INTELLIGENCE AND TRADING

There is no correlation between intelligence and trading. 

Many people assume that those who regularly make money in stock markets must be very clever. Or that you must be blessed with some intelligence to "make it big" in the markets.

This is a very wrong assumption as there is no correlation between intelligence and trading.

If clever or intelligent traders were good traders, then all your classmates from school or college who were toppers or other clever people (like doctors, engineers etc) you meet in life would be excellent traders. That is certainly not the case.

On the other hand, a lot of ordinary people have earned excellent returns by simply buying a stock and not doing anything for years or decades (Warren Buffet). While people with far shorter timeframes and wanting to "do something everyday" have lost a lot several times over.

In both cases, the returns or losses have nothing to do with the intelligence or lack of it. It is more a case of "cut your losses fast and let profits runs". In case of long term investors, provided you have invested in a good stock (no intelligence required -common sense is enough) and have held on to something for years (not difficult), prices invariably catch up and you will be in profit. For traders, it becomes "follow the trend", respect stoplosses and hold winners. Again no intelligence required.

Another example is of star traders in brokerage houses or in hedge funds. They all go through their ups and downs. When they are at the peaks, they are the toast of the media and articles are written about how they succeeded. It is when they go through severe drawdowns you realize that their previous winning streaks were just random events and they were at the right place and the right time and they traded in the direction of the trend. We tend to call this intelligence but if they were really clever, they should not have been affected by trend reversals but they too lose fortunes or fail to capitalise on the reverse trend.

Let's put this the other way round. If I buy a stock and then the stock gives a 200% or 300% return in 6 months, does it mean that I am a genius? Obviously not. And if the stock loses 50% in 6 months, does it mean I am a fool? No again. These are random events!

I am fool IF I cannot exit a loss making position OR I cannot ride a profit making trade as long as possible. And yes, I have been foolish several times in my life though less often now than before. So sharing this experience becomes important so that others can benefit from this.

Now it has taken me years to understand this which now obviously looks very obvious. But for most people, it is not easy taking a loss and there is a strong tendency to "book profits" whenever this happens. This approach will never help you earn big money. Your broker will always earn.

A TRADER

A trader is usually an “opportunistic ” person who believes in inefficient market theories. He believes that markets are driven by human emotions like greed/fear and due to demand / Supply. No stock is fairly priced at any point of time. He tries to take advantage of these mispricing and profit's from the excessive “greed” and “fear”.


A trader always uses “probability”. He never uses words like “should” or “will”. He know's that no one can predict the markets and he never even tries. Like the markets “will” do this or the markets “should” do that. It is always, something “may” happen or “may not”. He is always optimistic that a trade might work out but turns into a “realist” when it doesn’t. He changes his opinion as many times as the market changes its direction. That’s how he always manages his risk and believes in cutting his losses. Traders take ‘directional” bets and also use some “leverage” to enhance their returns. Traders also use “market timing” techniques to get an edge in the market. A trader can choose to trade a “single market” or “multiple markets” like stocks, commodities, currencies, etc. Trading multiple markets helps him reduces his risk.


Usually when we hear the word “trader” we start thinking of “short term traders or intra day traders” who buy and sell 50 times in a day.Contrary, Swing trading last for 5-7 days, Position trading last for a month and long term trading often last for 3- 12 months. So difference between a “trader’ and an “investor” is not the time frame but rather the difference in their thinking, approach and attitudes.

A BRILLIANT INTERVIEW

Don't miss last 2 Questions...

 
Some, rather most organizations reject his CV today because he has changed jobs frequently (10 in 14 years). My friend, the ˜job hopper™ (referred here as Mr. JH), does not mind it. well he does not need to mind it at all. Having worked full-time with 10 employer companies in just 14 years gives Mr. JH the relaxing edge that most of the ˜company loyal™ employees are struggling for today. Today, Mr. JH too is laid off like some other 14-15 year experienced guys “ the difference being the latter have just worked in 2-3 organizations in the same number of years. Here are the excerpts of an interview with Mr. JH:

 
Q: Why have you changed 10 jobs in 14 years? 

