Thought-provoking quotes

Trading Discussion
131

This is hard to comment on without knowing your strategy or having some examples to work with. But generally speaking this suggests either a general lack of trust in your strategy or that the signals are a bit fudgy and open to interpretation.

I believe one needs very clear, unambiguous signals from one’s strategy. But, at the same time, one has to recognise that the market behaves differently all the time and that sometimes there will be pull-backs, sometimes just a straight up or down continuation, and sometimes just a steady and slow grind - and sometimes a total bellyflop and reversal. (This last one I find hardest to accept, i.e. entering a position that then immediately goes the other way…)

Sometimes it is better to only enter with half a position and look to add more on a pullback. In that way, if there is no pullback you are at least in the trade by half your position size.

But whichever approach you adopt you need to have faith in the overall success of your strategy or you will struggle to reach a state of consistency in your results?

Yes, it occurs from time to time. My strategy involves price breaking through MA’s. But there are times when it is not clear whether a trade is worthwhile. For example, if price breaks through to the downside but the MA’s are still pointing upwards then this may just be a stronger pullback. So I wait for another candle to complete and/or drop to a lower timeframe for more confirmation before entering.

But the point is that I have a concrete process for these situations so it does not cause any great uncertainty or stress - and if it remains unclear then just dismiss it and wait for the next move… :slight_smile:

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132

I was just listening to Eric Thomas. He was talking about when there seems to be no hints of success around you, you have to keep going, and you have to have faith that your work will bear fruit.

He said: Faith is believing in the dark what you were told in the light.

133

Hmmm, Interesting comment - but I am not sure I agree with that one!

To my mind, if we find ourselves in the dark when there seems to be no hints of success around us then we need to proactively turn on the light and find out why!

There are at least three reasons for these periods, maybe more, and we can shed light on them and identify them and correct them as necessary:

  1. A structural change in the market’s characteristics that are not matching our setup criteria

  2. Our strategy does not actually work

  3. We are not trading our strategy due to personal/pyschological interference with what we should be doing

All these are real and normal and can be assessed objectively.

Personally, I think this approach is better than faith alone…?

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134

I know what you’re saying. I think it means that when you feel hopeless, just have faith in yourself that you can do it and your work will pay off. That’s all. If you keep studying and making necessary corrections, you’ll get to where you wanna be.

135

That certainly makes sense. However there is always the question of scale. Losses are normal and should be anticipated within one’s strategy. If one starts tinkering every time one trade goes down then it really will become an endless chain of recycling one’s thoughts…not saying that you do that! :smiley:

136

Been there, done that!! haha

But for me this quote means that when I started learning to trade, it all seemed possible. Many times during the journey it has seemed IMPOSSIBLE. In the books, in Pipsology, and all over this forum, people tell you it’s possible.

But no one can prepare you for what you may have to go thru to make it to profitability. The price is different for everyone.

I just gotta stay focused on the idea that it’s possible.

137

I replied to this on your Trade Journal thread.

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138

I/we very often talk on this forum about the importance of learning to run your trading as a business. You need to be proud of your business but you also need to do the work required to make it succeed.

I was really pleased to notice this posting by Dr Pipslow on this very topic. Its really worth a read and then to also activate it! :+1:

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139

I do the same thing. This is the reason why I prefer to buy books rather than borrow from the library. The library is a good place for books that I need just once.

There are several books that I’ll need later for future reference. Those are the ones I buy.

I highlight them so that I don’t need to re-read the book later. I’ll even put little stickynotes on the pages so I can find the important pages faster.

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140

Its been a while, but good quotes never have a “sell by” date…

Here’s a wise thought for traders in particular. There really is no reason for urgency and fast is not always the same thing as success. Less is more and “Fast is slow”

confucius quote

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141

Hello SovoS you been meaning to post this, all the months you have been away.

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142

I heard a guy Eric Thomas talk about this. You never see tortoises ran over by cars in the street. But you see squirrels hit by cars all the time.

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143

true! - and thinking about it, that reflects yet another trading observation:

Squirrels don’t necessarily get hit by cars just because they are fast, but also because they constantly reverse direction back and forth in front of the car - a bit like the trader who chases market prices up and down, buying this then selling that - and then blames the market when the stops gets hit… :upside_down_face:.

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144

Exactly!! If squirrels are so fast, how can they get hit by cars so often? Perhaps being fast isn’t everything. Or, if you’re going to be fast, you need an additional skill with it?

I prefer the surfing analogy. Wait for the wave, wait, wait, enjoy the water and sunshine…paddle, paddle, ride! repeat…

145

Patience + persistence

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146

Like it! :grin:

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147

You know what? I’ve been thinking again about what makes trading hard - especially for people with minds and logic…

Well, there is a well-known expression that goes:

" if it looks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then it probably is a duck"

I think, maybe, the same expression applied to trading might be:

"if it looks like a sell, dives like a sell, and screams like a sell, then it probably is a buy" :crazy_face: :crazy_face:

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148

I agree! It’s 100% true half the time, but only sometimes. Other times, it’s 75% guaranteed.

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149

Eric Thomas had said,

People ask me ¨what should I do? Should I do this, should I do that?¨ And I can’t tell you, but your goals will tell you. Your goals will tell you how much sleep you need. Your goals will tell you who you should be hanging out with. When you look at your goals, your goals will tell you which opportunity is for you. Your goals will tell you ´nope, can’t do it´or ´yup, that’s for me´.

I think it’s true. We often ask others what we should do. I think that there a lot of times that the answer resides within our goals.

¨Should I pay for a course?¨ Well, look at your goals. Is your goal about money only? Or is your goal about pride, first, and then money?

If the pride of doing it without a mentor is more important, then you got your answer. If getting money fast is the top priority, then you need a mentor to put you on the fast track.

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150

Yes, I do agree with this, but I also think we can add something more tangible to it.

It is all very well setting goals and then deducing from them what one should do. But that remains a bit vague.

I would add that every goal should be defined in explicit, concrete terms and then we need to draw up a road map for each goal, defining in clear, concrete, chronological steps, how we are going to achieve them.

An often quoted goal on this site is "I want to be a professional trader". But that alone tells us nothing. Sure, we can then add some “things to do” to this such as what style of trading, what instruments, what timeframes etc. But this still left very vague and open-ended.

But a road map will first define what we mean by “a professional trader” - how much do I want/need to earn in what time framework? How much capital will I need? What equipment will I need? How many hours per day? etc, etc.

Then it will define how we will get to that level. What instruments and what strategy, what parameters like max drawdown, monthly target, what training needs, what experience to be gained, what capital growth target and in what time dimension (per month, end of year, etc).

Then the road map will define other, non-trading issues like max level of personal loans that are comfortable/manageable, holiday allowances (time/money), pension savings, etc.

This kind of roadmap serves at least two purposes:

  1. How to get to the desired goal and what kind of adjustments need to be made along the way.

  2. Whether the goal is actually achievable or too ambitious in the first place. Afterall, if the road map is doable then the goal is achievable. But if any of the steps defined in the road map are clearly pie-in-the-sky then the goal is in the same place.

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