I stumbled upon your website and the information you have provided has been marvelous…
I have read countless books, forums and paid for coaching websites just to be so confused on "what type of trader I want to be"? and how to formulate my "trading strategy". I signed up with Vectorvest for a year and have back tested their various strategies, derby winners and advisories (they work for the dates they chose to demo on backtesting but not consistently on other dates I try), devoured countless DVD's and books, to get no further forward in compiling a simplistic and easy to follow plan. I appreciate that no one system works all the time in all markets, but I just want to find a profitable and "SIMPLE" system that has enough winners over the losers to replace my current income. I want to retire so badly and travel.
We have C$200,000 in various tradable accounts from self directed trading accounts (2 of), tax free investment accounts (3 of), a registered educational savings account (1 of) and a Canadian dollar and US dollar shorting and long accounts (1 off of each). I've never shorted a stock in my life, thru fear, likewise never done options for the same reason.
Made a lot of money in the early/mid 2000's probably through luck more than judgement, but since picking one losing trade after another after another have done very little buying of stocks or any form of investing for the past few years. Missed all the gains of 2009 & 2010 but got the losses of 2008. Our accounts combined are down over 30% from their highs.
There surely has to be just one to three "simple and detailed" strategies somewhere that work when A=X and B=Y and C=Z. If you understand what I'm trying to say here?
In answer to your question, absolutely I still believe that anyone can learn to trade, it's just there's never ever delivered the complete "idiot proof guide" for a "monkey see, monkey do" person such as me. After years and years and countless hours, days, weeks and months of religiously reading, watching, studying and going back over and over again the materials, I am still no further forward on having established an effective, simple strategy or three to apply in the relevant market.
Look forward to your comments.
Anonymous
Dear Anonymous-
Thank you for your submission.
I completely understand where you are coming from with your comments and questions. These thoughts are similar to the ones I had when I first began trading and found myself frustrated. That frustration along with passion is what has fueled me to search and find ways to trade profitably. You clearly have a strong interest in stock trading and that’s terrific.
As far as what type of trader you want to be, that is a question you must answer. And, the answer will depend on how much time you want to spend researching and trading stocks per day or per week. The amount of time you naturally like to spend researching and analyzing will help to determine how long you like to hold your positions and which strategies and indicator time frames can work best for you.
Shorting comes in handy when the markets are trending downward. Shorting can be very profitable and you can place stop losses on the short side just like trader’s do on the long side to protect from too much capital loss. I was unsure about shorting too until 2008, But once I started shorting and started making some serious money I understood the value of it.
Otherwise, the right place to be is on the sidelines with your cash. Stock investing our hard-earned money is serious and it’s about making money or when we need to - protect capital. For some traders, being in cash in a downward market is the place to be and happily so.
Options are a whole other ball of wax. These derivatives of the stock markets are more complicated as you probably know, and I’ve never enjoyed them. I do think they have some merit on the writing option side where you have a long-term position in a stock and you basically sell the option in the market so you make money immediately on your stock positions.
I do understand where you are coming from and, there are some strategies that are straightforward like you describe. Don’t get me wrong – it’s true there’s no holy grail in stock trading, but there are strategies that work well and when they don’t work, a trader must have stop losses in place to protect capital.
And so, which strategies are the best? The answer will vary among traders but, I will share what I think. I recently read a book that I liked called The Layman's Guide To Trading StocksInvesting Books) by Dave Landry. I particularly like his strategy on the short side. It’s been working really well for me lately. I’m also writing an ebook about my favorite strategy setup using the ADX and it will be available shortly.
There is a much longer answer to your question about easy to use stock trading strategies that anyone can use to be successful. This website covers a lot of those answers, and I hope it continues to be a helpful place for you.
Options are a solid weapon to have in your investing arsenal to hedge positions or manage risk. Learn from the 2019 U.S. Investing Champion, Trader Travis.
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by Dave Landry. I particularly like his strategy on the short side. It’s been working really well for me lately. I’m also writing an ebook about my favorite strategy setup using the ADX and it will be available shortly.
