Archives of “February 2019” month
rssTrading Addiction
The tell-tale sign of trading addiction is a trader who cannot refrain from trading–even when markets are objectively offering no opportunity. Even when losses are mounting.
Whenever a stock goes against the general trend, you're assuming if there's something wrong with that particular stock.
Trading Thoughts
There is a meaningful difference between trading to win and trading to not lose. The average person feels more psychological pain over a loss than they feel pleasure over a gain–particularly once they have already “booked” that gain mentally. If I’m expecting a bonus from my employer, I’ll be happy when I receive the paycheck–but I’ll be much more upset if I find out the bonus has been rescinded.
*We can never eliminate loss from life or trading; nor can we repeal the basic uncertainties of markets. What we *can* do is develop an edge in the marketplace and, over the course of many trades, let that edge accumulate in our favor.
And, if you’re trading well, maybe that losing trade will offer you a fresh perspective about how the market is trading: an insight that can make you money the next time around. Then it’s not a loss. It’s information that you’ve paid for.
The Risk of Mental Ruin for Traders
“Losing a position is aggravating, whereas losing your nerve is devastating.” – Ed Seykota
In my experience there are three components of trading that have to be managed correctly for the trader to be successful.
There is risk management, system management, and mental management.
I believe that the majority of the 90% of traders that do not succeed fail not because of their system or risk management but because of their own mind. This also includes professionals along with retail traders. There are countless profitable systems out there and risk management should just be math, so it comes down to discipline, self control, and perseverance to eventually make it as a trader yet so many fail.
A trader can be mentally ruined by stress, ego, arrogance, stubbornness, fear, greed, and emotional instability. These factors cause the bad decisions that inflict so much emotional and mental pain that it leads to just giving up. The majority of new traders make the decision in their first year that trading is not for them and they quit. (more…)
Isaac Newton’s Secret Papers
“The Strange, Secret History of Isaac Newton’s Papers”. It’s a must read.
“But then at the same time he left us 10 million words, which is one of the most extensive of any scientist, or even any one person.”
You need to live until about 90 and be averaging about 400 words a day from the days you’re out of short trousers. Albeit the 10m seems an exaggeration since much of it was transcripts of others stuff.
“Academics have spent much time assessing Mr Niederhoffer’s papers in light of his contribution to quantitative finance. It has surprised many that he had a burning obsession with furniture, being that he constantly referred to chairs in reverential fashion. He was also fascinated by forearm strength, regularly making reference to the world’s grip. Most surprising of all was a seeming chemical discovery in terms of a compound called flex-ions. Sadly the papers do not elucidate and scholars continue to debate the implications.”
The Newton was very good with the alchemy. And I have a few of his letters where he transcribed the alchemy. As for the Niederhoffer, he has an unquestionable shibboleth against the charting, and the trend following, which led to his premature death on many occasions.
21 Suggestions For Success
Highly-reliable reversal signals
For now, ignore the red candles and focus only on the white and black candles that form the left sides of each drawing.
You may have noticed that a lot of “spikers” have gone up too far too fast. These are the stocks that become perfect short candidates for a 1-3 day hold. You may have noticed some of the patterns (above) before, but I’ll give you some examples and what to look out for.
Evening Stars are one of the most reliable reversal patterns available. The failure rate is extremely low and I can’t remember the last time I had a major problem with them. What’s happening is that as each day passes during the rally, the open-close range gets smaller meaning that the buying is starting to slow down. The “cross”, called the doji, at the top signals that the rally has entirely stalled and there is some confusing among both bulls and bears as to which direction the stock should go. This doji day is critical because what happens the next day will most likely continue in the direction of the winner.
Because the rally stalled, it means that the bears have taken some control away from the bulls and there is a very high chance that the stock could drop the very next day. If that does occur, that’s called the evening star and that consists of a long white candle, the doji in the middle, and a down day. Just because a stock dropped to confirm this pattern does not mean that it’s too late to short. Most of the times, this is only the beginning.
Shooting Stars are one of my favorite patterns. They remind me of a comet (or shooting star) falling down to Earth and that’s exactly how the Japanese rice futures traders named this pattern. It’s an ominous sign that a stock (or rice) will drop very, very soon. (more…)
U.S. Treasury to China – Revalue Remnimbi or We Will
There’s a lot of talk around the markets and in Washington about China’s currency policy. What many want to know is whether the US Treasury will name China as a currency manipulator. Perhaps a more important question is, should China be named as a currency manipulator? And if it were named as such, what actions could the US take? In recent days the Chinese and the US administration have taken shots in the press at each other. The US is hinting that China is manipulating its currency to boost its economy. The Chinese is firing back saying that the US “should not politicize the remnimbi exchange rate issue.”
First, some background on the problem. Basic economics says that if you keep the currency of your country at a weak (but not so weak as to cause a collapse in it) level you help boost exports. The currency becomes weaker making your goods cheaper for foreign consumption. In a freely floating exchange system, the market determines the equilibrium value. Speculators look at economic statistics like GDP growth, interest rates, inflation etc. to figure out what a currency should be worth and then place bets accordingly. If speculators think that an economy can grow strongly while keeping inflation at a benign rate, they will bid up the currency of that economy. As that happens, the country whose currency is getting stronger could see a decrease in exports. This is caused by the larger amount of currency the importer uses to make the same purchase as previously made. (more…)
Thought For A Day
