These are some of the areas that I constantly practice. These are what make me what I am.
Not trying to be an egotist but I believe that in my realm of momentum trading, nobody in the world is better than I am. I believe in me. It puts me to bed at night, it wakes me up in the morning. This positive thinking prepares me and gives me confidence. Everyday is a new day. Every trade is a new trade and I am only as good as my last one. Forget about it, be it good or bad. I don't project forward fears or joys from the past, I'm not anxious about the future. The now moment is where I do my work. Here and now is the only thing that matters. I never give up. I adapt to changing conditions quickly. I've seen most everything but still have a burning desire to learn more.
During my visualizations, I see what the markets will do today although I don't know exactly when those moves will come. I practice in my minds eye exactly what my responses to those moves will be. Move, counter-move, check , check mate. I am prepared for what comes my way and have a clearly thought out plan ready to implement. I am not surprised at anything the market does because anything is possible. I don't limit myself.
I know my myself, system, edge and platform inside out. Long, short, pullbacks, pops, I know what to do. I am ceaseless in the application of my system. I know this is where success comes from. I have done the same things over and over again 1000's of times.
Human nature predicts probability. I study it. I apply it myself through my system.
I monitor myself and make adjustments in the areas of concentration and alertness. I admit when I need to take a step back and fall back to "the zone". I can put "the zone" on like an overcoat. Nothing but driven focused results follow.
All this I can do and you know what? Anybody who is reading this can do the same. There is nothing different about me physically than you. I choose to be this way and you can too. Hard work, realizations and application can bring you to your top level performance.
First you have to want to do this. With a burning desire you have to what to be the best. You have to want it more than anything you've ever wanted before.
Second you must be willing to pay the price to achieve it. Long hours, hard mental work. Learning about yourself and admitting it may be a real eye opener for some of you. The price you pay for anything great is high. When you don't think like most others you will have to enjoy that feeling that makes you different. Revel in it. Seek it out. You're an individual not a clone.
But also you have to remain humble and grounded. Your real goal here is freedom. Freedom to do what you want, when you want to do it, on your terms. Chew on that for a while. Dream about it. Think about what it would be like to be the successful you in the future. Place yourself there, now. What's stopping you? What obstacles need to be overcome? Develop a plan to put you on that track. Practice with unwavering commitment to move forward everyday. Grow with your little successes. Feed on them. All suffering is caused by desire or attachments. Pare these down and simplify everything in your life. Everything.
Be thankful for what you have and who you are. You can do this. There is not a single reason why you can't if you believe in yourself and choose commitment over slacking off . Erase the words,"I can't" from your vocabulary. Don't say it, don't think it. Replace them with I can, I will.
You have freewill. It's up to you to decide. What's it going to be? Leave me a comment about it...
21 comments:
What's it gonna be indeed...
This is where my focus lies now as I've travelled this long, winding road called trading. It almost all boils down to psyche.
Consistently breakeven after costs for a year is draining, but if I can do that after consistently losing for almost 2 years, I can make the next step.
What's holding me back?? The unknown...how can we "know" we have edge if time isn't constant? Edge is based on a finite number of past trades....how do you aggressively trade the infinite future?
Very interesting blog :)
Whoot! I'm in!
Well put, I am definitely in it for the long haul.
Thanks for the pep talk! When I travel for work, it seems so easy to give up trading and earn "a paycheck". Yet, I check your blog and say to myself, "look at the possibilities".
It is hard for me to come back and get in the swing of things knowing that most likely, I will continue unsuccessfully for a few more years. But, I need to change that frame of mind. I have to get the negative thoughts out of my head. Its not I "have" to but I "get" to trade. Switching get for have can really re-wire your brain for any subject matter.
I have created this ideal situation where I have the financial stability to trade without income for the next couple years. It has been my dream for 10 years to get to this point, and i cannot let it slip through my hands.
I read an inspiring article today about PGA tour player Matt Kuchar. On the second page of the article he says he was told about "a 10 year learning curve" to the tour. He didn't believe it 10 years ago, but now he does. It takes time to be great. If any one wants to read the article here is the link
http://www.boston.com/sports/golf/articles/2010/08/14/kuchar_emerges_from_fog/
I am glad to see everyone commenting here. I really enjoy seeing everyone's journey. Lets rock this market and live our dreams!
I'm still on-board, 17 months and counting...
Staying motivated is good, but no matter motivated you are, if you applied the wrong system, the result will be disaster.
I have been motivated for almost 3 years with the un-defined and un-solid system. If I still do it now, I still may get burned over and over again.
Have a solid, hystorically profit-proven,defined, and low risk system with undoubtful money and trading management plus flawless execution no matter the result is a sure lead to freedom and success.
