Category Archives: Entry

It has to be a Dunk

Posted on by
Reply

When I shoot…

… it has to be a dunk.

If I’m not getting a dunk in…

… I’m not shooting.

What are the implications?

Imagine only taking market dunks for multiple decades in a row.

Where do you think that’s going to leave you?

Most of the time, though, one’s not shooting.

That’s because, most of the time, dunk trajectoires are not available.

When one is not shooting, does it become boring?

Only if you let it.

Yeah, just don’t let it.

No action is a good thing.

It saves resources.

Then, when opportunity is available, one might get twenty dunk days in a row.

Things can get so active, that one wants activity to normalize again, if not stop for a while.

Actually, not a challenge.

I’ll tell you what is a challenge…

… for me.

Dunk opportunity…

… and travel.

I don’t like this combination.

How do I deal with it?

First up, what don’t I like about it?

Distraction.

Not doing full justice to the trip.

Not doing full justice to the investing opportunity either, as in distracted due diligence.

Hmmm.

What do we do here?

Sure, you’ll argue, today one carries one’s terminal where one goes.

Does one also carry one’s zone, you know, the magical frame of mind, from within which one takes magic decisions?

Very probably not.

When one takes an investment decision, is it not better to be in this magical zone?

Therefore, unless the opportunity is just too pressing, such that it makes me open my terminal even during travel, …

…, yeah, my terminal mostly stays shut when I’m on the move, …

…, because then it’s time to do other things. Yayyyyy!

😀

Busy Times

Posted on by
Reply

Market falls are busy times. 

No, we’re not busy whining. 

We’re busy buying.

Are we not afraid?

That the crack might deepen?

That it might go down to zero?

No.

We’re not afraid of this scenario. 

Meaning?

Meaning that even though such a scenario cannot be ruled out…

Huh!?

Yeah, it can’t be ruled out. With trade wars and back to back black swans waiting to strike, theoretically, the bottom is zero.

And you’re not afraid?

No.

Why?

Because I buy into fundamentally sound businesses…

…zero debt…

…great 5 year numbers…

…sometimes, great ten year numbers…

…and I buy with considerable margin of safety.

Still, one is normally always afraid, right?

Wrong. A small entry quantum strategy kicks out all remnant fear.

How?

This strategy leaves me liquid. Let it go down to zero. I’ll still have liquidity to buy.

And that which you’re buying…

…is sound, yes. If I buy something sound, it will yield returns. It’s like agriculture. Crops grow in good soil. They don’t grow well in bad soil. I make sure that I choose excellent soil.

How does one do that?

Due diligence. Period.

With all the scams and frauds going on…

Well, I look long and hard for shareholder-friendly managements. Representable salaries, willingness to share, largesse, debt-averseness, intelligence, business savvy, the list goes on.

What if you land up with a fraud management?

Solid research will make you avoid scamsters. I search the internet thoroughly for any kind of smoke. Crooks leave a trail, and one is able to catch their online trail pretty easily. 

Alone online?

Second recourse are annual reports. They reveal a lot. I don’t invest in a company without having a thorough look into its annual reports. I look at CSR, the director’s report, skin in the game, balance sheets, profit and loss statements, cash-flow, special items, what have you.

What if you still land up with a fraud?

After I know I’ve landed up with a fraud management, I would look to exit at the next market high. 

What if your holding is wiped out till then?

If it’s wiped out, I have many other holdings to lean on, and don’t forget the liquidity that is yet to flow into honest managements.

So you’re not afraid of the loss?

There is some risk one has to take. Here, it is the risk of being wrong. The good thing is, once I know that I’m wrong, I won’t double up on my wrong call. I’ll get busy elsewhere and look to exit from my wrong call with as little damage as possible, perhaps even in profit.

Profit?

You forget, I like to buy with margin of safety, and you’d be surprised at what people are willing to pay at market highs. 

I see, well then, happy investing!

Thanks! 🙂

Nature of the Beast

Posted on by
Reply

Stocks…

…crash.

It’s the nature of the beast.

Stocks also multiply.

For stocks to multiply, one needs to do something.

What is that something?

One needs to buy stocks when they crash.

