zen and art of stock trading

chest thumping ability to say that i was wrong is a critical ability u must possess to have any chance to be a successful trader in a v difficult treacherous arena like stock market.

u must trample ur own ego under ur own hard shoes.

your views about a particular trading situation may not be right, but it does give u a point of reference to remain emotionally stable a bit longer.

and a point of reference to improve upon.....

trading is a mind game played online by worldwide grown up children!!!

controlled by a few grown up adults....

u have to repeatedly attempt to try and understand something in the hope that one day u will learn to survive the abuse.

u may still be often beaten by the operator even after years of cuts and bruises, but u r no more the same person....unless u unfortunately are....

in trading, u must have a view about every situation....that is free but priceless practice. provided u keep pushing wedge base under it slice by slice.

what if your perspective, out of 10 times, is first right 3 times, then 5, then 6,7...

fearing to take a position (even if in one's own mind) just out of fear being wrong is strengthening those chains of fear making oneself more emotionally tender and increasingly unfit to be a trader.

the problem is we start measuring our growth too early and too much in terms of money we make. the focus is too much on the results right from day one instead of on the process......like a parent expecting paycheques from his/her new born.

stock trading is the most rewarding self-MBA where-in u should willingly invest time effort money blood seat and tears!!! the joy it gives is the purest and the best!!!

near, yet far!!!

there are 4 phases of market:

1. near dead heartbeat volatility
= fails, suffocates and frustrates any and every method.

2. range bound (but alive)
= boring and ultimately makes either makes u impatient or doze off just before the take off time

3. trending
= those rare sunny days when u can play. alas, u blunder, courtesy hangover of above two phases or the next one.

4. giant trend
= unbelievable, without warning, ridiculous, one way sudden move which catches u unawares. u r too late, shaken and unsure when u finally enter. what i gain is peanuts in front of what u miss. when the tide is gone, u propel ur arms but there is no sea to swim by then!

a trader who can find a way to not only identify (to whatever extent possible) the above phases (or atleast devise a way to reasonably profit while incurring minimum unavoidable damages) can only hope to make some money consistently.

add to this the dilemma that of having a technical (or other) template to predict the turning points of the trend reasonably accurately, that u begin to realize the enormity of the seemingly sweet butch game called trading.

add to all this, the deliberate illogical games operators play

and the inherent uncertainties of the global events!!!

the earlier u accept the reality, the better......

quite a few of my hair have turned silver trying to crack the code and weave it into a practical compromise strategy......

how near am I !

yet how far!!!

if u see the 4 phases i mentioned above and multiply it with the uncertainty gaming factor, u realize that u r playing 5 in 1 games which are being randomly switched!!!