Category Archives: Game-Changers

What do you Want?

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Is this one easy?

What do you think?

If this one were easy, we’d probably have no wars.

We’d sail from one fulfillment to another, without squabbling.

Life would be a breeze.

However, things are different on the ground.

We don’t talk to ourselves.

That’s why, for the longest time, we don’t know what we want.

Open the intrinsic dialogue.

Why is it not opening?

We’re so busy addressing the outside world.

We don’t even know perhaps, that a much more meaningful world exists – inside.

That’s the one more worth discovering, actually.

It contains the information about what we want.

We need to extract this information.

How does one do that?

Everything starts with a first step.

So, open the dialogue, yeah, the intrinsic one.

See where it goes.

You like exploring conversation on the dinner table, right?

Why don’t you try exploring conversation here, inside of you?

Next step is hit and try.

You’re in a new world.

Paths have not been defined. Define them. See what works. Discard what doesn’t. From the inside, go outside. If internally you feel that something might work, try it externally.

Keep trying and discarding.

Eventually, something sticks.

That what sticks is what you want.

Once you’ve discovered the groove, you can keep using it to discover more and more of what you want, till the groove stops working.

Then you go about creating a new groove.

Happy Searching!

🙂

When it Rains Learning

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Yeah, when does it…

…rain learning?

You probably might not like what you hear.

Are you used to solitude? Working on your own? Own decision-making?

Or…

…do you look for approval?

…all the time?

We spoonfeed our loved ones when they ask us for help. I’m guilty of this too.

However, in my solitude I did realize, that spoonfeeding is the sworn enemy of learning.

What is learning?

Inculcation to the extent of translation into DNA – that’s learning.

It’s an intrinsic process. Yes, everything about learning happens inside.

When does it rain learning?

When you’re dependent upon yourself for your decisions, that’s when.

One wrong step could break you, so you’re cautious.

Your system is working at full-stretch.

It’s an intense time.

That’s the melting-pot required for DNA translation.

A wrong decision causing loss is rich in learning.

It can also cause depression. However, you know better. You get up, learn, and move on.

A right decision causing profit boosts confidence.

It can also cause euphoria, which offers an entry door towards destruction.

However, you know better.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Trigger Vigour

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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.

Boiling Down to Unity

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What is unity?

Oneness.

The thing everything has boiled down to.

That, which emerges after all the dust of everything has settled.

Yes, that.

Not the one as in being united, not that unity.

The one-resultant-vector unity.

The equation-being-solved-unanimously unity.

The one big solution for everything that’s bothering you – that unity.

Why are we talking about unity?

Because it is the answer.

What is the question?

Or, what are the questions?

“It’s the question that drives you, doesn’t it, Neo?”

There are many questions.

Each has different questions.

Each strives for a unique unity.

Each must find his or her unique point of peace.

Till then, mind will be restless, something will always be missing, and peace will be elusive.

Are we even talking about money?

You bet.

We strive in a million ways to garner money and make it grow.

We try different methods. Lots of strategies. People. Planning.

What is it boiling down to?

Have we recognised it?

In what form do we wish to see our money ultimately?

Do we have that kind of vision?

Are we standing on the mountain with that bird-eye view?

If yes, our strategies start culminating towards the final goal.

Why?

Because we know where we are going.

How did we know where we were going?

We asked the question.

Then we followed our mind. It led us to the answer.

Took some time, didn’t it?

At least we got there.

That’s huge.

Breathing Space

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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.

Chancing

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How does one discover the missing ingredient?

By chancing it. 

One keeps trying different mixes…

…till something hits. 

The hit is then fine-tuned…

…such that it is reproduced again and again.

Once the hit can be reproduced at will, one has got the strategy all together. 

A successful strategy is then let loose. 

At first it is on manual.

Ultimately, it comes on auto, or semi-auto, whatever best is possible. 

There has come and passed a stage, when this same strategy has not been winning. 

Aha. 

What is the difference between the mix of that stage and the current – winning – mix?

It’s some kind of a twist you’ve discovered. 

Something you are adding, or doing differently. 

This something is making the strategy win. 

Congratulations!

You’ve kept trying. 

You’ve been in the field. 

You weren’t away from the field, ruminating. 

You were getting action. 

Losing action, but action. 

Losing action has huge educational value. 

It tells you how not to do it. 

