Pressure

[DionysusToast]

Some of us were not young bucks when we started looking at trading.

Some of us were well past our 20's.

Some of us have families to look after.

Some of use have jobs we don't feel secure in.

Some of us have debt.

Some of us feel like a 20 year old can walk into a bank and start making money just by sitting at a desk and knowing some 'inside secrets'.

It is interesting to read the books on trading psychology.

Why is it that they don't go into the REASONS you are spending 3 hours a day after work sitting at the PC trying to figure this game out ? Why is it the Zulu Principle doesn't focus on the fact that your missus is watching TV and the 2 kids crashed out already whilst you were watching the e-mini's ?

Guys & Gals. If there is one thing you should do if you are not profitable. It is this:

When you sit down and make those trading decisions - forget WHY you are doing this.

Forget the family.
Forget the mortgage.
Forget the car payments.
Forget the amount of return on your account you would need to support your family.
Forget the 95%.
Forget retirement.
Forget the fact you could have spent the last 2 hours with the kids.

All this stuff will just delay your quest further.

Actively work to clear your mind of this stuff before you sit down and make trading decisions because this stuff will not help you in any way whatsoever.

 

[Black Swan]

Forget the family.
Nope, I have photos of them beside my trading station, it motivates me constantly.
Forget the mortgage
Nope, will have paid it off in two years (perhaps earlier if my trading continues in its current direction), big part of my motivation; debt free and liquid
Forget the car payments.
Don't have any payments, only buy cars with cash, pay trade at auctions, sell them at a small loss each year.
Forget the amount of return on your account you would need to support your family.
Never quantify and or relate that to my trading performance, I know what I need each month from the markets to cover the bills, generally smashed through that by day five/seven...
Forget the 95%.
Never gonna be part of that misleading statistical group/myth..
Forget retirement.
Dont intend to retire, if there's a functioning market and I'm still functioning I'll do this for my great grandkids..
Forget the fact you could have spent the last 2 hours with the kids.
I generally finish trading for the day, or at least take/manage my last trade/s around 4:30-5pm...plenty of time for all the kids numerous activities and to completely immerse/involve myself in what they've been up to during the day...Thurs great for us, no kids activities. Got a new ice hockey wii game arrived today. Just need a bargain bucket from KFC and that's us sorted Probably won't look at the charts/open positions then until 8-9 for 30 mins. of management, then take a look 11.30-12.30 to manage/adjust stops/set limits for any I'm still in, won't take any. Off to bed...

 

[DionysusToast]

Black Swan - not every T2Wer is a Ferrari driving 17.5 year old with a $1 million dollar house like yerself.

 

[Black Swan]

Black Swan - not every T2Wer is a Ferrari driving 17.5 year old with a $1 million dollar house like yerself.

Although I have the suspicion that there's a few mini Black Swan's roaming around Merseyside due to a (partly) miss spent youth I'd have had to have started very young to have a 16 year old by 17.5...
Funny you mention Ferraris, it's engine roar is my exit 'wav' for a trade with profits...

 

[temporarilylight]

come join us in the live trading thread blackswan!

 

[DionysusToast]

come join us in the live trading thread blackswan!

Trade calls at dawn? Choose your market, take 10 paces and... ?

 

[zupcon]

Trade calls at dawn? Choose your market, take 10 paces and... ?

Yeah, sounds like a productive use of time

Still, before I knew what I was doing, I used to do quite well fading calls in the old moneytec chatroom

 

[DionysusToast]

Although I have the suspicion that there's a few mini Black Swan's roaming around Merseyside due to a (partly) miss spent youth I'd have had to have started very young to have a 16 year old by 17.5...
Funny you mention Ferraris, it's engine roar is my exit 'wav' for a trade with profits...

Interesting posts.

This is a phsychology thread. Fact is, the first reply on it was a big self back-pat from yourself.

For the moment - let's put aside the fact that you may or may not be profitable right now. What is it that made yourself need to post such a reply on a thread that is specifically aimed at people who may be losing money because of the fact they think they NEED to make money?

My point is simple - cast aside those things that are pressuring you and you may be able to think more clearly.

Your point is also simple - "I'm bloody great, I am, me".

How are we supposed to move forward and help those that need to let go of the reigns somewhat ?

 

[Mr. Charts]

Joe Ross says you should just walk away; he must have stock in a hiking boot company.

 

[searchlight]

Some of us were not young bucks when we started looking at trading.

Some of us were well past our 20's.

Some of us have families to look after.

Some of use have jobs we don't feel secure in.

Some of us have debt.

Some of us feel like a 20 year old can walk into a bank and start making money just by sitting at a desk and knowing some 'inside secrets'.

It is interesting to read the books on trading psychology.

Why is it that they don't go into the REASONS you are spending 3 hours a day after work sitting at the PC trying to figure this game out ? Why is it the Zulu Principle doesn't focus on the fact that your missus is watching TV and the 2 kids crashed out already whilst you were watching the e-mini's ?

Guys & Gals. If there is one thing you should do if you are not profitable. It is this:

When you sit down and make those trading decisions - forget WHY you are doing this.

Forget the family.
Forget the mortgage.
Forget the car payments.
Forget the amount of return on your account you would need to support your family.
Forget the 95%.
Forget retirement.
Forget the fact you could have spent the last 2 hours with the kids.

All this stuff will just delay your quest further.

Actively work to clear your mind of this stuff before you sit down and make trading decisions because this stuff will not help you in any way whatsoever.

For me if above post can be reduced to one sentence, it would read;
'' it is not the trade set-ups makes you profitable on the long run, but the your overall mental set-up.'' And I would agree with that.

