Good Lord, Discipline. I sure feel sorry for anybody living with you. What do you do every morning at the market open? Whip yourself with chains?
I agree that if there is nothing to trade, then sit on your hands and DO NOT trade. Doing nothing is cheaper than doing something stupid. My point was that I still watch the markets and observe so that if the situation I am observing comes up later in my career I may have an advantage over the guy who missed it because he was playing video games. The puritan work ethic in many traders is often mis manifested in the need to trade at all times because they are there and need to do something. Wrong. You are working by observing.
I have the ability to turn it off when appropriate and on when necessary. My wife and friends think I am an easy going guy. Do not ever mistake nice for weakness. How do you think Thurman Munson got to be the best catcher of his generation? He worked at it! All superior performers take a talent and exploit it through hard work and discipline. Anyway, I am easy to live with if you just don't touch my stuff!
True story, Discipline...I used to play Ages of Empires when I was farming several years ago, never imagining it would be more than a pleasant distraction. Yesterday, my brother-in-law and I sat in the middle of a golf course his family is building for the local billionaire and it is just like being inside the game Ages of Empires. There were all these guys running around in these little golf cart maintenance vehicles, my brother-in-law's family was operating excavators, big agricultural tractors to pull the scrapers that collect the dirt, and bulldozers. This was my reward for going six for six in the first two and a half hours of trade Thursday morning. It helps when you do a good job or when you reach a goal to reward yourself for doing good. But when you do a lousy job trading that is when you need to punish yourself and work extra hard to get back in the win column. Bruce
I am a big believer in both positive and negative feedback. I reward myself with new music when I have a particularly successful day as defined by not making mental mistakes (not by profits) and I beat the brick wall when I make mistakes. I have no music newer than Kurt Cobain and my hands are bloody stumps.
Well, that's a decent choice of music and I'm glad you're not taking your frustrations out on another person, but eventually, I hope, you'll have learned your lessons. Stick to it. Bruce
Good grief, there is more to life than trading. After all, what are you trading for? I do mostly EOD which takes relatively little of my time, but I will daytrade the E-Minis or other indices if the weather is lousy or I feel like it - usually a couple or three half days a week. There is such a thing as overstuffing your brain - it's good to step back sometimes and take time out. Trading is mostly psychology and money management anyhow and I know that I trade best after a good day of fishing or reading. Remember, the biggest mistake you can make is to die rich. It just doesn't make any sense to me. Live and enjoy the fruits of your trading.
I have no desire to die rich. I am not in it for the money although it is very rewarding financially for me. I take time off. I have a life. I play hockey. I coach basketball. I read 4 newspapers a day. I build furniture. I have a life. (I am even accused of telling a joke once in a while). My point is that if I am going to be a trader, I am going to maximize my potential and take is seriously. Whatever works for you. I am always amazed at the traders who can't figure out a way to make money, but they won't put the time and effort in. The teams I coach have fun. I teach them the fundamentals first. John Wooden, Red Holzman, Toe Blake! I teach them the fundamentals so that under pressure they will not have to think, they will execute out of instinct developed through rote repetiton. I teach them to give a 100% effort. Play to win, but accept defeat gracefully. Losing is not a bad thing in either trading or life if you can introspecively look at the situation and say you gave it your all. Losing is failure if you think back with the coulda, woulda, shouldas!
Dude Get the Fuck Outta here, The REASON I play games during lunch is because trading during lunch with NYSE listed is dangerous. So if anything, I am using Discipline to stay away from trading during the period of 11:30 to 2. I actually go to the gym 3 days of the week during that time because I have a night job as well and lunch is really my only free time. Why don't you try working two full time jobs with barely 6 hours of sleep Mon-Fri. My experience has showed me that by trading during lunch or the really slow and bad times like the last couple weeks afternoons has caused to churn and burn. So I stay away from it for the most part. If smth good is moving, there is such a thing as Alt+Tab and I have actually traded and played an online game (no pause) at the same time. Didnt lose money but do not recommend it unless you wanna feel some adrenaline. Take your militant BS somewhere else. The top two traders in my group are so relaxed you probably would think they could never be great traders. Except that they make bout a mil a year.
Don't like WarIII or Starcraft too much. Won't get into it but many stupid overcomplicated issues with those games. Generals has many SC elements as well as C&C. Try it out, excellent game.