Category Archives: Belief

Did You Hear About the Last Mile?

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Yawn.

So you did, huh?

In investing?

No?

Yeah, I just thought about it.

Sharing it with you.

Churning, churning, churning…

… inside.

As you do your due diligence, information churns inside of you.

What is it that says yes, I’m investing?

Where does that go-ahead moment happen?

In the last mile.

Inside of you.

This is not to take away anything from your due diligence.

DD is central.

Very important.

However, last mile is important too.

One needs to respect it.

First, one needs to know about it.

Knowing about it will stop you from pushing an investment.

Don’t push… …in the markets.

Just be.

Take the shape of the container. Your container is your system.

Wait for your last mile to respond. Learn to understand its style of expression.

It’s a feeling…

… of well-being, …

… or something suffocating, nausea-like.

Embrace the former. Dump what’s causing the latter.

It’s as simple as that.

The most meaningful things in life are…

… exactly…

… SIMPLE.

Steps are the New Currency

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Walking walking walking…

… steps.

We’re logging them.

We’re thinking more about them than dollars, pounds, euros or rupees.

How many steps’ve you done today?

And who’s we?

We’s a collective. People who’ve gotten financial basics sorted, but perhaps not health basics. However these people have realized that. Smart.

Why smart?

Simple.

To enjoy one’s financial basics, one’s health basics need to be in place.

Place health before wealth, and you enjoy your wealth.

No health, but wealth, well, then you don’t enjoy your wealth.

We’re also in it for quality of life, right?

Therefore, yeah, treat steps as a very valid currency that gives you the ticket to enjoy other physical currencies and their benefits.

Logged 10k for the day yet? Or 15k?

Yeah? Super.

No? Why not? What are you waiting for? Step up, buddy!

Manipulation / Fraud / Ponzi – I Reject You

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I detest manipulation, and manipulators. 

I like people who are straight-forward, without hidden agendas. Simplicity is gold. Simplicity breeds success. Simplicity gives satisfaction from within. 

All the twisting and turning, wheeling and dealing, wangling and dangling of manipulation makes me want to puke. 

Therefore, manipulators, frauds, Ponzis, I reject you. Manipulation doesn’t make the manipulator happy. Try it and see. I’m 100% sure your story won’t have a happy end.

Rejection is a simple process. When you reject something, you stay away from it. You get out of its way when it is in the vicinity. You head off elsewhere when that something is headed in your direction. Everyone’s probably been rejected sometime or someplace, so everyone probably understands rejection. 

Well, rejection is one thing, but how does one recognise a manipulator, fraud, or Ponzi?

Recognition is key. 

This breed of people talk sweet. They appear harmless. They don’t lose arguments. Quick, witty, sharp. Fast thinkers. They keep you hanging. Give ambiguous answers. Mostly, they like to not answer at all, so as to keep you dancing around them, making you more vulnerable to their schemes or ulterior motives. If you’re interested in their something, they use silence as a weapon. You’re hot, you’re interested, they’re silent, makes you hotter, makes you more interested. The idea is that ultimately, when the manipulator breaks the silence, you lap up whatever you’re getting. Also, they keep you hungry for more. Manipulators are vicious, vile people. 

Where manipulators push you to act, slowly, but steadily, by twisting and turning your world in the manner they consider appropriate (since you’ve given them that power), frauds outright present a reality which sucks you in to sign the dotted line. Frauds sell a dream. It’s a great dream. You want to be a part of it. It overwhelms you. It’s almost too good to be true.

Ponzis are frauds. They sell the dream of unrealistically large returns. They count on greed to cloud your vision. They lure new sets of investors by distributing investorial proceeds from one set of investors as dividends to slightly older investors, and so on and so forth, till the bandwagon is overloaded with thousands of investors paying full-throttle only to see the Ponzi vanish next day, with everything, never to be heard of again. 

