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Repetition Repetition Repetition

In Daniel Coyle’s The Talent Code we learn the three rules of deep practice.  Rule number two is Repeat It.

“Nothing you can do – talking, thinking, reading, imagining- is more effective in building skill than executing the action, firing the impulse down the nerve fiber, fixing errors, honing the circuit.”

This explanation reveals why it is impossible to transfer trading prowess from one person to another.  You can’t talk, think, read, or imagine your way to elite performance.  The key lies in the “doing”, going through the motions.  Now that’s not to say talking or reading about trading isn’t helpful.  It is.  I pick up tons of insight from talking with other investors and traversing the trading blogosphere.  I’m like a hungry orphan hiding below the tables of successful traders just hoping they’ll drop a few morsels of wisdom I can chew on.  Yet it’s not a substitute for “executing the action”.  Nothing replaces sitting in front of my computer, monitoring positions, assessing  potential trades and most importantly pulling the trigger. (more…)

One Liners for Traders

  • “The paradox is realizing that being in control is about letting go.”
  • “Even if you give your investments to others to manage, you are wholly responsible for that decision.”
  • Letting go of your ego doesn’t create self-esteem. In order to trade soundly, you must lose your ego AND replace it with sound, prepared, professional judgment.
  • The conscious mind assembles the data. The unconscious mind notices the patterns, makes the connections and guide your judgment.
  • “The depth of your emotional resources is as important as your finances.”
  • “The market is a collection of beliefs.”
  • There is no content, only context.
  • “If we ever fought battles, the main opponent was ourselves.”
  • “If you persistently adopt someone else’s view, expect their performance. In that case, why don’t you just put the money into one of the thousands of funds and crystallize your implicit delegation of responsibility.”

You don't need to follow trading rules

We’ve all heard the proselytizers of trade planning bemoan lesser traders that they need to follow their trade rules. Yet, emotional traders still dominate the retail trading landscape. After hearing about how bad they are for acting as they do, they flagellate themselves for allowing emotion to enter into their trading decisions and re-dedicate themselves to discipline trading without emotions. But who are we to judge why and how someone else trades with their money?

Of all the different types of trading styles, I find the emotional style of trading the most entertaining. It is more human and natural than a game of probability. There is personal stuff at stake. Anyone who preaches to you that you need to stop it and get a plan is really preaching to themselves. They are healing a wound, or trying to convince themselves that they no longer participate in the egregious activity of trading without one. They are essentially scared of their emotions.

You cannot detach yourself from your emotions. If you want to trade based on emotions, I support your decision. After all, it’s your money and it’s not my place to tell you what to do with it.

Rules. We think of them as ‘made to be broken’ for a good reason. Rules are limiting and suffocating. Yes, we need some basic ones in our lives, but as soon as a method of trading is defined as a rule, the inner workings of the imagination begins the task of find ways around it. It’s only natural. Our total human experience cannot be contained with stupid rules. And who is making these rules anyway? Why are they valid? We all know that rules are put in place because we basically don’t trust someone (maybe ourselves) to do the right thing when the time comes. (more…)

Whatever You Think … Think the Opposite

Don’t be negative about rejection. It happens.

Work for free, if necessary.

Good grades will not secure you an interesting life. Imagination will.

Go to work and do your learning in the school of life.

Start your own company, then you have control of your own destiny.

Form your own opinion.

Having the courage to stand up in the face of public opinion is what makes you a winner.

Have a goal.

How you present yourself is how others will value you.

If you want to be interesting, be interested.

When things go wrong it tempting to shift the blame. Don’t.

Knowledge makes us play safe. The secret is to stay childish.

When it’s right, it just clicks.

The Law of Auto-Suggest

“The law of auto-suggestion, through which any person may rise to altitudes of achievement which stagger the imagination, is well described in the following verse:

If you think you are beaten, you are,
If you think you dare not, you don’t

If you like to win, but you think you can’t,
It is almost certain you won’t.

If you think you’ll lose, you’re lost
For out of the world we find,
Success begins with a fellow’s will-
It’s all in the state of mind.

If you think you are outclassed, you are,
You’ve got to think high to rise,
You’ve got to be sure of yourself before
You can ever win a prize.

Life’s battles don’t always go
To the stronger or faster man,
But soon or late the man who wins
Is the man WHO THINKS HE CAN!

 

Observe the words which have been emphasized, and you will catch the deep meaning which the poet had in mind.”

Are You A Subjective or Objective Trader?

Subjective: Based on or influenced by personal feelings, tastes, or opinions.Proceeding from or taking place in a person’s mind rather than the external world.

Subjective traders they are intertwined with their trades.Their signals are generally entering out of greed and exiting based on their own internal fear. The believe in their opinions more than the actually price action. They base trades off of whether they are feeling good or bad about a particular trade. A subjective trade comes out of the imagination of the trader, from their own beliefs, opinions, and what “should” happen in their view. Many times reality is not even cross checked as a reference, and if it is the subjective traders sees what they want to see instead of what is really going on. Their compass is their emotions and they have internal goals other than making money.

Objective: (Of a person or their judgment) not influenced by personal feelings or opinions in considering and representing facts. Having actual existence or reality. (more…)

Markets Traders Have a Wild Imagination

WILD IMAGAINATION
Traders lose because of their imagination and hope that it is disguised in the form of hope. Non-experienced traders can make very good guesses on directions at times, however they just choose not to place specific trading targets for their trading. If they do, they also remove them because of rapid moves in their favor. Now the interesting part starts: they start to imagine levels that they would like the market to move towards.  That never happens unless the market is in a strong trending move.

Why does this process occur?

Simple: traders hope to gain as much as they possibly can. Therefore, they get the “if” scenario wandering off with their thoughts. They want to max out on a move almost wishing to take the max point.

The thought that one trade could cover the losses of another trade is also preventing traders from setting realistic goals for price targets.

Risk, fear and worry

They’re not the same.

Risk is all around us. When we encounter potential points of failure, we’re face to face with risk. And nothing courts risk more than art, the desire to do something for the first time–to make a difference.

Fear is a natural reaction to risk. While risk is real and external, fear exists only in our imagination. Fear is the workout we give ourselves imagining what will happen if things don’t work out.

And worry? Worry is the hard work of actively (and mentally) working against the fear. Worry is our effort to imagine every possible way to avoid the outcome that is causing us fear, and failing that, to survive the thing that we fear if it comes to fruition.

If you’ve persuaded yourself that risk is sufficient cause for fear, and that fear is sufficient cause for worry, you’re in for some long nights and soon you’ll abandon your art out of exhaustion. On the other hand, you can choose to see the three as completely separate phenomena, and realize that it’s possible to have risk (a good thing) without debilitating fear or its best friend, obsessive worry.

Separate first, eliminate false causation, then go ahead and do your best work.

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