And if one is trying to prove what a loser he is, then he definitely should trade without a thoroughly-tested, consistently-profitable trading plan. Or, if he has one, not follow it.
djmartin's post makes no sense, what sort of position has a risk/reward of 1/2 or 1/3 after only 2-3 ticks?
My source of data is a 5-min, and corresponding 1-min, bar chart or candlestick chart (doesn't matter to me). The source of the price patterns on those charts is from my broker's data feed. I use a spreadsheet or a piece of paper and a pencil and make notes on the price action surrounding each appearance of the setup I'm testing.
Risk and reward doesn't matter if you don't know what you are doing.. To be successful at trading you have to master multiple things and Risk and reward is just a small piece of the pie.. No one part of the pie is more important then the other pieces (even though some people don't believe this). Risk and reward can be done in so many ways like anything else.. What really counts is are you making money..
But djmartin's post is missing a VERY important detail. What sort of position has a risk/reward of 1/2 or 1/3 after only 2-3 ticks? Without that info the post is useless.
Your 100% right, Risk Reward and win percent go hand-in-hand. I just think traders put way to much effort in Risk Reward. What is the market doing right now. Another thing that don't get talked about a lot is, how did the market reach your target? Did it go there smoothly or did it chop back and forth. When traders backtest there method they don't take that into consideration, when they take there trade setup and the market start chopping back and forth they don't know what to do. Then after they get out of the trade it ends up hitting there target, in return the say to there self next time I'm staying in. On the next trade the market bias change but there to blind to see that so they stay in the trade and they end of getting stopped out, after all this there now confused we all know what happens when your confused and the cycle repeats it self. That use to be me. i'm was so worried about risk reward. One day I was trading and my mentor asked me what is the market doing right now. That one question I repeat to myself all day turned things around for me. I stop getting so caught up in risk reward, I just take what the market gives me.