Archives of “January 5, 2019” day

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Traders -Should take divorce from Ego

  
  Education

I’ve just finished re-reading the interview with Paul Tudor Jones in the first Market Wizards book. That and many other interviews in there get quoted a lot in the financial blogosphere, and with good reason, they’re just a goldmine of wisdom and insight from some of the greatest ever traders.

In response to the question ‘What are the trading rules you live by?’ he talks about not averaging losers, position size, risk, and entries, before saying: “The most important rule of trading is to play great defense, not great offense. Every day I assume every position I have is wrong. I know where my stop risk points are going to be. I do that so I can define my maximum possible drawdown.”

He then goes on to say “Don’t be a hero. Don’t have an ego. Always question yourself and your ability. Don’t ever feel that you are very good. The second you do you’re dead,” and “If you made a good trade, don’t think it is because you have some uncanny foresight. Always maintain your sense of confidence, but keep it in check.”

Those last two quotes in particular have always appealed to me, because I often need reminding of them. (more…)

Minervini, Trade Like a Stock Market Wizard-Book Review

  
  Education
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Mark Minervini, U.S. investing champion in 1997, averaged a 220% return per year from 1994 to 2000 for a compounded total return of 33,500%. Yes, we all know that these astonishing figures coincided with a major bull market, but how many traders came anywhere close to his record during this period?

In Trade Like a Stock Market Wizard: How to Achieve Superperformance in Stocks in Any Market (McGraw-Hill, 2013) Minervini shares his SEPA (Specific Entry Point Analysis) trading strategy. It’s essentially a trend following/breakout strategy that screens for such variables as earnings surprises and relative strength and that looks for catalysts driving institutional interest. It relies on both fundamentals and technicals. Its focus is on youthful small- to mid-cap stocks.

There are strong echoes of Bill O’Neil, Ben and Mitch Zacks, Richard Donchian, even Jesse Livermore in Minervini’s work. That he borrows from such luminaries is not surprising. Having dropped out of school at the age of 15, he subsequently became “a fanatical student of the stock market. … Over the years,” he writes, “I’ve read an incredible number of investment books, including more than 1,000 titles in my personal library alone.” (p. 3) (more…)

You Just Might Be …Gambler

  
  Education
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When does trading become gambling? There is a very thin line. I maintain that most traders ARE gamblers. They use markets as a substitute for a casino.

1. IF you enter trades without a clear trading plan, you just might be a gambler.

2. IF you trade just to be trading, you just might be a gambler.

3. IF you’re bored and enter a trade, you just might be a gambler.

4. IF you look at potential profit before assessing potential loses, you just might be a gambler.

5. IF you have no impulse control, you just might be a gambler.

6. IF you have no methodology, you just might be a gambler.

7. IF you rely on others for your trading decisions, you just might be a gambler.

8. IF you do not take full responsibility for your trading outcomes, you just might be a gambler.

9. IF you increase your risk due to losses, you just might be a gambler.

10. IF you do not use stop losses or do not adhere to them, you just might be a gambler.

And my all time favorite

11. IF you get an adrenaline rush when your entering trades, you just might be a gambler.

Ten Times When A Trader Should do Nothing

  
  Education
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  1. When you are confused and don’t know what to do, do nothing.
  2. There are no set ups on your watch list, then don’t trade.
  3. You are a trend trader and there is no trend to trade.
  4. The market is extremely volatile due to headline risk.
  5. You want to make an option trade but the options are illiquid with a huge bid ask spread.
  6. If you are trying to trade supply and demand but the government keeps interfering with your market, pick a different market.
  7. Your stock reports earnings the next day and you expect a powerful move but it could easily go either way, wait until after earnings to trade.
  8. You are a momentum trader but their is not momentum, then wait.
  9. You play the long side only and the market is in a correction or a bear market, wait for a new trend to the upside.
  10. If you are not at your best mentally and emotionally then don’t trade until you are.

Do markets move in the shape of a torus

  
  Education
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Do markets move in the shape of a torus, which is at the heart of the constructal principle more frequently than chance, and is it predictive?

When you say “torus” I think “circle times circle”. (Referring to the surface of the torus, not a solid torus.)

The surface of a sphere, by contrast, is not circle times circle. (The standard physical models are: two angular measurements in a TIE fighter, versus lat/long measurements on the Globe. (Think about the poles and notice that lat is 180 degrees, not 360.))

From an external point of view the surface of a torus is a 2-dimensional curved surface with one hole in it.

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