| |
| |
|
Investing Information |
|
|
|
Making It Second Nature
Not long ago I was laying on my son's floor throwing one of his toy balls back and forth in the air to myself and I had a strange revelation. I noticed that as I threw the ball up in the air my left arm automatically started to move to where the ball was going to come down. At the time I was pretty amazed at the fact and decided to experiment a little. I wasn't sure if it was really moving automatically or if I was just reacting consciously very fast and it only appeared like a seamless act. I continued the act a while longer and then I started consciously trying to move my arm to where the ball would go. I was still able to catch the ball but it was a completely different feeling. I wasn't sure if I would catch it where as before I just knew I would so much that I didn't even think about it. When I thought about catching the ball I experienced a psychological shift. Just to be sure I went back to my regular method of just throwing and catching and again it felt automatic. Next I tried to throw the ball and close my eyes and see if my hand knew where to go. It did. I didn't catch it very much but the ball always hit my hand. I tried the whole thing with my eyes closed next and I didn't touch the ball very often at all that way. Now I know you must thinking what does any of this have to do with trading. Well, ?uh?..everything! Sure, you do need a system that works and capital and time and desire and effort but beyond that lies the mental state of being a trader. Not just a trader but a consistently successful trader. How did my mind learn to know exactly where the ball was going? I suppose after many years of throwing or catching a ball as a kid my subconscious adapted the process in a second nature sort of way. As I throw the ball the synaptic messages it sends to my arm direct it to where the ball will be even when my eyes are closed. In trading we watch the markets for hours a day. Some of us all day every day. The successful among us probably hours after that while practicing. I spend at least an hour a day after the market just going through trades using my system. My system is second nature to me now as a result just like the ball throwing. I still use a system and follow rules but if I am not thinking about the process too much and just flow in a zone I usually know what the market is going to do. So how do we develop this skill or trait? I believe there are two ways and they both involve practice. One way is to work really hard at your craft and put yourself through an intensive regime of study, practice and work. If you work hard every day and try to get a little bit better every day over time it will happen if your account holds out and you don't burn out mentally. There are mental tricks you can use to make this way more effective such as building a reward system for milestones reached or keeping a daily log of your trading related activities. This method may sound tiring and for many people it would be. The other way to gain that second nature insight is to direct your focus to having fun with your craft. Where the first method focused on laboriously going through the motions this method is more light hearted. By no means am I suggestion that trading should be taken lightly. I am talking about approach here. If you turn the homework you should be doing every day into a kind of mental game you will be much more likely to do it and more importantly draw upon your experiences in your real-time trading. You should keep the pace fast if that helps and maybe talk to yourself about what you are seeing along the way. Make a funny sound or something as you enter trades and again as you exit. Maybe upbeat sound effects for winning trades and light hearted crashing sounds for losing trades. Do whatever works for you but keep it fun. There is no getting around this. If your goal is to have the automatic reflexes that kick into gear when you subconscious mind sees an opportunity then you need to practice. Every day I run through the prior two trading days step-by-step and using the Pivot Trend difference model from my NQ Scalping System (http://www.wattstrading.com/Scalpingtheeminis.html) I pick a trading day from the past that directly follows trading days that resemble the recent activity. I bet if you ask any professional or Olympic athlete if they could reflect on what it is that makes them so consistent that the answer would be practice. I can say for sure that the extra time I put in after the markets close is the key to my success. Good luck to you all. Trade well! Ryan Watts is a full-time technical trader, money manager, and trading coach with over ten years experience in short-term trading. For more information on his services and trading system visit http://www.wattstrading.com He can also be contacted by email at info@wattstrading.com.
