Welcome Leth - Trading-Lab

Alchemist · #1 10-01-2007, 12:24 PM

Welcome to Trading-Lab, Leth

Feel free to surf our website and share your precious trading and investing experience with us. if you have any questions about posting or the website in general, do not hesitate to ask.

We are looking forward to your participation in the forums.

kika · #2 10-07-2007, 02:39 PM

welcome Leth! tell us a bit about yourself

Leth · #3 02-08-2008, 03:31 AM

If there are indeed people in this forum that want to know a bit about me; I suppose now would be a good time as any (albeit late) to give a bio...
Im 31 years old and currently residing in Knoxville, TN USA. I'm a self-employed commercial construction estimator by vocation. I came across a little niche years back where I was able to take my knowledge of the field and make a 1 man business out of it (as a consultant more or less)....been doing that along with dabbling a bit in realestate and corperate business ever since. Before that I was (and still am but not practicing) an Electrician by trade.
About 6 years ago this month, I had a friend of mine (actually a friend of my grandfather) who was and still is a full time swing trader introduce me to trading. As soon as i got a taste, I was hooked. I remember the first book on trading I ever read was "How to Make Money in Stocks" by William O'Neil, then a few books on TA by Martin Pring; all of which were recommended to me by that same friend. I loved reading charts and picking stocks....I went through at least 7 or 8 hundred charts a day looking for pattern setups...I was obsessed. For the record, I heard that 7 or 8 hundred charts a day is mild compared to most professional traders....ouch. When I wasn't working, charting, trading, sleeping, and eating all in that order...I was searching for the grail, even though I was told a million times its a waste of time (which is by the way). I think its a thing all new traders go through...a rite of passage perhaps.
Anyways, as time went on, the obsession started taking over and my day job along with my health were starting to suffer. Juggling everything was extremely difficult and I ended up getting burned out; at the same time I was losing all my seed money (which wasn't a whole lot to begin with)...so ultimately I decided it would be best if I gave up trading...and I did for almost a year.
However, I may have given up on actual trading...but not my education. What seemed to be working for others wasn't working for me; I knew I wanted to trade...but I also knew I had to find another way...

To be continued...

breakout · #4 02-08-2008, 11:36 AM

looking forward to hearing what comes next....

kerahc · #5 02-08-2008, 05:30 PM

Does this mean that you are not an active trader presently?

Leth · #6 02-09-2008, 02:57 AM

Im definately active today and have been for the last 3 years and 2 months. Before that I was on a trading sabatical for about 10 months, and before that I was trading for 2 years in the methods spoken of in the first post.
6 years is not at all a long time in this business...thats for sure.
I'll post the rest of the story after i get back from vacation....

Leth · #7 02-17-2008, 05:35 PM

continued

...anyways; I read the book Market Wizards by Jack Schwager several times, but never really delved into as i should have. I read where a commodities trader named Richard Dennis could trade all markets the same with a trading system. Ed Seykota said the same thing. I then dove into all the info I could get on these guys. They taught me a quite a few things...for instance (this is in my own words so I hope they make sense):

1. Trading the markets is simple, it's trading against yourself that is difficult
2. Discipline is key, stick to your system no matter what.
3. Having a system in place helps with emotional decisions; being that you are your own worst enemy in this business.

Then I read quite a few other books on trading. I found that all those books had a common thread...psychology. And as far as trend following is concerned, I came to realize that it is not a method, but a philosophy. When I saw that, everything just hit me like a ton of bricks. Its not something you can explain..its way to difficult. Its only something you can experience; An Aha! moment if you will. Trend following is for traders who choose to look at the markets in terms of probabilities. This philosophy may not be condusive to your personality, but you can choose from such a wide variety since there are so many out there.
Lots of people say that I'm not a real trader when compared to the rest of the industry (including the friend that introduced me to trading), and to be honest, I agree with them, I am not. But to be even more honest, I really don't give a shit.
No matter what type of system (if any) you use...as long as your making more money than you are loosing, and you come by it honestly, then you are way ahead of the game.
As far as my method...I trade price breakouts on daily charts EOD. You can have 5 to 30 stocks in your porfolio and trade them all the same way. If you are a beginning trader, I wouldn't recommend more than 5 or 10 starting out. I use options as my leverage tool and fixed fractional betting as part of my money management system. I spend about 15 to 30 minutes per day (before bed) to look over my signals and place my trades if needed. Thats it!!!

Good luck to everyone!!

