Ha. Skill. The market doesn't have any rules. It's not like some 'game' you can master, like chess. That takes skill. With the market, you're kinda loosely playing your odds, loosely following your intuition, trying to get some feel for market sentiment... none of that is skill. Unless people are deep into technical analysis, charts, patterns, ... just horsecrap, disguised as skill. Decades? 2 decades? Not long enough... Not one case of a person who has done this 30 years and 'made it' - worthwhile.
I'm sorry bud, but you are wrong. The market has a definitive structure and the collective actions of every transaction form patterns that are very tradeable. Not only that, the same charts that print today printed the same decades ago. Only thing that changes is the volatility from cycle to cycle. I suggest you hold onto that job of yours and leave the trading to those who possess the necessary pattern recognition skills.
Cannot say I leave all the thoughts about trading behind... But that is often the case with people, who are truly interested in their career/business, I don't see anything negative about it, unless it harms other aspects of your life.
I'm reading Forbes magazine from October 2010, and Warren Buffet's bio says this; "Secret to success: Emotional stability" (page 21). There is something neurotic about watching a ticker. Every movement up sents a thrill of elation through the gambler and every tick down causes the stomach to drop. To be honest, I can't imagine you trading for a living either. It would indeed be a miserable, tiring existence for you to try to do that minute-by-minute, every day. Fortunately, people who actually do that for a living don't become fixated and nervous; at least, not the really successful ones. In fact, to answer ES's original post, I hardly think about the market...period. I do swing trading so I'm in front of the screen a grand total of about 30 minutes per day. I have to set my alarm to remind me that the market opens in 10 minutes, or closes in 30, and I have text alerts set up for when the ETF I'm watching hits certain price points, just because I like to do other things. The bulk of my time, I would say is spent on genuine market research. I'm looking into a couple of indicators recommended by a professional trader, and that takes more time per day than my actual trading. Don't get me wrong, I love the market. It's a fascinating study. I love crowd theory and getting a glimpse into what people are thinking, feeling, and doing across the country. But the actual act of trading is minimal.
If a windfall happens I'll think about it After Hours and maybe celebrate a little. If a big mistake happens I'll think about it after hours also and reflect on what can be done in the future to prevent it from reoccurring . Otherwise 99% of the time it's just another day and it gets left behind.
First post woohoo! Been trading steadily for about a year now and figured it's time to start chiming in. I can recall almost every trade I made this past week so I dont just forget it all. Im usually always thinking about the markets but have no problem turning it off if need be.
I think about trading a lot because I enjoy it. About an hour after the market closes, I am generally thinking about other things and have no problem leaving trading behind. Since I am very focused on trading during market hours, I have generally had enough of it by the time the market closes and have more fun doing and thinking about other things. On the weekends, I sometimes spend time reviewing ideas or reading a forum, like I am now, but I rarely feel the need to do it and it is mostly for the entertainment value. I truly enjoy the entire puzzle aspect of the markets, so researching trading ideas can be very entertaining for me some of the time when the markets I trade are closed. I lead a pretty balanced life, so turning off the trading thoughts when there are no trades to make is quite easy.
ES ... Ive got too much experience now both positive as well as negative to let myself carry much of anything away when im done for the session - RH or AH. One exception though. When ive made a decent entry and made points but then let it go against me. ...gotdamnit ...i may give that some thought later-YEAH!!...but not for long. Thoughts of food, sleeping, women, ...takes away my thoughts about trading - at least for awhile. im still trading the YM, ES.