What's wrong with Padu practicing on Demo. I understand the reasons people disagree with paper trading but from a purely Chart reading development perspective it's great. It's like when @Overnight argues in the Mirror with himself, he's just practicing for the real arguments. I believe Padu understands longer term trading SPY/SPX. He has spoken about it and what he's said briefly on that was certainly correct.
You know, I heard this week that they 'finally' removed technical analysis (including Elliot wave bs) from the CFA level I examinations. When even the 'gold-standard' dumps this... that usually tells you something.
Demo trading is fine. And in Padu's case that's a life saver. The point is someone objected to his contract size so I felt that was moot given it was demo. But turns out Padu is doing TopStep trader, like many a desperate soul. So he's at a casino essentially. With no free drinks. What a bummer...
Yes, as I had mentioned earlier, the sunk cost weighs heavily. I think padu went down the wrong rabbit hole and can only see his way to dig further rather than elsewhere. If my early foray into trading had been via Brooks, I'd probably have called it a day in exasperation and moved on. Perhaps some people are suited to Brooks's byzantine approach to trading, if it is indeed trading. I'm not. Judging by the time he invested thus far, I'm not convinced padu is either. This is not the only path to trading, padu. As Henry David Thoreau said, "Simplify, simplify." Regardless, padu, I think you're a good guy and I wish you well. Good luck.
I like many others also invested a lot of time in Brooks. I can't say I got no value out of it. At that time it did give me some framework to operate with, but when you combine the lack of specificity "You can trade this market in any direction", and poor communication (his books are a disaster to read), it is a pretty poor bang for the buck and as I've said earlier here, it is a major temptation to overtrade. One author I suggest is Bob Volman. His two books really helped hone my tape reading skills. His strategies are nothing new: pullbacks, breakouts, and false breakouts. I don't use his strategies out of the box, but I use his ideas for trade management and they're very good. Not the best writer, but Brooks is much worse. Tape reading is such a subtle art that it's hard to get across in book form. Much easier to watch a webinar. Unfortunately Volman doesn't do webinars, Brooks is a bit easier to understand when you watch/hear him. Volman's ideas are certainly not limited to the 70 tick or 5 minute charts either. They translate quite well to 1-2 minute charts. His choice of FX for his first book was a mistake: just when his book came out volatility in FX dried up. He was a good sport about it and started posting charts on trade2win for several years (don't know if they're still there), then in his second book he also included index futures and discussed low volatility environments. I think he is probably a European based trader hence the focus on FX.Remember those poor fellows never had an emini DAX contract for many years, and the spread on CFDs were a killer for day trading. I'll agree that for someone who is all over the place like Padu, Brooks is a particularly bad idea. But I have a feeling if I gave Padu just one strategy he wouldn't stick with it. The guy's brain is just not wired for structure. Persistence in such people is not aimed in the right direction.
I read both of Volman’s books years ago, and I agree his material is far more accessible. I preferred his first book, even though I don’t use tick charts, trade forex or like candlesticks (I much prefer OHLC bars for clarity). The second book I didn’t even bother finishing. But I did get a couple of nuggets from his scalping book that improved my game, such as it is. His book also could have been shorter, but it is an order of magnitude better than what I have seen of Brooks, even though I’m not sure that English is Volman’s native language. Some of the writing is a bit awkward, but not unclear.
The problem is Padu cracked the mirror multiple times already. When will he come to realize that even the mirror is scared of him? Anyway, Padu talks too much. It's all talk, talk, talk, talk. When will he walk, walk, walk, walk?
Just Incase some aren't aware, Padu wants US dollars, so he has to trade via a Prop Firm only for some reason he's said.
Here's a helpful hint: Take TopStep Trader's revenue model and try to model it like you were on their end of the equation. Just see how much money they can make off failed traders, especially given the high amount of those who are willing to participate. It's clear which side of the trade you'd rather be on. Now granted, some people squeeze through. Good for them. But I once did my own 'combine' back when I didn't have enough money to trade futures. I set up a fund and demo traded, just like with TopStep. I decided that if I lost my own 'combine', the money would go to charity. Instead of some company that's just pocketing it. I did better that way. Then things sort of took care of themselves as I had enough money to do pattern day trading and I no longer needed to trade futures. That let me gradually increase my share size until I could handle futures. And that is probably the best way to go. The PDT rule sucks, but these days $25,000 isn't what it was back in 2001 when the rule was first introduced and luckily, they didn't index it for inflation. Yes, in a volatile market sometimes SPY is not easy to short. Happens. But now we also have MES, so there are really no excuses.