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Questionnaire for Traders

The following questionnaire asks you to assess your emotional experience during your trading. Specifically, you’ll be rating how often you’ve experienced the following feelings over the past two weeks. Below, I’ll explain how to score the questionnaire; please complete the items before looking at the scoring. My next post will explain how to interpret your results.
Please use the following scale for your responses:
1 = rarely
2 = occasionally
3 = sometimes
4 = often
5 = most of the time
1) I feel happy when I’m trading _____
2) I feel stressed when I’m trading _____
3) I feel alert and energetic when I’m trading _____
4) I feel discouraged when I’m trading _____
5) I feel capable of succeeding at my trading _____
6) I blame myself when my trading doesn’t work out _____
7) I feel satisfied with my trading results _____
8) I feel edgy and frustrated when I’m trading _____
9) I feel in control of what happens in my trading _____
10) I make impulsive decisions when I’m trading _____ (more…)

The Wisdom of Salt: 10 Secrets Of Leadership From A Lifetime Fisherman

SECRET 1: Productivity is simple. The art of managing people is knowing when to do push and when to do nothing. If you are in an open boat in a storm, nothing you say or do will make your deckhand bail out the water any faster. Best to sit back, hand on the tiller and enjoy watching the deckhand’s frantic efforts. Very entertaining. The fear of death creates a sharp rise in productivity.
SECRET 2: When the market is on a wild ride, let others do the panicking.

“Fishermen don’t ask for help. And if anyone offers, refuse them. But always step up when yer needed.” (P. 96)

Picture: Moby Dick, Warner Bros.
SECRET 3: Don’t owe anyone anything. You’ll have to return the favour sometime and it will probably be something you don’t want to do. However, having someone owing you is a much better idea. And helping people makes you feel good.

The best thing about Salt is that in gnarly situations he will never chuck a tantrum. Ever. That’s my job. (Sarah Drummond, P. 29) (more…)

TRADER’S TWO MOST POWERFUL WORDS

Let’s face it, no matter the outcome of a trade-lose, win, draw, and even the miss-traders are rarely satisfied with the result.  This is exactly why it is so important that we utilize the two most powerful words in a stock trader’s vocabulary..and no… it does not involve four letters!  The following is a list that you can use these two words with.  You will get my point.  Of course you can add to it if you like.

I missed the trade…SO WHAT!

This trade did not work…SO WHAT!

I excited a profitable trade too early…SO WHAT!

I excited with a loss too quickly…SO WHAT!

My stock gapped against me…SO WHAT!

The stock recovered without me…SO WHAT!

A stock I was bullish on was downgraded by an ANALyst…SO WHAT!

A stock I was bearish on was upgraded by an ANALyst…SO WHAT! (more…)

The 10 Scariest Things in Trading

I was reading this article and started thinking about the ten scariest things in trading: The Top Ten Things That Make Horror Movies Scary

1. Fear of Death.  This is the ultimate fear, both existentially and psychologically. It isn’t really a horror movie if people don’t get killed.

In Trading: fear of depletion of assets.

2. The Dark. From our earliest childhood we are afraid of the dark – not the dark itself, but what it hides. It makes horror movies even scarier to watch them in a darkened theater, or a dark living room, right?

In Trading: not knowing enough news

3. Creepy, Crawly Things. Snakes, spiders, rats, and other crawling things are scary in and of themselves, but when they touch the skin, in the dark, it amplifies this common phobia.

In Trading: monthly expenses

4. Scary Places. Horror movies are full of scary places – graveyards, old houses, overgrown forests, dungeons, attics, basements. These are dark places, where evil things can hide.

In Trading: instruments or markets that one had very bad experiences with.


5. Disfigurement. Many horror movies feature grotesquely disfigured antagonists (think Frankenstein’s monster, the Phantom of the Opera, zombies). Studies in early development have found that young infants will react with fear to asymmetrical or disordered faces.
(more…)

Improve Cognitive Performance-3 Simple Steps

Here are three simple practices that can improve alertness, concentration, and overall cognitive performance:

1)  Hydration – Thanks to Henry Carstens for pointing this one out.  A lack of proper hydration has been found to negatively impact mood among women and decrease alertness and concentration among men.  A wide range of studies link dehydration to declines in short-term memory, concentration, alertness, visuomotor tracking, motor skills, and computational performance.  Water is essential for feeding the brain.


2)  Power Naps – Sleep is a restorative.  Although sleeping on the job has a negative connotation, research finds that power naps improve creativity, memory, energy level, and general cognitive functioning.  Naps also improve decision-making and problem-solving, with naps of different lengths offering different benefits.  A 20-30 minute nap is ideal for improving alertness.    

3)  Moving Around – Prolonged sitting carries a number of health risks.  Standing at the desk for a portion of the day can also increase energy and improve mood.  Exercise during the day improves sleep quality, energy level, and mood.


So what does that tell us?  The traditional way of working as a trader–sitting at the desk all day, hunched over and focused on screens, guzzling coffee and soda–is bad for our cognitive performance and bad for our health.  If you’re a world-class athlete, you will do everything possible to maintain your body in peak condition.  If you’re a world-class trader, keeping your brain in peak condition is equally important.  It makes little sense to spend time looking for more and better trade setups when our minds are poorly maintained to act upon those.