 

[zupcon]

Joe Ross says you should just walk away; he must have stock in a hiking boot company.

Joe doesnt half come out with some bollox.

The problem is, different solutions are required at different stages of your development. I used to have a bit of an issue with revenge trading attempting to recover losses, usually with disasterous results. To overcome these problems I'd usually nip down to the gym for a couple of hours, clear my head, then come back, and lose a bit more

In the long term, walking away wasnt the right thing to do, it was the completely wrong thing to do because by walking away, I was usually missing the best set ups of the day.

However walking away was useful in the short term, as it provided the space I needed to identify the problem, and attempt to impliment a solution.

The solution to the problem was bleedin obvious in retrospect, and was easy enough to identify with a litle rational thought, but almost impossible to identify without that space.

DT's argument that forgetting the things that cause undue pressure, will help improve clarity of thought clearly has some merit, but Id argue that in the earliest stage of a traders development, they shouldnt be thinking on their feet, they should be reacting to pre defined defined scenarios. The time for thinking isnt when theyre stuck in front of a screen with the added pressure of managing a position.

On the other hand, some people seam to love pressure, and cant perform particularly well without it. This stuff isnt as simple as vendors such as Joe Ross try to make out.

 

[Hilarymannah]

This is off topic,.but I had to share it with you guys,.
it's a copy and paste from the comments section of the telegraph:
A.
A billion seconds ago it was 1959.

B.
A billion minutes ago Jesus was alive.

C.
A billion hours ago our ancestors were
Living in the Stone Age.

D.
A billion days ago no-one walked on the earth on two feet.

E.
A billion Pounds ago was only
13 hours and 12 minutes,
At the rate our government
Is spending it.

Building Permit Tax
Cigarette Tax
Corporate Income Tax
Income Tax
Vat Tax
Unemployment Tax
Fishing License Tax
Food License Tax
Fuel Permit Tax
Petrol/Diesel Tax
Hunting License Tax
Inheritance Tax
Inventory Tax
(tax on top of tax)
Liquor Tax
Luxury Tax
Marriage License Tax
Property Tax
Real Estate Tax
Service charge taxes
Social Security Tax
Road Usage Tax
Local Tax
Vehicle License Registration Tax
Vehicle Sales Tax
Workers Compensation Tax

STILL THINK THIS IS FUNNY?

Not one of these taxes existed 100 years ago…
And our nation was one of the most prosperous in the world.

 

[Mr. Charts]

At least Joe Ross is true to his principles. He posts once and if it doesn't go right, he just walks away
Richard

 

[robster970]

I think the one thing that made all the difference to me, can be found in the old greek proverb:

"Know thyself"

 

[blancspa]

who bought yen?

 

[robster970]

do you mean yen and the art of motorcycle maintenance?

[leaves room after sh1t gag]

 

[Trader333]

If you can do it then all that is needed is the ability to bring oneself into the present moment. When this is achieved two things happen, the first is that you will not be making any references to the past and the second is that you will not be projecting into the future.

As such you are able to deal with what is happening in the "Now" without emotion and without the mind babbling with what has previously happened or could possibly happen. It is not easy to do this because the mind works largely by reference to the past or by projection into the future and will resist attempts at its dominance to constantly be doing this.


Paul

 

[Jack o'Clubs]

Your point is also simple - "I'm bloody great, I am, me".

How are we supposed to move forward and help those that need to let go of the reigns somewhat ?

Of course, that might just be an ingredient for success. Self-doubters need not apply. Walk into a City trading room and see how many unassuming, modest, self-analytical, shrinking violets you find. I think it rather helps to sit at your desk, turn on the screen and think confidently 'I'm bloody great, I am, me'.

 

[Black Swan]

Interesting posts.

This is a phsychology thread. Fact is, the first reply on it was a big self back-pat from yourself.

For the moment - let's put aside the fact that you may or may not be profitable right now. What is it that made yourself need to post such a reply on a thread that is specifically aimed at people who may be losing money because of the fact they think they NEED to make money?

My point is simple - cast aside those things that are pressuring you and you may be able to think more clearly.

Your point is also simple - "I'm bloody great, I am, me".

How are we supposed to move forward and help those that need to let go of the reigns somewhat ?

Was it a psyche post? Sorry, I must have missed that bit...Joe Ross does them much better . Didn't think my reply was *larging* it; I don't have a big mortgage, we don't drive flash cars 'on tick', I dont envisage retiring, my family is my motivation, I don't fear the market (anymore) - it exists for me to take out of it (at will) if my head is in the game, and I have adapted to my new career by embracing it as a lifestyle choice...
Not fooking rocket science eh?

 

[Black Swan]

Of course, that might just be an ingredient for success. Self-doubters need not apply. Walk into a City trading room and see how many unassuming, modest, self-analytical, shrinking violets you find. I think it rather helps to sit at your desk, turn on the screen and think confidently 'I'm bloody great, I am, me'.

I read a few paragraphs on the (new) white Pele, Rooney the other day. What separates him from his peer group is his utterly fearless winners mentality, been like that since he could walk/talk/kick a ball/throw a punch. FA cup losers medal? He doesn't give a 5hit about it, or being voted man of the match in the final they lost...he'd play his game for nothing, just to be a winner, just to taste the glory...
D'ya know the day/s I made my big breakthroughs (mentally) with trading? Getting fooking 'stuck into it' and making it happen, casting aside all doubts over; me, my 'system' and the platform and bossing it...
Theres not half some right pussies on here, I'm off for a run...