"A man is not finished when he is defeated. He is finished when he quits."

Thursday, February 2, 2012

TraderHabits- The Hits Just Keep on Coming!

I put up my last blog entry a short time ago; a post from my newest favorite blog. I then came across this gem and felt it needed to be Reposted Here. Here is the link:

http://traderhabits.com/would-watch-your-exgirlfriend-making-out-her-boyfriend/


Here is the text:

Would you watch your ex-girlfriend making out with her new boyfriend? h/t @gtotoy
Written on January 12, 2012 by Eli Radke in Uncategorized The always wise @GTOToy made a point and it should be emphasized.

There is no doubt in my mind as a trader you have to be somewhat of a masochist. There are many potentially painful moments. There are rarely days that I can go back and say I did it perfectly. That is ok, you do not have to be perfect to make money. A weakness is an attribute applied too thickly. You need to like a little pain but not apply so much that you can’t function.

Traders must constantly be separating what happened from how they feel about what happened. Sometimes that means looking away for a little bit. I am not saying you should ignore it. But no need to hit yourself when you are already down. When you learn something in a different state of mind than you use it, it is like not learning it at all. When you review your trades do it with a clear head. Do not stare at a trade once you exited second guessing yourself. Start over, there will thousands of thousands of other opportunities. You are not always going to get out on the best tick but that does not matter. The market is a promiscuous girlfriend but you do not have to watch.

About trading being 90% mental, it does not have to be. But maybe GTOtoy and I can discuss that before the Eagles playoff game this weekend, oh wait…

We would really appreciate your feedback, if you like, hate, or think we are full of crap. Please leave a comment, a voice mail (312) 725-9121, email info @ traderhabits (dot) com or twitter, stocktwits, youtube and facebook. Subscribe to Traderhabits by email or to newsletter.

Saw it, Liked it, Reposting here.

I have 17 favorites on my blog list that focuses on Trading & Investing. Most reside there permanently: Bankrobber, Points and Figures, Alphatrends, Tickerville, SMB Trading Blog, Stocktwits, Traderfeed, & PopDocTrader, to name many of them. Others, I shuffle in and out. Recently, I added a new one to the list called TraderHabits http://traderhabits.com/ . I began reading it today. The following post from January 20th struck me as very important, considering my work to look inside myself for the answers to making a living as a trader.
http://traderhabits.com/not-failing-worse-than-failing/


Not failing is worse than failing.

Written on January 20, 2012 by Eli Radke in Uncategorized Some types of failures are good. If I continue to have the opportunity to fail than I am doing something right. But there is good failure and bad failure. Good failure is giving everything you have and it just not being enough. Bad failure is not getting to that launch point.

I go out of my way to help anyone I can. Two things happen. They either take the initiative or they don’t. Those that don’t, believe the end point is the contact. Those that take complete advantage understand that the end point is their goal.

Failing is not easy, but failing with action is something that can have a very positive impact. It burns a bridge that needed to go anyways. Failing without action will create a bad habit, steal your time, and it will suck the energy right out of you. The reason they fail without action is because they do not have to accept that they were not good enough or they didn’t know or are unwilling to do what it is necessary.

The other day, was in a meeting with a marketing firm. They hate the name E-mini Executors, the name of our trading group. Nothing is more fun than having to hear for 2 hours that your name sucks. So I explained to them the difference between failing in those ways that I described above. We do not believe that every person can be a successful trader. What every person can do is get to the point where they can honestly say that they gave it their all. That they understand how to accomplish their goals and how to get the tools to do so. The next step is to execute it.

Do I think most people get to that point in trading, no? What I do know is that there are less people that fail at that point than before getting to that point. Trading or anything related to performance is about execution. That is why two people trading the same “system” or from the same background will have dramatically different results. One can execute better. A successful traders knows that the goal is not to have a trading account but to be profitable or that getting money means nothing without being able to keep. To be profitable you have to get to the point where it is just about execution. Everything before, during, and after a trade is taken care. Being alone with your execution is key.

Trying to explain to a marketing company that you are purposely trying to eliminate part of the market specifically by your name is a foreign concept to them. That we do not want people who would rather read a book about trading than be a trader. So after explaining this for a couple hours, I think they got it. But that does not mean they agreed at all. (Would like your feedback on the name if you have a moment.)

Sorry if this post seemed liked a big commercial. This blog isn’t about promoting our business, it is about getting the things out of my head and giving back and ensuring that there is a community of traders in the future. (I could have included a link to the website and I did not have to post this on a Friday.) We will get your money between the bells. At the same time, what I believe in and what I do are completely aligned. I don’t believe in it because I do it. I do it because I believe in it. We started this because the marketplace was filled with people whom we felt were not trying to make people better traders and expand the community of traders. The trading floors are dying and there are limited places where you can legitimately learn. We have a vested interest in seeing the futures market grow.

I have failed without taking action. As much as I hate to admit it, my football career ended in that way. There was also a girl in junior high. Those failures were hard but once I recovered they provided me with an invaluable lesson. If it is worth doing, it is worth putting your best effort out there.

We would really appreciate your feedback, if you like, hate, or think we are full of crap. Please leave a comment, a voice mail (312) 725-9121, email info @ traderhabits (dot) com