Process

In the markets…

… actions are decisions.

No decision taken means no action.

Well, no action is also an action.

Ok.

However…

… eventually …

… to generate wealth …

… or income …

… we are confronted with decisions.

I’m not afraid to act, upon seeing a confluence of supportive indications.

If I were afraid to act, well, I could have just sheer chosen another line, but would have been confronted with the same deficiency, there too.

Acting upon enhanced win probability should do away with any fear.

However, there’s always that thing before trigger-press.

What if I’m wrong?

Let’s not be afraid of being wrong.

We’ll take our stop and then we’re done with this action, now looking at implementing another action.

Our ability to take the decision for this other action, and for all future actions should remain intact.

How do we ensure that?

When we’re wrong, let’s be wrong small.

Then let’s move on to whatever new action is coming our way.

If we let ourselves be wrong big, that, my friends, is crippling.

Let’s not cripple ourselves.

Crippling does away with the capability to act further.

Now, decisions are a fry cry.

The day becomes heavy.

Nights …

… well …

… sleepless.

That’s not going to happen to us.

Why?

As traders, will do everything in our capability to stop a big loss from happening.

How?

Losses are small in the beginning.

Let’s define their limit.

If you want to take it trade by trade, fine. Each trade has its own dynamics. However, small nature of stop remains common. Define what is small for you.

How?

My formula – anything that stops the day from becoming heavy and the night from becoming sleepless. For me, that’s small. You decide your formula. Whatever works for you, take it.

This is called process.

We follow process.

We don’t focus on profit and loss.

We focus on process.

We want to get our process correct, day in, day out, forever.

Losses will follow. They will be taken small.

Profits will follow. We will allow these to become big. Though that is a difficult one, we will need to learn to, because without this one thing working for us, we won’t be long-term profitable.

Here’s a formula regarding letting profits run.

After a profit has touched 3 x your stop, allow 50% breathing space. If this is squeezed completely, exit with small profit. If underlying inches higher, inch your stop upwards, always allowing for breathing space. At 4 x you can allow 40% breathing space, at 5x 30%. Etc. Make your own formula that allows profits to burgeon.

Wishing you lucrative trading and ample wealth creation!

🙂

Investors whine, and traders cry, when they try the other’s Art

In a breakaway bull market,…

…one starts to find faults with Trading in general…

since, to make money, one just needs to sit, rather than actively trade. 

Almost everyone is happy with their investing,…

…in a breakaway bull market. 

What kind of factors does one start pointing fingers at?

Timing.

One almost always gets this wrong, specifically with regard to futures and options, which are time-bound.

Not having enough on the table…,

…yeah, yeah, heard that one before. 

While trading, one doesn’t bet the farm. 

When one’s trades run, one makes a bit,…

…which is not, by far, as much as any odd investment portfolio would be appreciating.

Second-guessing.

While investing, one is focused in one direction. 

While trading, one looks at both directions, to initiate trades, and the market-neutral trade is another trade in a category of its own. 

Hence, one is always second-guessing the market, and when one is off, it results in opportunity loss and brokerage generation. 

Time consumed.

Trading consumes almost all of one’s time. 

When markets are closed, one’s mind is not detached. 

It’s exhausting. 

Has many side-effects too. 

One doesn’t have time for many other things, because of trading. 

Whatever one does try to participate in, consists of half-baked efforts, because essentially, one’s mind is on the market simultaneously. 

Leads to a loss in quality of life.

Now, let’s reverse the situation. 

When markets slide downwards, the trader feels light. 

He or she cuts longs and initiates shorts.

It’s a superior feeling versus the investor, who is stuck with large holdings on the table. 

Feel-good factor is huge, and quality of life gets enhanced.

Good traders don’t have a liquidity problem. 

Also, they can shut operations and switch off from the market any time, if they are able to do so, in practice. 

Tappable markets are many for the trader. 

Trading leads to income generation. 

Investing leads to wealth creation.

What do you want from your life?

Both – is a valid answer, but confuses. 

If one wants to dabble in trading, but is basically an investor, one can think about initiating positional trades, which have a investing-like feel, and one’s time is less bound to the market.

If one wants to dabble in investing as a trader, hmm, this one will be markedly tougher, I think.

Don’t know what to say here, since I’m an investor who dabbles in trading…

…, but intuitively, I feel, that this one would take a lot of effort.