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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…)

Where Is Your Head When You're Trading?

head-tradingWhere is your head during the market day?

Are you looking through the rear-view mirror, criticizing your last trade?
Are you looking at your profit/loss for the day and filtering trades through that?
Are you distracted by people or the phone?
Are you thinking about yourself and how well or poorly you’ve been doing?
Are you locked in an opinion of what the market “should” be doing instead of observing what it *is* doing? (more…)

How to Trade in Stocks by Jesse Livermore

howtotrade
I will just write what  the market is going to do tomorow, for that just have some patience  for time being till then  few quotes from Jesse Livermore’s book How to Trade in Stocks (one of my favorites, originally written in 1940). Pay particular attention to the first quote!

  • “Successful traders always follow the line of least resistance – follow the trend – the trend is your friend”
  • “Wall Street never changes, the pockets change, the stocks change, but Wall Street never changes, because human nature never changes”
  • “Just because a stock is selling at a high price does not mean it won’t go higher” (more…)

Max Gunther set forth basic trading principles called The Zurich Axioms

On Risk:
– Worry is not a sickness but a sign of health – if you are not worried, you are not risking enough.
– Always play for meaningful stakes – if an amount is so small that its loss won’t make any significant difference, then it isn’t likely to bring any significant gains either.
– Resist the allure of diversification.

On Greed:
– Always take your profit too soon.
– Decide in advance what gain you want from a venture, and when you get it, get out.

On Hope:
– When the ship starts sinking, don’t pray. Jump.
– Accept small losses cheerfully as a fact of life. Expect to experience several while awaiting a large gain.

On Forecasts:
– Human behaviour cannot be predicted. Distrust anyone who claims to know the future, however dimly.

On Patterns:
– Chaos is not dangerous until it starts to look orderly. (more…)

Everyone has a plan, until they get punched in the mouth

I heard Mike Tyson say this years ago, and it immediately stuck with me because of so many ties it has to trading your trading plan with focus, discipline, and repetition.

Our main focus in training new and veteran traders is to build a belief in the system through repetition. After seeing the performance of a trade over 150 times within a 2 month period, it becomes evident that you begin to move away from a fear-based internal dialogue regarding your trade. You already know the system is consistently profitable, so the only X-factor in the entire process is that little 6-inch universe between your ears. Now, the focus of accuracy has everything to do with you, the trader, following your rules with consistency and repetition and nothing to do with the system.

Now back to my original point. We have seen the trades. We know the system is profitable. We have simulated the system and are showing a profit. We are ready to trade live hard earned cash that we have an emotional attachment to. Every dollar we are trading equals a loaf of bread, so to speak. Our hard earned trading capital is now taking the INEVITABLE equity draw-down, as dictated by the system. We WILL lose trades, traders, this is a fact that we must embrace on all levels. But remember, contraction leads to expansion. Your draw-down will inevitably lead to a run-up. The KEY is NOT TO MISS IT!

Now, we’ve had the draw-down, and to put it bluntly we’ve “Been punched in the mouth”. THIS is where the magic happens. At this very moment what will you do? Will you let the fear and painful associations of the market dictate your trading executions? Or will you draw upon your training, having fully accepted that this equity swing is nothing more than another step to consistent profitability?

Will you continue to place those next trades with consistency? Will you remove all mpulsive trades from your trading style? Will you follow the trading plan that you’ve put so much thought and process into developing for yourself?

If you have a pen, WRITE THIS DOWN and tape it to your Monitor:

“WHEN I TRADE MY PLAN WITH CONSISTENCY AND REPETITION THE MONEY WILL FOLLOW.”

Remember, every trader gets punched in the mouth. The magic is how you apply
your trading when this happens.

The Magical Number of Pi and Stock Markets

There are some magical numbers and sequences of numbers that have their prints in the nature. They were there in the first place because God who created the whole universe encoded them just like His signature or autograph. Now, we might wonder, why is these magical numbers so important in our discovering of the secrets of the stock market trading and investing business? The simple and quick answer to that question is that these numbers resonate and vibrate in the stock markets, commodity markets and forex just as they are found in the universe that we live in. This is true for any financial markets. Before you discredit my claim of the magical number pi (π) and its application in making money in financial markets, take a good look of Fibonacci. This magical sequence of numbers of Fibonacci that starts from 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, and etc, had been a very good technical indicator of when (time) and where (price) should the index futures reverses its trend. The number of pi (π) is so magical that its decimal portion is unique and there is no repetition of patterns. Just in case that some of you wonder what pi (π) is, it is a constant number where pi π = 3.1415926535897932384626433832795… The study of market cycles and market geometry uses pi (π) to pin-point the exact reversal date and price for stock markets and other financial markets. Here I present to you a video that sings out the magical number of pi (π).



Power Is No Substitute For Precision And Patience

“Investing is no different. It is a game of repetition where hundreds of small actions result in one larger result. But most importantly, it is a game of risk management. It is not the home run hitter who wins in the long-run. Rather, it is that strategist who devises the best long-term plan who ultimately wins. While hitting home runs is sexy it is rarely a recipe for success in the investment world. Aim high, but play small. Over time, good risk management and patience wins. Power is no substitute for precision and patience. The same is true in the world of investing.”

Traders Daily Lessons

Have the courage to say no.
Have the courage to face the truth.
Have the courage to do the right thing because it is right.
– W. Clement Stone

An inner dialogue typically reinforces the way you think. So the goal is to consciously expose yourself to thoughts that ultimately will positively impact your trading. Through the use of repetition you can considerably strengthen a positive attitude and sound trading behavior. The beauty of it is the simplicity of the method. It’s entirely up to you which trading mantras you want to adhere to. Here are a few that I strongly believe in and that characterize my thinking as a trader:

  • Kill your greed
  • Isolate yourself from the opinions of others
  • Never chase stocks
  • Always strive for emotional detachment
  • Focus on proper execution
  • There is never a shortage of opportunities
  • Never make excuses
  • Stay in control
  • Don’t compare yourself to others
  • Always use stop losses
  • Standing aside is a position
  • Money comes in bunches
  • Never add to a losing position
  • Stay calm and focused
  • Don’t believe the hype
  • Cultivate independent thinking
  • Be ready for worst case scenarios
  • Nosce te ipsum – Know thyself