Search Results for 'traders'
Embrace Your Own Style
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.
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, US Open, Trading, Trading Psychology[/tags]
Practicing is Different Than Playing
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.
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, Trading, Demo Trading, Trading Psychology[/tags]
Have a Routine
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]
Perfection Isn’t Required
Bob Rotella wrote the best golf book I’ve read with Golf is Not a Game of Perfect. It’s full of great stories and lessons about how to perform at your highest level, whatever that may be. Trading isn’t about being perfect either! No matter how long you’ve been at it, no matter what your strategy, no matter how well the market is trending, we’re going to make mistakes as traders. Accepting that fact on the front end makes life so much easier! Do your best to minimize your errors, play to your strengths, and count up the score when you’re done.
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, Golf Book, Trading, Trading Psychology, Trading Strategy[/tags]
Trading & Golf Series
Welcome to my Trading & Golf Series!
Many traders like myself are golfers, and the similarities between the two are numerous. This series is intended to point out a few similarities I’ve found and lessons which apply to both endeavors. I don’t know all there is to know about either one, but I’ve spent quite a few years honing my skills in them both, so hopefully you’ll find something useful along the way!
This page will serve as “home base” for this series, and I’ll be updating links to each individual post below. Also, this series is a little faster-paced with shorter post length but more frequent postings. That way, you won’t get stuck reading a long post and miss your tee time or your trade alert!
Your participation is always welcomed, so anytime you have comments please feel free to share them.
Series Posts:
Trading & Golf – Introduction
One Shot (Trade) at a Time
Never Force It
Perfection Isn’t Required
Conservative Confidence
Be Specific
Have A Routine
It’s Not How, It’s How Many
Be Honest With Yourself
Expectations Can Be Harmful
Goals are a Must
Practicing is Different Than Playing
Embrace Your Own Style
Always Room to Improve
Grind It Out
Miss ’em Close!
Great Equipment Won’t Make You Great
Like It Or Not…
Don’t forget to subscribe to the RSS feed so that you can stay up-to-date every time a new post is published!
Jeff White
President, The Stock Bandit, Inc.
www.TheStockBandit.com
Very Superstitious
There’s little controversy over the idea that trading is largely a head game. Throw in the spectrum of emotions which ranges from pure elation (home-run trade) to all-out fear (blown stop-loss), and there’s a lot of ground to cover. Somewhere in between the extremes is the topic of superstitions, and traders have a LOT of them! Those with risky jobs are the most likely to have superstitions or rituals in an effort to maintain emotional stability, so traders certainly fit the mold! What about you?
As a rule, I’m not a superstitious person. I’m not afraid to step on sidewalk cracks or walk under a ladder. I don’t carry a rabbit’s foot or consult my daily horoscope. I really just do my thing each day and try not to worry about the things which are out of my control, even though it sometimes rains after I wash my car ;-).
When it comes to trading, there are lots of opportunities to think that our actions lead to certain results. The only one I can think of for me is that early on in my trading career, I’d set my dream car of the week as the wallpaper on my PC. It was completely unrelated to trading, but somehow I found that about every time I’d do that, I’d go on a losing streak! I think it probably just made me overly aggressive in an effort to make the money to buy the car, but the result seemed to be poor trading. These days, you won’t find a sports car as my PC wallpaper, which is probably ironic coming from the guy who just claimed not to be superstitious! (Traders know when to break the rules, right?)!
I’ve seen and heard of some interesting trader superstitions:
– I knew one trader who insisted on using the same keyboard he started trading with, no matter which PC he happened to be using. There was nothing special about the keyboard of course, he just felt it was his connection to good trading mojo.
– One trader avoided the number ’13’ at all costs. He wouldn’t bid or offer at the .13 level, he wouldn’t take a 13-cent winner or loser when he wanted out, and he traded more carefully when it was the 13th of the month.
– Jim Cramer has mentioned wearing a lucky green shirt to snap out of a losing streak back at his old hedge fund.
What about you? Do you have some funny trading rituals or quirks like refusing to wear red when you’re long? Do you avoid specific restaurants because of the “poor track record” it’s left you with on trading days after eating there?
Let’s have a little fun with this…..if you’ve got some trading superstitions, post them in the comments section below and let the rest of us know if we’re missing out on something that works for you!
Have a fun & safe holiday weekend,
Jeff White
President, The Stock Bandit, Inc.
www.TheStockBandit.com
StockTickr Trading Journal
Good money management can mean all the difference in the world when it comes to your trading results.
I’m a big proponent of keeping tabs on trading results periodically so that you can know where to make adjustments in your game plan. It’s common knowledge to back down trading size during poor performance and ramp it up when trading well, but let’s go a step further.
Enter: Expectancy. Recently I did a post about position sizing, but it goes hand in hand with the topic of Expectancy. Simply stated, Expectancy is what you can expect to make (on average) per dollar risked. Mathematically it is calculated with the following equation:
Expectancy = (Winning Probability x Avg. Win) – (Losing Probability x Avg. Loss)
Although this formula isn’t difficult to calculate, there is a simpler way – let technology do it for you! StockTickr Pro offers a “Journal” which not only calculates your Expectancy, but also the factors which go into the equation above. If you’ve ever wondered what your win/loss rate is or what your average winning trade is, the Journal in StockTickr Pro will tell you. A trading tool like this will make it far easier and faster at the end of the week or month when you’re reviewing your trades to see what mistakes and weaknesses need working on so that you can correct them and avoid trading mistakes which are costing you.
The StockTickr Journal also includes some very cool and useful features such as dynamic position sizing and a great summary page where you can measure your progress over time in terms of your risk.
