Conviction implies a settled state of opinion and the inertia of a decision already made; this simply leads to a kind of prejudice towards one market direction or another. But let’s face it: assumption is always the path of least effort. And when has the market ever rewarded the followers of that path? It’s far better to strive to be continually skeptical and yet boldly decisive when the moment requires. The difference may seem limited to semantics, but I think the interaction between our perceptions and the market should be a continually active process, and that includes methodically denying ourselves the allure of false comforts that accompany an unyielding sentiment.
Archives of “prejudice” tag
rssLearn from Losses
As a trader you have to learn how to take losses. Period. Don’t be a crybaby. Learn how to take losses.
Learning how to take losses is one of the most important lessons you must learn if you want to survive as a trader. Nobody is 100% right all the time. Losses are inevitable. Even Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods lose sometimes and they’re considered the best in their field.
There will be trading streaks where you’ll have a number of successful consecutive trades, but that will eventually come to an end you will take a loss.
As that point it’s very important not to lose your head, you must remain in control of yourself. Don’t have a cow man.
Take a break. Calm down and relax. Take a chill pill dude.
Until you’ve regained a clear mind and an ability to think logically again, stay out of the market.
Don’t whine about your loss and never carry a prejudice against a loss.
The key to manage losses is to cut them quickly before a small loss becomes a large one.
I repeat. The key to manage losses is to cut them quickly before a small loss becomes a large one.
Never ever think that you will never lose. That’s just ludicrous. Losses are just like profits, it’s all part of the trader’s universe.
Losses are unavoidable. Get over the loss and move on to the next trade.
James P. Arthur Huprich's Market Trusms And Axioms
1. Commandment #1: “Thou Shall Not Trade Against the Trend.”
2. Portfolios heavy with underperforming stocks rarely outperform the stock market!
3. There is nothing new on Wall Street. There can’t be because speculation is as old as the hills. Whatever happens in the stock market today has happened before and will happen again, mostly due to human nature.
4. Sell when you can, not when you have to.
5. Bulls make money, bears make money, and “pigs” get slaughtered.
6. We can’t control the stock market. The very best we can do is to try to understand what the stock market is trying to tell us.
7. Understanding mass psychology is just as important as understanding fundamentals and economics.
8. Learn to take losses quickly, don’t expect to be right all the time, and learn from your mistakes.
9. Don’t think you can consistently buy at the bottom or sell at the top. This can rarely be consistently done.
10. When trading, remain objective. Don’t have a preconceived idea or prejudice. Said another way, “the great names in Trading all have the same trait: An ability to shift on a dime when the shifting time comes.”
11. Any dead fish can go with the flow. Yet, it takes a strong fish to swim against the flow. In other words, what seems “hard” at the time is usually, over time, right.
12. Even the best looking chart can fall apart for no apparent reason. Thus, never fall in love with a position but instead remain vigilant in managing risk and expectations. Use volume as a confirming guidepost.
13. When trading, if a stock doesn’t perform as expected within a short time period, either close it out or tighten your stop-loss point.
14. As long as a stock is acting right and the market is “in-gear,” don’t be in a hurry to take a profit on the whole positions. Scale out instead.
15. Never let a profitable trade turn into a loss, and never let an initial trading position turn into a long-term one because it is at a loss. (more…)
Art Huprich’s Market Truisms and Axioms
Raymond James’ P. Arthur Huprich published a terrific list of rules . Other than commandment #1, they are in no particular order:
• Commandment #1: “Thou Shall Not Trade Against the Trend.”
• Portfolios heavy with underperforming stocks rarely outperform the stock market!
• There is nothing new on Wall Street. There can’t be because speculation is as old as the hills. Whatever happens in the stock market today has happened before and will happen again, mostly due to human nature.
• Sell when you can, not when you have to.
• Bulls make money, bears make money, and “pigs” get slaughtered.
• We can’t control the stock market. The very best we can do is to try to understand what the stock market is trying to tell us.
• Understanding mass psychology is just as important as understanding fundamentals and economics.
• Learn to take losses quickly, don’t expect to be right all the time, and learn from your mistakes.
• Don’t think you can consistently buy at the bottom or sell at the top. This can rarely be consistently done.
• When trading, remain objective. Don’t have a preconceived idea or prejudice. Said another way, “the great names in Trading all have the same trait: An ability to shift on a dime when the shifting time comes.” (more…)
HOW TO MAKE BETTER DECISIONS
When you have the time make a decision to watch the following program on making better decisions. You may find that you made the right decision to do so.
FROM THE INTRODUCTION:According to science: We are bad at making decisions. Our decisions are based on oversimplification, laziness and prejudice. And that’s assuming that we haven’t already been hijacked by our surroundings or led astray by our subconscious!
Featuring exclusive footage of experiments that show how our choices can be confounded by temperature, warped by post-rationalisation and even manipulated by the future, Horizon presents a guide to better decision making, and introduces you to Mathematician Garth Sundem, who is convinced that conclusions can best be reached using simple maths and a pencil!
Market Truisms and Axioms
• Commandment #1: “Thou Shall Not Trade Against the Trend.”
• Portfolios heavy with underperforming stocks rarely outperform the stock market!
• There is nothing new on Wall Street. There can’t be because speculation is as old as the hills. Whatever happens in the stock market today has happened before and will happen again, mostly due to human nature.
• Sell when you can, not when you have to.
• Bulls make money, bears make money, and “pigs” get slaughtered.
• We can’t control the stock market. The very best we can do is to try to understand what the stock market is trying to tell us.
• Understanding mass psychology is just as important as understanding fundamentals and economics.
• Learn to take losses quickly, don’t expect to be right all the time, and learn from your mistakes. (more…)
Artificial Intelligence, Chess, and the Stock Market
In 1997 chess grandmaster Gary Kasparov met the Singularity. And the Singularity won.
In 1985 Kasparov easily beat a chess-playing computer, even though he resorted to a trick to out-Kasparov the machine’s Kasparov program. Eleven years later, though, the chess legend struggled with Deep Blue, a computer with even more powerful processing power. But even Kasparov couldn’t compete with Deep Blue once its development team doubled the processing power a few years later.
Kasparov was beat, but he drew new lessons from the run-in that he details in New York Review of Books. These lessons might help you become a smarter–and less anxious–trader.
According to Kasparov, the exponential gain in technology didn’t ruin the game; it actually had some surprising aftershocks.
First, the game became more global. With access to computer programs that could train students available anywhere and everywhere, students far from the chess epicenter of Russia began to crop up.
Kasparov says:
“With the introduction of super-powerful software it became possible for a youngster to have a top- level opponent at home instead of need ing a professional trainer from an early age. Countries with little by way of chess tradition and few available coaches can now produce prodigies.” (more…)