You keep twisting, fitting, tuning, upon loss. 

You chance new stuff.

Eventually, something clicks. 

You develop that something further and take it to the nth. 

Where does that leave you?

You have to keep chancing it. 

There is no way around this. 

Make funds available for the R&D. 

Have the courage. 

Don’t be afraid of a hundred losses. 

Winning is around the corner. 

Auto is our Motto

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What are you doing…

…that’s not on auto?

Next question is, why is it not on auto?

On purpose?

Sure, there’s some stuff that you’d like to reserve for manual. That’s absolutely fine. 

Not on purpose?

Meaning you want it to be on auto, but haven’t done so?

Right. 

Why not?

Meaning, why are you not using that one big benefit of the twenty-first century – to your benefit?

Lazy?

Couldn’t care less?

Too complicated?

In a rut?

Whatever. 

Bottomline is, you’re losing out. 

How?

You’re losing out on…

…time…

…growth…

…evolution…

…prosperity…

…sense of fulfilment…

…sense of purpose…

…and what have you.

You can also start figuring out for yourself how you are losing out on these things amongst other stuff. No spoon-feeding here. 

Automation is the minimal requirement of our times. 

Automation requires transcending an activation barrier. 

This is a one-time input, before the concerned process goes on auto. 

This is also the step which makes many lose interest in going auto. 

Well, from nothing comes nothing. 

You will have to put in that time and energy for the one-time input that pushes the process into auto-mode. 

There is no way around it. 

However, each time you’ve gone auto, you’ll get a huge sense of accomplishment. 

You’ll want to recreate that feeling again and again and again. 

You’ll want to put more and more stuff on auto. 

With so much of auto stuff adding to you from the background, your life will become fuller. More enjoyable. More time to pursue whatever you wish to pursue. More time to be…

…you.

Cheers. 

Saturation

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I don’t wish to add to my repertoire.

It has reached some kind of saturation. 

There’s no limit to how far I can go within my repertoire.

However, it is not comfortable with strategy addition. 

Fine. 

Did you just have this dialogue?

With yourself?

It’s good you did. 

While you start out in a field, you’re developing it. 

There needs to come a stage, in a while, where you have exactly identified, that you’re developing this, this and this further. Nothing else. 

Once you know what the exact game is, all your focus is required to take it to the nth level. What that n is going to be is up to you, again. 

Bottomline is, after a point, know your game. 

This is the game. 

This is what you are scaling up. 

That, that, that and that you are discarding, or have discarded. 

You need to reach this point within a reasonable time-frame. 

Then comes the next step. 

Pray, what might that be?

Automation. 

Before embarking upon scaling up, that what remains in your saturated repertoire – automate it. 

Staff. 

Technology. 

What have you.

Use any means for automation. 

Anything that’s legit, and which works. 

Use it. 

Standing instruction. 

Alarm. 

Alert.

Whatever. 

Automation is a huge blessing if used properly and after having tied up all the loose ends. 

If implemented in a hurry with sieve-like loopholes, it can even take you to the cleaner’s.

Implement automation in a justified and sure-shot fashion. 

Do you know what’s going to happen now?

You have created a situation, where scaling up means just punching in an additional 0 in the right corner, before the decimal point. 

Wow.

After a while, the complete field will be on auto. 

Why?

If you’re wise, you won’t scale up beyond your sweet-spot. 

Why?

Because obnoxious scales come with obnoxious problems.

What’s obnoxious?

Anything beyond your sweet-spot…

…is obnoxious. 

What is your sweet-spot?

That only you can discover. 

So what now is the exact status of the field?

Your repertoire in the field has reached complete saturation regarding strategy and scale. It is on full auto. It is adding to your well-being without you batting an eye-lid. 

Congratulations. 

However, where does that leave you?

Is that even a question?

There’s so much to do in the world. 

Discover a new field. 

Develop your new repertoire in this field. 

Take it to strategy saturation. Automate it. Scale it up. Take it to the sweet-spot. Wean off the scaling up. Move on. 

What a life it’s going to be for you!

The Difference between Winning and Losing

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It’s a whisker. 

You’re doing everything right. 

You’re following a proven strategy. 

You’ve adapted. 

You’ve removed many mistakes from your resumé.

Your strategy has undergone refinement. 

Why haven’t you started winning yet?