When someone doesn’t give you a straight-forward answer, walk the other way. Don’t bother with benefit of doubt, just walk the other way. With very high probability, you’ll have avoided a manipulator. When someone uses silence as a weapon, walk away ten miles. Warn everyone of a mega-manipulator in the neighbourhood. Analyze sweet- and smooth-talk ten times. Is there any truth in what’s being said, or are the words an eye-wash, hiding a fraud behind themselves? If you’re not greedy, you won’t fall for a Ponzi. Don’t be greedy. Period. 

You’ve hit full cycle. 

You’ve understood the existence of the breed we speak about. It has dawned upon you. Let’s call this “internal realization”.

Then comes “external recognition”, of the breed being in your vicinity, and trying to exercise its powers upon you. 

Lastly, comes “complete rejection”. 

Well done. 

You’ve saved yourself from lots of emotional and or monetary trouble. 

Spread the word. 

How Will I Know?

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What?

How will I know what?

Well, what do you think?

How will I know if I’m on the right track…? !!

I’m sure you have asked this question…many times. 

If not, you need to.

Why?

You’ve realised that you’re your most reliable source.

You know you.

Therefore, you need to ask this question… to yourself.

This is the marketplace, not some low-stakes video-game parlour.

Lives and futures hang on your decisions.

Make these the right decisions.

How will you know you are on the right track?

It’s quite simple, really. 

Once you’ve heard the answer, you’ll probably go in denial. 

You’ll probably say, naehhhh, this can’t be it.

Believe me please, it is. What’s totally simple need not be worthless. In fact, the best ideas in the world are…simple. 

You’ll know. 

You’ll feel right. 

There’ll be a sense of satisfaction. You’ll feel comfortable. 

Your mind will be sorted. It will make the body feel at ease with an endorphin burst. 

That’s how you’ll know. 

It’s that simple. 

Take the wrong decision, and the opposite things will be happening. Try it out. Trust your reflexes. 

Learn to rely on yourself. 

This is the marketplace we’re talking about…

…where…

…you’re on your own. 

Apple just went Retina plus, right?

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Not that your retina is going to register it, …

… but we’ve entered the retina plus age, …

… and nobody intends on stopping.

Where’s this going?

“They” themselves don’t know.

Similar goes it perhaps with your funds in the bank.

Work towards your magic number.

Fine.

Totally fine.

Fine fine fine.

Wish for you that you go beyond…

… your magic number.

What happens for you then?

Do you revise your magic number, and start working towards your new magic number…

… thus enslaving yourself for life?

Or…
…do you now start functioning…
… beyond money?

Think about it.

Do you cap it at retina? I mean, you could then use your time and resources to something bombastically world-changing, something that has nothing to do with retina?

Or…
… will you continue to be a zombie?

Wish for you, that you take the “wake-up”  decision upon arriving at above juncture.

🙂

There’s no God, is there?

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Or is it just us?

We’re both good and bad, us humans.

Sometimes we strive for the highest. At other times, we stoop to the lowest.

Yeah, it’s just us.

Our best deeds appear Godly to someone in need. Someone or the other plays God to someone or the other in a spot, every now and then.

And that’s amazing. Of course an act like that sure helps that someone in need, but what does an act like that do for the someone who’s doing it?

Vacuum.

Are you familiar with the principle of vacuum?

Vacuum governs flow.

High-pressure flows towards low-pressure. Vacuum is as low-pressure as it gets.

What kind of flow does an act of charity attract?

Goodness.

By doing good, you attract more goodness towards you.

Goodness can even take the form of wealth.

Boost your wealth.

Be good.

Commit copious acts of goodness.

Play God to millions.

Let there be no need for an actual God.

I don’t like saying it, but that’s the best cushioning / protection you can give to your portfolio.

Truth is truth.

Benevolent principles need to be propagated.

I don’t care about how awkward it looks.

I write because I care.

What Do You Live For?

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From target to target…

…what are we striving for really?

We achieve… and move on. 

Next step, please.

Yeah, that is a recurring phrase / question on my mind. 

I climb a small step, and I ask myself – what is the next step?

Then comes identification of this next step. 

