Archives of “good stuff” tag

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Eyes Wide Shut

  
  Education
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Why does it take so long for a trader to learn?

eyes wide shut

Like I’ve said before, I’ve seen as much so-called wisdom over the years that I’ve eventually learned to hold as inviolate truth, as that which should be thrown out with yesterday’s garbage. Yet why does the eventual accumulation of pertinent knowledge translate so slowly into one’s trading results? If we are capable of weeding out the good stuff from the bad, why doesn’t the good stuff just take over and guide us directly towards success?

Aside from the fact that I might just be a dumbass, one thing I’ve figured out is that the distance between the brain and the finger might not be so close as you’d think — if you’re not careful. I know I’m not the only trader who has a tendency to repeat the usual mistakes, or variations of same, despite having berated myself 10 times in the previous week to make an effort not to do it again. My contention is that old habits die hard. Real hard. And only if you go out of your way to kill them outright. (more…)

10 Quotes of Jesse Livermore

  
  Education
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When seasoned traders get together, we have a sort of “secret handshake” that the uninitiated may not notice.  We ask each other if they’ve read Reminiscences of a Stock Operator.  The insiders reply by telling you the number of times they’ve read the book.  Novices ask for the author’s name.

Recently, I’ve been rereading Jon Markman’s wonderful annotated version of this Jesse Livermore classic.  This special edition even has a forward written by Paul Tudor Jones.  As I revisited Mr. Livermore’s wisdom, I realized that so much of the trading baton that I’ve endeavored to pass on to my readers is directly or indirectly the result of the special batons he passed on to me.  In considering this, I feel it’s only appropriate to salute the man.  Afterall, I have patterned myself after him and my favorite quotes come from this truly extraordinary trader.  As Dr. George Lane, the creator of the stochastic oscillator, once told me over dinner, “Gatis, you can never get enough of that good stuff.” 

My trading approach is organized into 10 stages that I call Tensile Trading.  For this week’s blog, I’ve chosen a few of my favorite Jesse Livermore quotes for each of these 10 stages.
1. Money Management:
    * “I trade on my own information and follow my own methods.”
    * “The desire for constant action irrespective of underlying conditions is responsible for many losses on Wall Street, even among the professionals, who feel that they must take home some money every day, as though they were working for regular wages.”

2. Business of Investing:
    * “I believe that anyone who is intelligent, conscientious, and willing to put in the necessary time can be successful on Wall Street.  As long as they realize the market is a business like any other business, they have a good chance to prosper.”
3. The Investor Self:
    * “My satisfaction always came from beating the market, solving the puzzle.  The money was the reward, but it was not the main reason I loved the market.  The stock market is the greatest, most complex puzzle ever invented – and it pays the biggest jackpot…it was never the money that drove me.  It was the game, solving the puzzle, beating the market that had confused and confounded the greatest minds in history.  For me, that passion, the juice, the exhilaration was in beating the game, a game that was a living dynamic riddle…” (more…)
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