Yeah, we’re used to asking million dollar questions by now. 

In fact, such questions are all we ever ask. 

What do you think is the answer?

The answer is you. 

Yes. 

There’s something about you. 

It’s not fitting. 

You’ve got two options. 

Either make your strategy fit to this something, or …

… make yourself fit to the strategy. 

Both options can work, and you can start winning. 

Which option is easier to implement?

I think the more relevant question here is a different one. 

Which option befits the situation?

I’ll give you an example. 

I’ve got time issues. 

I make my market strategies fit my time issues. 

I can’t change my time issues, for something or someone will fall short then. Like everyone, I have many commitments too. 

Therefore, I fit my market strategy around me. 

I keep fitting, fitting, fitting, till the strategy either works, or is discarded for want of a win. 

Yeah, that’s me. 

Maybe your situation is different. 

Maybe you need to cater to the public. 

You’re not expecting the public to change to your whims and fancies, are you?

Not as a newbie, no no, that would be a cardinal sin. 

After all, the public is your paymaster, right?

Customer is your king, or queen. 

It becomes different when you turn into a celeb. 

Then you can dictate fashion. 

However, till you become a celeb, fit to the public, if you want to win. 

Behave in a manner that people want to pay for what you have to offer, again and again and again.

Maybe there’s a slight whisker of a trait in your behaviour that people don’t like. 

Change it. 

Whether you’re changing yourself, or fitting your strategy to meet your unchangeable nature or schedule, sometimes it’s only a whisker that makes the difference between winning and losing. 

People have lost olympic medals by one-hundredth of a second. 

What’s that millisecond lag in your own life that you need to get rid of?

What remains …

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… is the tough stuff. 

You’ve taken care of the easy stuff. 

It’s been taken to its logical conclusion. 

It’s either flowing with you in the background, enhancing you, or it’s been put permanently to rest by you, in a form that will also always add to you. 

You don’t notice it anymore. 

It was easy, right!?

Easy stuff doesn’t push you to the wall. 

It gives pleasure. 

One gets used to pleasure. 

After a while, one doesn’t notice the source anymore. At least, one doesn’t notice it too consciously. 

Situation is different with the hard stuff. 

It’s hard, as in difficult. 

It pains you. 

It pushes you to the wall. 

You are challenged.

You don’t forget something that challenges you. 

This something remains with you, before your eyes, all the time. 

You are trying to find a solution. 

Your system is working overtime to convert this hard stuff into easy stuff. 

For some hard stuff, you find the conversion. 

Taken care of…

…and gone. 

Other stuff refuses to convert. 

Yes. 

You have it here in a nutshell. 

What is this folder made of?

Folder?

Yeah, folder. 

What folder?

The folder containing the hard stuff that refuses to convert into easy stuff. 

Oh, that folder, right. 

Yeah, what does that folder contain?

Hard stuff that refuses to convert into easy stuff?

Yeah but in other and more understandable words now…?

The biggest tests in your life?

YES. 

Leading to the biggest lessons learnt if by chance you are able to push out even one hard-folder-component into the easy-stuff-folder?

Exactement.

Le Kicque

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There’s probably no such word in the French language. 

Well, then, I just made it up. 

Why?

Meaning, why in the world would I concoct a French word, and that too something like le kicque?

The fact that I’m learning French plays a role. 

So does the constant questioning. 

I constantly question myself at every stage. 

Things come to a point, where I find myself asking the question : “Does this still give you le kicque?”

Or, “is this new activity giving you le kicque?”

Fine, then do it. 

If it’s not giving you a kick, don’t do it. 

Every formal thing is perhaps wrong about le kicque. 

It probably should have been la kicque. 

However, informally speaking, la kicque doesn’t feel or sound right to my mind. 

La kicque doesn’t suit my mind’s style and the way it wants to use le kicque. 

The full effect of the French accent is felt by my mind with le kicque.

When it’s putting the question forward, mind goes all French with intonation and accent. 

The question has full impact. 

I have to answer. 

Yes?

Do it. 

No?

Don’t. 

I’ve come to a stage where I find myself only pursuing activities which give me le kicque.

If I’m doing anything else, which does’t give me “the kick”, it’s because I have to do it and have no choice in the matter. 

If I find some optional activity which isn’t loaded with le kicque, I drop it immediately. 