Then comes climbing of it. 

Then comes the question again. 

What is the next step?

One can go on and on like this. 

What is it that we actually want to achieve?

Goals will come and go. 

Something or the other will always be out of whack. 

You fix it. 

Something else starts to bother you. 

You fix that. 

Then something else. 

You get the picture. 

The question being asked here is … what is the driving force? What gives us satisfaction? What are we in it for?

Different people might give different answers. 

My take is that it boils down to one thing. 

The feeling of exhilaration…after a target…that endorphin burst…that sense of having gotten somewhere…that excitement about being on the right track…about being vindicated…that something…however which way you wish to describe it…is it. It is that what we strive for. I feel so. At the centre of things in life, is the desire for that state of being. My humble opinion. 

I try and stay with it. Once that feeling comes, that is. If comes off and on. There are so many targets in life, mostly small ones. So the endorphin burst happens quite often actually. For that matter it happens while exercising too. Whenever it happens, however it happens, I try to stay with it. I try to enjoy that moment. That moment gives it all a very beautiful meaning. 

Staying with the moment…didn’t someone else say that? Wasn’t it the Dalai Lama? 

Core-System Discovery

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You look.

Perhaps without success.

You look again.

And again.

So on and forth.

Till you find.

What?

An addition to your core-system.

What’s a core-system?

The better question here would be – what’s your core-system?

Now, fortunately or unfortunately, that’s for you to find.

In a nutshell, your core-system is that something which makes you tick. It has as many facets as you wish it to have. Each facet needs to be discovered, attached, fine-tuned, tried, tested and finally welcomed to or rejected from your core-system.

Facets are not limited to your professional life. Your core-system makes you tick on an all-round basis.

For example, brewing and savouring that perfect cup of tea could be an important facet. Finding, fine-tuning and enjoying your favorite media-source could be another. Blogging could be one. Sport. Hobbies. Family time. People skills. Yeah, now we’re getting professional. You can fill in your professional blanks.

Discovery costs. Time, effort, funds, nerve, sweat. It’s worth it many times over when you find a fit. Please believe me.

Some things don’t fit. You think you want them badly, but the harder you try, the more they refuse to fit. After trying your hardest, you need to conserve your life-force to look for another fit. What didn’t fit didn’t fit for a reason. It’s not mandatory for Nature to reveal that reason to you. Move on.

Keep looking for fits. Eventually, you’ll have a robust core-system, which will make you tick exceptionally.

Happy Findings!

🙂

Small Things are Big Things

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You’ve covered lot of ground, and are now cleaning up the field. 

You’re tying up the loose ends. 

Your small acts here count big. 

Please see them through to their logical conclusion. 

Don’t get up without completing full action. 

An act at or towards the end leans on the main piece of action which you’ve already fulfilled. 

It’s loaded on a spring. It’s effectivity is enormous. However, you are tired. You’re looking to close up. Hashtags, man, what are these hashtags!? Why do I have to put them, you’re saying to yourself. What purpose do they serve? Let me just forget about them.

No.

Hashtags are just one thing. A small thing, but then, a big thing. 

Tying your act into your own seamless sphere is another such thing. 

I know, it’s a pain…but seamlessness is a beautiful feeling. 

I like to imagine that seamlessness is the equivalent of free-falling in a mad, mad world. Maybe that’s a nonsensical analogy, but that’s what I like to imagine. Seamlessness gives you a huge advantage in today’s world. Take it. Make the effort to keep yourself seamless. 

Backing up, yeah yeah. Who likes backups? You’ve got to do them, however. No pain, no gain. I’ll talk to you after some data-loss. Only bother hooking up with me if you’re well backed-up. I don’t have the energy to lend a shoulder that withstands your tears in the event you weren’t back-up. 

Where hashtags stop, that’s where your organisational skills should take over. Meaning, that one hashtag-search could give a thousand results. How do you still find what you’re looking for? Logic. You’ve used your logic while organising your work. Logically, your file should be somewhere, and that’s the somewhere you look. 90%+ you’ll find it there. Follow seamless logic. The first logical avenue that comes to mind…take it. Yeah, your seamlessness also stands on your own seamless logic. 

