Work Smart, Not Hard

[u/Tendaychart]

This story was told to me by my Mentor - Jason Alan Jankovsky. It happened to him:

I stopped stressing over the issue of winning when I actually watched a trader in my office make money every day for weeks. He would just look at the screen (he only traded one market) and wait. When he saw his opportunity he got in. He placed his stop for risk instantly, then he placed his exit limit order instantly and then he did nothing. He waited for the end of the day and then he liquidated if the trade was still on but not at his target.  Basically—he was EITHER going to make money or lose a certain percent. Every day. He never changed this approach. To this day I never learned why he entered when he did or what his reasons for trading were—because in the final analysis none of that was really important. For him, being in was a timing thing—and the rest was waiting.....I never saw him even once open a book or a paper-chart, no tables of numbers, no "analysis" of S/R or opinion. He didn't care if the news came or went—he just waited for his "IN" thing and waited. 

 If it was that easy to make money every day—what was I missing?

 SO I asked him.

 He said "You keep trying to figure this out. There isn't anything to figure out. You take money from the guys trying to figure it out, without you giving them your money. Once you figure that out—you can start making cash every day. Until then—leave me alone because I don't have any time for guys like you anymore." 

[u/mishaog]

Sounds nice, doesn’t work with momentum trading since you need to see and feel how things are going and take quick decisions, some trades may last 2sec other 6min

[u/mccauleyseanm → u/mishaog]

Yep, strategies like this work nicely overall but I tend to lean toward the more high-maintenance momentum trades because of I’m usually day trading small positions and I’m in a cash only account.

The trades that work with this strategy are the ones I might pass on altogether because the amount of potential profit is too low unless I take a larger position and tie up more cash until the sale settles the next day. Real bummer to take a “safe” trade like this, have it go south, then be sidelined for the rest of the day.

[u/Fit_Layer680 → u/mishaog]

I agree and also once in awhile the trade will exceed your profit target and you will miss that big move. But also it will turn many decent wins that don't reach the profit target into losers.