No trading for me today. I have a lot to digest and assimilate. And I'm really only at the start of this next phase. I still followed the market as per my process; Identifying and mentally executing trades. But I was focused on being mindful of when I faltered and injected my BIAS, BELIEFS, or strayed from the whole 'probabilities' mindset. I recorded the thoughts that occurred at those times on a voice recorder, and I'll go back over them tonight after a break - come back to it with a clear head. It was quite funny; I found myself repeating on numerous occasions things like "Anything can Happen", "I don't need to know what will happen next...", "each moment is unique" , and then it just clicked.... At that point I yelled at myself "OF COURSE ANYTHING CAN HAPPEN YOU BLOODY IDIOT!!!" I can really see how developing this mindset can make my trading a more mechanical and binary response rather than say a discretionary one. That is very motivating in itself. Anyway - Constant improvement. Rome wasn't built in a day.
Little something from a mutual Friend DP Which I've unabashedly plagiarized more than once Hope it brings you as much enrichment..., as it has as I RN
Much Obliged RN - I had read that previously but couldn't locate it again when I though it of it the other day.
An addendum to yesterday's post. I just needed somewhere to put it for posterity. It really isn't meant for public review. If someone can get to the end of it and has a different opinion though I'd love to hear it. At any rate - this is my way of assimilating what I realised yesterday..... I kept thinking last night about the new understanding(?) I came to yesterday regarding Price Action. Really appreciating that - yes indeed - at any moment in the market, absolutely anything can happen. To this point I had always found a mental block in approaching MD's 5 truths and internalising them. I hadn't been able to understand why that was. I had been reading them verbatim, which is not the way to do it. There wasn't enough to the first statement for me to wrap my head around. For me personally whenever I am getting used to a new concept etc I have to understand it from all angles and be able to manipulate it in my head. Thanks to some gentle prodding in the right direction I am hopefully getting past that now. By using the IF/THEN question and answer model I was able to start manipulating the concept. Think of it like a 3d rendition of an object being manipulated from all angles..... For me something clicked when I realised that whilst I had always fundamentally known that "anything could happen", I was always one step removed from the observation of that fact. Probably because my BIAS and simple simian pattern-recognising brain was stepping in front of that and blurring my vision so to speak. This is something that John Boyd got so right with his OODA loop (Observe. Orient. Decide. Act). There is a native programming we have that takes in the environment and filters it with our bias to then arrive at the most relevant response. Our brains are wired to recognise patterns, we evolved this means of thinking to facilitate quick responses. Tiger = Bad. Beer = Good etc Hence why we jump on at the last tick of a push right when price reverses.... The issue with my observations of the market was that my emotions and simian brain response - my BIAS and HOPES etc; closed my mind to any alternative inputs the market was signalling. This is exactly what MD is talking about for a lot of the book. This basic human response was taking me away from what he calls the opportunity flow.... So when looking for a reversal at a level I was closed to the possibility of price continuing through the level and breaking out above it because I was only looking for clues and feedback that the market was indeed going to reverse. Regardless of the many clues the market was providing that there was still strength - that Buyers were still willing to follow price higher.... It is my personal BIAS that stops me from being able to recognise the most basic principle of price movement. ANYTHING CAN HAPPEN. Of course anything can happen. No-one can know which direction the next tick is going to go. It is so simple and obvious (wrong phrase!). It is only because I continually filtered price action through my personal BIAS and Emotions that I wasn't OPEN to the most basic principle there is. The simplicity of the statement "Anything can happen" belies the import of the message. Anything can happen, so don't close yourself to all of the opportunities in the market by filtering what you are seeing through your own BIAS and innate simian pattern recognition software. In order to really see what is happening I need to be able to turn off the AutoPilot that intercepts everything I see. That is the only way I can see all of the market and what it is offering. Fin/. P.S the one line "Cliff Notes" version of this post is: Anything can happen, and you'd understand this if you stopped thinking too much and just observed.
Good stuff DP =================== personal note I recall when I first got this one - scared the living shit out of me to the point of incapacitation Ahhh - good times ================= The 5 are in their respective order for a reason - rip everything apart / down (belief wise)..., create a foundation.., then build each successive layer on top of its predecessor End result is a complete..., self sustaining.., and wholly functioning belief system 1& 5 are essentially the same - working like end caps to contain the rest =============== Been about 3 weeks and I still feel gut shot RN
Cheers! What you said about ordering and rebuilding the belief system really makes sense. I'd read all of this many moons ago, but I guess sometimes you just have be in the right frame of mind for something to finally click.
It's about time for another update, but some housekeeping first.... I'll be moving house this week so my postings will be intermittent. Who knows when the 'net will be up and running at the new place so It looks like I'll have at least a week off. This move is happening at the best of times really as I can now focus on this process. Anyway - on to the update... BUT before you do - a disclaimer: Please note this post isn't meant to be read by the masters of the universe who have never experienced any psychological issues. Just stop reading here and have a chuckle at me overthinking everything and move on to another 'TA is bollocks' thread....
OK so to the update: I'm still working my way through Trading in the Zone. So no trading at present. I'm not wanting to muddy the waters and get ahead of myself. I'll admit - I have read Trading in the Zone a few times before, but something is really clicking at the moment and I am really getting a lot out of it. Maybe my head's finally in the right place to take the message in.... Observing the NQ in a trending market today, I was able to take note of how my perceptions differed from the actual market information. It is not difficult to see how I can make the wrong decisions at times. If I am not taking all the information in, then how can I be making the best decisions... I was able to come to this point was because of the a-ha moment last week with the first of the 5 truths. "Anything can Happen"... If you really comprehend and understand that "Anything can Happen" you are immediately open to seeing how you muddy the waters by thinking at times that you KNOW what is going to happen next. Once you accept you can never KNOW what is going to happen next you can catch yourself slipping into this old habit. It's like a built in safety net. You can't have both as operating beliefs. You can't think you KNOW what is going to happen next, at the same time as you have a core belief that you can never KNOW what is going to happen next. The two are mutually exclusive. This is a big shift for me. Fin./
My problems have nothing to do with the fear of being wrong. Mine are directly tied to the fear of missing out. I honestly could care less if I'm wrong or right. I'm wrong all the time just ask my wife!
our wives must swap notes! It's funny - I deleted a post I made today specifically about being wrong. I might re-upload it later. Maybe I wasn't quick enough getting rid of it It's probably different for everyone isn't it. I can't remember MD's quote about fear of missing out. Will look it up when I get home tonight. At any rate for me at least the fear of missing out is still tied to being wrong. I think I'd be able to link most of my trading issues to being wrong or the fear of being wrong.