ACTIVE TRADER magazine quoting Linda B. R."Execution skills account for at least 50% of yourbottom line......."Active Trader magazine page 64 ,Aug. 2000. SOLUTION WORDS ARE MUCH MORE HELPFUL THAN PROBLEM WORDS. Lots of us learn by reading,for example Marlin hedge fund manager Michael Masters ,40%cash.......Like to learn also by practicing also.Mr. Masters ,page 207 Jack Schwager s book., I believe.WITHIN SAFETY GUIDE LINES,LIKE TO PRACTICE EXECUTION SKILLS ,PULLING THE TRIGGER. FOR EXAMPLE THAT OLYMPIC SKEET SHOOTER,ON THE VIDEO,SAID PRACTICE,PRACTICE,PRACTICE,PRACTICE PRACTICE.................. BECAUSE OF HIS PRACTICE PRACTICE,PRACTICE THAT OLYMPIC SKEET SHOOTER,WITHIN SAFETY GUIDELINES,HAS EXCELLANT TRIGGER PULLING SKILLS AND THUS MAKES SURE SKEET SHOOTERS KEEP OUR GOOD NAME OR NICKNAME.......,.
qwiktrade, Your passage saved my trading today. I was anticipating a head and shoulders breadown on the S&P emini today and got hammered for $300 during the retracement. It was the most I have ever lost since I started trading recently. I was completely frustrated and mentally drained. But what you wrote encouraged me to stay disciplined. It allowed me to spot my next shorting opportunity that not only erased my entire deficit but helped to be on the plus side. Thank for sharing your "Self Talk for Discipline" with us. I will read it religiously from now on.
Qwuk and Candle, Thank you sincearly for this effort you put into ET. It really helps...keep going! Alex
Sometimes when you're afraid of pulling the trigger it's because you think that you are not good. YOU CAN NOT TRADE GOOD IF YOU THINK YOU'RE BAD!!! More than voices you can first work on how you see yourself when trading...Let's try a little exercise..close your eyes and think of you trading......now how was the picture....black&white/colored..large/small...?. Often when you don't feel confident at doing something(trading for example) you can see a black&white little picture Imagine you come from behind and look at this trader(it's you but don't say"it's me" say joe or bob or whatever it's easier;-) and pay attention to what is wrong when he is trading...You can see somebody who is stressed...nervous..ill at ease etc... Now you can modify these attitudes til you can see this trader in a real good state.... you make him relaxed..confident..etc... You can see him trading pretty well...good control..sharp entries and sharper exits...You must definitively replace the old little black & white picture with a BIG colored picture of you in the state of mind and attitude you want to have . (in france we usually use english words and this technique of replacing a picture by another is called switch ) Just my two cents
I feel that traders that have a fear of pulling the trigger are fearful because of their lack of confidence as its pretty obvious, but we all look for that special method or setup or technique, that bullflag that divergence that overbought stochastic the huge gap that execution system to get you in 1/2 a second faster than the other one....that special charting service the secret is on the time frames , rather than using a 5min chart , the 38 minute or a 56 minute chart that nobody uses is the key..or better yet, a special mechanical system that you paid 2.800 for & 300 a mo to get signals that works until you actually commit money because you got involved & exited when the system said hold................all these things are NOT the key to trading & not the key to get you over your fear or inability to make money, there is a certain synergy that must happen for you to profit. I could put the best bullflag pattern in front of all you & I bet 50 % will agree & buy & of that a high percentage will lose money getting out to fast or exiting or gettng scared or taking profits to soon & the other 50% will miss the point of the pattern & disagree & not enter....from that we will have 10% winners on a 80% + pattern......they happen all the time, every TA book & everybody talks about that pattern & why do we still have traders that cannot get it right ? synergy .........Trading is a math & science game, Fib numbers pattern recognition, ect.........& is also an art & intuition game, those 4 concepts need to be synergistic with one another........a trader in fear of losing money is basically not understanding price & patterns, this is one problem that needs to be worked on, & working on that ebb & flow of the markets of understanding there are trends within trends within trends on many time frames & this although is confusing to many, is one key to decreasing the fear, if you where able to see the patterns & see your support or resistance on different time frames & feel that you could risk .25 cent on a trade rather than having it drop $1 against you because you cannot see a risk point, this would take away fear , having that art, that intuition to know to look at maybe the NYSE TICKS for a flush for a buy on a uptrend day when the markets retrace, the small things the synergy is key, yes we need positive input we need that, we need to always be on top of our game & stay focused & I don't agree you could make money just being positive......this is not amway & we are not going to rah rah ourselves into success & take away all fear...going to church is a great thing & praying but that alone is not going to make you a success, learn those patterns also, learn the synergy of different time frames, ......you see that 1 min chart rallying straight up & running like its on a mission only to fail back down like it hit a brick wall.........it did ,,,maybe a price resistance above from a prior low just days before or maybe it hit into a all-time high or 10 day high....or had a 50% retracement on higher time frames, you have to have that synergy of MATH SCIENCE ART & INTUITION & have a POSITIVE OUTLOOK, one does NOT work without the other, & its something 99.% have no concept of.........this what I shared tonite should be read 15x by those that are fearful of pulling the trigger or lost at sea in the ebb & flow of the markets waves......anything I could do, please email me or message me here...I am here to stay and here to share...........God Bless...Chris
There's an ad that says something along the lines of "Scared to pull the trigger? You should be." The point of the ad is to sell some guru service or whatever, but it makes a valid point--a lot of fear of pulling the trigger is the subconscious realization that you don't know what you're doing and you could end up hurting yourself. It's a natural response to danger. Just as your body rebels against walking out on a narrow ledge 80 floors up, it rebels against risking the price of a Jaguar on a hunch that a gap down will magically reverse. It's nothing to be ashamed of, and in fact is much safer and healthier than the opposite, making wild bets with abandon. The key to overcoming this fear is to have a set of patterns or set-ups that you have personally backtested, or personally papertraded at least, and therefore trust. And you must realize that the best trades are often the hardest to take psychologically. I'm not dismissing the use of NLP or similar techniques to enhance your performance. In fact I think they have value, provided you know what you're doing in the first place.
qwiktrade, I really liked your self talk on discipline. Inspired stuff. I recall there was a poster called quietbutdeadly who produced an extraordinary piece that he wrote before trading. It was all about his state of mind while trading. Some thought it was bs but I loved it. We need toget him on this thread. cayman, That is a nice exercise you suggested. Do you have training in psychology?
I agree we basically said the same thing, your fear leaves you when you have a structure & patterns you could trust ..........chris
I think the fear of pulling the trigger is logical and reasonable and stems from inexperience. I'll bet the guy that's been trading for a living for ten years doesn't even give it a thought. When your new to it you don't know what your doing so don't know what the outcome is going to be, so it's reasonable to be afraid. Brainwashing yourself out of the fear is not wise in my opinion. The fear causes you to go slow in the beginning. When you've built up confidence through success, the fear will go away. I think it's a normal process that doesn't require any intervention. If the hesitation to act doesn't go away even when you are successful, that would probably be the time for some "self talk".