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Jarado, I fully encourage you find and engage a mentor, I did that last year and it has made a tremendous difference to me as I sought to trade full time. Its great to have someone to talk to (other than a forum like this which is never the same) to get advice, ask questions, and learn how the pro's do things. I would suggest you do your DD on whoever you consider:
1. Look at their track record (ask for some validation of their record - not just their word) & also how their other students are performing (or feedback from them)
2. Look at the trading methodology & decide whether it suits you. Is it simple, is it complex, is it consistent. If you don't believe in it you won't wholeheartedly embrace it and give it the effort that's required
3. Find out what they're like to work with - if you can't get along with them you won't be able to work with them
Stops. Totally depends on the methodology you use, and requires assessing risk/reward, SL hit rate & trade strike rate. Yes using wider stops gives more room for trade to move, but assuming you are spreading a fixed amount over your SL distance it has a big impact on risk/reward:
eg. if you bet $100 per trade & your SL is based on an hourly timeframe, so maybe SL distance is 10 pips, then that's $10/pip and it only takes 10 pips to lose your $100. But then again it only takes 10 pips to win $100. Alternatively if you base it on a 12h timeframe, so the SL distance may be 50 pips, then the risk/pip is $2/pip, so it will need 50 pips to lose $100, but then again you will need a positive move of 50 pips to win $100.
ATAA. I don't go regularly but I find they are very hit or miss in terms of quality. Very presenter dependent and I have seen some absolute muppets talking rubbish but also some brilliant presenters. It always pays to look at the agenda for the meeting to see who is presenting & do a bit of google searching on them to see whether they are worth the effort of going to see. As far as networking I find I get more value from HC than talking to other traders live, primarily because here you can verify their comments in some way here (what did they say and later was that correct or not) but when you are talking to most people they primarily only talk about their winners and not their losers, or how they really go about their trading (which is why I eventually sought out a mentor).
Cheers, Sharks
