Tag Archives: #psyche

Specialization

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Hey.

Calls have started coming in.

Am I doing ok?

Is the panic getting to me?

Am I going under?

I was waiting for this.

Calls of this nature, coming in, are a fantastic guage for the onset of panic.

You see…

…I specialize in guaging panic. You could call me a fall-specialist. A crash is my field of action.

During the crash in CoViD wave 1, I categorized two levels of panic.

Level I was classified as middling panic and identified at the point when calls were coming in asking if people should cancel their systematic investment plans. Aversion to invest with blood beginning to flow on the streets. Noted.

Level II was classified as grave panic, and identified at the point when calls were coming in of the nature, that now that all companies would be bankrupt, why was I still putting in money, into the markets? Questioning the whole financial system. Noted too.

In current scenario, questions about my health followed by queries about which stocks to invest into, after I had answered with a ‘never been better’ reply, for me, corresponds to level I of panic, identified.

Am still waiting for those other calls, asking why I’m putting in money when everything was going bankrupt anyway. Probably coming soon.

So, what’s the course of action, now that level I prevails.

We take it up a notch.

Meaning?

Look harder for entries.

Weren’t you already entering?

Yes, but wasn’t trying very much. Was letting the market punch me hard into an entry.

Meaning?

I’ll give you an example to drive this point home.

Ok.

HDFC Bank, right?

Right.

I had a GTT on for the last many sessions for entry at 809. Wasn’t coming. GTT remained. Either the market socked me into this position, or I wasn’t entering. Happened this morning. Triggered during open, at 773, executed at 778. Market pushed me into the position with force. I let it.

And now?

Will leave myself open to a lesser force push. Will put nearer GTTs, let’s say ~3% away.

If such prices don’t come?

Then not interested in entries.

What happens at level II of panic?

Even lesser force required to enter. Only GTTs lesser than 1 to 2% away perhaps. Many entries.

How come you are so liquid?

This approach creates liquidity during good times. Entering with small quanta now, as compared to networth. Can go on buying for more than one year from this point, if required. Such is the strategy.

Good to know, thanks for sharing.

Mind you, buying during panic does take a toll on one’s psyche. One needs to recuperate and regenerate. It’s not as easy as it sounds. I try very hard though, to recover mentally before the next session. Wish to last very long in the markets, …

…successfully.

Urges

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Market forces need to be understood…

…to win in the markets.

When do market forces start affecting us fully?

When we put our own money on the line.

That’s why…

…don’t…

…ever…

learn finance from someone who…

…doesn’t put his or her money regularly on the line.

When we put our money on the line, market forces start changing our psyche.

If we’re holding funds, we develop the urge to buy.

If we’re holding underlyings, we develop the urge to sell.

Early in our career, we give in to these urges at precisely the wrong time, resulting in loss-creation.

As we become more seasoned, we are able to resist such urges, till conditions provide profit.

As our market career continues, this is where fine-tuning matters the most.

How long are we able to resist the urge to sell as the market climbs?

How long are we able to resist the urge to buy as the market crashes?

These are pivotal questions.

One of them is playing out now.

As new highs are made, many have already sold out.

Some have sold partly.

Very few retailers are still holding on to whatever they might have left.

It’s institutions buying and selling.

New entry at these levels are a dizzy proposition.

I won’t hide that as markets climb higher, I experience a very strong urge to sell.

It’s…

…over-compelling.

How do I deal with it?

When such urge is too compelling, one does oblige.

One sells…

…little…

…and that’s the tough one.

One needs to oblige the urge lest some piston bursts, but simultaneously, one needs to hold on to as much as one can…

…since markets are on a roll.

One can’t learn this from a book, or in college.

After selling early many, many times, for more than a decade and a half, one finally learns to hold on to a chunk of one’s underlyings as markets go ballistic.

As heights get higher, this mechanism will make one sell, though, little by little…

…and that’s ok.

Let’s make sure that we do keep holding a chunk of the stuff we really like, though, after having taken the principal out.

Otherwise, how will we allow multibaggers to blossom?

Easier said than done, I know!

Benefit from a Small Entry Quantum

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You enter the markets with an amount each time. 

That’s your selected quantum. 

The idea that’s being discussed here is as follows. 

Enter the market as many times as you want. 

Just do one thing before that. 

Adjust your quantum level to a point where it doesn’t pinch you, and…

… such that any entry mistakes make themselves felt only minimally, seen from an overall perspective.

In other words, keep your quantum of entry small.

Also, keep it constant, so that overall errors and benefits are able to average out in the long run.

Let’s get some picturization into play, to elucidate the concept. 

Let us assume that you wish to buy stock X for the long term, and you’ve decided upon staggered entry, many times, with quantum Y each time. 

You enter with one quantum Y on day A in the morning. By late afternoon, you are disappointed to see that the price has moved 5% against you. Happens. You start wishing that you had waited till late afternoon for entry. This can be classified as a random entry error through no fault of yours. Such random “errors” keep happening all the time in the markets. Get used to them.

Because your quantum Y was small, your “error” was also small. That’s the point being made here. 

You are going to enter with quantum Y many times. Sometimes, immediately after entry, price might move in your favour. There might be lesser slippage. You might get a gap-down entry. You might enter after a big correction. Overall, whatever goes in your favour gets written off against all “errors”, such that in the long run, over many entries, the effect of errors is nullified. 

Well you got me there. Nullified, I say. Then you ask what the entry error minimalization talk was all about, when it would get nullified in the first place. 

Which is when I ask that what was it that would lead to nullification?

Many, many entries, right?

What has preserved your capital enough to last for those many, many entries?

A small entry quantum.

Also, psychologically, you know that your small quantum translates into a small potential entry error for you. So, your psyche is all geared up and raring to go. It is not afraid of entry, or of the error you might make upon wrong entry. 

To sum up, at first, a small quantum works in your favour because it causes lesser potential entry error, seen as an amount. 

Then, because your entry quantum is small, your capital lasts for many, many entries, which is when one can start speaking of entry error nullification because of evening out. 

Whichever way you look from, it is the small entry quantum that works for you.

Building Your Own

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You do. 

In the process, you learn. 

More experienced ones advise. 

Fine. 

You listen to their advice. 

Ok. 

Stop. 

Think. 

What experience are we talking about?

Their experience.

It’s great for them.

It might be good for you. 

To a point. 

To learn the ropes. 

You need to take it from there. 

Markets are such. 

They give each player a unique experience. 

Why? 

Because each human has a unique psyche. 

You are you. 

You should play like you.

That’ll ultimately teach you how YOU can win. 

Winning is also about implementing adapted systems that suit you and your curriculum in every small and large detail. 

Proper winning might take years to manifest after you’ve ironed out all the niggles in your character that pertain to the market. 

I’ll give you some examples. 

It’s taken me twelve years to tune my multi-faceted life towards the markets in such a manner that I now trade regularly. 

It took me ten years to discard all the tech-overload and work with the bare-required-minimum.

Seven years was what I needed to realize that I was my best friend and my worst enemy in the markets. 

Now, if I need to learn something new, I go it on my own. If it’s still out of reach, I get an instructor. Only to the point I can walk alone again. 

When you’re walking alone, you learn to listen to your common-sense. 

Your systems develop inside you. 

As you keep acting, these keep fine-tuning. 

Soon, because you’re persistent, these develop winning ways. 

Wishing you a successful market-foray, whatever market you are in! 

🙂