The thing to get is that 2 days from now the trend will change, and 2 minutes and 2 hours and 2 weeks and 2 months and 2 years. Get it? Trading is the easiest thing in the world and the hardest mostly because of the f*c&ed up psychology of having to basically plunge a knife into your own body. Try it. Try to cut yourself. The hardest thing in the world. Your mind has self-defense mechanisms in place for survival that are exceedingly hard to ignore. I say almost impossible which is why algos work. They takeover when you're mind goes blank due to millenia of genetic selection. Teleology does not apply here.
The moment you ACTUALLY believe you can be consistantly profitable (at the subconscious psychological level) you will have just opened the door to a new potential future. Convincing your psychology to believe profitability is something you can achieve consistantly, is what transitions your daily operational pyschology into working for you and no longer against you. Through small broken down and successful repititiously completed tasks, you can lead your psychology to a realm of believability. The continuously completed taskings which have resulted in undeniable success, will in a short period of time defeat improper and unconstructive psychology (built from previous failures, life experiences, accepted limiting beliefs, etc). You have to LEAD your psychology to a point where it believes in you and your new proven capabilities. Just like in life, COURAGE comes after you have already jumped out of the foxhole and successfully stormed the machine gun nest. So now you have to design a program of small taskings of very defined rules, to create a very high percentage of repititious success. For instance, a tightly controlled and highly simplistic scalping set up. Keep working at it until you can achieve very consistant and continuous small positive returns. Pound away for three to four weeks creating the undeniable daily proof that your are very consistent and profitable as a trader. Next, take specific time at the end of trade days to relax, close your eyes, and visualize your repititious success. Prove to your psychology, through your visualized film strip you are playing in your mind, of your new capabilities. Do this for a minimum of 30 days and then gradually on a month to month basis expand your taskings and capabilities. See how that works for you......BTW, next time you talk to a Blue Angles pilot ask him how he was trained to fly 3 feet from the aircraft around him on a consistant basis.
Not necessarily true, if risk/reward parameters are askew. One could easily increase their number of profitable experiences by averaging down and/or always taking profit at +1 tick. This is also the best way to blow an account. I'm sure the assumption in your statement was that proper risk management would always be employed, but just thought I'd point out the tiny flaw if taken at face value.
I agree with a lot of what you said AMT. I didn't really become profitable until I was around career traders and saw how they bought and sold. I realized I had a narrow view of how to manage risk based on the pablum of 'get started in trading' books. However, I don't think I could have 'believed' my way on my own without seeing others really being profitable. Because simply believing without a real example and real methodology is truly 'cutting on yourself' as mentioned in an earlier post. Belief without understanding supply and demand is a false expectation...kind of like most MLM's. That being said, I do have a daily ritual that includes what could be construed as visualization. And at one time I did a daily intensive simulator program with a coach that didn't let me cheat...my girlfriend...lol! She wanted me to prove to her that I hadn't lost my mind!
Interesting approach. I just began meditating regularly and I already feel quite differently during trading. I've found that meditation helps me to focus only on the moment at hand --- the trade -- as opposed to other factors unrelated to the trade. I can only imagine the effects of daily meditation over the long-term. There appears to be a lot of benefit to lessening the role of ego in my trading. I've heard people talk about being "centered" or "settled" and I think I've begun to realize what that means firsthand. I just ordered this book called "Psycho-Cybernetics" that was recommended to me by a very very good trader. He says that it has helped him tremendously with his trading and helped him take things to another level. I haven't done much visualization, but with the discipline of meditating regularly I plan on implementing the techniques in that book. I haven't received it yet from Amazon, but I'll be happy to let everyone know how it goes once I get into it.
One aspect of critical visualization rituals - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GRkzMtIcNHs Over and over again, day after day.......there can never be "too perfect" when running key daily operational habits through your psychology through visualization.
Unfortuneately, this is easier said than done... for example, was Friday's market movement in the s&p representive of a temporary pullback in downward trend or the start of a new trend??????
When I learned to read "market structure" my trading became both consistent and profitable. Market structure determines if price is likely to move up, down or sideways. I finally began to see that the price chart isn't there to determine whether to buy or sell, but rather to pick a spot to get in or out AFTER the structure is understood.