Staying with what counts is a small thing, but again, it’s a big thing. 

On the path, one strays. One is distracted. What do you do?

The mind is like a baby. 

Don’t deny it outright. 

Trick it. 

Let it stray for a bit. 

Then, when its defences are down, bring it back to the main path. 

Keep bringing it back, until it starts getting a rooting righ by returning to home-base every half an hour. That’s the sweet-spot.

Don’t lose yourself into lost causes. 

Achieve. Fine. Set goals. Sure. Get them done. Great. Move on. 

Moving on is one small step. However, it’s a big step. Not many have the strength or the mental capacity to move on. Make sure you do. 

How?

Open your eyes and see the world. 

If you feel that your one achievement is going to make it spin, fine, stay on there, good for you. If not, please move on to your next achievement. Keep doing this till you find that one big, big thing for yourself. By that time, you’ll have many small things going on auto-pilot anyways. 

Get a grip. Nip something small when it’s small. Get to the big. Go for it. 🙂

Who’s the Driver?

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Are you an artist?

If you are, you’ll already perhaps know who the driver is. 

Or, maybe, you’re in the process of finding out. 

Ultimately, whatever you’re doing can become an art. 

What drives you?

Are you understanding what I’m trying to ask?

What pushes you on, with the art? What makes you want to create… more? What makes you want your art to be more… bombastic? Powerful? Impactful? Meaningful? Lucrative perhaps? What?

Is it mere ambition?

Naehhhhh, mere ambition is not enough. 

There has to be some kind of… pain. 

You have to ache somewhere, to let it out elsewhere. 

Pain drives. 

It can drive you beyond… itself. 

That’s the thing with pain. 

Slowly, you get used to pain, quantum by quantum. Your system doesn’t feel that particular quantum anymore. It’s feeling the surplus, though. How’re you bearing the surplus? By hanging on to your art. Your art takes you away from the surplus pain that you would have felt. You channelize the force of surplus pain into your art. Your art shines. On the side, you don’t feel a lot of pain anymore. 

It’s really important to understand where there will be learning, and where there probably won’t be. 

I’m not saying non-learning areas are to be avoided. They’re comfortable areas. Nobody likes to avoid comfortable areas. Sure. Nor do I. I’m just saying that comfy areas won’t really be enhancing your learning process. Let’s just be clear about it. If you have any art to express, any kind of art, full expression probably won’t come through if you entrench yourself in a comfort-zone. 

Know what I mean?

Yeah?

Good. 

You don’t need to ask who the driver is. You’ve worked with the driver. 

You Might Think I’m Crazy

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you might think i’m crazy

to hang around with you

maybe you think i’m lucky

to have something to do

…

you might think it’s foolish

or maybe it’s untrue

you might think i’m crazy

but all i want is you

The Cars

Some years ago, we went to see “Cars 2” with my daughter and her cousins. Yawn, I thought. Animation movie, blah blah blah, but anything for the kids, when suddenly, above song started playing and took me back to school. How appropriate, a song by the Cars in a movie called Cars. Actually ended up enjoying the movie.

Anyways, something about the lyrics caught my attention.

What do you read in this space?

Words, words, words.

No graphs. No images. No math. No numbers, really. 

And this blog is supposed to be what? A commentary on applied finance?

So am I crazy?

Maybe, …

… but, this is exactly how I want to do it. 

No hocus-pocus. 

Here, we break it down to the bare minimum. 

Words. 

We talk. 

It’s all very light. 

You read through in a jiff. 

There’s a powerful flow which you might not even be aware of. 

And, as the lyrics say, all I want is you.

Yes, I want your attention, and I want to keep it riveted. 

How am I to achieve that in an age of very short attention spans?

We keep it simple. Bare minimum stuff, wrapped in enjoyable words. Stories. Analogies. Parallels. Bridges. As seemingly non-finance as possible, but still not missing the point.