Am I embarrassed that I’ve concocted an idiotic-sounding-grammatically-all wrong-word that would probably insult the French purists?

No. 

Why?

Because its not about the French. 

It’s about me. 

It’s about how I handle myself. 

It’s about guiding oneself through a yet undefined path. It’s about defining one’s path. 

Along the way, one builds bridges. 

Le kicque is one such bridge I’ve built for myself. 

I’m not ashamed of my bridge.

Nor am I embarrassed about it. 

I love my bridge. 

I share my bridge here so that it might help another person. 

If this bridge even helps one more person, the purpose of writing this piece will fulfil itself. 

Fancy schmanzy or just plain Vanilla?

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There’s expenditure and there’s expenditure.

Meaning?

Let’s say you start some work. It can be market-related, for all I care. What do you do first?

Prep.

How do you prep?

Studying up. As long as I can manage.

And then?

Courses, workshops, the deal.

Local?

Naehhh. I try to keep it national though.

International?

Haven’t required it till now for market work.

Ok. What happens next?

I hit the market concerned. Low-key at first. 

Why?

That’s when you make the most mistakes. That’s why. 

I see. Motive?

I want to learn from my mistakes and not repeat them.

Rather than from an instructor?

Of course. This is the market, remember. This is about you. Not about the instructor. This is about knowing your own shortcomings related to a particular market, and about adjusting and fine-tuning yourself to the market to trade it optimally. This is about fitting the market concerned in a tailor-made fashion into your own life without disrupting your own life. 

Wow! Well, then, congratulations. You’re a prime candidate for doing it the plain vanilla way. 

Is there any other way to do it?

Oh, there’s the fancy schmanzy one. 

Kindly describe it. 

Well, it mostly entails unnecessary expenditure along with necessary expenditure. There’s more unnecessary expenditure though. 

I see. 

One is normally too lazy to study up. Or, one doesn’t have the get-go in oneself to approach the subject on one’s own. 

Sure, can happen. 

One flips from instructor to instructor in search of the holy grail. Expensive software, international trips, five-star hotels, the whole shebang. In the end one has spent a bomb. To end up trading the instructor’s perspective. Finally realising that the markets are about oneself, and unless one is trading one’s own perspective, one is sure to lose. Or not realising this (!) and continuing to flip instructors and instructions. Finally burning out and giving up on the markets. 

Sad though. All necessary software is available free of cost on the internet. One can do inexpensive internet courses to widen one’s horizon. These can involve one-on-one instruction too. Video-conferencing. File sharing. Threads. Assessments. The works. Live-market training. You name it. All travelling and extra expenses cut out. Few hundred dollars for the whole course. 

I already acknowledged your plain vanilla acumen. I’m just trying to tell you that most others prefer the fancy schmanzy way. 

I prefer to stay in the market and not burn out. I’m in the market to make a steady income. 

Well, that you will, my dear friend. The plain vanilla way doesn’t promise any hype, but it does promise income. 

Happening…or not happening?

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Is that the question?

Hmmmm. 

Valid question. 

On any particular day, we are confronted with this question. Multiple times. 

Life itself throws this question at us often, at pivot-points or crossroads. 

Well, why should the markets be left behind? You guessed it. They portray this behaviour…also. 

Take the cmp of an underlying. 

Is it crossing resistance? Breaking support? Forming a pivot? Peaking? Bottoming? What have you. 

Is whatever’s happening happening or not happening?

What do you do?

Aha. Got you there. Who said anything about doing something? The question about doing something is a wrong question. 

However, it becomes a practical question, because, well, who has patience today?

Yeah, who’s willing to wait and watch, right?

So, in all practicality, what do you do?

First you try not to ask the question. You just observe. 

Then you get jumpy, and do ask the question, simultaneously answering it by telling yourself to wait and watch. 

Next you’re seen egging the markets on for an outcome. 

That’s not good. 

Markets are not going to behave as per your wishes. 

Ok, so here’s the game-changer. 

Change your activity. 

Yes, do something else. 

Put your system on auto-pilot, and engage your mind elsewhere. 

Like I’m writing this article here. 

What’s happening in the backdrop?

My USDINR trade is going nowhere. 

Couldn’t catch a decent portion of the move on the GBP breakout, and now I can’t seem to get a new trade triggered.

My stock-screener refuses to find me a stock in the agri-sector which is to my liking.