A: To get financially sound and stable before getting laid off the second time.

 
Q: So you knew you would be laid off in the year 2009? 

A: Well I was laid off first in the year 2002 due to the first global economic slowdown. I had not got a full-time job before January 2003 when the economy started looking up; so I had struggled for almost a year without job and with compromises.

 
Q: Which number of job was that? 

A: That was my third job.

 
Q: So from Jan 2003 to Jan 2009, in 6 years, you have changed 8 jobs to make the count as 10 jobs in 14 years? 

A: I had no other option. In my first 8 years of professional life, I had worked only for 2 organizations thinking that jobs are deserved after lot of hard work and one should stay with an employer company to justify the saying ˜employer loyalty™. But I was an idiot.

 
Q: Why do you say so? 

A: My salary in the first 8 years went up only marginally. I could not save enough and also, I had thought that I had a ˜permanent™ job, so I need not worry about ˜what will I do if I lose my job™. I could never imagine losing a job because of economic slowdown and not because of my performance. That was January 2002.

 
Q: Can you brief on what happened between January 2003 and 2009. 

A: Well, I had learnt my lessons of being ˜company loyal™ and not ˜money earning and saving loyal™. But then you can save enough only when you earn enough. So I shifted my loyalty towards money making and saving “ I changed 8 jobs in 6 years assuring all my interviewers about my stability.

 
Q: So you lied to your interviewers; you had already planned to change the job for which you were being interviewed on a particular day? 

A: Yes, you can change jobs only when the market is up and companies are hiring. You tell me “ can I get a job now because of the slowdown? No. So one should change jobs for higher salaries only when the market is up because that is the only time when companies hire and can afford the expected salaries.

 
Q: What have you gained by doing such things? 

A: That's the question I was waiting for. In Jan 2003, I had a fixed salary (without variables) of say Rs. X p.a. In January 2009, my salary was 8X. So assuming my salary was Rs.3 lakh p.a. in Jan 2003, my last drawn salary in Jan 2009 was Rs.24 lakh p.a. (without variable). I never bothered about variable as I had no intention to stay for 1 year and go through the appraisal process to wait for the company to give me a hike.

 
Q: So you decided on your own hike? 

A: Yes, in 2003, I could see the slowdown coming again in future like it had happened in 2001-02. Though I was not sure by when the next slowdown would come, I was pretty sure I wanted a ˜debt-free™ life before being laid off again. So I planned my hike targets on a yearly basis without waiting for the year to complete.

 
Q: So are you debt-free now? 

A: Yes, I earned so much by virtue of job changes for money and spent so little that today I have a loan free 2 BR flat (1200 sq.. feet) plus a loan free big car without bothering about any EMIs. I am laid off too but I do not complain at all. If I have laid off companies for money, it is OK if a company lays me off because of lack of money.

 
Q: Who is complaining? 

A: All those guys who are not getting a job to pay their EMIs off are complaining. They had made fun of me saying I am a job hopper and do not have any company loyalty. Now I ask them what they gained by their company loyalty; they too are laid off like me and pass comments to me “ why will you bother about us, you are already debt-free. They were still in the bracket of 12-14 lakh p.a. when they were laid off.

 
Q: What is your advice to professionals? 

A: Like Narayan Murthy had said “ love your job and not your company because you never know when your company will stop loving you. In the same lines, love yourself and your family needs more than the company's needs. Companies can keep coming and going; family will always remain the same. Make money for yourself first and simultaneously make money for the company, not the other way around.

 
Q: What is your biggest pain point with companies? 

A: When a company does well, its CEO will address the entire company saying, ˜well done guys, it is YOUR company, keep up the hard work, I am with you. But when the slowdown happens and the company does not do so well, the same CEO will say, œIt is MY company and to save the company, I have to take tough decisions including asking people to go. So think about your financial stability first; when you get laid off, your kids will complain to you and not your boss.

7 PSYCHOLOGICAL HABITS

1. Overconfidence and optimism

Most of us are way too confident about our ability to foresee the future, and overwhelmingly too optimistic in our forecasts.