Let me give you an example. 

Let’s assume markets are on a high, and there’s euphoria.

Excel Propionics is cruising at a 1000.

The prevailing euphoria seeps into your brain, and you buy Propionics at a 1000.

For Propionics to multiply 10 times in your lifetime, it will now need to reach 10,000.

Likely? Wait.

Cut to now.

Stocks are crashing. 

The same stock, Excel Propionics, now crawls at 450.

You have studied it. 

It’s debt-free.

Positive cash-flow.

Ratios are good.

Numbers are double-digit.

Leverage is low.

Management is shareholder-friendly. 

You start buying at 450. 

By the time the crash is through, you have bought many times, and your buying average is 333.

For Propionics to multiply 10 times in your lifetime, it will now need to rise to 3330.

Which event is more likely to happen?

Just answer intuitively.

Of course, the second scenario is more likely to play out than the first one. In the second scenario, Propionics will need to peak 3 times lower.

Simple?

No!

Try buying in a crash.

You are shaken up. 

There’s so much pessimism going around.

Rumours, stories, whatsapps, opinions. The whole world has become an authority on where this market is going to go, and you are dying from inside.

What’s killing you?

The hiding that your existing portfolio is taking, that’s what’s killing you.

Are you liquid?

No?

Very bad. 

Why aren’t you liquid?

Create this circumstance for yourself.

Be liquid.

Optimally, be liquid for life. 

Then, you will look forward to a crash, because that’s when you will use your liquidity copiously, to buy quality stocks, or to improve the buying averages of the already existing quality stocks in your folio. 

How do you get liquid for life?

You employ the small entry quantum strategy.

Yes, that’s about right. 

We’ve been speaking about this strategy in this space for the last two years.

Read up!

🙂

Happy Eighth Birthday, Magic Bull!

Posted on by
Reply

Hey,

Today, we turn eight.

This is an extreme time.

Extraordinary moves have become normal.

How do we react to a world full of upheavals?

Does anyone have a satisfactory response?

We don’t know, and time will tell if our responses are correct.

However, we do know, that we possess common sense…

…, and we are going to hold on to it for all our life’s worth.

It has not come for free.

It has been earned after making costly mistakes.

It is very valuable.

It is going to see us through.

The topsiness and the turvyness is good for us.

It will set up opportunities.

We are only going to grab opportunities.

When there’s no opportunity, we do nothing.

We have learnt to do nothing.

Doing nothing actually means no entry.

We use this time to do due diligence for the future, when entry is allowed as per our entry criteria.

Doing nothing is a steady part of our repertoire.

However, when opportunity comes, we are going to let go of all fear, and we are going to pull the trigger.

We know how to pull the trigger.

We are not afraid.

Why?

We are debt-free.

Our basic incomes are in place.

Our families are taken care of.

Without that, we don’t move.

We invest with surplus.

We implement a small entry quantum strategy.

We enter again and again and again, upon opportunity.

Because of our small entry quantum, we are liquid for life.

Crash?

Bring it on.

We’ll keep going in, small entry quantum upon small entry quantum.

Don’t forget, we have rendered ourselves liquid for life.

And, we’ve got stamina!

Happy eighth birthday, Magic Bull!

Nath on Trading – IV – We’ve got Stamina

Posted on by
Reply

61). We’re able to take many, many small losses, without flinching.

62). Only that sets us up for the big wins.

63). We don’t second guess our stops.

64). In fact, we want the stop to hit. As in, hit me, if you’ve got the *****.

65). When the trade moves in our direction, we let it. We’re doing other stuff.

66). When the trade moves against us, we let it. We’re doing other stuff.

67). That’s because we fully understand the function of our stop. It will take us out of the market, whether in loss or in profit. It’s dynamic, you see. It moves with the market as per the definition provided by us while punching in the trade.

68). We’re not afraid that our stop could be jumped. Can happen, in a panic. Hopefully, our technicals will have placed us in the right trade direction before huge and fast moves. It comes to mind that this kind of move occured at least twice in the last six years, once with the swiss franc, and once during Brexit. If we start worrying about such one-offs, we won’t trade at all. 

