I am a newbie and need some advice.

[MickMason]

Humble, mild-mannered, academic, honest???

This isn't a vicars tea-party, it's a cut-throat market where only the decisive and ruthless survive, the lust for money is the driving force behind many profitable traders.

Does anyone have Bloomberg TV? Watch traders at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange when NFP numbers come out, they'd have to scrape a meek wall-flower up off the floor, they'd get flattened in the stampede!


Mick

[nzbryant]

Mick

There are many ways to trade. I am a combination of what I wrote and what you wrote, and doing well. Anyway - look at Ed Seykota. I know he is a longer term trader, but he seems to be a sensitive but decisive, psychologically aware type.

[MickMason]

Originally posted by nzbryant
Mick

There are many ways to trade. I am a combination of what I wrote and what you wrote, and doing well. Anyway - look at Ed Seykota. I know he is a longer term trader, but he seems to be a sensitive but decisive, psychologically aware type.

True, point taken. I still believe profitable traders have that extra 'quality', a kind of killer instinct to take advantage of any situation without hesitation or consideration for anyone else. I also think being too academic can lead to over-analysis and hesitation.

Just another opinion....

Mick

[nzbryant]

Mick

I am in full agreement. A top trader enjoys screwing people a little - and they enjoy it - a little sadistic - Michael Marcus said this also.

A lot of top traders like their independence and are loners to some extent. Touchy feely ambiguous stuff is often too unspecific for them, though they understand people well as they have an excellent understanding of mass psychology. They prefer detachment and decisiveness.


A curious attitude is also necessary, to keep an open mind to new ideas and to test them (thats what I mean by academic).

[autofx]

For those who want the adrenalin rush from trading, it's available,
and will be as long as there are financial markets. But the
pit hypertraders are not necessarily the ones making the most
money. Some do very well, some are mediocre, some lose a
lot.

None of them are Warren Buffett, either. And he doesn't engage
in trading in that manner. Slow, sure and steady wins the
race.

I'll take logic versus emotion and "athleticism" or who can
yell the loudest any day.

Less effort.

More money.

However, I do agree with this statement of Mick's. Over-analysis
equals paralysis.

Mick wrote:
I also think being too academic can lead to over-analysis and hesitation.

Finally, the first rule for succeeding as an investor from
Warren Buffett's six rules:

You must be animated by controlled greed, and fascinated by
the investment process. You must not, however, let greed
take possession of you so that you become in a hurry.
If you are too interested in money, you will kill yourself; if not
interested enough, you won't go to the office. And you must
enjoy the game.

[autofx]

Yeah, I know...Buffett is an "investor", not a "trader".

We can all learn from him nonetheless.

[PittsburghFX]

I see where you are coming from but you misunderstand me and also I feel that you are also not afficiandos of the Duke.

When John Wayne makes a decision in any War Movie, there is not emotion. It is cold blood, honest, and without emotion. He does the right thing or thinking thereof of the way to get out"if you will" of the situation. When he draws, there is a Zen like quality that traders also have. Most Academics do not do well because they get so focused on crunching numbers and they never get the "art" of trading. The computer can only tell you what just happened, it can analyze averages yes, but so can I using basic Fib lines and SMA's.

I understand you guys, but you must understand myself. I have witnessed over 50,000 clients. It taught me what to do and what not to. I have learned how awesome just hedging with options are and have done wonders on my account. I don't have to worry about getting stopped out and can lock in my total max risk in the world.

John Wayne is cool because there is no emotion in him. If you feel John Wayne is emotional, I do not feel you really know him. I have every single movie even the before years of him. I know Eldorado by every single sentence. I can't recite it, but watching the movie I can.

[PittsburghFX]

Originally posted by MickMason
Humble, mild-mannered, academic, honest???

This isn't a vicars tea-party, it's a cut-throat market where only the decisive and ruthless survive, the lust for money is the driving force behind many profitable traders.

Does anyone have Bloomberg TV? Watch traders at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange when NFP numbers come out, they'd have to scrape a meek wall-flower up off the floor, they'd get flattened in the stampede!


Mick

Sing it Mick. That is exactly right. Spoken from a real trader. I can tell in your voice.