Thanks I will check it out......you mentioned active trader mag, I will be in the Feb 2002 with a nice article on Multiple Time Frame Trading.........they did a great job editing it & I seen it last week for my last review....when it comes out I hope you see & enjoy it.......Chris
I visited your site and it's really informative. Even better it's free! I was wondering what you use to get confirmation on your bull/bear flag trades. Stochastics? Multiple time frames? Any info on the bull/bear flag you want to give out would be appreciated. In your experience, do head and shoulder patterns or double top/bottoms have any kind of edge? Or are they so well known and used that they're not that useful. Sorry to swamp you with questions!
monee, thanks for sharing your experience.. i look forward to your participation on the thread.. Chartwiz212, i took a look at your site.. its pretty impressive.. i look forward to your article in Active Trader.. i noticed on your business plan that you refer to positive self-talk.. do you have a written method that you follow daily or is your usage more general? how has using self-talk improved your trading? please feel free to make comments, suggestions, corrections or random words of wisdom =).. -qwik
Hi First i apologize for my bad english(i'm french) and congratulate you for this board i'm reading for several months. I think that the feelings i have when i enter a trade are the major thing that is able to fool me. You got your heart faster than usual and that fu..... fear(or greed that's depends if the trade goes with or against you!)which can definitely blow your attitude. You try to talk to yourself but what you say is influenced by the situation(for example if the trade goes for you you say something like"don't be too greedy...and if it goes against you something like "don't be scared they try to shake you out") or the previous trade etc... I tried to solve the prob(c'mon guys be indulgent with me i said" i tried " )by recording my voice when i'm not trading. I'm saying"You're in the trade,now Erick(that's my name )relax breath,be concentrated lucid and efficient" I use j-trader so i 've programmed my voice as an audible alert that comes automatically in my headphones when my order is hit...it helps.
Now that there has been time for people to respond to the poll.. i think maybe we should start with the topic that most people struggle with.. Discipline.. Before we start throwing out ideas.. i want to restate the basic rules for self-talk.. 1.)-Be Specific.. rather than say "I control my losses.." we should say "When a stock hits my predetermined stop price, i exit the trade immediately. Stopping out is not losing money, its protecting my account. Once i place my stop, I never move it." etc.. 2.)-Be Positive.. dont program your mind to think negatively.. phrases like "Even though im not that bright i always try really hard" will do more damage than good.. think positively, "I am a knowledgeable and skilled trader.. I am constantly learning and my skills improve every day.. I always give full attention and effort to every trade.." 3.)-Use present tense.. if you want to become disciplined dont say "I will be disciplined".. use "I am disciplined" instead.. 4.)-Make it easy to use.. if it isnt easy to use, we probably wont use it =) 5.)-Make it inspiring.. our self-talk should motivate us to be the absolute best.. nothing less.. now.. what i am hoping is that we can all pitch in some ideas for each topic and then we can each borrow from the ideas presented to create self-talk that we feel comfortable with.. some people may prefer a direct approach, others a more "spiritual" approach.. my preference is probably somewhere in between.. in my first post i used an example of very direct self-talk.. here is an example of the more spiritual approach.. this is taken from Og Mandino's book "The greatest Salesman in The World".. I will greet this day with love in my heart. For this is the greatest secret of success in all ventures. Muscle can split a shield and even destroy life but only the unseen power of love can open the hearts of men and until I master this art I will remain no more than a peddler in the market place. I will make love my greatest weapon and none on whom I call can defend against its force. My reasoning they may counter; my speech they may distrust; my apparel they may disapprove; my face they may reject and even my bargains may cause them suspicion; yet my love will melt all hearts liken to the sun whose rays soften the coldest clay. I will greet this day with love in my heart. And how will I do this? Henceforth will I look on all things with love and I will be born again. I will love the sun for it warms my bones; yet I will love the rain for it cleanses my spirit. I will love the light for it shows me the way; yet I will love the darkness for it shows me the stars. I will welcome happiness for it enlarges my heart; yet I will endure sadness for it opens my soul. I will acknowledge rewards for they are my due; yet I will welcome obstacles for they are my challenge... ...I will greet this day with love in my heart. Henceforth will I love all mankind. From this moment all hate is let from my veins for I have not time to hate, only time to love. From this moment I take the first step required to become a man among men. With love I will increase my sales a hundred fold and become a great salesman. If I have no other qualities I can succeed with love alone. Without it I will fail though I possess all the knowledge and skills of the world. you get the idea.. anyway.. lets start with Discipline.. i think we should specifically exclude the other areas that are identified in the poll but overlap into this area.. otherwise this one will either become too general or will resemble War and Peace in length by the time its done.. some of the things we might want to include would be: -Following our trading plan and rules.. (go ahead and use your own) -Staying organized with paperwork, statements etc.. -Keeping Journal up to date for those that have one.. -Continuing Education process.. reading books etc.. -Maintaining proper schedule.. -Physical discipline.. proper exercise, etc.. -Making proper use of self-talk at predetermined intervals =) -Procrastination etc etc etc.. i am working on mine and will post it when i finish.. -qwik
Qwik, Chris....Thanks for the great post..I find myself revenge trading when I am down on the day....one of my weakest traits..I agree that positive thinking and attitude are important to surviving this battle....
isn't it interesting? we're trading to make money, the most materialistic goal there is, and we find ourselves going back to mental, spiritual aspect of life. the more you trade, the more you learn about yourself. to become a better trader, you suddenly learn to better yourself. understanding the market is like understanding life .. there's no real understanding needed.. we just live, we just trade.. i think it's mark doughlas who said, there's no beginning or end, only what's in your mind. a zen saying. that's my regular self-talk when i find myself out of step w/ the market. nov-
Chris and Qwiktrade, Great information guys. Many of us truly appreciate the sharing of this issue of trading as it is one of trading that fascinates me more than simple buy here sell here trading setups. Chris, videos are excellent and I'm glad to see them consistently being done. It truly is a solid way to get ideas across to everyone in a simple fashion beyond text/chart. All the best and thanks again for the discussion. I enjoyed reading thus far. Chris
I try to pay my two cents about self-talking. The first thing is not what u say(it's very important)but the way you say it. For example imagine a text said by Barry WHITE the same text now said by Donald DUCK or sang by Pavarotti...the words will be the same but the effect will be very different. So before you try to talk to yourself you should thing about the way you will talk to yourself. For that these are some points you can test and intend to modificate til you find what is up to you. -Loud/faint -Slow/fast -Deep/high -Close/far -from the left the right or from above or under..etc Perhap's you already have a problem witH what you hear from yourself when you are trading. I had the same problem and it's very important to get rid of that bad things you hear before you try ta talk to yourself(like sanding before painting)..