69). We look at the technicals, and we listen to what they’re saying. The trend is our friend. We trade with the trend, either on fresh highs (fresh lows) or on pullbacks, depending upon the conditions.

70). This is trading, so I personally don’t look at fundamentals. However, cook your curry the way you like it.

71). We might zero into tradable underlyings with screens or searches, but…

72). …we eyeball into final trade selection.

73). Yes, the chart needs to look and feel just right. All but the one tradable entity are rejected by the look and feel of the chart. The one remaining is the one we trade. If none remains, we don’t trade. 

74). Price is king. We’re into price action.

75). Indicators only indicate. Price does the talking.

76). What the price is saying will reflect in the indicator, but with a time-lag.

77). Do we want this time-lag? I don’t.

78). Thus, price action it is, for me. However, everyone is looking at the same price.

79). Therefore, we need to think slightly out of the box, to make money.

80). Edge + out of the box thinking + stamina nails it.

 

 

 

 

Stamina of a Marathon Runner

Posted on by
Reply

Yes.

That’s what a small entry quantum approach demands of its player.

To be frank, I’ve not run any marathons on field and track.

However, I’ve done my share in life, and continue to do so. 

If it’s not a marathon, I don’t get a kick.

If you’ve got that in yourself, you’re cut out for the small entry quantum approach.

There’s repetition.

Boredom.

The long-haul.

Life in the background.

No hype.

Going on and on…

…till you break through,…

…and the contents of your portfolio spill over…

…and start to show.

Might take a few decades. 

Do you have it in you?

What will make you hold out?

Stick to the tenets of the small entry quantum approach, and you will not only hold out, but your folio will burgeon too.

Buy with surplus.

Buy with margin of safety.

Learn to sit.

Enter small. Many times.

Keep entering over the years, till there is reason to enter.

Exit on highs. Only get rid of those stocks you don’t feel like holding anymore.

No fear please. Kill it. Create the circumstances for fear to vanish.

No euphoria either. That’s a tough one, especially when the whole world is dancing around you. 

Do your homework. 

Don’t listen to anyone.

You’re set.

 

Nath on Trading – III – Meat in the Middle

Posted on by
Reply

41). If it’s high, it could go higher.

42). If it’s low, it could go lower.

43). Market forces tire the trader.

44). Engulfment in loss and loss-freeze suck one out.

45). That’s exactly why we’re not going to let that happen. You know how. (Hint : stops).

46). Trade selection is the least of one’s problems. It’s no biggie.

47). Trade management separates winners from losers.

48). Proper trade exits are the icing on the cake.

49). Longs exiting in a rising market – hmmm – really?

50). Shorts exiting in a falling market – hmmm – really?

51). What’s that other fellow trading? Who cares?

52). How’s that other fellow doing? You got it. Who cares?

53). The only entity stopping you from outperformance – is you.

54). All your demons – are in you.

55). They’ll slowly come out, over the years, one by one, or some now, some later. Hopefully sooner than later.

56). Let them emerge, show their antics, and disappear forever. Make sure you bid them goodbye.

57). That’s why, you’re trading small, right, till your demons have emerged, created havoc, and then disappeared, forever?

58). You’ll feel it from inside, when it’s the right time to scale up. Develop this dialogue with yourself. A clear voice emerging from within can carry great advice.

59). Sure, you’re looking at trade signals, and sticking to trade rules. However, the voice from within is the net resultant per saldo vector of your entire trading experience. It carries weight.

60). Mostly, it doesn’t come. Clear the way for this voice to make itself heard when you need to listen to what it has to say. Trading, at first, is a bunch of rules. Later, trading becomes an art.

Nath on Trading – Basics Win

Posted on by
Reply

1). Put yourself out there. Again and again. Take the next trade.

2). Keep yourself in a position to take the next trade. How?

3). Take small losses. Have a stop in place. Always. Have the guts to have it in place physically.

4). Trade with money that doesn’t hurt you if it’s gone.

5). Don’t exhaust stamina. Put trade in place with smart stop that moves as per definition, and then forget it. 

6). Keep yourself physically and mentally fit. Good health will make you take the next trade. Bad health won’t.