This finding holds across all disciplines, for both professionals and non-professionals, with the exceptions of weather forecasters and horse handicappers.

Lesson: Learn not to trust your gut.

2. Hindsight

We consistently exaggerate our prior beliefs about events.

Market forecasters spend a lot of time telling us why the market behaved the way it did. They’re great at telling us we need an umbrella after it starts raining as well, but it doesn’t improve our returns. We’re all useless at remembering what we used to believe.

Lesson: Keep a diary, revisit your thinking constantly.

3. Loss aversion

We hurt more when we sell at a loss than we feel happy when we sell for the same profit. But stocks don’t have memories – decisions on whether to buy or sell should always be independent of your buying price.

Lesson: Ignore buying prices when deciding whether to sell.

4. Regret

Investment decisions should overwhelmingly be about risk, and risk implies a judgement, which may turn out to be wrong, often through bad luck rather than bad thinking.

Becoming overly focused on past decisions that have gone wrong without analysing whether the decision made was rational under the circumstances isn’t rational. Investing involves making mistakes and is often down to luck.

Lesson: Learn to live with mistakes.

5. Anchoring

Ten years or so of research have shown we have a nasty tendency to ‘anchor’ on specific numbers. Psychologists can change the results of simple estimation questions (for example, how old do you think Woody Allen is?) simply by posing an earlier unrelated question containing a number.

Lesson: Don’t get fixated on specific numbers, such as buy prices, stop loss prices or index values.

6. Recency Bias

We pay more attention to short-term events than the longer-term. So the effect of a short-term downturn in a company’s fortunes may be exaggerated, or we may simply assume that current market conditions will persist forever.

Lesson: Buy some history books, and look beyond the short term.

7. Confirmation Bias

We just love other people to confirm our decisions. And other people just love us confirming their opinions. In fact we could just get together and have a regular love-in but it doesn’t make for good investing. The only money you lose is your own.

Lesson: Make your own decisions; don’t worry about what others think


SOURCES : ASR

Your Life Will Be Much Better If You Can Do These 10 Things

Life is all about learning. The ups and downs. The triumphs and falls. For those at the bottom looking up to the people at the top of the success ladder, it seems as if they got there so effortlessly. So what is their one ingredient to success? What has been their one magic ingredient pushing them forward?

It isn’t just one thing that pushes someone to success, but a series of attitudes and habits that they adopt over the years, developing habits that can help push them further, in order to achieve more. What I have learnt personally and observed from others over the years, is that when you feel like quitting, taking a break or simply not sure of how to reach your goal, it is important to know how to spur yourself back on.

The art in reaching your goals and pushing yourself forward is to not quit. By not quitting you are still outdoing those with their butts on the sofa making excuses. So even if you think you are making little to no progress, you are! Sure, sometimes it is tough, tiring or tedious but if it is worth having, you can push yourself on.

We all lose our way sometimes, taking our eyes off the bigger picture or our main goal. We’re human, after all! But the problem isn’t when you fall or stumble, the problem occurs when you don’t get back on the horse and carry on! Reminding yourself and pushing yourself on (even when you’re fed up, tired or ready to quit) is what separates the winners from the losers.

So whether your goal is to run a marathon, start your new business or grab that promotion, here are 10 easily digestible things you can do to keep on going toward success.

1. Know that you CAN cope

Whenever you reach a hurdle or a setback, just knowing that you can cope with whatever comes your way (even unexpectedly), will help spur you on. If you’re facing a challenging time, and adopt the attitude that you can’t overcome it, then you’re going to struggle to push yourself on. Knowing that you can cope with anything that life throws at you will help you take one step in front of the other, helping to push yourself on toward achieving.

2. Don’t let perfect be the enemy of good

This is something my first boss taught me four years ago and I have never forgotten it.  “Don’t let perfect be the enemy of good,” she used to tell me all the time. In my desperation to be perfect at work and not make mistakes (I wanted to make a good impression), I was putting undue stress on myself. Of course it is good to keep pushing and developing yourself, but don’t aim for perfection because it simply isn’t achievable. Aim to improve yourself, one small step at a time, but focus on the journey and don’t let perfection be the destination.

