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Traders needs Patience , Decisiveness & Gratitude

  
  Education
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1. Patience
 
“The waiting is the hardest part” – Tom Petty
 
“Patience pays. Wait. Let the hand of God work for you. One who has created you let Him create all the environments, circumstances, and facilities & faculties” – Yogi bhajan
 
I don’t know about you but I trade to put food on the table for my family. In the long run if f I don’t make money – we don’t eat. A lot of trading is waiting. Waiting for the best trade to come to you, waiting for your scales to be hit, waiting for final target to be hit, etc. If you are impatient you lack the ability to wait for these things. If you are trading for excitement or thrills then you will find yourself taking stupid trades out of a need for action and in return you will not experience the results you desire. Much better to head to Vegas or go bungee jumping. Before I put ONE DOLLAR at risk I want to be sure that the odds are stacked in my favor. You won’t find me trading out of boredom, or taking a low odds trade because I feel the need to do “something”. I am fine being flat. You should learn to love the waiting – the waiting is what enables you to make the money.
 
2. Decisiveness.
 
“It’s better to be boldly decisive and risk being wrong than to agonize at length and be right too late” – Anonymous
 
“Procrastination in the name of reducing risk actually increases risk” – Colin Powell
 
“Take time to deliberate, but when the time for action has arrived, stop thinking and go in” – Napoleon Bonaparte
 
“In any moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing, the next best thing you can do is the wrong thing, and the worst thing you can do is nothing” – Theodore Roosevelt (more…)

‘Essential Qualities of the Speculator’

  
  Education
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qualities

1. Self-Reliance. A man must think for himself,must follow his own convictions. George MacDonald says: “A man cannot have another man’s ideas any more than he can another man’s soul or another man’s body.” Self-trust is the foundation of successful effort.

2. Judgment. That equipoise, that nice adjustment of the faculties one to the other,which is called good judgment, is an essential to the speculator.
3. Courage. That is, confidence to act on the decisions of the mind. In speculation there is
value in Mirabeau’s dictum: “Be bold, still be bold; always be bold.” (more…)

Dickson G. Watts ‘Speculation As A Fine Art’ – A Speculator’s Essential Qualities

  
  Education
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His list of ‘Essential Qualities of the Speculator’ and ‘Laws Absolute” show the timeless value of his insight:

1. Self-Reliance. A man must think for himself,must follow his own convictions. George MacDonald says: “A man cannot have another man’s ideas any more than he can another man’s soul or another man’s body.” Self-trust is the foundation of successful effort.

2. Judgment. That equipoise, that nice adjustment of the faculties one to the other,which is called good judgment, is an essential to the speculator.

3. Courage. That is, confidence to act on the  decisions of the mind. In speculation there is value in Mirabeau’s dictum: “Be bold, still be bold; always be bold.”

4. Prudence. The power of measuring the danger, together with a certain alertness and watchfulness, is very important. There should be a balance of these two, Prudence and Courage;Prudence in  contemplation, Courage in execution.
Lord Bacon says: “In meditation all dangers should be seen; in execution one, unless very formidable.”
Connected with these qualities,properly an outgrowth of them, is a third, viz:
promptness. The mind convinced, the act should follow. In the words of Macbeth; “Henceforth the
very firstlings of my heart shall be the firstlings of my hand.” Think, act, promptly.

5. Pliability. The ability to change an opinion,the power of revision. “He who observes,”says Emerson, “and observes again, is always formidable.”

The qualifications named are necessary to the makeup of a speculator, but they must be in well-balanced
combination. A deficiency or an overplus of one quality will destroy the effectiveness of all. The possession of such faculties, in a proper adjustment is, of course, uncommon. In speculation, as in life, few succeed,many fail.

These are his ‘Laws Absolute’:

1. Never Overtrade. To take an interest larger than the capital justifies is to invite disaster. With such an
interest a fluctuation in the market unnerves the operator, and his judgment becomes worthless.

2. Never “Double Up”; that is, never completely and at once reverse a position. Being “long,” for instance,do not “sell out” and go as much “short.” This may occasionally succeed, but is very hazardous, for should the market begin again to advance, the mind reverts to its original opinion and the speculator “covers up”and “goes long” again. Should this last change be wrong, complete demoralization ensues. The change in the original position should have been made moderately,cautiously, thus keeping the judgment clear and preserving the balance of the mind.

3. “Run Quickly,” or not at all; that is to say, act promptly at the first approach of danger, but failing
to do this until others see the danger, hold on or close out part of the “interest.”

4. Another rule is, when doubtful, reduce the amount of the interest; for either the mind is not satisfied with the position taken, or the interest is too large for safety. One man told another that he could not sleep on account of his position in the market; his friend judiciously and laconically replied: “Sell down to a sleeping point.”

Eternal Truths About Trading Success

  
  Education
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truthToday afternoon  once again  read  small book from the late 1800s written by Dickson G. Watts and reprinted by Traders Press. Entitled “Speculation as a Fine Art and Thoughts on Life”, the book begins with a description of the “qualities essential to the equipment of a speculator” (p. 8). Here is the author’s perspective, written well over a century ago:

* Self-Reliance – “A man must think for himself, must follow his own convictions…Self-trust is the foundation of successful effort.”

* Judgment – “…equipoise, that nice adjustment of the faculties one to the other…is an essential to the speculator.”

* Courage – “…confidence to act on the decisions of the mind…be bold, still be bold; always be bold.”

* Prudence – “The power of measuring the danger, together with a certain alertness and watchfulness, is very important.”

* Pliability – “The ability to change an opinion, the power of revision.” (more…)

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