Archives of “January 3, 2019” day
rssCaterpillars have the ideal life; eat a lot, take a long nap, wake up handsome…
Don't Overtrade !!!
Even a daytrader trading a five minute chart has no need to trade every day nor to trade all day long. You should be filtering your trades so that you take only the best of the best.
Overtrading was a problem that took me a long time to overcome because I did not know what I was looking for. Overtrading is a very serious problem, and veteran traders learn to avoid it. In fact, one way to know if a trader is a mature professional is to know if that trader conquered the problem of over trading. (more…)
Learning from mistakes and moving on
A Subscriber of mine asks me the following question …
“When should a trader know when to say it is enough and I need to get out of the position. More importantly, how do you find a balance between learning from a mistake and not being weighed down by it on your next trading decision.”
Here was my advice:
* if you have “edge” in a trade, then winning or losing on a trade will be determined long before you find out the outcome (profit/loss) on the trade.
* important to focus on the process of the trade… making ONLY high quality trades
* your job as a trader is not to determine or decide how much you make or lose…that is up to the market. Your job is to put on trades with “edge.”
as far as not being weighed down by the mistakes, my suggestion is to begin a “lessons learned” spreadsheet where you document mistakes you make and the lesson you learned from it.
I also suggest you start a qualitative trading journal that way you can get the emotions out of your head and onto the paper.
this will help you move past your barriers and get some closure on them so you can be focused on the next trade.
GM posts strong July sales
The US economy may look a bit sluggish but Government Motors had a good July. GM reported a sales increase of 25% over the same period a year ago…
US equities are well off their lows and EUR/USD and Cable are benefiting. EUR/USD has rebounded to 1.3225. Cable has bounced back to 1.5945.
Success Isn’t Easy
While the markets haven’t exactly been “user friendly” lately…remember that success is a journey, not a destination.
20 Market Wizard Lessons
Democracy Failure Follows Market Failure
Some very spicy comments from the Hungarian prime minister who basically tells the world to get lost (please admire effort to remain polite on his part). In so many words it’s not his fault, it’s the previous administration’s fault. Sounds familiar? Obama has used it at will, Greece has used it, I heard Sarkozy use it, and just about everybody else! Even Republicans who campaigned to “Drill baby drill!” now blame the BP fiasco on Obama. Needless to say political courage is something that no longer exists, and populism has been the only political program offered to us for now a solid 40 years. The natural extension is for a Prime Minister to just walk in and say: “You know what screw you guys, we will default, I am not taking back tax cuts that got me elected, I am not telling people who were promised early retirement that really it’s not feasible, I’m just not going to deal with any of this. Let’s just default and keep doing what we were doing”. In the same line of thought the French PM declared this morning that there is nothing bad about EURUSD at parity.
If you think it’s bad to sell someone a mortgage they can’t pay, how about promising them a lifestyle they can’t afford! Washington has some nerve to blame the financial industry: “a house for every American” was their idea. Granted there is plenty of blame and jail time deserved at many financial institutions but it is true also for Congress. I used to think that over the past 40 years the commodity that was most devalued was human labor but I have changed my mind. A man’s word no longer has any value in most cases. Should the law be changed so that it holds our leaders accountable for their words? Why not, we would get a hell of a clean slate and something to be finally hopeful about. That is change I would believe in for sure. (more…)
Differentiating Between an Impulse vs. Intuition from Experience
- If a feeling feels urgent, if it feels compelling, suspect it as impulse.
- If on the other hand, it feels calm, if it is a sense coming out of nowhere, consider it as recognition of something you know but aren’t conscious of yet.
- Book knowledge has no feeling attached to it. Without experience, one lacks the sense, which is of course a type of feeling context, of how things fit together or whether they are true or false.
Byron Wien’s 20 Rules of Investing & Life
Outstanding list from a man who has accumulated much wisdom over the years:
Lessons Learned in His First 80 Years
1. Concentrate on finding a big idea that will make an impact on the people you want to influence. The Ten Surprises, which I started doing in 1986, has been a defining product. People all over the world are aware of it and identify me with it. What they seem to like about it is that I put myself at risk by going on record with these events which I believe are probable and hold myself accountable at year-end. If you want to be successful and live a long, stimulating life, keep yourself at risk intellectually all the time.
2. Network intensely. Luck plays a big role in life, and there is no better way to increase your luck than by knowing as many people as possible. Nurture your network by sending articles, books and emails to people to show you’re thinking about them. Write op-eds and thought pieces for major publications. Organize discussion groups to bring your thoughtful friends together.
3. When you meet someone new, treat that person as a friend. Assume he or she is a winner and will become a positive force in your life. Most people wait for others to prove their value. Give them the benefit of the doubt from the start. Occasionally you will be disappointed, but your network will broaden rapidly if you follow this path.
4. Read all the time. Don’t just do it because you’re curious about something, read actively. Have a point of view before you start a book or article and see if what you think is confirmed or refuted by the author. If you do that, you will read faster and comprehend more.
5. Get enough sleep. Seven hours will do until you’re sixty, eight from sixty to seventy, nine thereafter, which might include eight hours at night and a one-hour afternoon nap.
6. Evolve. Try to think of your life in phases so you can avoid a burn-out. Do the numbers crunching in the early phase of your career. Try developing concepts later on. Stay at risk throughout the process. (more…)