How many traders have that things above? I bet less than 10%.
I still working for the best trading management setup in the world, at least for me.
Nice post BR, definitely essential mindset for succesful trader. For those of you who like me, struggling being a profitable trader... be careful not just blindly motivated and apply on the wrong system.
Saw this on Don Miller blog, interesting talk on human psychology when it comes to money.
http://www.ted.com/talks/laurie_santos.html
@ MM:
I may not have understood you correctly - but I would suggest that although we have an infinite number of scenarios ahead of us in the trading game, we have one reliable constant: human nature. People will respond much as they always have. And as Mark Douglas would say - every time we place a trade we are really only anticipating that a lot of other people are going to do the same thing. Collective fear and greed.
Not a stretch to say that Scott has shown that we can get better and better at anticipating and profiting from the collective/herd mentality. It's there, it's achievable; incredibly difficult and emotionally wracking as the self growth process is.
You can do this.
I am almost convinced I can =)
"All suffering is caused by desire or attachments. Pare these down and simplify everything in your life. Everything." This is very true. Some of the things that have been the best for my trading have come from outside of trading, usually in the form of grief or a large loss.
mm-Sounds like you are on the right track. if you can make a $100 you can make $1000, if you can make $1000 you can $10000.
Instead of focusing on the unknown and be fearful of it, switch your thinking around to think about the positive situations of your trading, the things you do correctly and the good results that follow, you can build on those.
For sure time isn't constant. It always moves into the future and herein lays a key to successful trading:when you can prepare beforehand your response to a given situation that is driven by probability, you are effectively jumping ahead in time because you know or have seen the probable outcome many times before. Your selection of responses to play it out to a profitable conclusion as you see it in your minds eye before it happens puts you in front of the crowd. You have seen by my charts that I do this many times a day.
ask yourself this: who are the traders who make dojis appear? For instance on an uptrend, what information are they trading on to be ahead of the curve and start selling in order to make the uptrend slow down, stop and change direction? What will it take to to become one of the "in crowd".
These traders are using time as their ally. Their edge honed by a finite # of trades predicts the infinite future because it is based on exploiting the mob mentality of which they are not affected by.
It has been said that there is nothing new in the markets and it is true. The same old story gets played out every day. Only the participants change.
@De'Trader:
Well said - confidence and application are all a bunch of malarkey if the 'edge' is based on an illusion. As has been said over and over on this blog - make sure you have and edge.
Took me awhile to come to grips.
Scott- Thanks for the detailed response :)
"when you can prepare beforehand your response to a given situation that is driven by probability, you are effectively jumping ahead in time because you know or have seen the probable outcome many times before. Your selection of responses to play it out to a profitable conclusion as you see it in your minds eye before it happens puts you in front of the crowd."
It took me a while (years) to point myself in this direction...still fall prey to the cognitive biases which drive the market, albeit less frequently.
" who are the traders who make dojis appear? For instance on an uptrend, what information are they trading on to be ahead of the curve and start selling in order to make the uptrend slow down, stop and change direction?"
I ask myself these type of questions, what is creating the price action at this particular moment. I can only fall back on cognitive biases for an answer, loss aversion along with raw fear and greed. Sometimes I'm even able to use how I feel/would have felt had I have been stuck in a certain position....
"These traders are using time as their ally. Their edge honed by a finite # of trades predicts the infinite future because it is based on exploiting the mob mentality of which they are not affected by."
....and which remains constant(< mob mentality). THIS is the part I struggle with because, correct me if I'm wrong, you're saying that the finite # of trades, over finite time by default, predicts the infinite future because human nature is constant.
But, in order to know that, time would have to be finished/constant.
I guess it's as extreme (but true) as the fact that every future possibility, no matter how probable, has a chance of happening somewhere between 0 and 1 where zero and one are certainties that it won't/will happen respectively....nothing lands on either number, not even the rising of the Sun!
I'll just have to use millions of years of human behaviour as my certainty.
Thanks again for the thought-provoking response.
DTF- Thanks for the vote of confidence :)
Scott,
From what I saw in 2008 you made enough to retire (unless there are losses you haven't talked about and/or you have a personal dollar # you want to hit)? Why do you wake up every day and still trade (assuming you don't have to)?
I think I burned out after the first year and a half of full time day trading. Before I day traded I thought the market was about value and buying into companies and ideas I believed in. Having my money work for me. I was always 100% invested. Then in late 2007 I started selling everything (30 stocks). Then I went to all cash and have been sitting on it day trading only since 2008 (basically break even in the last two years).
