Since discipline is the most important factor for trading, I wonder why I never heard any person with military training could become a good trader. Since discipline is also critical for combat, they should be very good in it. I guess they also able to handle fear much better than a normal person. Any guy here has such experience?
IMHO, military discipline can be summed up in the following sentence: "You don't have to like it, you just have to do it." Soldiers spend a lot of time bitching and moaning about having to do disagreeable tasks (a soldiers prerogative) - but they still do the task. So that means taking your stops even if you don't like losing money. If your method/system does not have some kind of edge you will still lose money - you will just lose it over a longer period of time than the undisciplined trader. Discipline is also required to take your entries, even if you are unsure/afraid.
Yes, I am a gulf war vet, armor. It was easy on the attack as we all did it together and trained for it every day of my enlistment. It is easy to be disciplined as a trader with a good system. That discipline meme started from brokers for traders that used "feel" Exit and take loss, take profits whatever but do trade and generate commissions, but never lose to markets, how ridiculous. There is no 'why did I do that,' if you have a good system. That goes to belief hierarchy. I guess. If you do not follow your system, ofcourse you do not believe in it. Military training, gunnery ranges et al, are great NLP training. The only way to get that in markets is by trading. Trade every day, win or lose evaluate by rational, scientific testing. Did I do a good job trading today? The evaluation of that is a measure of did I follow my system. Did I win or lose is of absolutely no use for the trader. However , for the researcher, dept or for the trader that does his own research, was the loss from a normal failure, or was it a changing cycle. Any system is better than no system at all. Be prudent, yet aggressive, stick to the script, trade every day, evaluate and test every night. Sooner or later you will notice things repeating over and over. Be aggressive and profit form those observations. Remember, the biggest enemies are spreads, commissions and normal market hijackings, not you. The 'you' or 'I' meme as we somehow have esp or telepathic powers or can somehow pray for the market to go our way, and if it doesn't we stop our selves out, using data only known after the fact, is the biggest mumbo jumbo ever propagated by failed traders, now employed by commission houses to sell books on trading and open new accounts. How is that for the longest sentence ever? Some writer huh?..get the Joke..LACK
Quick 5 minute google on Richard Machowicz reveals that he's an ex SEALS instructor (HUGE difference bet. that and storming Panama, Grenada, etc.), an actor, a bodyguard, a senior executive of an international company, Buddhist priest, trader, and author. Are you kidding me?
Read Pit Bull. Shwartz was a ex marine. I have it on audio tape and he'll start saying to himself (when the sh** hits the fan)"Gosh dangit Shwartz, on you feet"........then he'll say "Once a Marine, always one." I think it really helped him with his drive and canceling fear. Read it and he seems to use the go forward method of thinking many times.
No. In our experience discipline is only one factor in being a great trader. The other factors revolve around the persons general knowledge, understanding of business and how the street works, and their creativity. You need to be able to think outside the box in order to chart a path through the trading day. In our experience ex-military people have no advantage over anyone else - although they can be trained to be decent traders and perhaps are a bit easier to train than people from some other professions.. ... Just my opinion ....
I read his book and a few articles about him, and I can assure you that his teachings are AWESOME, not just with regards to trading.
I have spent 18 years in military. I'm a retired Lieutenant Colonel. Take it from me, the discipline is a very important factor, but it is not everything you need. In my opinion, it is knowledge combined with discipline that makes you succeed. Cheers,