Par hasard I tripped onto a new and revolutionary method for increasing the attention span of Alzheimer's sufferers. I have an elderly client who was brought to me by his much younger (and good looking, hmmm) wife. Her complaint was that he was losing money daytrading. As a daytrader myself, I barely stifled the snide retort "And who doesn't?" But I desperately need new clients, especially those who pay up, so I agreed to take the case. In our first session I asked the client, whom we shall call Joe, to bring his computer and demonstrate to me how he trades. Surprisingly, Joe has what appears to be a mildly positive expectancy system, which he uses to enter trades propitiously, but because of his mental deterioration, he inevitably fails to exit at a profit. Probing a bit, I elicited the self-observation from him "I know my system, because I invented it before my short term memory started to go, but after I enter a trade I soon forget why I did so and get disoriented." Eureka! "Joe," I said, "take the next long trade, and keep your finger poised on the Sell button. When you forget why you entered, stab it!" The attached blotter was the result. Now we are slowly working our way up to longer and longer duration trades using the time-honored methods of Vipassana meditation with the chart as the object of mindfulness. I am hopeful that we may eventually achieve trades which last a full minute.