3. Know that one bad day is not the end of the world

When you are on the path to reaching your goals, think of the end goal as if you will have won the war. Along the way there will be a series of battles that you have to win, but you won’t be able to win them all. But that doesn’t matter, because you don’t have to win all the battles to win the main war, just the majority. If you are having a bad day, week, month or even year, try to see the bigger picture in terms of your end goal. Chances are that in the grand scheme of things, it won’t matter. If you can remind yourself that one bad day isn’t the end of the world, you’ll be able to push yourself on so much further.

4. Ask questions

In my experience, most people don’t ask enough questions – either they are too scared or embarrassed or they just cat be bothered. I don’t know why, but we seem to live in a culture where asking questions implies that you aren’t clever. The beauty of asking questions however, is that you can find out more and learn from others by doing so. By picking the brains of experts, you can absorb their knowledge without having made the mistakes and experiences they did. Ask questions to the right people and you can help to reach your goals.

5. See challenges, not problems

When pushing further, one thing that really helps is if you can adopt an attitude where you don’t see problems but see challenges, solutions and experiences. At the end of the day, life is one big learning curve. Of course life is going to throw hurdles at you, and there will be times that you’ll struggle and have to overcome problems, but so long as you’re still standing and come out the other side, you’ve pushed yourself further. A positive can-do attitude won’t magically make difficulties disappears but they will help you overcome them, making way for a happier and more successful time.

6. Feel the emotions

Life is full of ups and downs and if it wasn’t, it would probably be pretty boring! When reaching your goals and pushing yourself further, it helps if you can be open to the emotions that come with it. There will be times of joy and for celebration, and there will also be times when all you want to do is curl up and not leave the house. But it is O.K. to cry! Don’t fight the emotions, but instead ride them through. You’ll come out stronger on the other side.

7. Don’t compare yourself to others

Unless you’re someone like Beyonce or Jay Z, Victoria Beckham or Bill Gates (with his $79 billion wealth), then there is always going to be someone who is more successful, prettier, skinnier, has a better job, earns more money, has more friends or has a more luxurious lifestyle than you. Don’t compare yourself with others. You should be pushing yourself on because you want to and not because you feel you have to in order to “keep up with the Joneses”.  Besides, the person with the five bedroom house and two sports cars sitting in the drive might not even be that happy! You are your own benchmark.

8. Eat healthy and exercise

You cannot expect to climb mountains and achieve great things if your body and mind aren’t running at full capacity. Your body needs to be correctly fueled, maintained and trained if you are expecting to achieve. The only way to ensure all cylinders are firing efficiently is to be healthy, in both mind and body. Eating healthily and exercising are key to this. A simple formula, but it works and anyone can adopt this habit. Of course you don’t have to go overboard – no one likes the obsessive person who is down at the gym every spare hour, nor would life be fun without the odd chocolate cake – but make sure you’re taking the right steps to be ensure a good well-being.

9. Know that you control your life

The beauty in life is that you are in the driver’s seat. It is up to you how you steer your life and what the end destination is. If you can drive yourself in the right direction, you’ll be giving yourself the power to go where you want to. Knowing this and doing this will help spur you on, especially on those days when you don’t feel like it. Of course, we can’t predict or stop external circumstances, but you can do your best to swerve to avoid them or drive right over them.

10. Know that success isn’t linear

Over the years the one thing that has really struck me and helped me spur myself on is knowing that success isn’t a linear straight line shooting up. It’s sometimes one step forward, two steps back, followed by a going-round-in-circles until you are dizzy! By accepting this you will feel more empowered than ever. Knowing what success really looks like reminds us on those ‘bad’ days that it is O.K., and progress is still being made.

Finally, the most important thing you can do in life on your road to success is to have fun!
Whatever you do, put some love and life into it. That way, when there are tough days, at least you can do it all with bit of a smile!

