This is part of my work on this subject but Its enough to get people on the right track for 2002.......... "SUCCESS AND THE MARKETS" by Christopher J. Terry âTrading is all about management - yourself, your money, your attitude and your positionâ. Bob Heisler âMarkets must move in such a manner so as to frustrate, undermine and defeat the best interests of the majority of market players. According to this rule the majority cannot make money in the marketplace. The markets will totally ignore fundamentals if the majority of the market players act on those fundamentalsâ Robert Buran " People say it's an overnight success. They never realize the countless sleepless nights, the years of frustration, the pain that had to be constantly endured, and the anxiety that had to be experienced for failing so many times until that success, that seemed to have happened overnight, is finally achievedâ Anonymous "If you don't know who you are, the stock market is an expensive place to find out." George Goodman "From time to time we should examine the criterion upon which we base our judgments." Mahatma Gandhi You can really have everything you want, if you go after it. You have to want it. The first ingredient of success is desire. Do you know what you want? Your desire is the planting of your seed. Your desire for success must be so strong within you that it's the very breath of your life. It must be you're first thought when you wake in the morning, and your last thought when you go to bed at night. You can do anything you want to do in this world, but you must want to do it badly enough. You can be whatever you make up your mind to be. What's in your mind is all that counts. I. Personal Growth: Attitude and Self-Image A Rising Tide Raises All Ships!!! A. Read Positive Mental Attitude (PMA) books Spend time each night to feed the brain positive thinking messages and information. Self talk Always think positively and speak success into existence through positive self-talk. Always work to improve self-confidence by continually reminding yourself of your goals, plans and future achievements. Your self-worth equates to net worth You have to program your subconscious for success through positive self-talk. Be enthusiastic and have a sense of purpose and desire when you speak. Remember these quotes - What you impress upon your mind, you can inevitably become. It's a psychological law that whatever you desire to accomplish You must first impress upon your subconscious mind. Relentless, repetitive self-talk will change your self-image. You affect your subconscious mind with verbal repetition. Constant repetition carries conviction. C. Associate with success minded people Always have a millionaire mentality. See yourself already as a success. Act as if you are already making the income you want to achieve. Associate with other success minded people and you will become one by association. D. Dream build Take a Saturday drive around to look at homes your presently cannot afford but would like to live in one day. Go to an auto dealership and test drive a car that you can afford and then test drive a car above your price range like a Mercedes or BMW. Try on a $25,000 Rolex watch. Picture yourself five years from now with all of this. E. Stay awake Do not fall into the daydreamers zone. Do not fall asleep when your eyes are still open. Continue to train your subconscious to be on alert against negative thinking and speaking. Always be in a constant state of amazement. Know where you are at all times. F. Physical Walk in the morning for 30 minutes to prep your mind and body for the day's event. Walk 30 minutes after trading to reduce your stress levels and clear the brain. Walk off any losses, just get away from the computer and clear the brain, clear your head of any losses before you go home at night. Go out and walk off your stresses and get your balance back. G. Spiritually Get a bit closer to your higher power (e.g., God or whatever your source of spiritual strength comes from). Go to your Church or Temple to give thanks for your health and ability to be in a country that allows you to have the freedom to enjoy unlimited successâ¦.The Power of Prayer. H. Emotional Is the IRS auditing you? Are you going thru a divorce? Is your health good or do you have a distraction with a medical problem? Are you moving, or getting married? Try to fix or get past all the emotionally draining events or situations that are hindering your ability to succeed (e.g., Relationships or events, deaths, sickness, family problems or financial stresses). I. Hobbies Take art classes, cooking classes, work on your home, donate your time to the needy, ride horses, take your dog to the partâ¦anything to break the ties to trading for a short time. J. Food Drink lots of water and eat energy promoting foods that help you stay mentally clear and satisfied. Keep your body fed so your mind is able to focus properly. Do not work on an empty stomach because your body needs food and water so your brain could think properly. K. Family Take time to spend time with your family. Take quality time with your spouse or better half. Make sure your family and friends fully understand what you do. Do you spend time with your family doing activities or always building your relationships? Do they support you unconditionally with your business or only when you make money? Do you have high volume low profit conversations? Do you include your children in your business? Having your home team in total support of you is vital to your success. All professional sports teams always have the following to win, a great coach, a great team of players and also a great fan base that roots them on when they play at home, hence the term, home field advantage, stack the deck in your favor and having your home team supporting you. Recommended Books Master Key to Riches - Napoleon Hill Keys to Success - Napoleon Hill Success Through a Positive Mental Attitude - Napoleon Hill Think and Grow Rich - Napoleon Hill Keys to Positive Thinking - Napoleon Hill Power of Positive Thinking - Norman Vincent Peale You Can If You Think You Can - Norman Vincent Peale Amazing Results of Positive Thinking - Norman Vincent Peale Enthusiasm Makes the Difference - Norman Vincent Peale The Richest Man in Babylon - George Clason Personal Power - Anthony Robbins The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People - Stephen Covey Chartwiz
Protrader, I have a $50k account on 4:1.... I do NYSE and Nasdaq intraday (scalping and longer holds - for scalping I share Vadym's views, as per his SI thread) and swingtrading (Tony Oz type trades of late).... I don't have one particular style, I trade whatever is moving and whatever I perceive isn't risky. The results (every year) are usually helped by a few home runs... two notable home runs this year were some back-to-back ENE swingtrades and an ASW daytrade (together accounting for more than 1/3 of my total profits this year, the ENE swingtrades in particular were awesome). Candle
