motivation
Time – friend or foe?
Several times over the last year, I’ve had conversations with others about finding new or different ways of making money. Invariably the limitation of time availability comes up i.e. time to learn new skills, gain new knowledge etc. Some of those people were interested in learning about investing or tradingRead More
Is volatility your friend?
Every trader knows that volatility is the thing that is necessary in order for the price to have movement. But there are different kinds of price movements. Some instruments move in fairly neat directions up, then retrace and move up again. We all love these. There are some others thatRead More
No courses, no horses.
Over the last few months there has been much reflective practice. This is about looking back at what one has done in the past, learning and re-learning from mistakes, and understanding how novices to financial trading approach it. A mistake is usually, in simple language, recognising a genuine error thatRead More
Caught a big fish
The infographic below shows a big fish on the hook. Well, big fish are probably harder to reel in but they’ll supply more protein – innit?!! They’ll compensate for most of the losses on small fish thrown back or lost. Yes, my line may be snapped – no problem –Read More
Is common sense allowed in trading?
The answer to this question is ‘no’ – if you’ve been trained in some system of rules, which you’re meant to follow rigidly. The beauty of trend-following methods, is that it allows for a degree of common sense. Indicators are there to help paint a picture. Trend followers are notRead More
Managers of chaos
The following thoughts came to me in the middle of the night. The natural human tendency when we see a pattern is to predict/expect what may happen next. This is a powerful ‘unconscious’ urge. Markets are chaos. We may see patterns in the chaos. All chaotic systems form patterns. TheRead More
Separating missions, strategies, methods and goals.
In trading circles many new and seasoned traders use the words (or similar): strategy, method, targets, goals. But what do they actually mean? How do they all fit together? How are they organised? (see mindmap below). In this post I take the concepts apart and put them back into someRead More
Skill acquisition and training
It has been on my mind for some time, how new traders develop in their acquisition of skill. There are several different models out there on the net, not specific to traders but quite applicable. In the diagram below I present the Dreyfus Model of Skill Acquisition (adapted from Wikipedia)Read More
The so-called Fearless State
Mark Douglas is commonly credited for coining the term ‘the fearless state’ in his book Trading in the Zone. Lots of other people have probably talked about this state of mind. But what is it exactly? I explore but I disagree with some of what he has said – orRead More