How to Distinguish between trending and Choppy Days

If you really want to know about nonsense from Lacan you can read this book from two physicians which has a chapter dedicated to Lacan and other psychoanalysts (I have the french version):
"Fashionable Nonsense: Postmodern Intellectuals' Abuse of Science "
by Alan D. Sokal, Jean Bricmont
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/t...105-1888611?v=glance&s=books&vi=reader&img=44

In introduction of their book they say that when you don't understand an author it can of course be that you don't have the necessary knowledge especially for scientific text ... Since my speech is often about science and rarely about psychoanalysis I wonder if you are not in this case of lacking some knowledge. Lacking knowledge is not your fault but it is if you are pretentious enough to be able to grasp all the knowledge of Universe. So when you don't understand don't pretend that it has something to do with Lacan :D.

If you don't understand a point just ask but if it is only personal attack, then I have the right to reply to your war statement in the same unpleasant manner.

Quote from resinate:



Reminds me of another opaque French theorist. The psychoanalyst Jacque Lacan made sure he was not clear as the subject of his work- the unconscious- could not be known by definition.

He repeatedly dissolved schools set up to teach his method b/c if it became too clear, the real meaning would be lost.
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Harry,

I was not insulting you at all. I was simply agreeing with your comment about it being good to make people think.

BTW, I am a practicing psychoanalytic therapist and know plenty about Lacan- well as much as one can discern from reading the english. Personally I think he was a grandiose maniac who had some smart insights. I was not equating you to him other than to say that both of your writings necessitate thought and this may be okay.
 
...Hi. Do you have any interesting insights to share about the markets or trading based on your professional background? I ask because I view mechanical trading as a highly therapeutic activity where the doctor pays the client. Best regards. - Mike
 
:D If anyone is uncertain about the use of the arms index, one method would be calculating the 4 day average and considering shorting below a four day average of .70 or considering going long above 1.30 expecting a turning point around those extremes.:D
 
Quote from Flashboy:

Looking for advice on how to distinguish between trending and choppy days..

Days like today kill me..
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It's just a wild guess, but maybe it's just not as simple as "green light means trend, red light means chop". Maybe you should be looking at low versus high activity/liquidity/market participation days. It was to be expected that this last Friday was not going to be the most significant and active session of the year. But then again, sometimes the unexpected happens. Otherwise it would not be called "trading" but "the rat race".
 
...I trade a morning breakout system, and it typically doesn't trigger trades on days when there are no significant news announcements scheduled. That's also why, I presume, there tends to be little opening volume on those days. Haven't tried to run a correlation, just an impression.
 
Quote from hypostomus:

...Hi. Do you have any interesting insights to share about the markets or trading based on your professional background? I ask because I view mechanical trading as a highly therapeutic activity where the doctor pays the client. Best regards. - Mike
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Great though huge, huge question.

I have been practicing psychotherapy for 10+ years and trading for a good chunk of the last 5 years. I am just beginning to have enough psychological distance from myself trading to begin to observe... So my thoughts are somewhat limited thus far- here are a couple of ideas:

One similarity is the importance of the management "counter-transference" -which in psychotherapy refers to the emotional reactions of doctor to the patient - both accurate/rational and personally distorted. These distortions can be disastrous in both fields but in trading there is little wiggle room- once you are grandiose enough to ignore your stop its hard to fix... Similarly, and following Lacan, any true certainty in observations is assumed to be suspect and grandiosity will always be crushed sooner or later- for Lacan the analyst does not possess any truth but is the one who wants to know. This is similar to a trader's ideal of not having a bias.

My second thought is that Mark Douglas does a great job in "Trading in the Zone" of explaining the traders mental dilemma from psychoanalytic viewpoint even though he does not mention such theory. In a nutshell, he points out how the unstructured nature of trading leaves us to structure it with our own rules and fantasies- these structures we impose are highly idiosyncratic. This closely resembles Freud's understanding of how human nature must be tempered to live socially. Freud's structural model dealt with this in his description of the battles between id (pleasure impulse) and superego (be a good boy and follow the rules) are mediated by the ego.
 
...well, doc, it may have been a grand question but you cut it down to size. I think Larry Pesavento was the first to say "You're not looking in a monitor, you're looking in a mirror." I agree with you that Mark Douglas has the problem nailed. In addition I like Dr. Elder's perspective relating trading behavior to addictive behavior. I don't think Jung would be displeased if we adapted his "All psychology is autobiography" to "All trading is autobiography".

Did your achievement of psychological distance from the market just happen to coincide with profitability (haha)? In my own case I have practiced insight meditation for some time, but its deliberately calm circumstances did not prepare me for the upwelling of bizarre ideation which appeared under the pressure of discretionary trading. I had to switch to rigid system trading to have any hope of succeeding. If I may ask, where do you come down on the question of discretionary vs. mechanical? Thanks for replying, and have a good evening.
 
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