1. They look at objective indicators. Removing the emotions from the investing process, they focus on data instead of reacting to events;
2. They are Disciplined: The data drives decision making with pre-established rules. External factors do not influence them;
3. They have Flexibility: The best investors are open-minded to new ideas, or revisiting previous thoughts;
4. They are Risk adverse: Not always obvious to investors, it is a crucial part of successful investing.
Archives of “flexibility” tag
rss"SUGGESTIONS OR COMMANDMENTS"
Have you written down your trading rules? Do you have rules for entry and for exit with a profit and with a loss? Do you have a rule telling you whether a market is trending and what the trend is? Do you have rules stating when the market is in a trading range and what that range is? Do you have rules saying what markets you will trade and what has to happen to trade them?
Or do you simply shoot from the hip and call it artistry or intuition? Does this work for you?
Do you follow your rules rigidly without flexibility or discretion? Does this serve you over time?
Do you abandon your rules in the heat of trading, only to regret it? Do you stubbornly go against your rules thinking this time you know better? What would happen if you didn’t do this?
Some people don’t like rules. They don’t want to be told what to do even if it’s themselves telling themselves what to do. They even more don’t like following rules that came with a system for which they paid good (any or excessive) money. They have a polarity response to direction even after it becomes apparent that they’d be more profitable simply following the rules.
Others like to be told what to do, but somehow their rules are conflicting, obscure, or so bound up with discretion as to be meaningless. These traders may not even be aware that in essence they have no rules.
Whatever your situation turns out to be, it may be helpful to think in terms of commandments or suggestions. You may think in terms of absolute rules or simple guidelines.
Do you like clear directions as to what to do? In this case you can think in terms of commandments. For example, when The Ten Commandments says, “Thou shalt not kill,” it doesn’t leave much discretion. Reword your rules as commandments that are precise and clear and easy to follow.
Do you resist being dictated to and bossed around by outside forces? In this case, reformulate your rules as guidelines or suggestions. Give yourself some leeway in certain situations. Reword it so that when you read it, it sounds like a good idea and not a demand.
However, be certain in advance that whether you choose a suggestion or command, the results will be profitable if followed consistently or even most of the time. There’s nothing worse than a bad idea or a rule that doesn’t work. Remember the basics: Find out what works. Verify that it works. And do it.
Three stages of trading objectives.
To make money every trade. At first, I did not have the ability to make money every trade. After I had the ability to make money on most trades I realized it was a horrible objective. If you want to make money on every trade you are always waiting. You can never take that much risk and hence the rewards are very small. I was trading 1′s and 2′s to start, which was the right thing to do. I would watch my mentor take every trade, no matter how dog shit it was. As a 1 and 2 lot trader you do not have the same luxury to take dog shit trades because you can only trade one way. Because of the flexibility he had he could do more and the truth is no matter how good or bad a trade looks we don’t know until we are in it. Getting the most out of a trade is the mark of good trader. Risk is always related to reward. There is very little money in making money on every trade. This type of trading is like making 100k and keeping 80K
To make huge chunks of money. After I realized that objective did not work for me I shifted to the extreme. I started to swing for the fences whenever I had the ability. It is nice when I was right but I struck out a lot too. At this point, I did not respect trading. I did it because money made me a bad ass. Well as you know you hard to pay your bills with bad ass. This type of trading is like making 200k and keeping 80k.
Here are the major risks of having both of those objectives. The first is making small amounts of money no matter the situation. Eventually you will get in a hole because statistically you are behind. Trading every situation the same is bad. The second objective is trying to make huge amounts of money on every trade. If the first trades were the best and I stopped it was great. If the first trades were bad, I was forced to stop. It made it hard to learn.
Trading quote
“The word ‘trading’ is not the way I think of things. I may be a trader in the sense that my frequency of transactions is relatively high, but the word ‘investing’ would apply just as much, if not more. In my mind, trading implies an anticipation of a sale at the time of purchase. Good trading is a peculiar balance between the conviction to follow your ideas and the flexibility to recognize when you have made a mistake. The balance between confidence and humility is best learned through extensive experience and mistakes. There should always be respect for the person on the other side of the trade. Always ask yourself: Why does he want to sell? What does he know that I don’t? All great traders are seekers of truth. The markets are always changing, and the successful trader needs to adapt to these changes.”
