Archives of “greatness” tag

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A Dozen Reflections on Life and Markets

  
  Education
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reflectiononlifeI’ve never seen a trader succeed whose explicit or implicit goal was to not lose. The trader who trades to not lose is like the person who lives to avoid death: both become
spiritual hypochondriacs.

No union was ever destroyed by a failure of romance. It is the loss of respect, not love, which ends a relationship.

Love, once present, never dies. It must be killed.

Sometimes we select markets–and trading styles–much as we choose romantic partners: by their ability to validate our deepest-held images of ourselves. Our choices generally succeed, for better or for worse.

Many a trader fears boredom more than loss, thereby experiencing the two in sequence. (more…)

Good Vs. Great Trading

  
  Education
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Good traders are able to identify opportunities in the market, plan trades, execute trades, and manage trades at a reasonable level. A good trader identifies the opportunity, plans the trade, and executes the trade. He takes his losses with discipline. One might think that great traders are similar to good traders but just better. The reality is that great traders are distinctly different from good traders. The difference is not merely a difference in measure but a difference in kind.

Great trading is actually much closer to gambling. One of the key differences between great trading and good trading is that great traders don’t just play the odds: great traders play the unknown. The market simply isn’t predictable enough – enough of the time — to allow for the type of returns that great traders seek. So, great traders are much more likely to be going out into that unknown space. This seeking out the unknown always involves a cost. The cost for greatness is the potential for loss, even significant loss. A great trader will typically take more risks. The risks could involve taking trades with higher uncertainties (less confirmation), higher risk per trade (giving a trade more room), and in general just a higher level of risk. This increased level of risk taking is balanced by increased trading skill.

The problem with trading just trading well is that the game, the trading game, is really close to a zero sum game, even when played perfectly. The focus on limiting risk tends to ignore the reality that every business has to make a profit to survive. The problem with trying to avoid risks is that it tends to push the game to such a competitive level such that the trader must trade at a near perfect level just to break even and nobody can trade perfectly forever. Eventually mistakes are made and losses occur. Great traders are more creative. They move laterally and find creative solutions. Great traders don’t really compete against others. It is more of a dance. Instead of playing the games against others, they make up their own game. (more…)

Maxims of Baltasar Gracian

  
Education, Life
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Baltasar Gracian (1601-1658) wrote many popular maxims:

33. Know when to put something aside– One of life’s great lessons lies in knowing how to refuse, and it is even more important to refuse yourself, both to business and to others…it is worse to busy yourself with the trivial than to do nothing…All excess is a vice, especially in your dealings with others.

51. Know how to choose– Most things in life depend on it. You need good taste and an upright judgment; intelligence and application are not enough…Two talents are involved: choosing and choosing the best.

89. Know yourself-– The key to everything.

104. Have a good sense of what each job requires-– “Far better are the jobs we don’t grow bored with, where variety combines with importance and refreshes our taste.”

110. Don’t wait to be a setting sun. Similar: Quit while you’re ahead; don’t wear out your welcome

121. Don’t make much ado about nothing-– “Few bothersome things are important enough to bother with…Many things that were something are nothing if left alone, and others that were nothing turn into much because we pay attention to them.” Similar: Take it easy.

139. Know your unlucky days – “On some days, everything goes badly; on others, well, and with less effort…Take advantage of such days, and don’t waste a moment of them.” (more…)

FRUSTRATION

  
  Education
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 “Your success as a trader at times hinges on your ability to conquer frustration.  Frustration will always appear on the path toward greatness.  Some will triumph over it, while others succumb to its pettiness.  When you encounter obstacles on your trail toward achievement, remind yourself that they were placed there in order for you to overcome them, so you can learn from them and become better than you were before”

The Path to Greatness

  
  Education
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There is much wisdom in the following and I wish these were my words, but sadly they are not. This particular speech doesn’t even pertain to trading, but reminds me so much of what Mark Douglas teaches. However, I always seem to find ways to relate just about everything in my life to trading, as I’m sure most who read this blog. Therefore I thought you would find as much value here as do I.

