Irby,
I was recently drawn to exploring your thread as well as a few other on SI and want to thank you for the opportunity you offer to those of us who want become more financially independent through daytrading. It's funny, but even though I haven't met you, I certainly feel the goodwill and tolerance you display towards others-even when someone is clearly being offensive/rude towards you. You really seem to be sharing a lot of your hard-earned wisdom very graciously and generously. I'm so impressed by your own suggestions/responses, as well as Steve Goldman's, that I decided to plunk down the $125 to SI so that I might have the opportunity to get some direct responses to my questions as I proceed towards setting up my own trading system.
Although I've been a reasonably successful (or lucky!) investor over the last 10 years, I never considered short term/daytrading until about ten days ago. I now sense the opportunity-since I seem to have sufficient capital to start-to become more financially independent. I have a strong need, however, to use the least amount of my time in doing this, a commodity which-for me, anyway-is best used creatively in other ways. As I'm uninterested in spending a lot of time researching and playing around with short term/daytrading systems, I would prefer to get set up with one that will function for me in almost any kind of market. In this regard, and having checked out Troutman's "trading axioms" (at your suggestion), I was struck by the following axiom:
"Any system with an intuitive component will work better for the system developer than for some random person who buys it and puts it into action. The only way to profit from a system in the same way as the developer is to take the same signals that the developer takes, and exit when the developer exits."
Naturally, I'm interested in Jeff Cooper's trading services since I've only heard good reports on your thread and others and would just as soon use his/his staff's suggestions rather than figure out how to best research each day's best trading potential on my own. I'm particularly interested in the 5 Day Momentum Method Daily Trading Service since it seems it would minimize my "intraday" time involvement with minimal risk. Over the next several months, I plan to spend some time analyzing the performance I'm seeing with Jeff's service and perhaps comparing it vs. a few other methods. However, as Tushar Chande suggested in a recent interview:
"Having a trading system is not enough. You also need a system for trading.there is a difference.professionals spend a lot of time and money worrying about executions and automating system implementation. That's their edge-and the best argument for using a professional money manager."
Moreover, as Van Tharp has suggested,
"Great money management.represents 90% of the variance of performance.[I define] money management as that separate part of your trading systems that tells you how much [to do] during the course of the entire trade-a separate algorithm for the mechanically oriented. It literally dictates what your performance is going to be."
I'm not sure if I need a professional money manager or not, but I think I get the points being made here. Considering my situation, would you kindly recommend:
1. Brokers/brokerages that could provide the best service on a daily basis in order to maximize my return if I indeed choose to follow through using Cooper's 5 Day Momentum service.
2. Publications and perhaps software you've looked at which could serve to educate me/serve my needs for
excellent money management.
3. Any other suggestions you might have for me, besides the obvious one of reading yours and Goldman's thread.
Thanks so much for your time/attention/kindness!
Rick Ramirez |
