Traders are a skittish bunch. We can make the same trade a hundred times, but the one time a left-field event occurs, it can spook us forever. The other night, I let the dog outside before bedtime. He’s a seven-year-old Boston Terrier, so I’ve done that literally a couple thousand times. This time, however, he returned to the porch with … Read More
Bears Don’t Exist, Think Like a Bull
This is a guest post from Fred Barnes aka @DCDaytrader: I recently had a conversation with a few somewhat novice traders. For us traders who don’t have the 2007-2008 market experience on our resumes, we’re looking at the recent market activity in awe. Watching the quote screen (of the $ES_F) in August (2011) required the skills of a speed reader. … Read More
A Case of Bias Conflictus on SOA
This is a guest post from a young trader, CP Bias conflictus is a condition that can interfere with proper reads on stocks in a tape reading environment. This bias, for whatever reason, holds sway over the the obvious information on the tape. Seems a case of the ‘irresistible pull of irrational behavior’ (check out the book ‘Sway’ by Brafman). … Read More
Inside the prop desk: Recovering from a big rip
Guest Blog by D. Brown Fast forward to the end of May, 2011. The summer is quickly approaching, the weather is beautiful in NYC, my graduation is finally here, and my life as a trader is just beginning. I’ve been trading w/ SMB for a month now, and I’m up roughly 5k in the first 18 days. Awesome! Or so … Read More
Why Do You Trade? And Why This Matters So Much for Your Performance!
Michael Martin from @martinkronicle contends in this interesting piece that Tiger Woods has not regained his golf dominance because he has lost his real reason to play golf. I forwarded this article to an elite performance coach Dr. Jonathan F. Katz of High Performance Associates and asked for his feedback and how this relates to us as traders……… My reaction to this piece…is … Read More
What do you need to fix first about yourself before you can become a better trader?
I was at dinner last night with a highly successful manager. She had just landed the top account at her multi-billiondollar financial firm. Over fettuccine noodles and chicken Pad Thai she continued that the firm contemporaneously placed her into a special training program for their star performers. Her boss warned that the program would be difficult, expose her weaknesses and uncover uncomfortable things about … Read More
The Trading of Past Trading
Dr. Andrew Menaker, noted trading psychologist, and I spoke briefly on the phone today about a lecture he will give to SMB. He asked for topics. I gave one and then another which I am pretty sure gets undercovered. We talk and write often about trading on tilt. That state of mind where your judgement is impaired, literally, and you … Read More
Trade the Trade
A trader sent me this review of his work of yesterday: I made ~$250-300 right on the open which I was fairly happy with considering the stock I was trading didn’t move exactly how I wanted it to. I was trading actively, controlling my risk and in the trades I needed to be in. Most importantly, I was involved. None … Read More