My iPad’s gone all wonky and is acting pricy about photo and music syncs. 

Family-health-insurance-premium due…

… got to get that nomination going on my demat…

… AC gas leak…

… document sorting overdue…

… and so on and so forth. 

Meanwhile, I write this article. 

I’m at peace. Writing relaxes me. It benefits the reader too. It’ll live on after me. It is positivity in action. It gives me a sense of purpose. I forget about all the things that are happening and / or not happening. 

That’s what you are going to do. You are going to find an activity that takes you away, to another plane, for just a while, while your other stuff is still undecided. 

There are some things, though, that one needs to make happen. Sometimes one needs to keep pushing. Non-pursuance would be like giving up. 

In this event, you keep banging your head against a wall. 

Two things are going to happen. 

Either you are going to get hurt and back off…

… or, the wall is going to break down.

Yes, I do admit, that there are some very select areas in life that where one decides to bang full-on. 

We’re not afraid. When push comes to shove, we’re all there and ready for some head-banging. 

However, wrt all the other not-so-drastic things, we’re conserving our energies and going to our happy-and-safe-place till these not-so-drastic things are yet undecided. 

Yeah, we’re happier and healthier that way. 

Going for the Jugular

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It’s time.

Why…is it time?

And, time for what?

It’s time to go for the jugular.

Meaning?

There comes a time, when, after working hard, struggling, doing the whole jig, the rigmarole, you achieve your basics. 

Well done. Pat on your back. 

Then you secure these basics. 

Forever. 

If you can. 

Wonderful. More pats.

Worry factor is now out of the equation. 

Your family is secure. 

Food, safety, education, all basics intact.

Fantastic. You deserve an award. Not that anyone’s going to give you one. Frankly, nobody could care less. Never mind. You know in your mind that you’ve achieved a milestone, and that’s enough for you. 

Whats the next step…

…for you?

Jugular. 

What is this jugular?

Multiplier.

X-factor.

Call it what you will.

What does this mysterious thing do?

Better question is, what is it capable of?

You’re looking to multiply your networth. 

Isn’t everyone?

This is different.

Why?

Because it is coming as a logical conclusion, and not as a first-step with no experience and no secure basics. 

You’re keeping your head-earned basics secure. 

Nothing is touching these. You’ll be surprised at the kind of courage secure basics give you to act further. 

Next, you’ve identified an area where your skill-set can be leveraged into huge profits with minimal risk. 

Specifically in the market, these areas are abundant. 

So what exactly will you be doing?

Playing on a minuscule portion of your net worth. Let’s say not more than 2 %.

Leverage.

Stoploss.

Profit-run.

Position-sizing. Scaling up upon profits. Scaling down upon losses. 

Overcoming your demons. 

Fear.

Worry.

Hypertension.

Exuberance.

Hubris.

Complaecency. 

Going beyond. 

Multiplying.

Going for the jugular. 

The Benefit of Quantum upon Quantum

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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. 

What’s bothering you today?

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Get it out of the way.

Why?

Bother takes a toll. 

Focus goes away. 

You don’t wish to see your trade. 

That’s a pathetic condition to be in…

…as a trader. 

When you’re in a trade…

…you need to monitor the trade. 

How will you monitor a trade…

…if you don’t feel like looking at your screen?

What’s causing your indifference?

Bio-chemistry. 

Resulting from?

The spot of bother.

That’s why, get it out of the way.

Trade gone wrong?

Kill it.

Spouse problem?

Address it.

Child matter.

Deal with it.

Bring your environment to an immediate logical conclusion…

…if you can.

Why?

You’ll trade like a king…

…or a queen…

… whatever title you prefer. 

You’ll see clearly. 

You’ll want to open your terminal. 

Your ideology will be aligned with your trade. 

You’ll be making money. 

That’s why. 

Holding the Line

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Your systems are in place.

They’re implemented. 

Basics are going. Life basics. Family basics.

Then you’ve got your income basics. They’re safe. They generate income. This income goes towards comfortable upkeep of your family. Some of it is saved. 

Your investment portfolios are firing. Savings have built these up. You don’t touch these, but keep adding to them upon opportunity. 

You’ve just finished implementing all your trading systems. 

Some of these are on auto-pilot. 

The other ones demand a little of your time each day. 

They keep you sharp and all there. 

Nothing much. 

