workshops, seminars, courses ( i recently paid $1,000 for a trading course that has been going fro about 2 weeks and have found that to actually be quite hepful). I have read about 8 books since novmeber on trading plans, trading psychology, techincal analysis, trend following, fx, et etc etc. Which has been awesome.
The only issue (if you want to call it an issue) is that I have found myself reading copious amounts on books, literature, newsletters etc. The more i read, research and backtest the more I realise how much i dont know therefore wanting to learn more and more. I still find myself applying what i know, but i find that i now have an addiction towards studying and reading, how do i stop and when do i tell myself , 'joe enough is enough'?
Im sure many budding traders have gone through this so if anyone can shed light on it that would be appreciated. I spoke to a friend recently who trades for a living as well and he said that the most successful traders are the ones that keep their trading plan, stragegy and execution very simple. They dont complicate things with too many indicators and other variables, they stick to what they know and whats makes them a profit, 'if it aint broke, dont fix it' - blah blah blah
Keen to hear anyones thoughts on this?