A recent comment about a post got me into a conversation with a trading

friend of mine. Search the internet and you will find courses running upwards

of $3000.

I have seen that number put to shame with course running into five digits. Some of them ramble on about the

“secret” they found. Some are about “innovative” uses of standard technical

indicators.

I have the good fortune of knowing a few traders and some of them have been super successful for decades.

One thing I have heard over and over again is that there is nothing new in

trading. Sure, a tweak here and there on a standard indicator but overall,

there is nothing new.

Actually, what I wrote in the post was similar, I was told, to what is sold at a

pretty penny on the internet. The interesting thing was is that I had zero

clue about who was being talked about.

It was logically buying at a support zone with a confirmation from a momentum

indicator. I could have even used the lower Bollinger Band poke through into the

support area. Logical and because someone may have packaged and sold the

information with a hefty price tag, does not make it theirs.

That brings up something else. A few years ago, I had a video about supply and demand trading. It was showing

live trades, real account and I was walking through why I took the trade.

A comment appeared and the person said they “see no supply and demand”

in the areas I was talking about. It turned out that he was from a VSA background and had been taught

something different.

I also had to point out that a lower trend line is routinely called a demand

line and playing semantics made nobody money

I see it all the time where someone has been taught something and hold tight to that narrow focus. They read

something but attribute it to someone else as if that person invented it. Here

is a news flash….it is meaningless.

What is meaningful is if you can use that information to make money. It doesn’t matter that a trader had a different view of what supply and

demand was than I did. What mattered is I executed according to plan and the trade was a mega hit.

That leads me to……..Purists. A friend is a huge fan of Elliott Waves and while

I understand the basics, the rest is mumbo jumbo to me.

I heard there are 60 modules in the first level of the EW course so you can

imagine he knows things I don’t or even care to. He can show me five waves and I would find five totally different ones (he has no problem

pointing that out).

Subjective? Of course and that is one of the knocks against it but not one I

find to be all that important.

Here is the thing……it doesn’t matter.

My 5 or 3 wave count may be totally different and that just shows that

there will be differences across the entire trading community. What does matter is if what I choose leads me to

profitable trading.

I am not in this game to be the most accurate wave counter EW has ever seen. I want to make money. I pick

what I like from EW, apply it and reap the rewards or suffer the loss.

That’s the point, right?

Take the profits and the losses and see the P/L on your side at the end of the

month. Getting caught up in “who said what”, proper terminology or the

precise way of doing things is academic and won’t lead you to

profitable trading. That is where, in my opinion, your focus should be.

Focus on what matters. Someone will always come out with “new” indicator

inputs, new terms for common candlestick formations (kangaroo tail),

“new” indicator combinations and getting caught up in that part of this

business is pointless.

That said, many people have no idea on how to make their own trading

system. There are a handful of companies that offer profitable trading systems plus the support you need to lower the learning curve. I say handful because most make their money off of

YOU….not the markets.

Netpicks and the team are real traders in all markets…including options. Is

that value? I believe so and the costs are reasonable considering what is

offered. Profitable systems used by the team and the ability to have their ear

when you encounter issues.

It is not a guaranteed win because much of trading is implementation but you will at least have a fighting chance.