7). Have a system…

8). …with an edge, and even a slight edge will do.

9). Keep sharpening your system. 

10). Don’t listen to anyone. You’ve got your system, remember? Sc#@w tips. God has given you a brain. Use it. 

11). Let profit run. Don’t nip it in the bud. PLEASE.

12). A big profit doesn’t mean you’re it. It can become bigger. And bigger. Remember that.

13). What’s going to keep your account in the green over the long run are the big winning trades. LET THEM HAPPEN. How?

14). You exit when the market stops you out. Period. Your trailing stop on auto is fully capable of locking in big gains and then some.

15). Similarly, make the market make you enter. Entries are to be triggered by the market. Use trigger-entries on your platform.

16). When a trade is triggered, you’re done with it, till it’s stopped out, in profit or in loss. Can you follow that?

17). Your trade identification skills are going to improve over time. Get through that time without giving up. 

18). Despair is bad, but euphoria is worse. Guard yourself against euphoria after a big win. Why?

19). Big wins are often followed by recklessness and deviations from one’s system that is already working. NO.

20). Use your common-sense. Is your calculator saying the right thing? Can this underlying be at that price? Keep asking questions that require common-sense to respond. Keep your common-sense awake. 

 

 

 

Robotic Stock Selection Anyone?

Posted on by
Reply

No…

…thank you…

…is it?

Sure, stockscreens.

We use them all the time. 

A stock screen is a robot.

So why am I still saying no thank you?

I use stockscreens day in and day out.

I use them for trade selection, and I use them for long-term stock selection.

However,…

…(here comes the hammer),…

…the final say is mine. 

I’d like the human touch to answer yes or no.

Also, out of say a hundred selections, I can still say no to all.

And, if something catches my eye, I can dig deeper. 

I’d like to keep all these things in my hand.

I’d like my market approach to be with open eyes and usage of common-sense.

So where are we exactly?

Somewhere between one-fourth and half robotic.

That suits us. 

We save hours of sweat labour.

After sweat labour has done its work, we start applying our minds. 

We take over where the robot has left off.

Uff, sometimes it’s so boring, that…

Posted on by
Reply

…you find yourselves asking,…

…was that it?

Aha. 

Need I remind you, that this is very good indeed?

You want your strategy to become to streamlined, that it’s outright sheer damn boring. 

That’s exactly when the strategy will perform.

Thrill-seekers have a video-game experience of the markets and then burn out. 

You will go on and on with your boring strategy. 

What does this mean for your time?

You’ve got something streamlined, so you’ve got time on your hands. 

Twiddle your thumbs, or do something new. 

I’ll take new. 

I’d go for another strategy. 

Approach another market. 

Anything that attracts you. 

Develop something in that market. 

Make sure there’s no overlap between your markets. 

Why?

When you wind up the day’s input for a market, you want to be exactly there, i.e. wound up with that market. 

Entering the other market is something fresh for you. 

You look forward to it. 

Why exactly?

Because of no overlap with something you’re done with for the day. 

Slowly, get a few strategies going, such that your working day is taken care of. 

This is how you proceed with a market.

Enter-do-exit. Done.

Next market.

Enter-do-exit. Done.

And next market. 

Once you’re done with a market for the day, only look at it the next day. 

This way you’ll stay fresh, and your time and energy won’t be exhausted by hourly nitty-gritties. 

Once done with all your markets for the day, do other stuff in life. 

Non-market stuff.

Like cultivation of hobbies, spending family-time, sport, meditation, chanting, reading, what have you. 

Do full justice to life. 

Stocks and the Art of Synthesis

Posted on by
Reply

A lot comes together.

This coming-together is called synthesis.

The word synthesis has now become universal.

It is applied in various fields, including Chemistry, manufacturing and the like.

It is also applied in areas where deep thought boils down facts to unity, to arrive at a conclusion.

What all are we looking at, with stocks?

No action.

Action.

Time-frames.

Market-level.

Selection.

Entry.

Management.

Exit.

One can list other stuff, but this list should do too.

One needs to synthesize the ingredients in such a manner, that the resultant matches one’s risk-profile. [[Why? Matching means successful market-play. Try it out.]]

