I was going to explain why competive tennis players make great traders. But instead I will just say that tennis forces tennis players to do exactly what is explained here... Under stress you have a mechanism that forces you to calm down and focus. While others are going around crazy about the coming hurricane you find yourself calming down creating a plan and focusing. http://www.traderfeed.blogspot.com/
Fighter Pilots would make good traders since they would be type 3 traders... Not too sure about the types who fly around in little airplanes as a hobby...
This topic caught my attention. I would like to add my 2 cents worth, if I may. Nearly 4 years ago, I took an early retirement from a major airline. The profession following 9/11 just wasn't the same anymore, but that's not the topic at hand. The question is, am I a better trader for the experience. I would say that I am NOT better suited to be a trader. In fact, a pilot may actually be at a disadvantage here. The first thing I discovered was that I was no longer in charge of the outcome of my efforts. The market quickly showed me that I was just another passenger on the trip. Pilots DO NOT make good passengers! Perhaps as a group, we are made up of mostly anal retentive, control freaks recovering from adrenaline withdrawal. Frustration quickly set in and I found that the market had the power to influence my mood. My confidence suffered after a few unfortunate trading decisions. I have to go all the way back to my childhood to remember what low confidence even felt like. I worried that I might not be "cut out" to be a trader. I felt I was too old to try much else at age 50. Talk about pressure. At least I was used to that feeling. Persistence and education made the difference for me. I had the good fortune to meet actual fulltime traders online (Clearstation) who helped me to better work with the tools of the trade I had available to me. But, the single most important turning point in my bottom line was the day I was turned on to options contracts and the various strategies they allow. After a rather steep learning curve (reading everything on the subject), I quickly found that I could make consistent profits and manage risk better than I had imagined possible. I was back in charge... I've been a trader ever since. What prompted this topic in the first place? Are there other flyer traders posting? This is my first post here at ET. My name is Don.
Fighter pilots are trained on the concept of the OODA loop, a model described in the writings of Colonel John Boyd. This skill can be applied to trading as well. http://www.iitm.com/Weekly_update/Weekly_129_aug_6_2003.htm
version77 Great call about fighter pilots. lets go back to WW11 for a minute. Those guys that flew were not shooting rockets at each other from a 100 miles away, they were MANO vs MANO, seeing the other guys propeller spinning, seeing his head swivel around in cockpit. A quote from a British pilot back from a mission after shooting down two german fighter planes in a dogfight. "after i landed it was then i realized what a bad fighter pilot i was, in my heart i knew i was lucky, i knew i had to learn how to dogfight with proper tactics or next time i was a dead duck" I have for a long time related trading to dogfights man to man, it takes proper training, a good plane and most of all it takes skill in staying alive while being more aggressive that the other guy.. To make a long and wonderful story short about having brass jewels to prepare a dog fighter for a do or die battle in the skys, one might read as i did a few books on the subject. paperbacks: these will put a trader in the cockpit to perform what can turn a calm beautiful day flying over the Pacific into pure death hell when a flock of Zeros come upon you or visa versa. When it was over in a couple minutes, many pilots said the flight suit was soaked from fear and some admitting crapping in suits and puking in the cockpit from fear, but they did the job. books to follow........I recommend reading these...
The Jolly Rogers, Tom Blackburn, Pocket books isbn...0-671-69493-6 The Blacksheep, Bruce Gamble, presidio press isbn...0-89141-711-7 Samurai! by Saburo sakai 1957, isbn o-7434-1283-4........This one is about japans greatest fighter piloy that survived the war. it is a good read about an individuals trip to flight school and all the way in the war and finally being asked to go hit an american carrier with your plane. I lesson in learning how to get the skills to do the job. i dislike japs but the ideas are valid. LOL These books and others, are found in the military history section of borders etc. ...:cool PS, not so much that i dislike japs, just that i have bad taste inm mouth from they way they were suicide nutcases in the war. ...
Welcome Don, Good post that added some light to the subject. Its interesting to see pilots joining engineers and accountants amongst those groups that had a high degree of certainty about the outcomes they would produce.