Flying and Trading-----What makes an expert?

Discussion in 'Psychology' started by LVMises, Aug 6, 2009.

  1. slacker

    slacker

    The similarities are many, but I think most focus on decision making and 'economy of energy'.....

    A great graphic below showing a dogfight, looks like a high volatility day last year!!!!

    [​IMG]

    (Cunningham should have stayed a pilot however. Maybe a lesson there as well....)

    Now off to a great airshow at Salinas today and the Blue Angles!!!!!!
     
    #11     Aug 8, 2009
  2. Look like a tick chart to me. :D
     
    #12     Aug 8, 2009
  3. slacker

    slacker

    The best description of why it may take 10,000 to reach expert status is in "Deep Survival: Who Lives, Who Dies and Why" by Laurence Gonzales.

    It takes time for the pilot or the trader to be so accustomed to his tasks to the extent that the amygdala is not activated. He 'stays' cool under stress and does not become irrational (impulse trading) in his actions.

    This is also described in detail in "Sway" and "Irrational Predicatability", and a few other studies on stress.

    This is only one reason why paper trading does not work... In one study a test was given to students where they played a video game and got cash points for playing well. Another group of students got points but it was only an informal tally of results, no benefit to the student. They used MRI technology to show that even though the tasks are the same, game play, the brain activity was completely different.... Paper trading does not exercise the part of the brain used with real trading.... Flying is the same as trading in that reactions to stress must be trained to bypass the reptile part of the brain that is only going to freeze, or run away in an attempt to save itself.

    Training to stay cool to avoid waking up the reptile monitor takes time. I recommend "Deep Survival" and "Predictably Irrational" for a more detailed discussion...

    Anyway, a good lazy weekend discussion topic.
     
    #13     Aug 8, 2009
  4. That is why people in profession that requires nerve, e.g. being in combat, athletes, gamblers, show performers, entrepreneur, fire fighters, etc have easier time to become a trader.
     
    #14     Aug 8, 2009
  5. lynx wrote"hours and hours of boredom punctuated by moments of sheer terror".

    Funny, that's what an old cop told me about being in law enforcement.:D
     
    #15     Aug 8, 2009
  6. slacker

    slacker

    Old Time mag article:
    It seems like having a kill increases the pilots chance of having another kill.

    Or, is the analogy between pilot and trader going too far?

    Good video by Gonzales on Survival:
    http://bigthink.com/laurencegonzales/laurence-gonzales-on-deep-survival
     
    #16     Aug 8, 2009
  7. Redneck

    Redneck

    I find this thread very intresting, may even learned something


    Thank You

    RN
     
    #17     Aug 9, 2009
  8. The problem with comparing trading to flying or being a doctor or whatever else is that all these other professions have manuals, textbooks, REAL instructors, that tell you step by step what you should be doing to be successful. Its all in clear, black and white, plain english, no bullshit, no generalizations, no smoke and mirrors.

    None of that exists in trading because the people that DO know how to trade will not tell you what they are doing.

    Its very secretive. Not like any other profession. No one shows you their tax returns either, I know a pilots is successful because I see his plane in the air and land safely, in trading you don't know anything.


    No comparison in my book.

    And yes, I've flown on Microsoft flight simulator! :D
     
    #18     Aug 9, 2009
  9. NoDoji

    NoDoji

    A lot of successful traders will tell you exactly what they're doing. There are no big secrets in trading. Here's what I learned over the past few months from other traders and confirmed it myself through screen time and actual trading:

    Follow the trend: Buy on a show of strength, sell on a show of weakness.

    Counter the trend: Buy when higher support is established after a capitulation move down; sell when lower resistance is established after a climactic move up.

    Join a breakout: Bracket orders outside a low-volume narrow range and let the triggered order place you in the direction of the breakout. (Your stop loss is already in place at the other end.)

    These tactics not only work more often than not (giving you that elusive "edge"), they provide you with low-risk stop-loss exits.
     
    #19     Aug 9, 2009
  10. Redneck

    Redneck


    Amen NOD

    And a Wonderful day to You Ma'am


    RN
     
    #20     Aug 9, 2009