Hello, Good post and excellent advice. I know that Tony Oz has advocated accountability in ones trading decisions. Most people dont plan to fail they fail to plan. Best regards, Trapper
Chas...why do you think that? We don't commit fraud, cook books, evade taxes. None of us that I ever knew of even used Arthur Anderson. We can't make a $60 stock go to 6 cents. I think the problem with the perception of us by the public is that we somehow take advantage of them...we have the edge. Well, we may have an edge, but I don't believe it adversely affects the public. In fact, maybe we benefit the public by adding liquidity. And if we create volatility, well so what? That all evens out. Remember, the "public" does not tally their p&l in real time like we do. If they need to vilify equity professionals instead of the corrupt "business leaders" that have screwed them, let them know about NYSE Specialists. Let them watch the Schwab commercials (let's put some lipstick on this pig). I worked for one of the old wirehouse brokerages who I will not mention by name (but a clue will do...starts with MER). What a disgraceful outfit! I was embarassed to be part of it. We are NOT the enemy....except sometimes to each other.
Thank you rs7. It is good to hear tips from experienced traders on how to trade successfully. I had been thinking of starting a thread to highlight my own trading mistakes of late and get some help. This is the kind of thing I need to hear. As you said, patience and discipline are of paramount importance. I just started full time trading in May so I feel big pressure to "make it". I did well the first month but when June hit I got wrung out. I started losing patience, my trades went nowhere and then when my setups stopped happening I started breaking my rules just so I could get some trades, my fix of "action". Well the action cost me. If I had just waited and gone by my rules I would have done ok. I can't believe how often I will break my rules for the purpose of just being in a trade. My other career was an active, on-the-go type activity. To just sit and do nothing all morning is tough. It doesn't feel right.. like I'm wasting time, and sooo boring. I am probably not alone in my addiction to the excitement of trading. Just as that third beer is hard to resist so is the trading game. Trading is like doing drugs. Brain chemistry is involved. This is when discipline is needed. This is when we must be Spock. And the very creativity that led to our trading methodology must now be ignored and suppressed within the rigid framework of it's rules. Tough to do but essential for profitable trading. I like your idea of thinking you're trading for a loved one. Any subconscious feelings of personal unworthiness that may be undermining our trading are eliminated, because now we're doing it for someone we know is worthy. *********************************************** "Our patience will achieve more than our force." -Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France, 1790 *****"When I read about the evils of drinking, I gave up reading." - Henny Youngman
I can guarantee that rs7 speaks the truth. I am a 3rd year college kid (International Business and Finance) and over 40 years old. My mother had lost some money in the market and she gave me a shot at helping her recover her losses after I ranked top of the class in pretend trading. To date, the trades I've made with her money, have earned 138 percent (in two months.) I am currently "down" in my account. In reference to your posts regarding education, I have learned many things that have helped me in trading. Most of all it gave me self-confidence. But knowing how business and markets work didn't hurt any. I'm nowhere near 17 and I didn't know what I wanted to do when I started to college even though I thought I did. I entered seeking a degree in journalism and by the end of my second semester I switched to business/finance. Your advice is savvy, wise and helpful. Thanks
I had a friend that wanted to trade. I tried to talk him out of it. I knew he was both too impulsive and too compulsive. He chased every stock he saw uptick. He watched so many stocks on his screen he had to make his font smaller to fit them in. I told him he was an over-trader. His argument was that he had always made more money the harder he worked. And he did. He became a very wealthy guy years before. Selling automotive products. Never made a dime trading. Lasted a few months and walked away. But what he (and so many others) did not understand that often the "hard work" in trading is going through what you call the "boring" times. Being disciplined is hard work. Not trading is hard work. Watching the "action" and not participating is hard work. Inaction does not equate to doing nothing though it may appear that way. It is the DECISION to "do nothing" that makes that very "inaction" work. Our job is about making decisions, not about making trades. Anyone can hit the buy or sell button. Deciding when to do it is something else. It is what seperates work from play. Trading from amusement. You most definitely are not alone in your addiction to the excitement of trading...do what you have to to kick the addiction if you can. Hey, guys I worked with gambled pretty big stakes to pass the time when they weren't trading. The losers usually saved money overall by not trading while they were pissing away money playing poker or whatever. I cleared through First Options when I was a market maker. Their lounge upstairs from the CBOE was a veritable casino there were so many gin, poker, and backgammon games going on there. All that was missing were cocktail waitresses. This was how these guys relaxed!!! Me, I played chess. But I still had to play for money. Not that I wanted to....I just couldn't get anyone interested in playing for the sake of the game. So I guess most traders like to gamble. Just don't do it in the market. Try and make that a job.
If this bear really takes hold, the public will not distinguish between you, me, MER, Ken Lay, Ivan Boesky, Michael Milken, Gentleman Jim, PeeWee Herman, or the Boston Strangler. I have posted elsewhere this hunch: everyone is waiting for 'fear' or 'panic' to set in to confirm a bottom. I think we have to go through 'rage' on the way there. When I tell people what I do, I sometimes sense a mixture of pity and mistrust. Pity that I obviously don't get that the party is over (like they do, and oh how shrewd they are), or mistrust that I must know some 'secret,' and am therefore one of the ones who made out while they got smacked.
Lavish not for anything but unless something fell into your lap from the "trading gods" you are risking too much per trade... I suggest you seriously look over your risk management... PEACE and good trading, Commisso
RS7 Nice to see a pure act of trading benevolence from a seasoned vet such as yourself... I suspect the market and the universe will pay you back 3 fold PEACE and good trading, Commisso
Excellent post, I especially like, the point that anyone can hit a buy or sell key, it's the decision making that'll make us the money. I frequently seem to turn a winning day into a losing day by getting into ill-advised trades, I will make a WRITTEN note to myself daily to work on that as well as the other 200 things I need work on.