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Originally Posted by Mustang_Boss i tried but nothing worked. Often these could be projected in both directions with the data.. |
It's very rare that nothing works. I am sure something would have worked very well but many would have backfired. Almost every trader goes through that phase, unless personally led by hand of a very good mentor.
I will quote a personal example. When I started using Technical Analysis (TA) techniques, in the beginning I used very simple techniques. On one of those beginner days I got a return of 400% of the trading capital I put, all based on the rudimentary TA strategy I employed. I started believing in TA, read more about various TA techniques. I started using more techniques and began trading aggressively. Some trades turned out good and some bad. I kept reading more and more, trying to develop fool proof techniques, all with ambition of gaining more profits. Then eventually, things started backfiring and I made more loss than profits. And I kept reading more and more about TA, viewing YT videos, attending courses and what not, all with aim of sharpening my skills and getting to know the best techniques. Not matter how much more I sought to learn, my trades were not getting better.
Then eventually, the enlightenment happened. To be successful with trades, we have to accept that
we need not know all the best knowledge that is out there. But
we need to know when to accept that we are wrong or when to accept that this is all the money I can take now and exit the positions and reconcile with our strategy.
Fundamental analysis (FA) and Technical analysis (TA) are two parallel perspectives of understanding about the market and planning how we play it out. The former is more traditional and works well for stocks and medium to longterm market participation. For indices or shorterm trading in stocks, TA has the edge. That is because, TA is more dynamic compared to FA as it is almost instantaneously driven by market movements. Compared to stocks which are real entities, indices are mathematically derived entities with a weighted mix of stocks contributing to their value. As such, TA is even more apt when trading with indices as most techniques of TA are results of mathematical calculations. However, if all is fair and straight, all mathematicians and statisticians would have made a killing trading with derivatives. That is the beauty of markets, every one has a fair and equal chance of making money.
Even though the entity (stock index) at its core is a mathematical concept, it's chart movements are affected by emotions of large scale market participation. This is where the probability factor kicks in and throws certainty of mathematical formulae out of the window.
I repeat, one doesn't need to know every TA technique to trade successfully. Rather we need to understand the probability of being right with a technique and when we assess that probability to be high we can raise the stakes and when it is low, lower the stakes or even better, sit out until we catch a more probable opportunity.
At any point, market can throw tantrums and take a very less probable direction, even though various TA techniques point otherwise. That doesn't mean that we should be apprehensive about following the techniques. What we need to look at is how frequently we are able to assess the market right. There will be days when we get it wrong, but that should be relatively less than the times we get it right. If that's the case, then it is an affirmation that the techniques we use and how we use them both are good enough. If not then, start looking at the way we understand and apply the techniques rather than doubting the technique itself. Because, the technique itself can't be wrong, it's the errors in application part or the context of application that can lead to losses. Without identifying how to fix our understanding or improving contextual awareness, no matter how many techniques we learn, they are not going to generate profits. To do that, we have to stick with clear set of TA tools for sometime and keep analysing the results and see how to improve the application part. Occasionally it happens that, certain TA tools are much easier to understand for some , while the same can be complex for a few others. So, if after using for a while, one is not able to find success with chosen set of tools, then change one technique at a time and repeat the process until you find the right techniques that give you a relatively more success rate.
There is no set of techniques or strategies that give 100% success rate, if anyone says so - they are simply bluffing. If we can find even a 60% success rate with a certain set of techniques, its a good thing to be happy about. Further improvement, eventually comes with time and experience.