Monday, July 7, 2008
Sunday, July 6, 2008
Thursday, July 3, 2008
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
Restoring Your Joy In Trading By Ryan Jones
I'm not a doctor, I'm not a psychologist. However, that
doesn't mean that I should not be aware of things that might
have an affect on my trading. Nor does it mean that I should
not make you aware, and even spark your interest in learning
more. So, in that context, let this email be the start of your
learning on this incredibly important topic...
What is the first thing I would suggest in restoring the joy of
your trading? Moderation.
When someone begins trading, they move forward with a
tremendous amount of zeal. They tackle the venture with every
ounce of energy and are happy to do so.
After a while, the excitement begins to wane. This is true
regardless of whether the effort has lead to success or failure
(90% + fail). After more time, it is harder and harder to keep
the excitement level up, and in order to maintain a higher
level of excitement, traders are constantly trying new
strategies. In other words, the level of excitement associated
with trading becomes almost like an addiction.
The brain is the most fascinating creation ever. The brain
releases chemicals based on certain stimuli that allows us to
experience pleasure. The stimuli can be something simple, like
reading a book, or something exciting like riding a roller
coaster. What happens is that as you experience something more
and more, you generally derive less pleasure from it.
Therefore, it takes more of that experience to keep the
pleasure level high. This is where addictions come from...and
you can literally become addicted to anything that produces
higher levels of excitement.
How do addictions occur? Not enough rest between the
experiences. Someone who drinks a cup of coffee once every few
weeks does not become addicted to coffee (caffeine). But if
someone begins to drink coffee every day, there is not enough
rest between the times caffeine enters the body and it becomes
addicted. With strong drugs, the addiction can occur the first
time because the reaction of the brain is so intense and
dramatic that it literally is shocked into addiction.
Email is a classic example of a moderate stimulus addiction.
Some people cannot go for more than a few hours checking their
email...and worse yet, some people believe that once they send
an email, if they are not responded to in a matter of minutes,
they have been wronged.
With trading, there is an excitement level generated with a
trade. There is an excitement level generated with a trading
strategy. There is an excitement level generated with finding
new trading strategies. The question is whether you are
trading to generate the responses in the brain, or whether you
are trading to succeed.
Most will know the answer to this question by simply doing a
quick examination of their recent trading history. One big
step to restoring the joy of your trading is to simply create
boundaries, commit to a trading plan and then stick with it, no
matter how boring it is after the first 3-months. Stop trying
to find the holy grail...moderate your time and attention spent
toward trading, take breaks, even vacations from it. I assure
you, you will begin to enjoy your activity more.
There is a lot more to be said about this topic, so stay tuned
for the next email...which I am not going to send you until
after the July 4th weekend. This weekend is a great time to
start creating your boundaries and taking some time off from
even thinking about trading.
And that is the Truth about Trading.
doesn't mean that I should not be aware of things that might
have an affect on my trading. Nor does it mean that I should
not make you aware, and even spark your interest in learning
more. So, in that context, let this email be the start of your
learning on this incredibly important topic...
What is the first thing I would suggest in restoring the joy of
your trading? Moderation.
When someone begins trading, they move forward with a
tremendous amount of zeal. They tackle the venture with every
ounce of energy and are happy to do so.
After a while, the excitement begins to wane. This is true
regardless of whether the effort has lead to success or failure
(90% + fail). After more time, it is harder and harder to keep
the excitement level up, and in order to maintain a higher
level of excitement, traders are constantly trying new
strategies. In other words, the level of excitement associated
with trading becomes almost like an addiction.
The brain is the most fascinating creation ever. The brain
releases chemicals based on certain stimuli that allows us to
experience pleasure. The stimuli can be something simple, like
reading a book, or something exciting like riding a roller
coaster. What happens is that as you experience something more
and more, you generally derive less pleasure from it.
Therefore, it takes more of that experience to keep the
pleasure level high. This is where addictions come from...and
you can literally become addicted to anything that produces
higher levels of excitement.
How do addictions occur? Not enough rest between the
experiences. Someone who drinks a cup of coffee once every few
weeks does not become addicted to coffee (caffeine). But if
someone begins to drink coffee every day, there is not enough
rest between the times caffeine enters the body and it becomes
addicted. With strong drugs, the addiction can occur the first
time because the reaction of the brain is so intense and
dramatic that it literally is shocked into addiction.
Email is a classic example of a moderate stimulus addiction.
Some people cannot go for more than a few hours checking their
email...and worse yet, some people believe that once they send
an email, if they are not responded to in a matter of minutes,
they have been wronged.
With trading, there is an excitement level generated with a
trade. There is an excitement level generated with a trading
strategy. There is an excitement level generated with finding
new trading strategies. The question is whether you are
trading to generate the responses in the brain, or whether you
are trading to succeed.
Most will know the answer to this question by simply doing a
quick examination of their recent trading history. One big
step to restoring the joy of your trading is to simply create
boundaries, commit to a trading plan and then stick with it, no
matter how boring it is after the first 3-months. Stop trying
to find the holy grail...moderate your time and attention spent
toward trading, take breaks, even vacations from it. I assure
you, you will begin to enjoy your activity more.
There is a lot more to be said about this topic, so stay tuned
for the next email...which I am not going to send you until
after the July 4th weekend. This weekend is a great time to
start creating your boundaries and taking some time off from
even thinking about trading.
And that is the Truth about Trading.
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
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