Sure, I still could be crazy.

What do I hope to achieve?

So much time involved.

All this for free.

Yeah, I really must be delirious.

Stop. 

It’s deep. 

I enjoy writing. 

It relaxes me. 

My thoughts get organized. Concepts get strengthened. I focus. Many mistakes in my approach get nullified. I don’t want more from this. 

Also, it’s my giveback. I use a lot of free stuff from the net. I give this for free. It’s all a give and take. 

So, just bear with me. 

Read if you want to, it’ll make me happy. 

It is definitely a different way to learn about finance, with all the jugglery left out. 

Well, why not?



 

 

Are There amy WMDs in the Markets?

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What’s a weapon of mass destruction in the markets?

Well, practically anything that the masses don’t know much about, and are being handed on a platter in a repackaged form, to savour. 

Sure, I’m using one of Warren Buffett’s analogies here. Loosely requoted, Buffett once warned, that futures and options were weapons of mass destruction (in the hands of those masses, who didn’t know much about them, but still used them). 

Yeah, I will stand upon the shoulders of giants if required. 

As long as I quote them, I’m good. 

The view from their shoulders let’s one think from a height. That’s an ideal situation for fresh thinking. 

Supposing something new comes up. That would be a contribution from my side. And why would it have happened? Because I took the liberty to stand upon the shoulders of giants. 

Bottomline is, that everything can be classified as a WMD if one is handling it and doesn’t know much about it. 

Equity is a WMD for newbies. For someone who spends many hours a day for many years, delving into Equity, the scene can be quite different. 

Rome wan’t built in a day. 

You don’t become a PhD in a day. 

You can’t master Equity in a day. 

Or anything else, for that matter. 

Do your homework. 

Put in the hours and the years. 

Burn the oil. 

Take what you do seriously. Not casually. If you’re casual about any professional line, drop it now, or start pursuing it seriously. 

Why do you want to give something the power to become a weapon of destruction?

You don’t. Period. 

All I Need – Is One Look In Your Eyes…

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All I need is the rhythm divine
Lost in the music
Your heart will be mine
All I need is to look in your eyes
Viva la musica
Say you’ll be mine


With due respect to Enrique Iglesias, to whom the above lyrics belong, he’s not the only one. 

We all need motivation. 

Many of us are self-motivated. 

What drives us from within?

A goal.

Sometimes, we stolper. Our drive takes a hit. Self-motivation dips. 

Reasons could be many. Sheer exhaustion, repeated failure, being a square box in a round hole for far too long, what have you and blah blah blah. 

We’re not bothered about the reason here. We’re bothered about the fact. Sometimes, we get demotivated. We stop performing. 

Who needs to step in here?

Our closest ones.

Yeah, they live closest to us, and if they possess an iota of sensitivity, well, they should sense our emotional graph going down. 

Mostly, they do. And, upon recognition, they step in. We feel wanted, loved, and our motivational levels start to go up again. 

Sometimes, our closest one is not sensitive enough, for whatever reason.

Maybe we’re too “strong” to let it show. Maybe our closest one has other, bigger issues to deal with. Whatever. That’s not the important rumination.

What’s the important question here?

Yes, how do we get it back? Without a hand to hold. This one’s big. 

No hand to hold – whoahh – it’s tough. 

Is there a way out?

Do we change our closest one?

Is it that simple?

Sometimes, children are in the equation. Changing isn’t an option we’re discussing here. 

Firstly, we need to shut down on this one want from our closest one. 

Ok, now what?

Motivations’s got to come – from within. It’s a funny thing. It just does. Wait for it. To come from within. 

It needs a catalyst – an event – a trigger – the crossing of an activation barrier – something like that. 

Wait for the catalyst to occur and have effect. 

What do you do meanwhile?

Other things. 

Chant. Meditate. Travel. Play with your child. Take up a temporary assignment elsewhere. Do stuff. Life’s big. So many things are happening. Do something – else.