Actually, you gave answer in your post below e-mail quoted. Most of traders that lose money do so not because they don't know some trading "secrets". They sabotage themselves as they can't overcome (and often even recognize) the enemy within. My favorite illustration to this point is russian movie "Stalker". Short story line: There is Zone left on the Earth after aliens visit and there is mysterious subject in this Zone, Golden Sphere that as rumor has it grants wishes. Any wishes. Stalkers are people that illegally take clients to this Sphere guiding them through deadly traps scattered on the way. The catch becomes clear closer to the movie end. Sphere grants wishes, alright... it's just not necessary the wish one has voiced. It's the wish that presents the core of the person, his substance he might be not even aware of. To me, trading is very much that Golden Sphere. Everyone will get in trading what he wishes for. Technical side of trading is not rocket science. Market is probabilities machine that will work for you if you go with higher probabilities and accept/manage cases where things fall into losing part of chances. Real challenge in trading is adjusting of mental state. If I had to name single trading book that is must for trader, it would be Trading in the Zone by Mark Douglas. We wrote some articles and gave classes on this topic, I don't want to repost them all here. Since they are posted on free side on our website I guess it's OK to post URLs here: The Dual Reality - http://www.realitytrader.com/class1.htm Switches in Thinking - http://www.realitytrader.com/class3.htm Stages of Speculation - http://www.realitytrader.com/class6.htm Traps of Obviousness - http://www.realitytrader.com/class4.htm Stop Loss: Looking within for Success - http://www.realitytrader.com/class5.htm Vadym
Great stuff you have there..........thanks for posting a reply & your links.........will help alot of people.........Chris
I have read some very interesting posts about the complexities of trading and the psychology involved here and just have one point I would like to make. It seems that a few of you out there are making this whole trading thing way too complicated. Trading is a very simple thing to do, not necessarily easy, but very simple. I visited some of the links offered above, and they all had something good to say, but again, what I fear most about traders is that they will get too caught up in the rhetoric and the charting, and all the "stuff" offered to them. This sometimes tends to make traders (especially newer traders) feel intimidated because they haven't heard of, or read about, some particular twist or strategy involved in trading. I'm just trying to let some of the newer people, and even a few "old dogs" out there realize that this whole game is pretty simple, and to not get bogged down in all the "stuff" made available to them. Happy Holidays....(and hey, where is everyone on the 24th "half day"...great openings, "easy money")...
I want to thank and encourage those (chris, vadym, don) who take the time to post here....To "trade what you see, and not what you think"....that is the great mystery to many....and the absolute simplicity Don and others speak of....It IS simple...but not easy. Why?...Because "I" got in the way. It's going up? "I" didn't "think" it could go any higher. So I miss it....I fully agree with Vadym...Marc Doulas book "trading in the Zone" is best at explaining the complex, the conflict's that exist inside me. The trading is simple, "I" am not....Pride was the Killer. For me trading showed me how Proud I was. It has taken a lot of difficult work to peel away my Pride. Like an onion, Pride was peeled as each layer revealed another version, another manifistation of Pride controlled living and trading...I thought that trading would "buy my freedom" and the 1st few years it felt like bondage, nothing but pain and confusion. I am a free man now, I cannot believe how much trading is a gift, as is life. I just had to get out of the way....Someday maby a book entitled "the content trader" would be in order....
"I visited some of the links offered above, and they all had something good to say, but again, what I fear most about traders is that they will get too caught up in the rhetoric and the charting, and all the "stuff" offered to them. This sometimes tends to make traders (especially newer traders) feel intimidated because they haven't heard of, or read about, some particular twist or strategy involved in trading. " Don you have expressed one on my concerns about the proliferation of the vendors on the board and the number of their posts. That is the intimidation factor. When you have so many experts pointing so often to their sites as having the answer to a multitude of trading questions that arise here, I believe it can intimidate the other less sophisticated members who may themselves be very good traders and have simpler insights to share. They may be reluctant to post for fear of being considered naive in comparison. Or they may just say why bother if the vendors have all the answers. I honestly feel that this has already happened on Silicon Investor, to the detriment of that site. I recognize that the setups they display and the example they give at their site may well be a useful part of the learning experience, particularly for newcomers, but if they became a dominant factor on this board, as, in my opinion has been close to being the case in the last couple of weeks, it will take a toll on Elite Trader too. I think it is really sad that Vadym Graiffer's suggested code of conduct for vendors is not acceptable to others. I believe there is a middle ground where vendors can be beneficial in sharing their insights in a restrained manner and his suggestions pointed the way. I know that my views are unpopular with many people, but I hope that I have said one or two things here that have been considered useful. I am one of those who is close to saying why bother in response to the vendor invasion. To those who are now cheering and poised to tell me good riddance in their next post I just ask you to consider that there may be others less vocal than I who are feeling the same way and who may have more to offer. Turok is one example of someone who has already been turned off.
Do you know Ken Calhoun (Daytradinguniversity.com)? Ken Calhoun is a big ripoff artist. I purchased his 5VBTP course about 7-8 years ago for a few thousand dollars. About 3 months later the CFTC contacted me about KCI. I didn't get my money back. The only way techniques did not work for me, not as mechanical and not as a subjective approach. Even in hindsight the techniques had problems!
Hi Tom, I think you are refering to Kent Calhoun rather than Ken Calhoun. I had the same concern when this came up before on ET, but checked the CFTC complaint and saw it was a different guy. I know nothing about either, good or bad, but wanted to point out the difference. Kirk