# If you could do one thing better - what would it be?



## TulipFX (3 January 2011)

Everyone has weaknesses. Things we should be doing better. Some recognise them and attempt to work on them. Others perhaps do not see the problems, which could be a bigger issue then the problem itself.

So in your trading - what's the one thing you could do better?

What are you doing to improve this part of your trading?


My weakness is losing faith in my systems. I can historically test and know bad periods can occur, but when it is real money which is being lost I can begin to doubt my system and look to tinker with it.

While tinkering and (hopefully) improving can be good in itself, I have in the past dropped systems after a rough patch, missing the upcoming good results.

To help me against this I have better defined the expected 'down periods' so when they occur I can compare them to what I expect. If they are within expectations then I can 'not worry' knowing that the expectation is that they will soon come good. I can not worry because I know at which point I should become concerned - and logically if that point is not reached then I need not think something is 'wrong'.

What are you looking to improve on in 2011?


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## >Apocalypto< (3 January 2011)

TulipFX said:


> Everyone has weaknesses. Things we should be doing better. Some recognise them and attempt to work on them. Others perhaps do not see the problems, which could be a bigger issue then the problem itself.
> 
> So in your trading - what's the one thing you could do better?
> 
> ...




My weakness and what I need to improve in 2011 is, learning to hold my open profitable trades longer at times.

good thread TulipFX.


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## wayneL (3 January 2011)

I want my foresight to be as good as my hindsight.


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## tech/a (3 January 2011)

Patience (discretionary).
Both on the entry and exit sides.


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## TulipFX (3 January 2011)

>Apocalypto< said:


> My weakness and what I need to improve in 2011 is, learning to hold my open profitable trades longer at times.
> 
> good thread TulipFX.






tech/a said:


> Patience (discretionary).
> Both on the entry and exit sides.




A good thing to improve exits is to use the coin flip to practice. It helped me a lot.

Flip a coin, heads go long, tails go short.

Manage the trade. See how well you can do.

Obviously use paper-trading to do this. Many people concentrate on entries, but it is only half a battle. Exits are 50% of a trade, but attract only 5% of the attention.


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## burglar (3 January 2011)

I should stop watching the DOW and sleep at night ... like normal people


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## tech/a (3 January 2011)

burglar said:


> I should stop watching the DOW and sleep at night ... like normal people




Set your trade and go to sleep.
I do it every night with the FTSE and DAX.


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## pixel (3 January 2011)

*Impulse Buying:*
Has this ever happened to you? You visit your favourite Forum and read an entry about this new stock that had escaped your attention. (most likely for a very good reason...) So you bring up your chart - or whichever crystal ball does "it" for you - and try to find what this writer sees in it. _as an aside: when I first read the term "positive expectancy", I thought it referred to this attempt, where you desperately want to expect something useful and positive._​Sometimes, you can see a little silver lining here or a half-hidden suggestion of a promise there - and you buy a few. Alas! you soon find out you shouldn't have.

So, my New Year's Resolution is this: If it's a stock I've never heard from, and if it doesn't tick all the boxes in the checklist I'm using for all my own regular trades *:::

**DO NOT BOTHER! *​


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## TulipFX (3 January 2011)

Pixel, are you saying to stick to your trading strategy, no matter what?


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## burglar (4 January 2011)

pixel said:


> Impulse Buying: Has this ever happened to you? ...




 When a friend asks if you've missed this one, you probably already have !


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## pixel (4 January 2011)

TulipFX said:


> Pixel, are you saying to stick to your trading strategy, no matter what?



 in one word: Yes.
But I said it with more words


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## TulipFX (4 January 2011)

I just posted up a blog relating to this situation:

I have something weighing on my mind...





‘I have something weighing on my mind’. An interesting saying, and one which many traders can relate to. When the mind is pre-occupied by worry it is distracted, instead of operating in a clear and rational way with all senses operating logically emotion begins to take hold.

The two most powerful and diametrically opposed emotions are love and hate. In a trading sense it comes down to money. You love trading when you are making money, and hate it when you’re losing it.

[continued here]


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## SmellyTerror (4 January 2011)

Gotta work harder. Always behind on paperwork and training. Look, I'm here right now and I was going to do some backtesting.

Right, off I go.


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## Market Depth (4 January 2011)

My weakness is helping others learn how to trade. I do this all for nothing. My time skills and knowledge are open for those who know  me, they just have to ask, and I'll help them get on track. I probably should start charging people, but I can't bring myself to do it, so I don't. I've got enough, trading for me is a pleasure, and even after 20 years, I still get a thrill, it's never boring, always changing. I get an even bigger thrill seeing others growing and learing and becoming self sufficient as traders. And that is payment enough for me.


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## Sean K (4 January 2011)

Spend more time with family and friends.


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## TulipFX (4 January 2011)

Market Depth said:


> My weakness is helping others learn how to trade. I do this all for nothing. My time skills and knowledge are open for those who know  me, they just have to ask, and I'll help them get on track. I probably should start charging people, but I can't bring myself to do it, so I don't. I've got enough, trading for me is a pleasure, and even after 20 years, I still get a thrill, it's never boring, always changing. I get an even bigger thrill seeing others growing and learing and becoming self sufficient as traders. And that is payment enough for me.