Soverus Khan · #8 02-17-2008, 05:40 PM

When it "pops", it "pops". At that point, you are done chasing and fianlly become the casino.

Extraction, consistency, probabilities, emotionless, profitable trading.

aiki14 · #9 02-17-2008, 07:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Leth

1. Trading the markets is simple, it's trading against yourself that is difficult
2. Discipline is key, stick to your system no matter what.
3. Having a system in place helps with emotional decisions; being that you are your own worst enemy in this business.

Newbies, Blow this Up, in bold letters, and Poster it above whatever monitor you use in trading. The part about psychology is worth noting as well.
Discipline, the ability to remove emotion from your decisions while understanding most investors don't, having a system that you can follow (write it down until it's reflex), and more discipline.
Every successful person I have ever met had one or both of these two things:
Incredible god given ability
Discipline

The first one you either have or you don't, the second is up to you.

Leth · #10 03-27-2008, 10:25 PM

The forum has had a few visitors lately that recognize some of the things posted. I've also been told by them that the information is copyrighted and that I am plagerizing. For the record, I just want everyone to know that i've never stolen anything that required payment of or a subscription of, inorder to post on TL. All information taken from other sites were considered free education.

The majority of the information in my threads/posts have been credited to an author. If there is no such credit mentioned in my posts, you will see the term Unknown Author under its title. If you see this, and you know who the original author is, please feel free to let me know so i can give credit where credit is due.

If this ends up causing more conflict and/or uneccessary emails to my account, then I will delete the posts and/or threads.
I've personally never seen any new information regarding the markets and how they are played.

“Nobody can be so amusingly arrogant
as a young man who has just discovered
an old idea and thinks it is his own.”
-- Sydney J. Harris
American Journalist and Author, author of the syndicated column,
Strictly Personal, from 1944-86. 1917-1986

See...that quote wasn't even my own...uh oh.

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#1 10-01-2007, 12:24 PM
Alchemist founder of Trading-Lab Join Date: May 2007 Location: New York, NY Posts: 296	Welcome Leth Welcome to Trading-Lab, Leth Feel free to surf our website and share your precious trading and investing experience with us. if you have any questions about posting or the website in general, do not hesitate to ask. We are looking forward to your participation in the forums. __________________ Happy Trading!

#2 10-07-2007, 02:39 PM
kika Member Join Date: Jun 2007 Posts: 38	welcome Leth! tell us a bit about yourself

#3 02-08-2008, 03:31 AM
Leth Super Moderator Join Date: Oct 2007 Posts: 621	If there are indeed people in this forum that want to know a bit about me; I suppose now would be a good time as any (albeit late) to give a bio... Im 31 years old and currently residing in Knoxville, TN USA. I'm a self-employed commercial construction estimator by vocation. I came across a little niche years back where I was able to take my knowledge of the field and make a 1 man business out of it (as a consultant more or less)....been doing that along with dabbling a bit in realestate and corperate business ever since. Before that I was (and still am but not practicing) an Electrician by trade. About 6 years ago this month, I had a friend of mine (actually a friend of my grandfather) who was and still is a full time swing trader introduce me to trading. As soon as i got a taste, I was hooked. I remember the first book on trading I ever read was "How to Make Money in Stocks" by William O'Neil, then a few books on TA by Martin Pring; all of which were recommended to me by that same friend. I loved reading charts and picking stocks....I went through at least 7 or 8 hundred charts a day looking for pattern setups...I was obsessed. For the record, I heard that 7 or 8 hundred charts a day is mild compared to most professional traders....ouch. When I wasn't working, charting, trading, sleeping, and eating all in that order...I was searching for the grail, even though I was told a million times its a waste of time (which is by the way). I think its a thing all new traders go through...a rite of passage perhaps. Anyways, as time went on, the obsession started taking over and my day job along with my health were starting to suffer. Juggling everything was extremely difficult and I ended up getting burned out; at the same time I was losing all my seed money (which wasn't a whole lot to begin with)...so ultimately I decided it would be best if I gave up trading...and I did for almost a year. However, I may have given up on actual trading...but not my education. What seemed to be working for others wasn't working for me; I knew I wanted to trade...but I also knew I had to find another way... To be continued... __________________ Nothing is more difficult than the art of maneuvering for advantageous positions. - Sun-Tzu Trade with the trend, Ride winners, Cut losers, Keep bets small, Use Stops - Old School Last edited by Leth : 02-18-2008 at 02:19 AM.