Ten Ingredients to become A Great Trader
It is all a game of risk management, mind, and a robust system. Everything else is just noise.
- Passion for trading, only passion can fuel the work ethic needed to do the hard work that leads to success.
- Goal oriented traders succeed, if you know why you are trading and where it leads you may just get there.
- Perseverance: It is hard to lose if you never quit.
- Resiliency: The ability to come back from losses may be the secret to trading success.
- Back testing systems and methods before trading them speeds up the learning curve and side steps a lot of learning through real losses. (more…)
On Flexibility
#1 Rule of Investing: Be Flexible – Roy Nueberger
Never adopt permanently any type of asset or any selection method. Try to stay flexible, open-minded, and skeptical. – John Templeton
Pliability: Consider and reconsider the facts, and your opinions. Stubbornness as to opinions-“cockiness”-must be entirely eliminated. – Bernard Baruch
Ignore mechanical formulas – Phil Carret
If there is anything I detest, it’s a mechanistic formula for anything. People should use their heads and go by logic and reason, not by hard and fast rules. – Gerald Loeb
Empty your mind, be formless, shapeless–like water. Now you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup, You put water into a bottle, it becomes the bottle, You put it in a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Now water can flow or it can crash! Be water my friend. – Bruce Lee. Ok, this quote comes from the world of martial arts, but the lesson transcends mere combat.
Avoid EGO in Trading
“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 are dead.”
“At other times in the past, investors lost a good profit by holding on too long, trying to get a long-term capital gain. Some investors, even erroneously, convince themselves they can’t sell
because of taxes—strong ego, weak judgment.”
“When did you turn from a loser to a winner?When I was able to separate my ego needs from making money. When I was able to accept being wrong.Before, admitting I was wrong was more upsetting than losing the money.”
“Most traders who fail have large egos and can’t admit that they are wrong.”
“Clearly, flexibility and suppression of ego are key elements of Gelber’s success.”
“Actually, the best traders have no ego. To be a great trader, you have to have a big enough ego only in the sense that you have confidence in yourself.”
Ego can also stop you from being profitable as a trader. Maybe you only like to short because you think this economny is going to H____ and the market rallies for a month and the whole time you try shorting it when you should be buying the pullbacks. In this scenario, the stongly held belief system is affecting the traders ability to see what is really going on and costs either being stopped out, or only making a small profit and missing the big moves etc.
So, the more we can become egoless, flexible in our mind and not have a preconceived direction the market is going in, the better we will be as a trader. (more…)
TRADING COMMANDMENTS
Have you written down your trading rules? Do you have rules for entry and for exit with a profit and with a loss? Do you have a rule telling you whether a market is trending and what the trend is? Do you have rules stating when the market is in a trading range and what that range is? Do you have rules saying what markets you will trade and what has to happen to trade them?
Or do you simply shoot from the hip and call it artistry or intuition? Does this work for you?
Do you follow your rules rigidly without flexibility or discretion? Does this serve you over time?
Do you abandon your rules in the heat of trading, only to regret it? Do you stubbornly go against your rules thinking this time you know better? What would happen if you didn’t do this?
Some people don’t like rules. They don’t want to be told what to do even if it’s themselves telling themselves what to do. They even more don’t like following rules that came with a system for which they paid good (any or excessive) money. They have a polarity response to direction even after it becomes apparent that they’d be more profitable simply following the rules.
Others like to be told what to do, but somehow their rules are conflicting, obscure, or so bound up with discretion as to be meaningless. These traders may not even be aware that in essence they have no rules.
Whatever your situation turns out to be, it may be helpful to think in terms of commandments or suggestions. You may think in terms of absolute rules or simple guidelines.
Do you like clear directions as to what to do? In this case you can think in terms of commandments. For example, when The Ten Commandments says, “Thou shalt not kill,” it doesn’t leave much discretion. Reword your rules as commandments that are precise and clear and easy to follow.
Do you resist being dictated to and bossed around by outside forces? In this case, reformulate your rules as guidelines or suggestions. Give yourself some leeway in certain situations. Reword it so that when you read it, it sounds like a good idea and not a demand.
However, be certain in advance that whether you choose a suggestion or command, the results will be profitable if followed consistently or even most of the time. There’s nothing worse than a bad idea or a rule that doesn’t work. Remember the basics: Find out what works. Verify that it works. And do it.