When people make things more complicated than they need to be. Let me give you an example. One of the leaders in my chat room finally unveiled a new trading system he had developed after more than a year of extensive testing. The system works just as it is. It isn't perfect (no trading system will be 100%), but it is highly profitable.
People's initial reactions were interesting. Instead of saying, "Wow, great. Let me give it a try," a common first response was, "I wonder if it would work even better if we changed this and that, and instead of a 15-day moving average we used a 10-day moving average," and on and on. Before they even tried or understood the system, before ever becoming profitable and successful with it, they immediately set about trying to improve it.
Maybe it's human nature. We love trying to reinvent the wheel. Many of us see trading as a puzzle. If we could just find that solution or formula that no one else has thought of yet, we would be rich and happy. A lot of people think that the more indicators they pile on, the better their trading results will be. So they wind up with analysis paralysis, unprofitable and frustrated, convinced that trading is an unwinnable gamble.
I can't say this enough: What matters is not the system itself, but what you do with the system -- your discipline to use it and keep stops. You won't find a system that always works, so you'd better limit those losses. Two percent of your trades can easily wipe out 98% of your gains if you can't keep stops.
www.greatstockpix.com
