Beliefs That Sabotage Traders
- Thread starter Rande Howell
- Start date
This made me laugh. Really good observation. I don't trade a "system" but I always see these posts about "going to have to tweak my system" and I just smile. I know it's all about the trader themselves. You need to understand your mind much more then you need to understand what is happening in the market.
You see it time and time again...
- My system produced a sell signal... but I didn't take it
- I got out too early even though it did come and hit my target...
- I didn't take the size I should have
- I thought it would come back
etc etc
I ain't perfect but I know where my problems are and that's with my mind... nothing else...
In "Memnoch, The Devil", Anne Rice summarized Hell as the place where we learn to forgive ourselves, then Satan leads us thru the gates of Heaven to eternally live in paradise. While her theology is certainly different, it still leads to the conclusion that
the work is up to us.
Thank you Rande. Your efforts are very much appreciated.
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First being willing to commit the emtional labor necessary to produce long term change. Your biology, your brain, and most likely the current organization of your psychology will resist this direction. When you no longer buy into the self deception that the Holy Grail of trading is outside the self and decide to stop chasing deception, you can then take a courageous look at the self. Or the current organization of the meaning making apparatus called your brain.
Second, begin studying the self and how you became the person who reacts to your trading environment the way you do. It goes back to the orginal post.
Begin exploring and investing in the development of yourself. Come to grips with your cynicism and recognize you will have to learrn to discern between snake oil and genuine help.
Personally, I have sought out mentors to help me grow. The learning curve is not such a bear this way. Choose the mentor well. If the mentor points you in the direction of "knowing thyself well", you have found purchase. If the mentor simply teaches techniques to solve surface problems and not the core beliefs about the self that drive your trading, then you will learn some skills but not ones that help you to change the way you interpret the world.
Rande Howell
You are so cruel. Trying to make those of us who loathe ourselves and crawl on our bellies like snakes think we can't trade successfully. On behalf of loathesome traders everywhere, I remind you that The Amazing Rande DOESN'T TRADE. End of discussion.
I've picked three incredibly naive quotes to re-butt:
"This bias toward certainty closes down the kind of probability mindset that trading demands. What that looks like in trading is trying to predict what the market will do rather than take advantage of what the market is willing to give you."
Probability is not in play. Statistics are. And the statistics of trading are probabilistically conditional. The longer a trade lasts, the more certain the outcome becomes. I don't know the outcome of a trade at entry, but I do as it evolves.
"The market does not care if you are present in it. It has no negative or positive intention directed toward you."
OF COURSE the market has negative intentions toward you! It is trying to screw you out of your money. It is more manipulated than public opinion.
"This is confusing assessment of performance with judgment of being."
I know that I am a worthless toad in the mud, but I also know that I am an excellent system developer. The better I do at that, the better I feel about myself. It's called professional pride. I may even take a bath today.
I've picked three incredibly naive quotes to re-butt:
"This bias toward certainty closes down the kind of probability mindset that trading demands. What that looks like in trading is trying to predict what the market will do rather than take advantage of what the market is willing to give you."
Probability is not in play. Statistics are. And the statistics of trading are probabilistically conditional. The longer a trade lasts, the more certain the outcome becomes. I don't know the outcome of a trade at entry, but I do as it evolves.
"The market does not care if you are present in it. It has no negative or positive intention directed toward you."
OF COURSE the market has negative intentions toward you! It is trying to screw you out of your money. It is more manipulated than public opinion.
"This is confusing assessment of performance with judgment of being."
I know that I am a worthless toad in the mud, but I also know that I am an excellent system developer. The better I do at that, the better I feel about myself. It's called professional pride. I may even take a bath today.
Interesting. According to Rocco Errico, the notion of Hell did not enter Judeo/Christian thought until the 10 tribes were exiled to the Assyrians. When they came back from 400 years of exile after a Persian king conquered the Assyrians, the notion of Hell crept into the history. In the Bible translated by George Lamsa from Aramaic into English (he was born Aramaic rather than a Westerner), the term Gehenne meant "tormented mind". I find many traders to experience "tormented mind". It is not a place you go -- it is a state of mind that captures your awareness of the moment (based on this interpretation).
For me, this way of understanding is much more workable for changing the mind and the possibilities that we live in.
Rande Howell
Good luck with your life. May the force be with you. Particularly at bathtime.
Rande Howell