Just fifteen to twenty minutes each. 

Skin off your teeth. 

You tackle them with your bed-tea. 

In other words, you are set as far as being income plus plus plus. 

Good. 

Now what?

Now you need to hold the line. 

What does that mean?

It means everything. 

It means no blow-ups…

…no crazy decisions that impact folios and family…

…basically nothing insane coming from you that will threaten your hard-earned situation or worse. 

Holding the line means making sure basics stay intact…

…folios keep growing…

…and new systems keep developing that add to these. 

It’s really that simple. 

When you hold the line, your next step either maintains status quo or adds to you. Preferably, it adds to you.

However, the simpler something is, the more difficult it is to follow. 

What are the demons that can slay you?

Over-confidence.

Over-ambition.

Hubris.

Greed.

Showmanship. 

Debt.

One-up-on-the-Joneses-ideology. 

This stuff looks pretty harmless at first, but is enough to give rise to cracks. 

Cracks grow… 

…till you’ve either come back to your senses and filled and sealed them…

…or till they’ve destroyed you right down to beyond your basics. 

Yeah, a full blow-up is never really far away, once cracks start to appear. 

Therefore…

…while holding the line…

… you keep reminding yourself about what you’re doing…

…why you’re doing it…

…and that you’re never going to blow up, come what may…

…and that you’re going to keep holding the line, come what may…

…and that your next step is always going to add to you.

Happy Holding!

🙂

Control

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Longevity.

We look for it in the markets too. 

It’s natural.

Our first instinct is to survive. 

Our second instinct is to survive well. 

In the markets, both these instincts are addressed by our definition and understanding of control. 

Are we control-freaks? 

There’s no harm in admitting it, it’ll save us from losses. 

Well, if we are, we’re better off seeking another career where control-freaking is an asset.

In the markets, it’s not.

Yeah, surprise surprise, Mrs. Market is gonna keep hitting our stops again and again and again, till we get tired of second-guessing her and just sheer quit.

Or, if we’re adamant too, she’ll just drive us bankrupt. 

Are we giving her complete leeway?

Well, then she’ll drive us bankrupt anyways, with no stops in place.

Mrs. Market works against us when we exhibit extreme behaviour wrt control.

Let’s fine-tune control.

We’ll find the median for stop-size.

Something that’s workable.

We then move with her.

If she moves in our direction of the trade, we keep raising our stop with her, from a distance, quietly.

Control, mild, unadvertised.

She’ll stop us out eventually, perhaps after some profit.

Good. 

As in, workable. 

When she goes berserk in our direction of the trade, we’ll ignore her and just let her do her thing.

Minimum control.

No definition of targets.

Stop is far away. It’s deep in profits, and being raised quietly. She’ll need to stop us out with a big swing against us. Yeah, deep in profit, we’ve kept a large leeway between stop and CMP.

We’re not micromanaging her.

Motive?

We wish to allow her to go even more berserk in our direction of the trade.

We’re daring her too, as in “come and get our stop, if you have the guts to fall this far”.

Control.

Very subtle.

We’re controlling our environment, while simultaneously ignoring her.

Very workable. 

We’ll live long in the markets. 

Frozen

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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. 

Scaling Up

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When you find a system… 

… that works… 

… what’s the next step? 

Plunge? 

Wait. 

Look left and right. 

Meaning? 

Look at your basics. 

Are they in place? 

Meaning? 

No worries about food on the table? 

No worries about kids’ education funds?

Basic family luxuries in place? 

No? 

Get these together and going. 

Yes. 

Ok. 

Go for it. 

Scale up. 

Your decision to scale up should at no time endanger your basics. 

You’re scaling up from  your extras.

You’re scaling up with stops in place. 

If your stops are hit, you’ll change your system till it works again. 

You will not borrow from your basics. 

You will wait for your extras to accumulate, and divert these into scaling up. 

Having gotten all that out of the way, let’s cast a glance at the concrete process. 

1x is working, or so you say. 

In fact, you’re sure 1x is working. 

Ok. 

Now do 2x.

Working? 

5x.

Can you take it? 

Do you sleep well at night? 

Fine. 

10x.

Working? 

Family life intact? 

Basics intact?

Fine. You take it from here. 

Where do you plateau? 

Right before a level where something might get disturbed. 

It’s really that simple. 

Happy scaling up! 

🙂