Welcome to NexusFi: the best trading community on the planet, with over 150,000 members Sign Up Now for Free
Genuine reviews from real traders, not fake reviews from stealth vendors
Quality education from leading professional traders
We are a friendly, helpful, and positive community
We do not tolerate rude behavior, trolling, or vendors advertising in posts
We are here to help, just let us know what you need
You'll need to register in order to view the content of the threads and start contributing to our community. It's free for basic access, or support us by becoming an Elite Member -- see if you qualify for a discount below.
-- Big Mike, Site Administrator
(If you already have an account, login at the top of the page)
I totally agree with the thoughts made by PandaWarrior, nice to read such deep insights in an journal.
To cite one of my famous heros Joda "Fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate and hate leads suffering"
The next passage is not related to Pandawarriors thoughts. Those are my thoughts about love in people.
But sometimes there is a much shorter way to hate it goes over love.
Missing somebody you loved can lead to a hate on the rest of the world.
Therefore i consider love to anything can be implicitly dangerous.
But yesterday i had a good idea about maybe the best motivation for trading.
In my early years i received a book called LoL²A in German
Lo is an abbreviation for "Loslassen" the German word for letting go.
That means if you have an target you want to achieve you should not concentrate too much on the target.
And therefore not getting to obsessed by achieving the goal, this is the most difficult thing in trading.
L² Means love squared the author tells to love what you are currently doing, therefore the steps (even the smallest step) should be loved and this will square the outcome.
A stands for Actio equal Reactio. In general how a person acts to somebody else will influence that somebody to act in a similar way. (Sometimes that does not work because the thoughts inside you are maybe saying the total opposite)
But for the market it means to me. I have to respect the market and when i respect the market the market will honor that in giving back respect to me.
One last citation of Joda related to my previous paragraph
"Death is a natural part of life. Rejoice for those around you who transform into the Force. Mourn them do not. Miss them do not. Attachment leads to jealousy. The shadow of greed that is. Train yourself to let go of everything you fear to lose." Maybe the hardest task of the letting go state of mind.
Maybe it is a good idea as mentioned by Big Mike to have a
part of the money made by trading invested into a higher goal, like the goal to support
dogs which are helpless. I think it could lead to a better motivation for trading and to higher
winning percentage.
Yet i have not thought how much of the return i will give to charity.
It is difficult from a german perspective I give maybe half of my annual salery automaticaly to charity (tax which supports people not willing to work).
But maybe it is better to know who i support, to get a better feedback that my earned money can improve the world.
I think your question has unveiled a motivational flaw in myself. Maybe i was just too selfish,
the last years.
I dont want to get too far off topic, but since animal shelters are being discussed, if you're an animal lover and are thinking of getting a pet please consider getting one from a shelter rather than a breeder / pet shop. The dogs (and other animals), who have been abandoned or abused make just as good pets as any that you would get from a shop. You'll be surprised at how great it feels to adopt a pet who was abandoned and clinging to it's last hope for life, only to go home with you and live a long happy life.
If you're not looking for a pet, but are still an animal lover, then make a donation as was already mentioned.
Below is our new puppy we got from a shelter 3 days ago.
I was reading through some comments @ft71 made and thought I would post it here.
"In trading, we are in the business of behavior modification whereas everything else we have been trained for is a matter of manipulating the external environment in order to get what we want. This presents a huge issue for folks who have a fickle commitment to trading or life-change in general".
This behavior modification he speaks of is one of the top reasons I trade.
I have seen myself grow more patient with people.
The gain or Loss of money does not affect me as much.
I read more than I ever have and I can retain more information than I used to. Exercising the brain with new information has increased my intelligence.
The funny part is I am changing my behavior so I can have more money and more time to spend the money but the money is not the important part
If you always do what you have always done you will always get what you have always gotten.
Celebrate because you executed your edge. Not because you won.
If you are going to get off topic, that is a great direction to go.
My wife and I are on dog #3 and cat #5.
Our dog, Piper, was found locked in a closet during a drug raid, abused, starving, sick. It took Melissa over two months to get her, because the drug case needed to be completed before the dog was adoptable. She is now very healthy, happy, the sweetest of the three we have had. Sleeps against me every night, wedges Melissa away...
The new cat is not a "shelter" kitty, technically, but her mother was a feral cat and the litter was born under Melissa's friend's house. "Short Squeeze" is what I named her, but my wife seems to be ignoring that name.
I found the mental blocks to be the hardest part of trading. I found it very interesting that we can all make similar mistakes and repeat those mistake over and over even when we know we should change and not act emotionally in trading.
I fit close to DarkPools description ( freedom and solitude) with some differences. Trading for me started as a way to get out of an IT consulting business where I had a bad partner. We had grown steadily grown the Business for ten years, but I knew I needed to get away. I wanted a new business of my own and saw trading as the best opportunity for me.
My Buyout allowed me to focus on Trading full time for almost 2 years. At this time it abruptly stopped when my ex-partner crashed the business. (something I saw coming) During this time I fit the profile of the average trader that expects to grow to be very profitable in a short period of time.
I had to get a day job again, but never gave up on my trading. I wanted to get "my business" running again. In my day job I have the luxury of fairly flexible hours and working from home when I do not need to travel to a customer. I have been dabbling with my trading for a couple more years. Manually evolving and back testing my own system. Now that I have firmed up my rules to the point there is little discretion in my trade entries, I finally have the confidence to break all my prior bad emotional behaviors.
PS - I also find it extremely interesting that many of us are animal loves and support our local shelters. I volunteer locally and also have foster dogs in my house to train to get adopted to their furever homes.
It has brought to light the answer to my question of why I trade. The book has forced me to ask myself what I receive the most enjoyment from.. What is it that turns my crank. What lights the fire of passion within me. That something that just makes me grin from ear to ear, snicker, chortle. stands the hair on the back of my neck.
That something is not trading.
However
I like trading because it is different every day.
It helps me keep my mind sharp.
I can raise my salary whenever I want.
Work just a few hours a day.
No employees
No Customers
I could be a quadriplegic and still trade. My present job as a HVAC mechanic would be over if I was seriously injured.
What this book has helped me realize is that I do not need to take trading so damn serious. There is a delicate balance to life and when I teeter to far to the left... I forget the other stuff that I truly enjoy on the right.
And when that happens my trading generally falls into the crapper.
I think it would be interesting to find out my typical trading results after I take a couple days off from it.
If you always do what you have always done you will always get what you have always gotten.
Celebrate because you executed your edge. Not because you won.