Quote from rs7:
I had a friend that wanted to trade. I tried to talk him out of it. I knew he was both too impulsive and too compulsive.
He chased every stock he saw uptick. He watched so many stocks on his screen he had to make his font smaller to fit them in.
I told him he was an over-trader. His argument was that he had always made more money the harder he worked. And he did. He became a very wealthy guy years before. Selling automotive products. Never made a dime trading. Lasted a few months and walked away.
But what he (and so many others) did not understand that often the "hard work" in trading is going through what you call the "boring" times. Being disciplined is hard work. Not trading is hard work. Watching the "action" and not participating is hard work. Inaction does not equate to doing nothing though it may appear that way. It is the DECISION to "do nothing" that makes that very "inaction" work. Our job is about making decisions, not about making trades. Anyone can hit the buy or sell button. Deciding when to do it is something else. It is what seperates work from play. Trading from amusement.
You most definitely are not alone in your addiction to the excitement of trading...do what you have to to kick the addiction if you can. Hey, guys I worked with gambled pretty big stakes to pass the time when they weren't trading. The losers usually saved money overall by not trading while they were pissing away money playing poker or whatever. I cleared through First Options when I was a market maker. Their lounge upstairs from the CBOE was a veritable casino there were so many gin, poker, and backgammon games going on there. All that was missing were cocktail waitresses. This was how these guys relaxed!!! Me, I played chess. But I still had to play for money. Not that I wanted to....I just couldn't get anyone interested in playing for the sake of the game. So I guess most traders like to gamble. Just don't do it in the market. Try and make that a job.