#4 02-08-2008, 11:36 AM
breakout Member Join Date: Jun 2007 Posts: 63	looking forward to hearing what comes next....

#5 02-08-2008, 05:30 PM
kerahc Member Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Cincinnati Posts: 46	Does this mean that you are not an active trader presently?

#6 02-09-2008, 02:57 AM
Leth Super Moderator Join Date: Oct 2007 Posts: 621	Im definately active today and have been for the last 3 years and 2 months. Before that I was on a trading sabatical for about 10 months, and before that I was trading for 2 years in the methods spoken of in the first post. 6 years is not at all a long time in this business...thats for sure. I'll post the rest of the story after i get back from vacation.... __________________ Nothing is more difficult than the art of maneuvering for advantageous positions. - Sun-Tzu Trade with the trend, Ride winners, Cut losers, Keep bets small, Use Stops - Old School Last edited by Leth : 02-09-2008 at 03:05 AM.

#7 02-17-2008, 05:35 PM
Leth Super Moderator Join Date: Oct 2007 Posts: 621	continued ...anyways; I read the book Market Wizards by Jack Schwager several times, but never really delved into as i should have. I read where a commodities trader named Richard Dennis could trade all markets the same with a trading system. Ed Seykota said the same thing. I then dove into all the info I could get on these guys. They taught me a quite a few things...for instance (this is in my own words so I hope they make sense): 1. Trading the markets is simple, it's trading against yourself that is difficult 2. Discipline is key, stick to your system no matter what. 3. Having a system in place helps with emotional decisions; being that you are your own worst enemy in this business. Then I read quite a few other books on trading. I found that all those books had a common thread...psychology. And as far as trend following is concerned, I came to realize that it is not a method, but a philosophy. When I saw that, everything just hit me like a ton of bricks. Its not something you can explain..its way to difficult. Its only something you can experience; An Aha! moment if you will. Trend following is for traders who choose to look at the markets in terms of probabilities. This philosophy may not be condusive to your personality, but you can choose from such a wide variety since there are so many out there. Lots of people say that I'm not a real trader when compared to the rest of the industry (including the friend that introduced me to trading), and to be honest, I agree with them, I am not. But to be even more honest, I really don't give a shit. No matter what type of system (if any) you use...as long as your making more money than you are loosing, and you come by it honestly, then you are way ahead of the game. As far as my method...I trade price breakouts on daily charts EOD. You can have 5 to 30 stocks in your porfolio and trade them all the same way. If you are a beginning trader, I wouldn't recommend more than 5 or 10 starting out. I use options as my leverage tool and fixed fractional betting as part of my money management system. I spend about 15 to 30 minutes per day (before bed) to look over my signals and place my trades if needed. Thats it!!! Good luck to everyone!! __________________ Nothing is more difficult than the art of maneuvering for advantageous positions. - Sun-Tzu Trade with the trend, Ride winners, Cut losers, Keep bets small, Use Stops - Old School Last edited by Leth : 02-17-2008 at 10:53 PM.

#8 02-17-2008, 05:40 PM
Soverus Khan Senior Member Join Date: Dec 2007 Posts: 306	When it "pops", it "pops". At that point, you are done chasing and fianlly become the casino. Extraction, consistency, probabilities, emotionless, profitable trading.

#10 03-27-2008, 10:25 PM
Leth Super Moderator Join Date: Oct 2007 Posts: 621	The forum has had a few visitors lately that recognize some of the things posted. I've also been told by them that the information is copyrighted and that I am plagerizing. For the record, I just want everyone to know that i've never stolen anything that required payment of or a subscription of, inorder to post on TL. All information taken from other sites were considered free education. The majority of the information in my threads/posts have been credited to an author. If there is no such credit mentioned in my posts, you will see the term Unknown Author under its title. If you see this, and you know who the original author is, please feel free to let me know so i can give credit where credit is due. If this ends up causing more conflict and/or uneccessary emails to my account, then I will delete the posts and/or threads. I've personally never seen any new information regarding the markets and how they are played. “Nobody can be so amusingly arrogant as a young man who has just discovered an old idea and thinks it is his own.” -- Sydney J. Harris American Journalist and Author, author of the syndicated column, Strictly Personal, from 1944-86. 1917-1986 See...that quote wasn't even my own...uh oh. __________________ Nothing is more difficult than the art of maneuvering for advantageous positions. - Sun-Tzu Trade with the trend, Ride winners, Cut losers, Keep bets small, Use Stops - Old School Last edited by Leth : 03-28-2008 at 02:57 AM.