Do you mind giving me/us a short history of your trading experiences?


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## Market Depth (4 January 2011)

TulipFX said:


> Do you mind giving me/us a short history of your trading experiences?




What would you like to know?


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## TulipFX (4 January 2011)

Market Depth said:


> What would you like to know?




How did you start? What have you traded? Who for? Just things like that. From the days before retail, do-it-yourself trading.


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## Market Depth (4 January 2011)

Market Depth said:


> What would you like to know?




I am a qualified Carpenter and Joiner, as well as a qualified bricklayer/Tiler/Renderer. I did two trades, finished my first one in 1990. I began trading as a postion trader with my first pay cheque in 1986. I would invest 50% of my pay in good sound companies, or what I thought were good and sound. I lost most of it in 1987. This hit me very hard, as I'd basically given away half of my money to the markets. I was angry, I was sad, I was an emotional wreck. I took solace in a good friend of my Father. He was an experienced investor, Trader, and managed to weather the 87 crash very well. If he didn't he sure wasn't showing it. Not only that but he was buying up BIG! He told me that the best time to buy is when there's 'Blood on the Streets'. So I considered myself a fighter , and decided then and there that I had to get all my money back. I worked my guts out, putting money away on stocks my Dad's friend would advise on. Slowly this started to build back my capital. Then once I'd made it all back and some, I sold out. Again a BIG MISTAKE!! as the market just kept rolling along. I became more selective at this point and started to learn more about how the markets worked. In about 1992 I left my job as a Carpenter to work at a Stockbroking firm, and this is where my real learning began, How trades were placed, how to read the tape and understand basic technical and fundamental analysis. What I really enjoyed about my time there was learning how to understand Market Depth information in 'Real Time'. I just got a 'Kick' out of staring at numbers all day, and thinking how I could make money out of it. The company moved me up to their trading floor, where I got to learn how to trade for real, with real money, the companies money. Under supervision, I learnt how to identify opportunities, like what stocks to trade, they were called 'Thick' or 'Thin', how to trade stocks that had 'Relative Strenght' to the market, how to position size and manage a small trading account. This carried on for about 2 years, at which time they moved me up to the overseas trading room. This is where I learn about other markets and they way they acted on our home market. I didn't stay there long as this wasn't really for me, so I moved back down the the local trading desk, and carved out good returns for the company day in day out, til such a time that my trading account had grown. I was now in control of very large sums of money, and would manage that for the trading firm. For me back then and now and after the losses I made in 87, I realized that cutting losses early was the way to move forward. This has stuck with me ever since, and today if a stock moves against me, I'm out, it's as easy as that. Sure I miss some opportunities, all the time. I don't beat myself up over it, I just move on, or re enter at a better time. The stock has to make me money from the moment I buy it. That's it for me, that's a rule I live by everyday. It takes real skill to lose small amounts of money often.

End of Part 1

Hope you enjoyed the read. It was some time ago, and allot has changed since then. It's a work day tomorrow, and I'm up at 5 everyday, for the market news.


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## nielsend (4 January 2011)

To stop looking for the perfect setup................


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## pixel (5 January 2011)

Market Depth said:


> I realized that cutting losses early was the way to move forward. This has stuck with me ever since, and today if a stock moves against me, I'm out, it's as easy as that. Sure I miss some opportunities, all the time. I don't beat myself up over it, I just move on, or re enter at a better time. The stock has to make me money from the moment I buy it. That's it for me, that's a rule I live by everyday. It takes real skill to lose small amounts of money often.



Thanks MD,
You've made a terrific journey and presented it well.
Especially the rule about cuttig losses early and not fret about missed opportunities - that's something many of my trading mates struggle with. So much so, that I've stuck the following quote over my screen. And posted it in full on a blog of mine:


> _A piece of advice from Phil Carret’s The Art of Speculation:
> _ If you have 1000 shares of a stock worth currently, say, $9, disregard  entirely the price you paid for it. Rather ask yourself this question:*  “If I had $9,000 cash today and wished to buy some security, would I  choose this stock in preference to every one of the thousands of other  securities available to me?”*
> If the answer is strongly negative, sell the stock! It should not make  the slightest difference whether the stock cost you $5 or $13.
> *Your entry price is totally irrelevant, but the average punter gives it considerable weight.*


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## TulipFX (5 January 2011)

nielsend said:


> To stop looking for the perfect setup................




That is why I automated trade. So that I wait for the perfect set up. Why do you say you want to trade set ups which aren't perfect?


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## TulipFX (5 January 2011)

Thank you for that MarketDepth. I enjoyed reading about that. I was still in primary school in 1987 and only have read about it. Please find time to tell us more about your journey.


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## burglar (5 January 2011)

Market Depth said:


> ... Hope you enjoyed the read.




I enjoyed the read! But, pray tell, how did TulipFX spot that you had a good history to relate?


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## TulipFX (5 January 2011)

burglar said:


> I enjoyed the read! But, pray tell, how did TulipFX spot that you had a good history to relate?