That, my dear friends, is the art of synthesis, in a nutshell.

 

Trigger Vigour

Posted on by
Reply

Can you pull a trigger?

Or do you hesitate?

Are you afraid?

This is vital stuff, and you need to recognize this about yourself.

Why?

We’ll go into the why some other time, but let if suffice for now to say that trigger dynamics are part of basic risk-profiling, and if one’s market movement is not as per one’s risk-profile, things generally go wrong.

Back to triggers.

Cast aside pulling, are you able to recognize a trigger?

What comes before recognition?

Definition.

Have you defined market triggers?

Everyone has a different definition of when to act.

You need to know when you are going to act.

No ifs, no buts, just clear-cut action.

Your system will tell you that it’s time for action.

You do a double-check.

Are you recognizing what your system is telling you?

Is what it’s telling you recognized by your mind as a time to act?

Yes?

Then act.

What is the action, you ask?

Hmmm.

Why are you asking that?

You have to define the action too.

Just like you defined the conditions for action, you also define what exactly the action is going to be.

When you act, you pull a trigger. The quantum and style of your action is your follow-through after the trigger is pulled.

Make it mechanical.

As much as possible.

Breathing Space

Posted on by
Reply

I like to breathe…

…between trades. 

There’s something fresh about being market neutral. 

One is decoupled from market forces. 

One feels light. 

If one has just closed a losing trade, there’s hung-over disappointment. 

Forget. 

Breathe. 

Move on. 

On the other hand, if one has just closed a winning trade…

…there’s remnant euphoria. 

Forget.

Breathe. 

Move on. 

Why forget?

The next trade is the next trade. 

It has nothing to do with the previous trade. 

Also, one is recuperating, remember?

Market forces take a toll. 

Market neutral air allows the system to regenerate. 

Don’t mistake this market neutral with the other market neutral. 

Insiders speak of being market neutral when they are hedged, and trades on both sides result in an overall market neutral stance for them. 

Hedged market neutral candidates experience a double whammy of market forces. 

You’ve understood by now, that we are talking about the “not in the of the market” neutral stance. 

Should one then even call it market neutral?

I mean, one can call it sitting out, or something. 

I like to call it market neutral breathing space.

When does the neutral strictly apply?

When I don’t know if the next trade is going to be long or short.

What will the trade direction depend upon?

Data. 

Chart. 

Technicals. 

Fundamentals. 

Whatever cooks your goose. 

However, sometimes, one is on a short-short strategy, or for that matter a long-long strategy. Meaning, that one might be out of a trade, but one is waiting to go short (long) on the next one, and so on and so forth. Meaning that one knows one’s trade direction for a defined time frame. 

Well, I still like to call the breathing space between trades market neutral, even here, because the word “neutral” reminds me to keep an unbiased mind about the next entry point. 

I try to then look at the chart free from the remains of previous experience, in my search for an entry point, even though I know the direction that I will be trading.

How much time can one spend between trades?

Depends on when the next setup arrives. 

Why the hurry?

Enjoy the calm of the space.

The Benefit of Quantum upon Quantum

Posted on by
Reply

Underlying equity. 

How do you protect against fraud and / or investor-unfriendliness?

You’ve done your research. 

All good. 

Stock is a buy. 

Meets your parameters. 

What’s the next step?

Protection. 

You buy quantum upon quantum. 

You don’t plunge into the stock with all you’ve got to give. 

No. 

You put in a quantum.

Then you wait. 

Better opportunity arises.

Fundamentals haven’t changed. All still good. 

You put in another quantum.

Quantum…

…upon quantum. 

That’s how you keep entering the stock till it keeps giving you a reason to enter. 

Year upon year. 

Between quanta, you’re studying behaviour. 

You’re looking for investor-friendliness. 

Your next quantum is only going in if investor-friendliness continues.

No more investor-friendliness?

No more quanta.

You wait.

Will investor-friendly behaviour resume?

And you wait.

Is it coming?

Yes. 

Good. 

Upon buy criteria being met, next quantum goes in. 

Not coming?

At all?

Ok. You’re looking to exit. 

