XJO 0.99% 7,896.9 s&p/asx 200

Jackyma, I have been trading for 12 years now and it has taken...

  1. 1,383 Posts.
    Jackyma, I have been trading for 12 years now and it has taken me this long to learn how to make money. This was one of my best weeks ever and I have cleaned up $51k. But gee - on my first year trading in 1997 I lost $100k, and many years since then I have lost an amount almost exactly equal to the brokerage.

    Yet if you check back my record, I am the only person on hotcopper who has consistently called all the major tops and bottoms since 1999 - usually with much ridicule. Also for five years I have been able to hit many tops and bottoms almost exactly to the cent and the second (I sold FMG that way today). It wasnt enough to make money - I still get killed in non-trending markets pretty frequently.

    This game is not easy. I dont trade like anyone else I know, it has taken me over ten years to build up my own weird mix of charting (using less and less indicators as time has gone on, most of them are not much good except to give courage) and intuition. I also only trade a dozen or so stocks now, my absolute favourite being BHP which is my cash cow.

    I am convinced the main thing is getting a feel for what Keynes called "animal spirits" - knowing when to go contrarian and when to run with the herd.

    Another important thing is to trade online with a group of ppl of similar experience. You will learn together; and it takes many eyes to spot all the main action.

    What kills you is the big losses, which will always be bigger and faster than the wins if you let them. You should have a sell rule or stop for every trade. Quite often these days I dont even let it get there. It costs very little to sell but a great deal not to sell.

    Another thing to know is you should be trading with interest but without emotion. If you are running from highs to lows all the time - quit and come back.
 
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