Zen and The Art of Trading

Quote from Flashboy:

yes.. and all it takes is one day like that to wipe out and entire week of hard work and grinding it out..
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Flashboy, do you have a trading plan that you can follow? I realized that my plan had conflicts between rules and I had difficulty to follow it. I ended up simplifying it as much as possible. One way to prevent "one-day" wipes it all scenario is by sticking to to your plan . Do the thinking while coming up with your plan. But do not think during trading hours, just follow your plan.

Back to meditation. Here's where meditation will be helpful for a trader:

1) A newbie trader gets excited by charming magazine ads full of (trending) charts and opens an account
2) Search for holy grail starts
3) After some $$$ and years later holy grail search is abandoned.
4) After some more time and $$$, the trader realizes that the game is all about managing risk and probabilities and NOT about prediction
5) Still the trader has a difficult time applying 4) in trading
6) Now the trader realizes that this time his own mind, ego etc.. is blocking his way.
7) The trader applies meditation and visualization techniques to sort out "mental blocks"
8) The trader now realizes that he just needs a very simple plan and follow it consistently (without letting his mind playing tricks)to be able to milk his statistical edge.

I have to admit that I'm still struggling with 8). I do think that something in my subconscious is blocking my way. Oh well, the search is still going on.
 
When I first started out... knowing I know nothing, I thought I better attend a seminar for several days and learn from an experienced trader. I guess the seminar is the worst decision I made: They showed me how to handle the gun and the magic bullet called discipline then they handed me the gun and sent me to the battlefield. I was told now I will make it. Actually I would not mind they told me the truth that noone don't really have THE answer... and their system can be traded a hundred different way - how would there be consistency. I ended up spending months trying to figure out what is wrong with me while actually the most serious problem at the time is the methodology - there are so many moving parts you don't even know where to tweak.

I think it is OK to attend some seminars for ideas but trust me nobody has THE answer even if they are doing well for themselves because what works for them will be unlikely to work for someone else.

I contacted another trader who to this day I still don't know why he went out of his way to help me out. He did not ask for a dime. He showed me his setup and something clicked, it is not his setup but how he put it together based on what he sees as the market structure. That is the start of myself putting together a very few setups of my own. I later found similar stuff on the web and in books. There is nothing new under the sun. But they becomes special when you put them together yourself. I translate them into simple checklist so I won't screw it up. I believe that is the first hurdle.

Looking back that was the easy part... it was hard when you don't know that was the problem. Now the rest of the game is mental - this time I will make sure I can pinpoint the problem... otherwise I can't fix it.
 
Quote from martys:

how he put it together based on what he sees as the market structure.
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If you're willing, and can put it generally and simply, can you offer his take on market structure? No method or setups. Just his "philosophy".

Edit: actually, this is probably off topic. PM me if you like. If you don't like, that's okay, too.
 
Quote from dbphoenix:

If you're willing, and can put it generally and simply, can you offer his take on market structure? No method or setups. Just his "philosophy".

Edit: actually, this is probably off topic. PM me if you like. If you don't like, that's okay, too.
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It's no secret. He plays pullback on a strong trend and he averages into his position. I am telling you he is willing to sit on a large paper loss - not for a weak mind like me. I don't really want to talk about it in details because I am not sure that is his wish. But you can found somewhat similar stuff in Linda Raschke's material. Linda Raschke has way too many setups but some of her stuff looks better to me as time goes on. As long as you don't fall for their "you can make it" or "it's not that hard" or "it's doable" or "just one point a day with size" trap, the market will cause the most amount of pain for everybody - nobody is exception. If one day I become good enough to give back, I would say "It got to be harder than you think because you are fighting with your devil - hope and fear projections of your own mind."
 
Quote from martys:

.... the market will cause the most amount of pain for everybody - nobody is exception. If one day I become good enough to give back, I would say "It got to be harder than you think because you are fighting with your devil - hope and fear projections of your own mind."
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Well said!
 
Quote from martys:

It's no secret. He plays pullback on a strong trend and he averages into his position. I am telling you he is willing to sit on a large paper loss - not for a weak mind like me. I don't really want to talk about it in details because I am not sure that is his wish. But you can found somewhat similar stuff in Linda Raschke's material.
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No need for details. Teresa Lo said much the same thing, only she wasn't willing to take any losses at all.

As for LR's stuff, you're right that she has too much. Teresa had basically one setup. The ultimate KISS.
 
Quote from dbphoenix:

No need for details. Teresa Lo said much the same thing, only she wasn't willing to take any losses at all.

As for LR's stuff, you're right that she has too much. Teresa had basically one setup. The ultimate KISS.
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Who's Teresa Lo?
 
Quote from martys:

Who's Teresa Lo?
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A trader-guru. Or used to be. Her trading room is run very differently than it used to be, assuming it's still in operation.

In any case, she taught simplicity. Extreme simplicity. And how to tell up from down. She focused on trader psychology. Like your friend. And Wyckoff. It was a good beginning.
 
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