You are where you are…you have a goal
As you move towards that goal, things will happen
Some of those things will eventually, trigger in you an emotion that is counterproductive to your goal
It will cause you to act in a way, that will take you away from where you were heading, and towards something more familiar in your life that has plagued you your whole life
We all have these areas of vulnerability

Those who master this vulnerability are the people who master their craft. The people who master that moment in time, where that reaction occurs, are the people who do extraordinary things with their life. Who overcome things that others can’t even imagine confronting. It’s because at that moment, they manage themselves through that triggered state in an effective way, rather than defaulting to their old system they developed at a very young age, that does nothing but protect them, but not advance them. If you can master those moments, your life will be catapulted into extraordinary experiences beyond anything you can imagine. 

Life and Markets

  
  Education
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LIFEANDMARKETRespect is the first casualty in lost love.

Four industries dominate the economy: hope, escape, protection, and convenience.

Success is the point at which talent and skill meet opportunity.

The aim of all trading education: to encourage trading.

The printing press democratized the acquisition of knowledge; the computer has democratized its dissemination.

Date markets before deciding to marry them.

Anatomy of a bad trade: Hope, then despair.

Love, once present, never dies. It must be killed. (more…)

DAVID TEPPER: If You Invested $1 Million In My Hedge Fund In 1993 You Would Have $149 Million Today

  
Analysis, Education
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David Tepper, who has been running distressed debt hedge fund Appaloosa Management for the past twenty years, is crushing it this year. 

 Meanwhile, the S&P is up about 19.7% this year. 

Tepper was up 5.5% in July net of fees. 

He’s still bullish on stocks.

He told Wapner that he finds them “reasonable” and that he’s still long.   (more…)

10 Money Lessons from Billionaires

  
Analysis, Education
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Billionaires have changed the way our world works. They’ve altered the way we communicate, travel, and live. And along the way, they have made incredible amounts of money for their efforts.

 Learning from the 10 billionaires below is not only a good idea if you want to boost your bank account, but also if you want your work to make a difference.

With that in mind, here are 10 lessons from billionaires on earning money, succeeding in business, and finding happiness in life.

1. “You become what you believe. You are where you are today in your life based on everything you have believed.” —Oprah Winfrey, net worth of $2.7 billion

First and foremost, you have to believe that greatness is possible. Many of the world’s billionaires have shifted the way our world works, because they believed that they were capable of doing something that was previously impossible.

Change is possible. Greatness is possible. But you can’t do anything unless you first believe in yourself.

2. “What we say here every day is that our success is really based on our members’ success, our community’s success.” —Pierre Omidyar, net worth of $6.7 billion

Your success is directly tied to how much you do for others. It’s not what you know. It’s not who you know. It’s what you do for who you know. Success follows generosity.

3. “The typical human life seems to be quite unplanned, undirected, unlived, and unsavored. Only those who consciously think about the adventure of living as a matter of making choices among options, which they have found for themselves, ever establish real self-control and live their lives fully.” —Karl Albrecht, net worth of $25.4 billion (more…)

Great Traders: Five Distinguishing Features

  
  Education
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* Everyone is wrong in the markets at times. The difference between the great traders and the unsuccessful ones is in how long they stay wrong.

* Addictive traders get high from action; great traders get high from mastering markets–and mastering themselves.

* Great traders do their best work when they are not trading; unsuccessful traders do not work when they are not trading.

* Every loss of discipline is a self-betrayal; great traders are true to themselves and stay disciplined as a result.

* Great traders focus on the two things they can always control: when they play and how much they bet.

You will never achieve greatness by minimizing your weaknesses. At best that will bring you to average. The path to greatness lies in maximizing strengths: becoming more of who you are when you are at your best.

The Difference: Mediocrity vs. Greatness

  
  Education
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In Trading, the STATISTICS show that smarts, experience, etc. are not the differentiating factor.
The BEST (most successful guys I know and work with) have winning %’s of less than 50%.. actually, the average is between 45-55% but the point is, basically, winning percentages don’t matter – so they might as well be a random event.

 So, what does make a difference?

 

  • CONVICTION in ideas
  • INTERNAL CONFIDENCE
  • TRUSTING YOURSELF
  • GETTING BIG IN TRADES you believe in
  • LETTING WINNERS RUN
  • CUTTING LOSERS QUICKLY
  • SWITCHING DIRECTIONS QUICKLY

 

 These are many of the factors that allow some people to become monster traders over time. It’s not my opinion, just my observations. 

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