9 STEPS TO STOP DREAMING AND START DOING

Having a dream and being a dreamer are two different mindsets. Dreamers are drifters just floating through life with no real plans. One who has a dream, is a doer on the path towards achieving their goal.

Once you decide to remove your head from the clouds, tackle the obstacles that face you, and organize a plan of attack, you become a doer. If you are ready to put in the work, here are 9 steps to stop dreaming and start doing.

1. Accept responsibility for your own actions

“Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can.” -Arthur Ashe

It is the most unattractive thing to hear someone constantly wine and complain about their life. Especially when they blame the world for their problems. The whole universe is probably against you, does not care about you, and will deceive you. This does not make any actions, or lack there of, on your behalf their fault. Say this statement out loud, “I am in control of my behavior and choose how to react to circumstances.” Say it everyday. Nothing is more true than that statement.

You can, and need, to start actively controlling your thoughts and emotions. Learn to control your rage when you are angry. When a negative thought slips in, push it right back out. This takes practice because we have been programmed by our environment to behave and think in certain ways. Fight to change your negativity, or you will remain a bitter and miserable person. Use your aggression in a positive way by working out, or put it into your work.

2. Give and receive love and forgiveness

“Learn how to fill your day with POSITIVITY. Think of how your ideas CAN work, not how it won’t work.” -Steve Harvey

Once you harness your inner power of controlling your thoughts and emotions, it is time to start focusing on positivity. The best way to start is by accepting others and forgiving the people who have caused you pain. Giving love and forgiveness really isn’t about giving at all. It is about you healing by letting go of negative relationships. If these people really love and care about you, they will fight for you. If you walk away and never hear from them again, you know they never cared, so why should you? Your grudges make you focus on people who do not deserve your time or attention. Anger leaves you feeling irrational, depressed, deceived, sad, regretful, and lonely. Learning to truly forgive those who hurt you will lift a thousand pounds of burden off your shoulders. You will free your mind and be able to start working on your dream.

3. Accept yourself

“No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.” -Eleanor Roosevelt

Now that you are focusing on living a positive life, it is time to look in the mirror and love what you see. Physically and mentally. No one is perfect. It is time to accept that you will never be what society expects you to be. Follow your intuitions. Do not let someone else dictate your life. That only leads to a boring, predictable, miserable, and mediocre life. Do what makes you happy instead of just dreaming about it. Love yourself flaws and all.

4. Choose who you surround yourself with wisely

“We met for a reason, either you’re a blessing or a lesson.” 

This journey will end many relationships in your life. The people who are not supportive, who are negative, and who use you, need to go! At first you may feel lonely and insecure. If you focus on you instead of them, these feelings will go away. It is time to move on. It is time to let go. The ones who truly care about you, respect you, and accept you for who you really are will stay. They will support you throughout your journey. These relationships will become more valuable to you than ever before. If you have given your all to a relationship, and they do not give back, stop chasing after them the next time they leave. You will thank yourself in the long run.

5. Learn to ignore the negativity from others

“I don’t know what the key to success is, but the key to failure is trying to please everyone.” -Bill Cosby

Now that you are starting on your journey, you will have people who will try their best to pull you down. That’s why the steps above are necessary to complete before starting. If you have prepared yourself for the haters, you will be able to rise above. It is easier to criticize others than work on yourself. Knowing this gives you peace about where you are in life and where they are. You are obviously ahead, even if it doesn’t look like it to others. Keep moving on and let them talk.

6. Carefully layout your plans

“Failure is not the opposite of success, inaction is.” -Rois Liano

Freeing your mind from your emotional baggage gives you room to focus on your dreams. Now that you have a clear picture, it is time to take action. To be a doer, you need a game plan. Write your end goal at the top of a sheet of paper. Below, write out the steps you plan to take to get there in an organized, realistic fashion. Say your goal is to become a nurse.  Your first step should probably be volunteering at your local hospital to see if you would really enjoy it. Next maybe list the schools you are interested in applying to. The third step could be to gather your necessary paperwork to apply to colleges. See what I am doing here? The sum of all the little tasks you do equals your goal. Lay it out in daily, weekly, monthly tasks that will get you closer to your dream.