The catalyst occurs. 

Motivation starts to ooze. 

You’re back in business. 

You didn’t break your sacred environment. 

Maybe your closest one will realise, and will be sensitive next time.

On the other hand, maybe he or she won’t. 

Does it bother you now? You’ve discovered a way out after all.

It probably pinches just a bit. 

Let it. Things could have been much, much worse, which they’re not, so count your blessings, and just let it flow. 

🙂

The Thin Line

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Have you met the thin line…

…  between ambition and greed?

You see it. You want to cross it without wanting to cross it.

What stops you?

A deadly sin is… deadly. If you’re sensitive enough, you do fear the effects of a deadly sin.

Greed can ruin. It has the capacity to upset an apple-cart.

Sometimes you want something that extra much.

Ambition turns into over-ambition.

You get your something.

You’re a go-getter.

You become over-confident.

You forget your basics.

Next few times around, you cross the thin line repeatedly. The high is addictive. Soon, you’re crossing…

… without even knowing.

Yeah, the vicious cycle outlined above has made you insensitive. You’ve stepped over, don’t even know it, and on you’re going. You’re blinded by greed.

It’s not happened overnight. First the thin line beckoned you to come back. Your over-ambition spurred you on a few steps more. A few more steps wouldn’t harm, right?

Wrong.

You’re not sensitive anymore. You’ve lost normal vision. You’re greedy for your goal. You’re not sticking to your basic tenets. You’re not playing safe anymore. You’ve started to even play with your safety moat, in order to achieve an even bigger goal.

You’ve set yourself up to fall… big.

If you do, I hope for two things.

First up, I hope you don’t fall too big, and that you can get up again.

Second, I hope that this fall is your last one, and that it has made you sensitive again.

Sensitive?

Towards what?

Yeah, sensitive towards the thin line.

The Price of Value-Addition

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Does value-addition carry a price-tag?

You bet.

What, you thought you could add value… for free?

Naehhhh.

Good things in life generally don’t come for free.

One doesn’t value the best of things that are free. One treats them cheaply… because they’re free.

In the marketplace, free-kinda stuff always comes with a catch, or a trap.

Ponzis use high-return free money ad-tags to lure pig-investors.

I generally steer clear of free-kinda stuff, anywhere and anyhow in life.

Don’t be afraid to pay (well) for value-addition.

By adding value, you’re doing yourself a huge favour. You’re creating an asset that will generate towards your corpus on auto-pilot. Why should something like this be coming for free?

In fact, why should something like this not be appropriately expensive?

I Don’t Want the Cancer

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Are you hurt?

A.

Do you want the cancer?

B.

I do get hurt. Yeah, things hurt me. I’m an emotionally penetrable human being.

Fine. That’s me.

What I definitely don’t want is option B.

Who wants option B?

Can’t think of anyone.

Who gets option B?

Many.

But who?

Those who can’t forget the hurt. Yeah, people who’re unable to move on.

To forget the hurt and move on, simultaneously saving ourselves from the cancer, we need to forgive.

Someone’s misbehaved. Hurt you. Are you going to ruin your future days? No.

Forgive. Forget. Move on.

Just remove the mould in which cancer can potentially set in.

What makes you think it’s different in the markets?

A loss is a hurt.

Need I say more?

You can do the math.

Can I Really Really Really Do Without Fundamentals?

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I like to trade without a bias. 

Lack of bias means freedom… 

… freedom to think independently…

… not falling prey to another person’s opinion…

… which then allows you to listen to your system…

… trade identification…

…setup demarcation…

…trigger-entry…

…trade triggered…

…trade management…

… trigger-exit…

… exited.

That’s it, move on to the next trade. 

News gives me a bias. 

No news. 

You know what else gives me a bias?

Fundamentals. 

I don’t wish to look at fundamentals. 

If my eyes are seeing a setup in the EuroDollar, I would like to take it without the nagging thought of “what will happen if Scotland says NO or YES”.

I don’t want to care about inflation numbers, or job figures, or industrial output or what have you. 

