Exactly what it is, a discretionary trader uses human intervention. So you can trade off the box for awhile and then use your discretion to trade off news. By deciding to trade or not trade based on external events that you decide are important or not makes you a discretionary trader. Like it or not.
Me, I don't give a damn.
In the pure sense, system traders trade (no matter what) off the signal. In real life that does not happen very much so that's why I say discretionary traders are in the majority. For example I trade off a system's signals. I decide if the system is correct or not before I enter.
Because I make that decision, my system is now discretionary. It has human intervention, and it is no longer a system. Now that sux.....I put all that time and effort in and by the definitions I'm just guessing.
So here's the deal.......you get all these books. They tell you how to build a system. Then they tell you how to react to events.
THEN!!!!! it becomes evident that reacting makes you a discretionary trader and so what the heck are you doing trying to use a system?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!
I got all these books on the wall; Williams, Buster Keaton, Spike Jones, Groucho Marx,
Just kidding. My point is that all these fellows will tell you what to look for but there isn't one in a thousand that trades off a system, not the way they define it. It is always a question of whether or not you make a decision. If you do, the method is not a system, it is discretionary.
Me, I spent years working on systems only to find that because I pull the trigger (on a whim, I suppose) it makes my system discretionary...something like a hobo walking in and flipping a coin.......so I give up. When I'm trading hard I'll spend 10 hours a day prepping for a trade. But there is no system there, it's just DISCRETIONARY!!!!!!!!!!!!
He, He,......now you know why I gave up daytrading for a time. When I made money it was because I was discretionary. Boy, that ticks you off after awhile. It's like people are saying that you are just lucky.
If I was so lucky I'd buy a lottery ticket.
Sorry. Just venting. |