7. Do SOMETHING, ANYTHING

“Success usually comes to those who are too busy to be looking for it.” -Henry David Thoreau

Many people will get to step 6 and stop. Your plan does not come to fruition magically. You have to now take action to get yourself there. So start researching, traveling, volunteering, writing, calling, interviewing, working out, or whatever opportunity you can find to get you moving forward. You may have to take on many different hats to get you there. Start where you can, do whatever you can, this is where the physical work begins.

8. Embrace failures and detours along the way

“I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” -Thomas Edison

We all have epic failures in life. It is time to stop viewing these failures as an end all. Failure is an inevitable part of success. Ask any highly successful person if they’ve ever failed, and they will tell you they have 100 times. Failure only means to try a different way. Start viewing failures as a positive experience. How can we learn without failing? Failures result from trying. People who avoid failures at all costs are content with a mediocre life. We are not these people. We want true happiness and inner peace. I remember going to work in a past career and absolutely dreading it. I now think about work and feel peaceful and happy. It’s still hard work, it’s just work that I am passionate about.

As you begin the journey of pursuing your dream, it may change a little, or a lot, along the way. Your passion is already programmed inside you. Uncover your God-given gift through this process and keep moving forward no matter what may come.

9. Network and use resources to your advantage

“Opportunities don’t happen. You create them.” -Chris Grosser

You will realize, eventually, that you need others to help you get to your goal. Whether it is in absorbing information and experience from them, or getting recognized for your talent. Look online for good informative websites, look for classes or lectures where you can learn and connect with others. Drop the pride and shamelessly promote yourself with your work and/or knowledge. Whatever you can find, whoever will help, take it seriously. Opening one door can lead to many more opportunities.

Start at step one. Do not pass go and do not collect $200. If you commit to these 9 steps to stop dreaming and start doing, you are facing your fears head on and taking a leap of faith. Congratulations, your life will now truly begin. Please note this will be hard and sometimes not fun. Stay focused, but don’t forget to take time to clear your mind and relax along the way. I hope you now feel inspired to step out of your comfort zone, and risk being happy.

“Dreams are like floating down a lazy river. The path to success is like riding a roller coaster. Find the courage to get on the roller coaster, and stay on the ride until you puke.” -Margaux Daughtry

HINDI MOVIES FROM 1940 TO 2014

http://bharatmovies.com/hindi/movies/list.htm

HOW TO THINK LIKE A WINNING DAY TRADER

What makes the best traders successful?  

Are they "lucky"?  Have they discovered some "secret" indicator?  

No.  

They've learned the truth about trading.  Trading success is a simple as 1-2-3.  

Step 1 - Understand what trading is really about;
Step 2- Learn what a winning day trader does;
Step 3 - Then do it.  Continually.

1. The Essence Of Successful Trading

Trading is all about percentages.  

You enter a trade because you believe that it's more likely to succeed than fail.  

The job of finding favourable trades goes to your trading system.  There are numerous books and courses about trading systems.   The actual trading system you use is beyond the scope of this article, but please, please, understand this:

If you're searching for the perfect trading system - you know, the one that delivers profits on demand - you'll be searching until the end of time.

Successful trading is simply a game of probabilities.  Does that disappoint you?  Were you hoping for something a little more intellectual?  Do you know how many academics - doctors and lawyers particularly - lose fortunes in the market each year?

The positive bias comes from your trading system.  Our advice is keep it simple.  Find a system you're comfortable with.  Know the setups.  Understand why and when you enter and exit.  Then stick to it.

Sure, some trading systems offer a higher profitability than others.  But don't get hung up on it.  Just don't get too caught up on it.  The real determining factor is your ability to follow it.

2.  What Makes A Successful Day Trader

A successful day trader is someone who follows a trading plan.

Your trading plan tells you when to enter a trade, and when to exit.  An entry point.  An exit point - either a target or just to get stopped out.  Parabolic SAR, lower bollinger, natural support and resistance, volatility stop.  Whatever.