I mean…can I just …do it?

Meaning, can I just do away with fundamentals, and focus on technicals only, which is my area of specialization?

Sometimes, I get a little unsure. 

I start looking around. 

How are others doing it? The experts, that is. 

My uncertainty gets fanned a little more, when I see experts not really ignoring fundamentals, even though they might be specialized in technicals. Hmmmm. I’m still not happy looking into fundamentals. I mean, why should I take time-out from my strong suit, and devote it to my very weak suit?

No, I decide. I’m really not going to look at fundamentals. 

What’s the worst that could happen?

Let me just see if the worst that could happen is bearable.

Ok…I ID a trade…demarcate a setup…and the trade goes against me because of the announcement of some number in the afternoon. People looking at fundamentals would have waited for the announcement of the number and then traded. Fine. 

In the world of trading, it is always good to have the worst-case scenario unwrapped and right before your eyes to see what it really means. 

You know, I can take this. 

Would you like to know why?

Firstly, I would like you to understand that we are looking at large sample-sizes here. Any sensible reasoning would only apply to large sample-sizes. 

Over the long run, and over many, many trades, Mrs.Market will go either way after an announcement of a fundamental number with a chance of roughly 50:50. 

If this is true, it is very good news for me, good enough to just kick fundamentals out of the equation. 

At times, the market reacts as per the crowd’s anticipation. 

At other times, it reacts in the opposite fashion. 

I assume that the ratio of the above two directions taken by Mrs. Market over a very large sample-size would be 50:50.

I think my assumption is correct. I don’t want to go through the labour of proving it mathematically. 

Ok, let’s assume that my assumption is correct. I then kick fundamentals, and go about my work while relying on my strong-suit, i.e. technicals. This trajectory will very probably have a happy ending. 

Now let’s assume that my assumption is wrong. 

What saves my day?

Technicals. 

Technicals very often give setups that factor in crowd behaviour and crowd anticipation of market direction. 

Technical setups get one into the build-up to an announcement. 

More often than not, one is already in the trade, in the correct direction, enjoying the build-up to an announcement without even knowing that the announcement is coming, if one is not following fundamentals. 

Technicals can actually do this for you. I’ve seen them do it. I mean, the GBPUSD has been giving short setups during the entire 1000 pip run-down recently. To have availed such a setup, people haven’t needed to know that a referendum is coming. All they’ve needed to do is to take the trade once they see the setup. 

Actually, that’s it. I don’t need more.  

I don’t need to reason anymore with myself. Everything is here. 

I think I can let go of fundamentals safely.

Even this trajectory should have a happy ending.

Happy Fourth Birthday, Magic Bull !!

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I believe in birthdays…

…and Magic Bull turns four today… 🙂 🙂 … .

When I die…

… this writing will live on. 

I won’t be taking my forex with me. Nor will I be carrying any equities. My soul will carry the satisfaction, though, of having created Magic Bull.

I love to write. 

It gives me a high. A huge kick. 

I feel totally free. Complete freedom. Have you experienced such freedom?

No shackles. 

I like to break barriers with my writing. 

I’ve reached people. Inside. People start to think whey they read this stuff. 

This is earning. For me. 

ANYWAYS, just as a breakout underlying breaks away into new highs, shattering all resistance in the process, in the same manner, words have just been overflowing over the past few months, after more than half a year of absolute dryness…

… such are words. 

However, by now, I’ve learnt enough to give them the respect that is due when they come. 

When words start flowing, there’s just one rule that applies. LET THEM FLOW. 

I don’t care how embarrassing that might be. 

What is embarrassment when the same words can bring about vital change? I really don’t care about the embarrassment. 

I decided long ago to make my tenure count. 

Contact with me is going to make an impact on you. Words are my medium. Without giving you an energy boost, I remain unfulfilled.

Why? 

Everybody has a purpose in life. 

Mine’s to make changes with the sheer force of my words. 

You have your purpose. 

I have mine. 

