Archive for June, 2006
Embrace Your Own Style
June 18, 2006 at 10:40 am
Golf swings are kind of like fingerprints – everyone has their very own. Although there are some strengths that other traders or golfers have which you’ll want to add to your approach, trying too hard to emulate someone else’s style will often have a negative effect on your performance. Watching the US Open golf tournament on television will show you plenty of great players with diverse styles. Taking note of someone else’s technique can help to improve your own, but remember to just blend that into your own style. Don’t try to be someone else. Every golfer and every trader has a different rhythm, so no two are exactly the same. Although you may make some adjustments to your approach along the way, embrace your own style and stay true to it.
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Jeff White
President, The Stock Bandit, Inc.
www.TheStockBandit.com
[tags]Golf, US Open, Trading, Trading Psychology[/tags]
Practicing is Different Than Playing
June 17, 2006 at 9:50 am
Spending 1000 hours on the driving range won’t necessarily mean you’ll be a good golfer. After all, you have to be able to take your game from the range to the course! Although practicing is a requirement, you’ve got to get out there and play the game in order to really improve. Trading is similar when it comes to backtesting or trading on demo mode. I’ve mentioned before how I feel about trading on demo mode, and I would definitely relate that to practice in golf. Lots of beginning traders will attempt to “make money” on demo mode and expect to be able to take their method into the market with real dollars and achieve the same results, but it doesn’t work that way. Similarly, it would be unrealistic to hit a bucket of range balls well and expect to go shoot under par on the course without having played many rounds of golf. Although there is such a thing as beginner’s luck in trading, the odds of lasting success coming from demo mode into live trading just aren’t very high. You’ve got to trade with real money before you fight the real battle in the market: your emotions. Ranger Rick isn’t necessarily a great golfer, and Demo Mode Dan isn’t necessarily a great trader. Take your game to the course and then see how good you are.
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Jeff White
President, The Stock Bandit, Inc.
www.TheStockBandit.com
[tags]Golf, Trading, Demo Trading, Trading Psychology[/tags]
Goals Are a Must
June 16, 2006 at 9:35 am
I tried out for the golf team in 8th grade and missed it, so I wrote it out as a goal for the following year, and I made it. My senior year as a collegiate golfer, I had a written goal of making First Team All-America, and I made it. I wasn’t sure what my competition would do, but I did know that setting my sights on a goal would require me to raise my standards and work hard in certain areas in order to elevate my game. I’ve discussed the importance of goals before, and I will always believe that having goals will produce superior results. Trading is the same way, and knowing what you want to achieve will help you determine how to get there. It’s tough to set a daily goal for yourself simply because there’s no telling what the market might bring. Late in the day if you’ve seen few opportunities, you’ll have a tendency to force trades which could lead to frustrating and unnecessary losses. When it comes to setting a goal for the week, month, or year, I am all for it.
Just remember that goals are different than expectations!
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Jeff White
President, The Stock Bandit, Inc.
www.TheStockBandit.com
[tags]Golf, Trading, Trading Psychology[/tags]
Expectations Can Be Harmful
June 15, 2006 at 12:35 pm
Facing the first fairway or the start of a new trading month inevitably brings us to expect something from ourselves. Maybe the weather is nice and we think we can shoot our personal best score today. Maybe trading has been good and we naturally think that this will be our very best month. Imposing rigid expectations on our performance is a bad idea, because there will inevitably be a need to adjust. I certainly believe that having an optimistic attitude and thinking positively have an impact on our results, but rigid expectations are a different topic. Expectations change what ‘par’ is. Expectations change what a ‘good month of trading’ is. Because we never know what each day will bring, why not instead choose to be decisive and smart with the chances we’re given? There is no way of knowing on the first tee box what good or bad breaks you might get later in the round. There’s no way of knowing if the wind will pick up or if your swing will leave you. Trading is the same way. The conditions can change at any time, and a poor break might be just around the corner. Overestimating yourself can leave you forcing trades (shots), while underestimating yourself will leave you well below your true potential. Decide at the beginning of the day how you’ll respond to your trades (or golf shots), and stick with it until you finish. Be confident and decisive, but take it one trade (shot) at a time and in the end you’ll no doubt be pleased with the score.
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Jeff White
President, The Stock Bandit, Inc.
www.TheStockBandit.com
[tags]Golf, Trading, Trading Psychology[/tags]
Be Honest With Yourself
June 15, 2006 at 9:05 am
Being honest with yourself on the golf course means accepting that you made a bad stroke on that last short putt rather than blaming it on a heel print in the green! Remaining objective will help you improve over time, because you then work on your shortcomings rather than pass the blame on something else. Trading presents us with the same decision: place blame on something else or accept responsibility for our own actions. A bad earnings report might cost you money, but you accepted that responsibility when you held the position into scheduled news. The great UCLA basketball coach John Wooden said, “Winners and losers are self-determined. But only the winners are willing to admit it.” When evaluating your results, be mature about it! Stay objective and take responsibility. If your system needs more work, then get after it.
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Jeff White
President, The Stock Bandit, Inc.
www.TheStockBandit.com
[tags]Golf, Trading, Trading Psychology, John Wooden, UCLA, Winners[/tags]
It’s Not How, It’s How Many
June 14, 2006 at 6:15 pm
They say on the scorecard in golf that there’s not enough room to draw a picture, only a number. It’s true. Any golfer knows the feeling of snaking in a 30-foot putt for par after struggling the entire hole, but the end result is the same as if you had hit the green in regulation and 2-putted. Trading can leave us feeling the same way. Sometimes you haven’t stopped out yet but you’re stuck in a losing position just looking forward to the next trade when all of a sudden something good happens. Maybe it’s a market reversal or a headline pertaining to your stock which gives your trade the push it needed. Take what lessons you can from the trade, and move on to the next one. Give each hole (trade) your very best and look to learn something from it, but don’t overanalyze it. The end result is a profit or a loss, so take it and move on. You’re better off putting more analysis into a month’s worth of trading than looking at every individual effort under the microscope.
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Jeff White
President, The Stock Bandit, Inc.
www.TheStockBandit.com
[tags]Golf, Scorecard, Par, Trading, Trading Psychology[/tags]
Have a Routine
June 14, 2006 at 4:10 pm
As I got more into competitive golf as a kid, I realized that all of my hard work and practice also meant that I had more on the line in a pressure situation. Whether it was the Junior Club Championship or just a friendly match with a school teammate, I realized that I needed a crutch to lean on when I got nervous. My answer was the pre-shot routine. By having something else to focus on instead of the situation, I was crawling into a shell and less concerned about what was on the line.
The pre-shot routine in golf is simply the ritual you go through before you make a swing. Watch any player on TV, from the tee box to the green, and you’ll see the same motions every time before they hit the ball. It might be the number of practice swings, the way they walk up to the ball, or how many times they look at the target. The actions themselves are not important, but focusing on that routine is.
When you’re able to concentrate on the things within your control, everything else becomes a blur. Watch the NBA playoffs – every free throw shooter has one too. It’s a safety cocoon that even traders can enter to free themselves up to perform their best. For me, my trading routine involves doing my nightly homework and setting up my conditional orders the following morning. This gives me a feeling of being prepared, so that once I get the signal to place a trade, I’m able to do it without hesitation.
By the way, subscribing to this RSS feed will mean you won’t ever miss a post!
Jeff White
President, The Stock Bandit, Inc.
www.TheStockBandit.com
[tags]Golf, Pre-shot Routine, Trading, Trading Psychology, NBA[/tags]
