MadeMan, without (trading) rules no discipline is possible. And without discipline emotional trading will take over and make you lose.
Oh I see. Anyway, the South of France is such a lovely place, I would like to retire there one day and live quietly in one of those nice villas...
Emotions are necessary and can be helpful.... A good book that helped me a lot is 'Deep Survival: Who Lives, Who Dies, and Why' by Laurance Gonzales. Gonzales show many examples of people in life and death situations and what approach to emotions and intellect work and what did not work. I believe trading has a lot in commons with many of these situations.... From amazon: "When confronted with a life-threatening situation, 90% of people freeze or panic, says Gonzales in this exploration of what makes the remaining 10% stay cool, focused and alive. Gonzales (The Hero's Apprentice; The Still Point), who has covered survival stories for National Geographic Explorer, Outside and Men's Journal, uncovers the biological and psychological reasons people risk their lives and why some are better at it than others. In the first part of the book, the author talks to dozens of thrill-seekers-mountain climbers, sailors, jet pilots-and they all say the same thing: danger is a great rush. "Fear can be fun," Gonzales writes. "It can make you feel more alive, because it is an integral part of saving your own life." Pinpointing why and how those 10% survive is another story. "They are the ones who can perceive their situation clearly; they can plan and take correct action," Gonzales explains. Survivors, whether they're jet pilots landing on the deck of an aircraft carrier or boatbuilders adrift on a raft in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, share certain traits: training, experience, stoicism and a capacity for their logical neocortex (the brain's thinking part) to override the primitive amygdala portion of their brains. Although there's no surefire way to become a survivor, Gonzales does share some rules for adventure gleaned from the survivors themselves: stay calm, be decisive and don't give up. Remembering these rules when crisis strikes may be tough, but Gonzales's vivid descriptions of life in the balance will stay with readers. "
discipline in form of following ones trading rules comes down to actually know when you trade out of your boundarys or close to and get back on track , emotional decsions as tiny as they may where or what caused them in the first place dont mather , discipline is knowing when u trade out of your rules and get the car back on track even if u do so... most of the times u only know that u wherent trading your plan happens in hindsight!.. like oh.. i missed that and diidnt take that into consideration etc.. etc.. ( if u are somewhat lieyng on that part to ur self is a different story ..ahemm, backward optimizing ahemm--) i guarantee you anyone can come up with a tight trading plan , but following it is a different ball game where manny factors take place... i tell u what there is nothing wrong to take a trade if its slightly off! as long as u take responsibility for it! ie. alter your risk MM wise.. or get out sooner you normally would (when it goes against u)even thou u are clearly trading out of your thought out and tested trading plan... the funny thing is , the markets arent black and white.. neither before u take a trade nor when u are in a position... its the decisons u make before and during the process where u should be aware when u are acting not accordingly to your plan even if its just on a small scale ( the market/different circumsatnces gives u manny chances to get on a slightly different track)... and alter your thought process to get back into the zone while at the same time lose/risk less....
actually , all i was saying is , professionals know when they are wrong or acting out of their boundarys .and know how to get back on track... while at the same time narrowing the boundarys... but to do that ones has to come close to their boundarys now and then without ruining oneself... (sorry if one doesnt understand it , it might be cause engish isnt my native language)
1. I want to be right 2. I need to be right As a stand alone statement, which one correlates most to a winning mind set? Option 1, or 2? If the truth be known, I think each and every one of us would opt for statement number 2. Unfortunately, the game of speculation does not recognise the second statement, and so that option should be deemed as incorrect.
x you have to be non human to trade,it's in there, all the logic,none of the emotions,you just have to shut off "I", The post above you need to ignore 1 and 2, the market is always right, your needs don't exist outside of you
Yes of course, to trade successfully you need to trade like a machine. Zero emotion. Just like Mr. Spock would trade, I guess
I always think it's funny when people get the idea into their heads that "I just need to program all this stuff, then money will fly from the sky." It's an illusion, because I know several people who have fabulous computerized trading systems and they lose confidence and then turn the damn machine off! The parts of "Trading Psychology" that work are the same sort of things that elite level athletes and business people use. It's not specific to trading. 99.8% of the stuff sold as "Trading Psychology" is total bullshit. Do what you are supposed to do. People seem to think that somehow it's easy for a successful trader. It's not. Taking stops sucks. Taking uncomfortable trades is still uncomfortable. You study your edge and know you have one, so you take the damn things anyway. Start and stop with that.