Any trader must understand the timeless law of probability.  That with a positive bias and a sensible approach to money-management (cutting your losses and letting your profits run), eventually you'll come out ahead.  

What makes day trading so challenging is the speed.  You simply execute trades faster, and compound your profits faster - which is why we do it.

That's why a day trader is NOT a stressed-out, valium-swallowing, adrenaline junkie who lives from one minute to the next.  

A good (i.e. profitable) day trader knows that it's just another trade.  It's all just statistics in action.

The important point here is consistency.  Like the heads / tails example, the one time you don't take a trade is when the market takes off and never looks back.  

Day trading is boring.  Keep it that way.  

3.  How To Develop The Day Trading Mind

Every time you sit down at your trading screen, remind yourself that "trading is statistics in action".  

Nobody knows what the market is going to do next.  It's a law unto itself.  You follow what works "most of the time".  

When you understand that trading is about probabilities, that any trading system is designed to provide a positive bias over the long term, then all you have to do is execute the plan.  So what is it that prevents you from being successful?  

You.  

Or rather, the emotional you.  

You need to work on developing the mindset of a professional trader.  Try this routine for 30 days and see how you go:

BEFORE: (At the start of trading day)

Step 1 - close your eyes, and remind yourself of the truths of trading:  "Trading is all about probabilities".  Write this on a yellow Post-It note and stick it to your monitor.  Permanently.

Step 2 - Mentally see yourself following your trading plan.  Entering a trade on signal.  Exiting at the right time.  Trading the right size for your account.

Step 3 - Visualize each trade as a tiny part of a big picture. You might want to visualize it as a matrix, with 100 boxes.  Each trade is unimportant compared to the overall scheme.  Create your own image for this.  (Your own is best.)  Trading is a visual process.  The point is you need a visual metaphor to distance yourself from the immediacy of real-time trading.  Anything.  

DURING: (When in a trade)

Step 1 - Physically relax.  Remember the definition of emotion?  "A physical disturbance."  You need to reduce emotional power as much as possible.  Prevent it from creeping up on you, and doing something silly.  So you don't feed it.  Relax.

Be aware of your whole body.  Remember the last time you got stressed.  What did it feel like?  Tense shoulders?  Stomach muscles tightening?  Relax those areas now. Know thyself.

Note - none of this suggests that you should be slow about entering or executing trades. Quite the opposite!   In real-time trading you must be fast.  But you are operating from your rational, thinking mind... and not the panic-induced animal mind fighting for survival!

Step 2 - Breathe!  Some traders stop breathing completely in a trade!  Breathe in slowly for a count of four, hold it for four, and breathe out for four.  

Step 3 - Focus on yourself.  Following a trading plan is a "no brainer".  You enter.  You trail a stop.  You exit.  Self-talk helps stay in the state.  Remember that when you're watching the price in real-time, there's a tremendous danger of adding emotional fuel to a simple situation.  Watch how you're feeling.  Observe any tension and let it go.  

Step 4 - Watch your language!  Words affect us profoundly.  Ever had someone scream at you?  Stirred up lots of emotion, didn't it?  So don't scream at the market.  Speak calmly.

Commentate on what the market's doing.  Speak out loud.  "The current trade began at hh:mm, the system gave a buy signal at price level, the target is with a stop at.. Stop loss was moved to break even at as per the plan...  The market is currently in trading range between x and y..."

All this helps you to stay objective.  

Also, avoid "what if" thinking.  Creativity has no place in trading!  Be mechanical .  Be objective.  

Step 5 - Continually remind yourself of what successful trading is.  See the current trade as just another trade. on just another day.  Your job is to follow the system - professionally and without emotion.  With practice, you truly won't care whether the current trade turns a profit or a loss.  

AFTER:

Review.  How did you do?  Were you trading rationally, or emotionally?  How much?  This isn't black and white.  It's about balance.  Think of it as 2 bar charts.  The higher the rational level, and the lower the emotional level, the more successful you'll become.  

Master yourself.  And the money will follow.

BY : MARK MCRAE