Market will give you a high to exit. That’s what markets do. They give lows, and highs. 

Wait for the high. 

High?

Exit. 

Frozen

Posted on by
Reply

Frozen? 

It’s ok. 

Breathe. 

You need to acknowledge that you’re frozen. 

Without that, the next step won’t come. 

It’s normal to freeze sometimes. Just acknowledge it. Then learn. 

For example, I acknowledge that I’m currently frozen wrt to the USDINR short trade. Missed entry. Next opportunity to enter never developed for me, and the underlying is currently in free fall. Don’t have the guts to short it at this level. Yeah, I’m frozen all right.

However, the fact that I’m acknowledging it opens up the learning window. 

Why did I miss entry?

I know why I froze. Fear. What I need to understand is why I allowed a situation to develop that would lead to fear. 

Ok. 

Was running super busy. 

Neglected the underlying. 

Kept postponing entry… 

… till free-fall started. 

It’s good to be busy. 

Hmmm, so this can happen again. 

How do I stop this from happening again? 

If I ID a setup, I need to take it. 

No second-guessing. 

What about strategy? 

Meaning, am I going with a short strategy for USDINR? Or am I keeping the window open for a long strategy?

See, that’s it.

Keeping short and long windows open makes me second-guess all the time. 

So can I go in one-direction wrt USDINR all the time? 

What speaks for it? 

Underlying is falling from a height. Good. 

Short only means no second-guessing. You just go short, period. 

Stoploss will save ruin. 

Not nipping profits in the bud will amass fortunes. 

Can the underlying keep falling over the next few years? 

Why not? Modi’s looking set for 2019. 

Hmmm, so a short only strategy has a lot going for itself. 

There’s more. Future month contracts are quoted at a premium. The premium evaporates over the current month. This move is in your favour if you’re short. 

Ok, enough. 

Yeah, there’s enough on the table to warrant a short only strategy for USDINR. 

SEE? 

Learning process. 

Why did it happen?

Because I acknowledged that I had frozen. 

Now, my strategy is more fine-tuned and I’m probably less prone to second-guessing. 

You need to pull off such stuff when you freeze. 

Use the freeze to evolve. 

Wealth-Generators often go Contrarian

Posted on by
Reply

You knew that too, right? 

Sure. 

Going contrarian is a buzz-phrase. 

We hear it again and again…

… till we begin to start thinking… 

… that we know what it means. 

Well, try going contrarian. 

Yeah, try actually doing it. 

You’ll see what I mean. 

It’s real hard. 

Going against the crowd takes all the strength you might have… 

… and then some. 

Most humans aren’t able to go contrarian. 

Most humans aren’t wealthy. 

When there’s blood on the streets, there’s no telling how much more there will be. 

Under such conditions, the contrarian investor lets go of his or her hard-earned money into an investment, knowing perfectly well that the Street might even value the investment tomorrow at a huge discount to today’s price.

That’s ok too, says he or she.

Why?

Because homework’s been done.

Underlying is strong.

Debt-free.

Management is stellar.

Balance-sheet is robust.

Projections are paramount.

That the world is pricing the investment wrongly is a problem with its vision.

Underlying is not going under. With above credentials, this alone matters.

Times change. Vision of the majority changes. Investor makes a killing. Cashes out some, principal and what have you. Leaves lots of free-standing shares… forever… or till parameters change.

Wealth-generators repeat this behaviour-pattern many times in their lives.

They’re not afraid of going against the grain.

They know otherwise.

Also, the money they use has been freed up.

Its being out of action for a long time is not going to change their lives even a bit.

They will have the last laugh.

Wealth is the reward of going contrarian. 

MP vs MoS : the lowdown on Trade-Entry

Posted on by
Reply

Margin of Safety (MoS)… 

… hmmm… 

… wasn’t that in investing? 

Well – surprise – it’s in trading too. 

You can enter a trade with MoS. 

How? 

Ok.

ID the trend. 

Wait for a minor reversal.

Let the reversal continue towards a pivot, or a support or a what have you. 

During this reversal, whenever you feel that you have considerable MoS, well – enter. 