He mentioned that he had been around 20 years. That is a long time on the market. It seems he was being understated and it is more like 25. I am glad I asked.


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## burglar (5 January 2011)

pixel said:


> Thanks MD,
> You've made a terrific journey and presented it well.



Pixel,
I agree!:iagree:

I must be the most average of punters since an emotional part of my brain gives considerable weight to entry price (not to mention the record high that I had missed earlier).


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## nomore4s (5 January 2011)

Market Depth said:


> It takes real skill to lose small amounts of money often




This is probably one of the most important things about trading that beginners & some experienced traders need to learn imo.

Live to fight another day


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## c-unit (20 January 2011)

In theory I want to be a longer term investor, but I keep looking at the prices of my stocks every day and it influences my mood. Like with Karoon Gas. Absolute roller coaster and I get pissed every time the price drops, but need to just remind myself about the long term, sitting on potentially great deposits etc. But gee it's tough. I guess this is my inexperience showing through. 

Another is that I get caught up in the hype and end up holding on too long, like with Harvey Norman in 2007.


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## Market Depth (20 January 2011)

c-unit said:


> In theory I want to be a longer term investor, but I keep looking at the prices of my stocks every day and it influences my mood. Like with Karoon Gas. Absolute roller coaster and I get pissed every time the price drops, but need to just remind myself about the long term, sitting on potentially great deposits etc. But gee it's tough. I guess this is my inexperience showing through.
> 
> Another is that I get caught up in the hype and end up holding on too long, like with Harvey Norman in 2007.




Hi c-unit,

Have you considered learning how to do point and figure charting? This can remove allot of the 'Price Noise' your seeing on a daily basis. Some would consider it 'Old Fashioned' in todays market Though I still use it even to this day


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## TulipFX (21 January 2011)

Market Depth said:


> Hi c-unit,
> 
> Have you considered learning how to do point and figure charting? This can remove allot of the 'Price Noise' your seeing on a daily basis. Some would consider it 'Old Fashioned' in todays market Though I still use it even to this day




I have some systems which I use renko charts on too. It also does a good job of removing the noise from the market.


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## burglar (21 January 2011)

I do not know of these concepts. 
Are they even remotely similar to moving point averages?


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## Market Depth (21 January 2011)

burglar said:


> I do not know of these concepts.
> Are they even remotely similar to moving point averages?




Hi Burglar,

P&F Charting is very Similar to moving point averages, but less math involved Kind of like 'Shorthand' for price action in stocks or FX or anything really. It's been around for well over 100 years, was one of the first books I read actually, but I'm not that old

Have a read here, should explain the concept all be it briefly.

http://stockcharts.com/school/doku.php?id=chart_school:chart_analysisnf_charts


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## TulipFX (21 January 2011)

burglar said:


> I do not know of these concepts.
> Are they even remotely similar to moving point averages?




Renko charts can be explained here: http://stockcharts.com/help/doku.php?id=chart_school:chart_analysis:renko


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## burglar (21 January 2011)

Market Depth said:


> Hi Burglar,
> 
> P&F Charting is very Similar to moving point averages, but less math involved Kind of like 'Shorthand' for price action in stocks or FX or anything really. It's been around for well over 100 years, was one of the first books I read actually, but I'm not that old
> 
> ...




Hi Market Depth, 
Thanks. I'm off to study ... well, skim read at very least!



TulipFX said:


> Renko charts can be explained here: http://stockcharts.com/help/doku.php?id=chart_school:chart_analysis:renko




Hi TulipFX,

If there was one thing I could have done better today, it would have been to research these concepts before I posted. Thanks for the head start.

burglar (with lower case 'b' * deeply significant, I'm told)


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## burglar (21 January 2011)

Market Depth said:


> ... It's been around for well over 100 years, was one of the first books I read actually, but I'm not that old
> 
> Ahhh, the beauty of books ... still readable after our forefathers (authors) have died.


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## grandia3 (22 January 2011)

Market Depth said:


> Hope you enjoyed the read.




that's a fantastic story, hope you write the part 2 soon
I was still in my mom's belly in 1987 

I have just started trading 1 month ago, and thus haven't made mistake yet (that I know of 
I am keen to learn so that I don't make fatal mistake


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## forexdiscussion (25 January 2011)

TulipFX said:


> Everyone has weaknesses. Things we should be doing better. Some recognise them and attempt to work on them. Others perhaps do not see the problems, which could be a bigger issue then the problem itself.
> 
> So in your trading - what's the one thing you could do better?
> 
> ...




Hi Tulip FX,

One thing that could do better is to improve myself on how to read the market from the candlestick and price action. I made significant changes in my trading style in 2011 with throwing away all the indicator which is lagging in nature from my trading screen. Just focus and concentrate on the candlestick behaviour and price together with proper mney management, it significantly changes the result of my forex trading.

Thanks


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## shouldaindex (19 April 2015)

Let a proven safe strategy like an index fund do the work for me.

Instead, I'm always looking for the next idea.

I guess humans never stop chasing more money and some other things.


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