MORE RESOURCES:
Google News |
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
Using Divergences to Keep Out of Bad Trades The American Football season just came to an end with my team getting close to the championship but falling short again. I am a big fan of the Indianapolis Colts and we keep having a groundhog day season year after year but it is still fun to watch. The Truth About Real Estate Investing - Is It Right For You? You have probably been hearing, seeing and reading that real estate investing is the best thing since sliced bread. There are many late night cable television infomercials spewing out sales pitches for courses that teach you how to buy residential real estate no money down or for next to nothing. Foreign Investing - US Investors Still Missing Out? Investors are still too slowly realizing what the academics have long pointed out -- adding foreign stocks to your portfolio will, over the long term, increase your returns and lower the overall risk of your portfolio.US investors embracing foreign investing are both realists and optimists. Options Education: Financing the Calendar! As a trader, one of the key things that I try to consciously do is to cultivate my instincts by talking with other traders and investors as often as possible. It still amazes me how large the divergence of opinion that exists regarding what people believe will unfold as we enter the new millennium. When NOT to Invest Unfortunately, many investors who are seduced by the lure of easy money try to become "active" investors before they have the skills, the resources, or the appropriate intellectual framework to do so.This is not to say that investing in stocks is extraordinarily difficult . Investigate Before You Invest "Through wisdom is a house built. And by understanding it is established. Can Your Annuity Do This? Okay, so I can tell you I have sat in front of countless numbers of people who have made mistakes when purchasing and owning annuities. And I have visited people who wish they never got involved in an annuity. Poll Names Coin Laundries Best Investment For 2005 According to Morton Pollack, CEO of PWS, The Laundry Company and editor of the newsletter, "Historically, laundry owners have been a quiet group. Knowing they are onto a good thing, they've been pretty reticent. Bearish or Bullish? If you are interested in stock investing and the stock market, you may have plenty of questions. Even if you have already started investing, you may still have many questions about the details of the stock market and your options. Day Traders and Swing Traders and Options? Maybe! Typical day traders and swing traders look for stocks with quick,short term movements, and are not in the business of holdingpositions overnight let alone a week or two. So the use ofoptions has not usually been a component of their tradingstrategies. Scots Beat Yanks in China Bank Deal With visions of an ATM in every neighborhood in China, foreign banks and investment firms are queuing up to join the "China Club."Moneybags CommunismThe initiation fee for the "China Club" is straightforward and pure moneybags communism: invest cold hard cash in its largely insolvent state-owned banks, put your reputation on the line, reassure nervous foreign investors about upcoming IPO's, and share your risk management, corporate banking and other expertise with eager Chinese executives. Everybody Wants to Know How to Invest Those unfamiliar with the process of making and managing investments often have more than a few trepidations about investing in general. They figure that, since they do not know how to invest, they will never learn. Going Against the Conventional Investment Wisdom First of all, I want to give everyone the disclaimer that I am not a registered financial advisor and I don't play one on TV. Therefore, I cannot legally provide financial advice and I will not do so. Pros & Cons of Investing in Bonds What are Bonds?A bond is a debt security, by which you are lending money to a government, municipality, corporation, federal agency or other entity known as the issuer. In return for investing in the bond, the issuer promises to pay you a specified rate of interest during the life of the bond and to repay the face value of the bond (the principal) when it becomes due. Retirement is Never Urgent Until If you're like many people, your retirement savings have not been growing consistently over the years. We're not referring to the wild fluctuations in the stock market, but rather the fluctuations in our short-term needs. Beginning Investor - Investment Terms Over the course of the past two months, readers have brought to my attention that there is a steep learning curve for investment terminology. That's why the focus of this month's Beginning Investor column will be investment terminology. Shareholders Meeting Changing With Times A significant number of corporations that settled accounts in the past year are ready to hold their annual shareholders meetings.In this year's meetings, more than 300 companies plan as their main focus of attention defense measures against hostile takeover bids. Just Say NO to Your Stock Broker We have all heard that slogan that started back when Nancy Reagan was in Washington. It was all about drugs. Stock Market Leaders and Laggards Leaders are stocks that breakout immediately when the market confirms a new rally. In the first several weeks, strong stocks with leadership ability will breakout on volume above their 50-day average. Are You An Investment Dummy Like Me? I am good at a few things. I can certainly market well and I consult with others about how to bring more attention to their products and services on the internet for a living.
|