Why shouldn’t you wait for the pivot to get touched? 

Things happen real fast at a pivot. Upon a pivot-touch, you can lose your comfort-zone even within minutes. 

Two vital things can happen at a pivot. 

Either there’s a quick bounce-back, or the pivot gets broken. 

Bounce-back means your trade is now in the money, and that you can go about managing your trade as per your trade-management rules. Wonderful. 

Pivot-break is not a worry for you. 

Why? 

Because you’ve placed your stop slightly below pivot, after the noise. 

Upon pivot-break, you get stopped out. You take the small hit and move on to your next trade. 

Eventually, things heat up. 

There is movement. 

Tops get taken out. 

Fast money can be made. 

How do you enter here? (Needless to say, for shorts, everything is to be understood reversed). 

Momentum play (MP)… 

… is the weapon of choice. 

You set up a trigger entry after a top or a resistance or a what have you, and wait for price to pierce, and for your entry to get triggered. Then you place your stop, below top or resistance or what have you. 

MP vs MoS is a matter of style. 

If you’re not comfortable changing your trading style to adapt to times, that’s fine too. Stick to one style.

If you’re conservative, stick to MoS. 

In a frenzy, however, MoS might almost never happen. 

In a frenzy, entry will be triggered exclusively through MP.

Take your pick. Adapt. Do both. Or don’t. Do one.

You call the shots. 

This is about you.

Did you invite the f-word?

Posted on by
Reply
The next trade… 
… yeah… 
… take it. 
What? 
Can’t? 
Why?  
Afraid of what might happen. 
That’s the whole thing. 
You see a setup – you trade the setup.
When you see a setup, there are no more what-ifs, supposings or anything. Then, it’s just you and the trade. Take the trade. 
No room for f-(ear). It’s the new f-word.  
How do you drive fear out of the equation? 
Risk a miniscule fraction of your networth per trade. 
Don’t make trading your bread and butter. Make it your bonus. 
Don’t allow anyone else’s negativity to creep in. Don’t talk to people. Trade on your own. No room for tips. 
Don’t listen to your broker. Tell him what to do.
Don’t trade under compulsion. 
Enjoy your trading. 
Once in the trade, lose the mini-bias that got you in. Now, just manage the trade. 
Stop hit? You’re out. 
Run? 
Raise stop. 
Running? 
Keep raising stop. 
Losing some of your notional profits? Market throws you out?
Good. That’s a proper exit. 
See, fear wasn’t allowed to the party. 
Look for next setup. 
Position-size your entry. 
Take the next trade. 
And so on and so forth. 
Not upto trading?
Ok. Don’t trade. Till you’re up to it.
 
Demons out of the way? 
 
Up to trading again? 
 
See the next setup?
 
Take it.

Winning Marketplay, Anyone?

Posted on by
Reply

Two words. 

Psychology.

Strategy. 

That’s it. 

Prediction?

No. 

Prediction is not pivotal here. 

We’re getting psychology and strategy right. 

We want winning marketplay, right?

Prediction is for losing marketplay. Prediction might be wrong. That’s when strategy and psychology save you from big loss. A big loss can wipe you out. Thus, dependence upon sheer prediction brings a wipe-out into play. That’s why, prediction is almost always relegated to the bottom rank when one talks about winning marketplay.

We’ll travel with a hint of prediction, though. Just a hint. Doesn’t suffice for losing yet. 

For entry purposes. Only.

Even this hint of prediction is bias-giving, though. Once we enter, we need to quickly lose the bias. Yeah, once we enter, we only react to what we see. 

Our system has an edge. It helps us choose market direction. After that, psychology and strategy take over. 

Meaning, after we’ve entered, there’s no more prediction in play. 

So what’s in play then?

The raw trade. 

And you.

At this point, all your mental strength comes into play. 

Oh, and your strategy. 

You do have a strategy, right?

As in, if x happens, they y, and if a happens then b.

You need a stoploss too.

You don’t have to show it. It can be mental, provided you don’t fool yourself into not using it when the time comes.

You won’t execute your stop. 

Sure. 

Again and again. 

Till you teach yourself how to. 

