First Of All, Know Thyself

One of the most important elements of success in trading (and life in general) is knowing yourself. If you do not understand how you tick, you will never be truly prepared for the demands of trading, and likely your performance will suffer as a result.

Let me use myself as an example.

I am what might be considered project oriented. By that I mean I like to move from one thing to the next – always have something upon which to focus my attention. As my friends and colleagues can attest, once I complete a project - and sometimes even before I do - my thoughts shift to the next one. I actually get antsy if I have nothing lined-up. Predictably, this is reflected in my trading.

We can actually think of trading as a series of projects. Each position one takes on is a new project which incorporates analysis of some sort (automated or otherwise) and trade decision-making. When a position is closed out, it is like wrapping up a project. It’s over and done - time to move on to the next thing.

There’s a little problem with that, though. This kind of “project” approach, in the case of someone like me, can lead to overtrading. This isn’t the kind of overtrading which is referred to when one speaks of taking on positions which are too large, though. Rather, I am speaking of trading too frequently. In my case, when I close a trade I find myself immediately eager to open a new one. It doesn’t matter whether I made or lost money on that first trade. Because of my “need” to have a project going, my psychological pull is toward finding a new trade to make. (Note: I do not consider this in my case to be like the “fix” trading provides as an intermittent feedback mechanism, like gambling.)

This little personality trait of mine is something I figured out a while back when I realized that I am most comfortable when I have an active position in the market.. It doesn’t matter how large or small that trade is as long as I can check on it periodically and feel like I’m involved. Knowing this, I take two approaches to avoid the overtrading problem.

The first thing I do is trade longer-term. By doing so, I give myself the opportunity to take on long “projects”. I often have trades with durations of weeks or even months. These aren’t all my trades, mind you. I do trade short-term at times, but my schedule is such that longer-term position trading tends to fit best most of the year.

When trading shorter-term, I use a second approach to combat the “project” itch. Specifically, I try to step away from the market for a while following the completion of a trade. It lets me clear out the emotional residue of finishing a project and come back at it fresh. That can quite often make the difference between taking impulsive trades and being properly selective based on my analytic methods.

Of course, this is just one example of the sort of psychological hurdles which come up in trading. We all have patterns of behavior which are based in our personal lives that can quite easily carry in to trading, positively or negatively. Brett Steenbarger’s outstanding book The Psychology of Trading provides an excellent discussion of how this can happen, and ways we can overcome the problematic ones. The primary point is that we need to be able to look at ourselves like an outside observer. In that way we can get to know ourselves, and that’s at least half the battle.

Los 7 Mejores Musicales

Aquí te presento una lista de las películas mas destacadas en la sección de musicales para que disfrutes y entretengas. La novicia rebelde (The Sound of Music): La clásica historia de la familia Van Trapp en Austria y la niñera, protagonizada por Julie Andrews en 1965, todavía sigue siendo entretenida ya tractiva para la educación de los niños. La trama, la música, las visuales y el mensaje son parte de la niñez de muchos de mi generación. Chicago: Del musical teatral protagonizado en cine por Renée Zellweger, Catherine Zeta-Jones y Richard Gere es otro de los recomendados. Su más reciente estreno en los 2000 es de una excelente actuación, baile y sonido que ha ganado un premio tras otro. Vale la pena! Mouline Rouge: Protagonizada por Nicole Kidman y Ewan McGregor , dirigida por Baz Luhrmann este increíble musical fue uno de los mas impactantes que vi. En 2001 Moulin Rouge logro traer a la pantalla grande, de la llegada de un humilde escritor ingles en 1900 a Paris, y su encuentro con una bailarina en Mouline Rouge. Grease: Grease es un musical para adolescentes, de 1978 que todavía vale la pena mirar. John Travolta comienza su carrera de galán en la pantalla grande, junto con Olivia newton John hacen un dúo inolvidable. Sus canciones siguen siendo un éxito hoy en día, reproducidas en transe y house music. Mary Poppins: Julie Andrews en 1964 de nuevo hace una brillante actuación junto con Dick Van Dyke convierten este musical en un mágico de Disney inolvidable para niños! Ese clásico nunca pasara de moda. El Mago de Oz: Judy Garland en 1939, junto con sus tres amigos (el hombre de lata sin corazón, el espantapájaros sin cerebro y el León sin coraje) siguen el inolvidable camino amarillo para llegar al Mago de Oz. Excelente. La Bella y La Bestia: Un dibujo animado de Disney para adultos y niños que fue capaz de ganar los corazones de millones de personas en 1991. Un gran mensaje para no guiarse por las apariencias, lleno de magia y entretenimiento. Increíble sonido! Aquí termino mi lista, espero que la hayan disfrutado y que ahora puedan con seguridad elegir su próximo musical!