Financial Occultist

poison for Traders Replace fear with faith—faith in your trading model and trading plan

Replace confusion with the attitude of being comfortable with uncertainty

Replace hesitation with decisive action

Replace surprise with taking nothing for granted and preparing yourself for anything.

Two Trading related Films

07-Jan-19 09:39 pm

Education

Anirudh Sethi

Question. Have you seen the new Wall Street film, Money Never Sleeps? If so, what did you think?

http://www.wallstreetmoneyneversleeps.com/

The original film is, of course, a classic. I have no idea how many times I’ve seen it over the years, and no doubt will see it again several times in the future. I haven’t, as yet, seen the new one, but I fully expect to do so.

It seems like the box office figures haven’t held up very well, but that’s not necessarily a reflection of the quality of the film where someone from a markets background is concerned. This doesn’t strike me as being one that requires the big screen experience, however, so I can see myself waiting for it to come out on DVD.

Should I not do that? I’d love to hear from folks who been. If so, leave a comment below with your thoughts.

A film I did see recently is Floored, the documentary about the decline of pit trading in the Chicago futures exchange arena. It was screened at the Vegas Futures & Forex expo, with the director in attendance. There were some interesting elements, but I’m not going to sing its praises from the rooftops or anything like that. Basically, it’s a tale of a disappearing business, which is part of they way things work in a free enterprise society. New, better ways replace older ones and folks who cannot adopt are left behind.

One of the most amazing scenes in Floored is one where a guy who clearly has embraced computer assisted trading is facing off against a floor trader. The latter is ranting about how computers are evil. It’s sad, really.

The trend is your friend, till it ends.

07-Jan-19 09:36 pm

Education

Anirudh Sethi

5 Ideas for Traders

07-Jan-19 09:35 pm

Education

Anirudh Sethi

1) You can’t take your trading to the next level if you don’t know the level you’re playing at. It’s not just P/L; it’s also knowing how you manage risk, how you take advantage of opportunities, how well you execute ideas, etc. Self-improvement starts with self observation;
2) Improving risk-adjusted returns is as important for a long-term career as improving absolute returns. If you take half the trades and make 90% of your previous income, you’ve meaningfully improved. If you take twice as many trades and make 110% of your prior income, you’ve moved backward;
3) Learning to diversify your trading (and income stream) can be as important as improving your core trading. Diversification can be by market, by strategy, by time frame, or by some combination of those;
4) Many times, the best improvements come from doing more of what you’re good at. It helps to make fewer mistakes, but doing less of what doesn’t work is not in itself going to make you a living. It’s crucial to know what you’re really good at;
5) Improving your preparation for trading can be as important as directly working on your trading results. So many outcome results follow from improvements in one’s process.
Most of all, you elevate your trading by always working on your craft. A day without goals is a day without forward movement. And life is too precious to settle for standing still.