Now I feel that day trading is just a timing game. No right, no wrong. It's all about timing the ebbs and flows. I've become fed up being 6min early or 6 min late. Picking the right direction but the wrong size and at the wrong time. I've also caught major turning points in the market, but made little trading the right size at the right time, but using financial ETF's that pop/probe/pullback and burn all stops. It's been silly. So I stopped all together and have been mostly watching and waiting.
You were right about me in Oct 2008. I had the best day trading of my life because of the market, not because of the trader. Right place at the right time kind of thing. Since July of last year I've felt just the opposite. I started to feel it again in May this year and that quickly went away.
I think a few people could trade like you, but I don't think many can. You've trained yourself to see something using just 5 and 15min charts that I don't think you can teach through a blog. It'd be like trying to teach an instinct. I think the 10,000 hour mastery rule is just for starters in this game.
blue- well i don't consider this work at all for starters, this is sometimes pure enjoyment and I like to exercise my talents. My competitive fire still burns strongly, yet I am in competition only with myself. I do get a measure of satisfaction, especially from shorting, and seeing my system work against any stock anytime. I can end everyday as a champion when I apply myself to my system. I can get the 1st place trophy everyday.
Using your same argument Bill Gates etc. should have retired decades ago. But he/they hasn't because there is more to accomplish. You're looking from a point of view of money is the be all end of of this game and it isn't for me.
I am a trader. This is what I do. When it ceases to be fun or becomes work, I'll stop. Suddenly.I can see limited time left on blogging about it though.
I do have an idea to help poor and disadvantaged kids in other countries, building libraries, computer access, setting up education,medical centres or schools. That'd be a project with an enormous payoff.
For now I'll take everyday as it comes.....
I think about Tiger Woods in this regard too. After all this, other than trying to beat one more record, why lace up the shoes to go out and play?
I have definitely lost the passion and enthusiasm to trade every day. I'm starting to teach part time this year in my home town. Hopefully I find something rewarding there. I'll get my spirits up and then that can translate into other areas.
Blue, I hear were you are coming from. When you try so hard, day after day, and you just can't seem to get it right it becomes difficult. I am trying to work past that point right now.
Scott, I can see why you keep at it now. Thinking of Bill Gates, or Tiger Woods like Blue said. Its the challenge everyday to see if you can be the best. Kudos to you for helping out the less fortunate. Your blog is only one of two that I have ever seen the author talk about giving back. Not only talk, but actually do it as well.
I only have one request. If you cease to blog in the future, please don't lock it up again. I don't want to seem like a maniac trying to track you down, for the second time, lol! If you do want more privacy from the net, I believe there is a way to lock the blog and allow access to invited readers only. Hopefully, you will send out invitations to the group here.
Personally, I hope you never stop blogging. Is that being too selfish? Even if it's less entries per week or month, that is cool with me. I know I always look forward to seeing what you have been up to. For me, your entries are like the light at the end of the tunnel. A goal to shoot for.
Scott - you are going to give us a warning before you quit? I know all things must come to an end eventually and I won't begrudge any decision to stop posting; there is more than enough on your blogs to get us all where we need to be. However, maybe I can convince you to post every once awhile, just the occasional take the money and run trade, the ones that make me laugh out loud.
i'll leave the blogs up for reference material and if I have anything thought provoking I'll post it.
Joshua,
I've been laid off since May 2008 and I have had zero income for the last 3 months. If this market was hot and I was able to jump in on a stock that has a 5-10pt daily trading range, I might be trading. My account has 3.3yrs of savings left in it if I don't get sick, make any bad bets, have any accidents, etc. If it was a hot market I might risk it. I risked the money I used for a down payment on my house in 2007 for a 30day swing trade before escrow was due. How crazy is that!
I'm just not good enough to catch the one stock out of 20 that gets the CLEAN move on the day. I'm sick of the intraday shakeouts and shakedowns because this market has no direction. I'm not in a position to sacrifice anything right now. I've taken a few shots this year on some really good days and that's been it. I'm not complaining. I saw this coming and I knew I would be in this position and I've been patient and calm. It is what we make of it right.
I got used to some amazing action in 2007 and 2008. I felt like the idiot who paddles out to catch a really big wave. Any fool can jump in and ride it for a few seconds and live without being completely wiped out.
p.s. I didn't know Scott loves to short! Right on. Maybe if this market gets wiped out to DOW 600 there won't be anything to blog about.
You've given a great deal to the financial blogosphere here. You didn't have to do it and you certainly don't have to continue.
I, for one, really appreciate it. It has been the most influential part of my education to date. It has given me a goal and an idea of how to get there.
Thanks for everything thus far and anything you post in the future.
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