What would you do?

Imagine the following situation: You have toiled many years in the markets, generally as a net loser. Then your hard work starts to pay off. You discover 3 setups that, after significant backtesting, produce a 84% win rate defined as hitting at least a 2 point profit before hitting a 5 tick stopout. You then go from sim trading to real money and discover the setups confirm your backtesting for a couple of years with no glitches. You have many friends who also trade the markets with mixed results at best. Most are frustrated losers. Meanwhile, you are working the edge of the setups and maximizing the probabilities getting to the point where you can finally make a decent living and support your family comfortably by trading full-time. Your lifetime ambition has finally arrived. You are no longer beholden to the daily grind of the average person who has to answer to a boss. You feel your days and nights are one with God's own light.

Now, what would you do?

1. Write a book about these setups.
2. Give seminars to teach these setups for a fixed fee.
3. Create a Web based chat room and trading service for a fixed fee.
4. Share these setups with the trading community at mypivots.com.
5. Trade and not tell a soul what you discovered.
6. None of the above.

I just thought that electing #5 would class you more on the taker side of things that on the giver side of the fence.

I have often thought that #5 would be the most reasonable course, but I would hope that would never be my choice. Along with et's reasoning, I believe that would be indicative of a greedy person. (I'm not condemning anyone else, this applies to me). I believe that a selfish person will never be truly and sustainably successful. To have a gift and horde it is selfish, in my mind. That's Karma, right maha? Those who give will receive. Those who receive do well to give back. If you're proficient at something, why not share your expertise with those who can benefit? I like to think that that's what I would do.

Option #5 is not necessarily greedy. Read "The Virtues of Selfishness" by Ayn Rand

quote:

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Originally posted by felix

I have often thought that #5 would be the most reasonable course, but I would hope that would never be my choice. Along with et's reasoning, I believe that would be indicative of a greedy person. (I'm not condemning anyone else, this applies to me). I believe that a selfish person will never be truly and sustainably successful. To have a gift and horde it is selfish, in my mind. That's Karma, right maha? Those who give will receive. Those who receive do well to give back. If you're proficient at something, why not share your expertise with those who can benefit? I like to think that that's what I would do.

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For those of you who selected #4, ask yourselves what happens to that trading edge when those high probability setups find their way into the public domain and become well known to the trading community? The obvious answer is the market reacts and the edge gets diluted (or maybe even disappears).

Regrettably for us altruists, trading, like most businesses in a capitalistic society, is very competitive among the market participants. Once your edge is lost, the next thing you know you're looking for another job, this one with a boss and the dream is over.

The issue isn't about greed as much as survival.

I if quit trading my choice would be #4 without any reservation.

quote:

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Originally posted by mahavishnu

quote:

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Originally posted by felix

I have often thought that #5 would be the most reasonable course, but I would hope that would never be my choice. Along with et's reasoning, I believe that would be indicative of a greedy person. (I'm not condemning anyone else, this applies to me). I believe that a selfish person will never be truly and sustainably successful. To have a gift and horde it is selfish, in my mind. That's Karma, right maha? Those who give will receive. Those who receive do well to give back. If you're proficient at something, why not share your expertise with those who can benefit? I like to think that that's what I would do.

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For those of you who selected #4, ask yourselves what happens to that trading edge when those high probability setups find their way into the public domain and become well known to the trading community? The obvious answer is the market reacts and the edge gets diluted (or maybe even disappears).

Regrettably for us altruists, trading, like most businesses in a capitalistic society, is very competitive among the market participants. Once your edge is lost, the next thing you know you're looking for another job, this one with a boss and the dream is over.

The issue isn't about greed as much as survival.

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Sounds like classic fear/greed to me.
Not for me, thanks.

That's cool felix. Day trading is a brutal business with a lot of wear and tear on the psyche and the bankroll too. People burn out every day dealing with the stress and emotional swings. Maybe that helps explain why so few make it as you pondered in your "Are You Winning" thread.

It's a nice fantasy to imagine the situation I described in the first post.

Max

You just couldn't stay away

Wrong. Guess again.

Redsioux?

Before this gets carried away and another thread gets threadjacked can I suggest that if you want to continue guessing who mahavishnu is you create a thread called something like "Who is mahavishnu?" and post it in the Trader's Lounge section.

My choice is #5.

I would present my findings to a well-capitalized hedge fund that specializes in futures trading and agree to a profit sharing arrangement. This eliminates all the risk and emotion from trading myself and still have a shot at making money.