Quote from: Goomboo on August 02, 2013, 11:00:46 PM

Quote from: Goomboo on August 02, 2013, 10:42:49 PM

The point of this thread isn't a specific combination and timeframe - the point is to learn the tools and techniques to be self-sufficient.

The point of this thread isn't to say that a specific combination of indicators is profitable - it's to teach you what needs to be done so that you can become profitable. Please note the subtly of that previous sentence. Successful trading isn't found in a particular method. It's found in the consistency, confidence, and discipline to backtest and act on what you know to be true.

I'll use myself as an example - I knew that moving averages backtested profitably years before I actually started earning a profit in my account. I became a successful trader when I learned how to persevere during periods of difficulty. Over the past 3 months, I have only won 22% of all trades which I have attempted. In fact, I am currently in the midst of an 11 trade losing streak - I have lost the last 11 trades I have attempted. When I was a young trader, these difficult markets devastated me. I was unable to continue executing the next trade because I couldn't take the pain of being wrong and losing money again and again and again. However, through time I have learned to focus on acting out what I know to be true and letting the results take care of themselves.

It is very important to note that since I have confidence in my method, I took two trades in the midst of a string of losses that I am still holding which are propelling my account towards new highs. So at the end of this quarter, I'll probably have only won 20-30% of my trades but ended up profitable due to the determination to act out what I have tested extensively. The secret? I cut my losses and let my profits ride. Each of my losers were cut within hours or minutes while my winners have been held for several weeks. It really is just a numbers game, but you have to have discipline to play it well.

I understand and I'll back off - I hope I didn't ruffle any feathers, I just know how people think. They don't do their research: greed takes over and they act first and learn their lessons later. Just like in other parts of the Bitcoin world - it makes me sick seeing people lose tens of thousands of dollars from their Bitcoin Wallets because they didn't appreciate security sufficiently. In addition there are those people that buy FPGA and even Video Card based systems for big money on eBay without spending 15 minutes researching what type of returns they'll get and how long the payoff will be (or whether it actually make more compared with power costs).

I did what others would do which was to read the basics on the first page and go to the last page and see the charts, get excited and be ready to trade. I can guarantee you there are numerous people that are trading it right now without doing analysis and without REALLY understanding what they are trading and what the risks are. That's why I asked the questions - they are tough questions, but in reality, I believe they are THE questions everyone should be asking. They need to say "that's awesome, but look at how 80% of the profit is lost to commissions - what type of risk am I looking at?" and need to understand the disclaimers that you accurately show. They need to appreciate it all before allowing themselves to trade a single Bitcoin.

Look - I'm certainly no big time trader, but I AM experienced. In 2008, I programmed my own systems to store, analyze and trade the Forex market. I had some very creative and very impressive (if I say so myself) pieces of technology, but it didn't matter. I didn't appreciate what and how I was trading and my system backfired and I lost massive amounts of money. I was very fortunate as I was able to fully recover and it didn't cost me my house, my family nor my future - many others are NOT so lucky and lose everything. That may seem like an exaggeration, but greed is a powerful emotion and the idea of having 500% returns in a short period of time is tough to pass up.

As I said, I'll back off now. Please be careful, cautious and don't let greed take over!