With Magic Bull, I fulfil my purpose of existing.  

With due respect, have you fulfilled yours? 

And, with due respect, have you even recognized yours?

Food for thought. 

🙂

Dealing with Noise…the Old-Fashioned Way

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There’s a sure-shot way to deal with noise…

…just shut your ears. 

Yeah, the best ideas in the world are – simple. 

Let’s not complicate things, ok?

So, what kinda noise are we talking about here?

We’re not talking about audio, you got that right…!

The concept is related, though. 

If you’re charting, you’ve dealt with noise. 

Yeah, we’re talking about minute to minute, hour to hour or day to day fluctuations in a chart of any underlying.

Markets fluctuate. 

While discussing noise, we are pointing towards relatively small fluctuations which generally don’t affect the long-term trend. 

However, noise has the capability of deceiving our minds into believing that the long-term trend is turning, or is over. 

Don’t let noise fool you.

When has the long-term trend changed?

When the chart proves it to you through pre-defined fashion. That’s it. You don’t let noise to get you to believe that the long-term trend has changed, or is changing. Ever. 

You believe your chart. 

Moving averages crossing over? Support broken? Resistance pierced? Trend-line shattered? ADX below 15? Fine, fine, FINE.

Take your pick. You have many avenues giving decent signals that the long-term trend has changed or is changing. 

How about eyeballing? Works for some. Like I said, let’s keep this simple. 

So let’s get noise out of the way. 

Random numbers generate trends – you knew that, right?

You don’t need more. 

Once you’ve identified a trend, that’s your cue to latch on to it. 

We’re not talking about predicting here. We don’t need to predict. We just need to identify a trend, and latch on. That’s all. No predictions. Not required. 

From this point on, two things can happen.

Further random numbers deepen the trend you’ve latched on to. You make money. Good. 

Or, the next set of random numbers make your trade go against you, and your stop gets hit. 

If your stop is getting hit, please let it get hit. Even that qualifies as a good trade. 

You move on to the next trade setup, without even blinking. 

What you’re not doing is letting noise throw you out of the trade by deceiving your mind. 

So, here’s what you do. 

You’ve id’d your trend. You’ve latched on. Your stop is in place. Now, don’t look at your trade. 

Till when?

That’s your call. 

Don’t look at your trade till you’ve decided not to look at it. For the day-trader, this could be a couple of hours. For the positional trader, it could be days, or weeks. 

By not looking, you won’t let noise deceive you. 

If the trend doesn’t deepen, or goes against you, you lose the risked small amount. 

Just remember one thing. 

A loss has immense informational value. It teaches you about market behaviour patterns. It also highlights your trading errors. Many times, losses occur without any mistakes made by you. 

That’s the nature of trading. 

Ultimately, if the trend deepens, you’ll have made good money, and can then further manage your trade after the stipulated period of not looking.

This is the sweet spot.

This is where you want to be, again, and again and again.

Sitting on a large profit gives you room to play for more profit by lifting your stop and your target simultaneously.

To reach this sweet spot again, and again and again, you have to position yourself out there and appropriately, again, and again and again. 

This is also the nature of trading.

Wishing you happy and lucrative trading!

🙂

If it Fits You…

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… then nothing else matters.

Who told you that finance is a one-size-fits-all game?

Actually, the truth is very far away.

Truth is truth.

It doesn’t matter how much you twist it, or bury it or whatever.

It eventually emerges, unchanged, unscathed, true.

And the winds here are talking about unique sizing for each market player.

Yeah, only a unique fit is going to fulfill your own market play.

It will look silly to others.

People will laugh.

Doesn’t matter.

It fits you.

You’ve found your fit. That alone is invaluable. People undergo decades of struggle looking for theirs. Many don’t find it.

What is that state of being, when you know that you’ve found your fit?

Satisfaction.

You’re not jumping.

Not edgy.

Not looking further.

Looking for extra time, to develop and enhance what you’ve found.

You’re at peace.

You’re happy sitting.

Small things count big in the markets.