Dr. Deco because I know you have studied psychology I wonder if you have an answer to this question. Regarding you statement above, do you believe that this is something that happens to traders because of the nature of this business, the stress etc.., because perhaps as humans we all tend to self-destruct in an abstract environment or is it that this business in itself attracts people with natural self-destruct tendencies?
You and I may be looking at different manifestations of the same thing. The market definitely does decide to make a move in a minute, and not just on obvious things like news or closing the gap or breaking out of a morning range. Other more subtle things are at work.
Funny you should mention that. Thompson was one of my strongest influences. The other was Professor Irwin Corey.
That is indeed a penetrating question. I had a friend once who cut through the bar scene bullshit by just asking women "How would you like to fuck?" I some sense I am a Jungian. My favorite quote of his is "All psychology is autobiography." Years ago I perverted it here as "All trading is autobiography." I believe that the simple answer is that we are not wired to act statistically. In the world "red of fang and claw" behaving statistically will quickly select you out of the gene pool. The statistical savage says "This wolf doesn't look so mean!" when the right reaction is "Kill the fucking wolf!" So it is hard to make yourself a binary decision engine emulating the statistical processes you used to create a system. In my case, you have to understand that I am off-the-scale brilliant. I don't care what my system says to do. I am so insightful, verging on omniscient, that I know what is going to happen next with a certainty. Tell me YOU never feel that way.
Let me add just one more thing, and I am crawling under the covers, as it is 14 here and dropping fast. Many have been the times that I looked at what my system said to do, and laughed out loud "Any fucking idiot can see that's the wrong thing to do!" If the great preponderance of traders must be made to be wrong, then wrong must be made to look right on the chart.
Not the right question. Men and women have different mating strategies. The question for a woman is finding a guy with enough money that can support a family without it being a major struggle and the guy is not psycho, cruel, or likely to walk out on her. The question for a man is finding a woman where his implanted seed will grow to fruition. That is why "would you like to fuck" is not the right question. It will select you out of the gene pool by failing to successfully propagate your genetic material into the next generation. I like the analogy. No, never. But then I have never snorted cocaine or been diagnosed as sociopathic.
You are an interesting character Arthur! I was an English minor as an under grad a... Well, a few years ago. I observed several pages ago, discussion about English teaching. Lol! Couldn't help that one! forse si dovrebbe avere un paio di drink con la cena, invece di tanti drink tutto il giorno?
Before I checked Babelfish I translated this as: "Force yourself to dribble over the patio if you drink against sanity, or invest in a drink for your aunt if she toots on a trip." I spent a lot of my life teaching American-born engineers to speak and write English.
Does this mean that the world is populated with little mini-me Art Decos. The mind boggles at the mere thought.