Till you lose big. And are still left standing. To want to enter again. 

Learning to take a small hit, again and again and again – that’s winning marketplay. Requires huge psychological strength. You acquire this. You don’t have to be born with it. 

Now comes another punchline. 

That profit-sapling just emerging…see it? You will not nip it in the bud. 

You’ll still do it. 

And again. 

You’ll nip it in the bud. 

Again and again. 

Till you teach yourself not to. 

It’s not easy. 

95%+ of all market players continue to nip profits in the bud all their lives. 

To allow the sapling to grow into a tree is the most difficult of all market lessons. Learning to let profits run is winning market play. 

To want more profits, you have to risk some of your current profits. 

No more risk, no more gain. 

You want to quickly exit and post that 22% gain on your Excel sheet. Sure. Why can’t you let it grow into an 82% gain? God alone knows. That’s how the cookie crumbles. You nip the opportunity to make that 82%. 

What’s with 82?

Just a random number. 

Am trying to get a point across. There’s a run happening. In a direction. It’s crossing +22%. Fast. Momentum could see it to +102%, to then backtrack and settle at +82%. It’s a probable scenario. 

Anyways, there are some smarties that risk 12 of the 22% and stay in the trade. Soon the 22 can even go beyond 82. Lets say it does. What do you do?

Nip?

No. 

Not yet. 

You let it travel. Momentum is to be allowed free leeway, till it halts. Let’s say it halts at 102. You say to yourself that the winds might change if 102 goes back to 82, and tell your broker to exit if 82 is hit intraday.

That and that alone is the proper way to exit a winning trade. You exit it with the taste of loss. You let the market throw you out. For all you know, the market might be in the mood for 152. You want to give the trade that chance. Thus, a momentum target exit while the move is still on would be less lucrative for you in the long run, or so I think. 

Why?

Statistics are defined by big wins. These matter. Big-time. Allow them to happen. Again and again and again. 

Now add position-sizing into your strategy. The ideology of position-sizing has been discovered and fantastically developed by Dr. Van Tharp. 

In a nutshell, position-sizing means that an increasing trading corpus due to winning should result in an increasing level risked. Also, correspondingly, a decreasing trading corpus due to losing should result in a decreasing level risked.

With position-sizing added to your arsenal, no one will be able to hinder your progress.

Psychological strength that comes from experiencing first-hand and digesting learning from varied market scenarios, coupled with a stoploss/profitrun position-sizing strategy – that’s a winning combination.

Wishing you happy and lucrative trading!

🙂 

Anyone up for a Quereinstieg?

Posted on by
Reply

Yeah, another German word.

And it’s loaded. 

I love the German language for it’s ability to combine words so that they can deliver a fistful!

So, what does it mean?

Quer means at an angle. 

Einstieg means entry. 

If you bang with something head-on, you’re likely to rebound. 

If you chisel into something at an angle with great force, you are likely to enter that something. 

That’s the logic. 

And it works. 

Albert Schweitzer, was it?

The multiply famous nobel-laureate who proposed and demonstrated Quereinstieg into fluency with a foreign language?

The formula was, for weeks in a row, to read texts, delve into media, the whole works, all in the foreign language, without really understanding what’s happening at first, and then getting a hold of the language’s structure through Sprachgefuehl, or feeling for language. 

Within a month or so, one would be speaking the language. One’s skills would be enough to get by on the streets. Works. 

Sprachgefuehl in action is a prime example of Quereinstieg. 

These are fast times. 

Almost the whole day, one is multitasking. 

And then, something new comes along. 

A new problem. 

One has to find a solution fast. 

There is no time to start from scratch. 

All other matters must be pulled along. Many people’s daily lives and routines hang upon you pulling your load. 

So, where does that leave you?

Cut to Quereinstieg.

You delve into the new matter, fast, at an angle, without bothering how you’ll fare.

You keep all your faculties open.

Your senses are on high alert.

You use your common-sense.

You learn from the play.

As you keep playing, on and on, you master technique.

The matter is not a problem anymore.

You incorporate the new asset into your repertoire as you attack your daily routine with renewed vigour and an arsenal boasting your latest Quereinstieg conquest.