How best to fight the mental game...

[walterw]

From the very begining my intuition told me that you Janice did not come to our forum to sell us anything... I know that you know that our forum is unique, we have a very special "spirit" being thought by Soul here that has created a unique habitat here and the experience of interacting here at TL is life/trading changing... I know you will give us a lot, but i am sure you will also grow with us... I even challenge you as a trader to feel free to interact even on our technicall arena... I know you are also a trader, so feel free to give and receive not only on the psichological topics but also on the technicall ones... here we have old seasoned traders with great experience and open mind to new evolutions as newbies with a great freshness and incredible inputs... so thanks for being here, feel at home... we are people from all parts of the world, Japan, Argentina, Usa, Australia, UK, Spain to name a few... from here to some time maybe we will make a great meeting in Tokio with Soul... making new friends from all over the world... Welcome Janice, and God bless you... cheers Walter.

[thetradingdoctor]

Thank you so much, Walter. Your words are wonderful and I appreciate your insights and intuitions greatly. Also, thanks to each of you who has supported me and had patience with me in the process of learning about this site.

I want to say a couple of things about the brain and trading. You can buy many fancy programs, lots of bells and whistles, etc. You can go to seminars held by so-called great trading wizards who make all kinds of promises to you about how much money you will make if you just do this or that. Usually, this involves buying their software or a bunch of trading DVD's or some newsletter subscription, etc. I did everything when I first started trading around 1996. It was a total disaster for me, and I ended up doing nothing but losing money for three years. I seriously wanted to give up because I just couldn't do it. I thought everyone was smarter than I was and that people were making all kinds of money and I wasn't. It was a very dark time for me. I took about six months off and started to find my own way to trade. Slowly, steadily I brought myself back from losing all the time to only losing some of the time. I started making money, not much, but a little at a time. I began to think about all those so-called wizards and great traders and wondered this: if their system/newsletter/ books and tapes, etc are so great then why are they selling them? Why aren't they off on a desert island somewhere basking in the sun as their system is trading making them tons of money? Why are they selling any of their secrets to anyone?

I had to find my own way. The Holy Grail was not out there somewhere. It was inside of me. It was about my brain and the way my brain works. It was not about someone else's brain. All of the answers were inside of me. I was looking in all the wrong places, when I should have been looking in the mirror. I made a committment to help traders all over the world to find themselves within themselves. You will hear this from me over and over again. You may or may not want to hear it, but it is my experience and it is what I have to give you. All the answers are inside of you.

Your brain is unique. It is the most powerful trading tool you will ever possess. With one quadrillon connections ( called synapses)--more than all the stars in the known universe-- it is the most powerful object in the known universe. The way that you begin to train your brain is by studying one market intensely every day. You learn everything possible about that market( eg ES or GZ) until you have watched it so often and so intensely that your brain begins to see patterns. 60% of traders are primarily visual, so I am using sight as an example. Once you see patterns repeating you train your brain ( through repetition) to recognize trading signals. What happens when you train your brain in this way is that certain synaptic connections become what is called entrained or recruited. This means that they are strengthened and that they learn to see a pattern, recognize that you have seen it before, feel good about it and take the trade. This entire process of entrainment of brain neurons is what goes on in the process of learning to trade.

If you are interested in my writing more about this, please let me know and I will?

Also, for those of you who appreciate what I have to teach and share with you, I am intensely grateful. For those of you who are complaining about me and feel that I am not giving you enough, I am deeply sorry for any pain you are experiencing. Unfortunately, I am unable to control that. I can only control myself and give my best to you. If you are suffering, I send you love and compassion. I don't know any other way.

Thanks!

Janice

[bakrob99]

Thanks for the nice post... I am spending more time working on my brain than anything else these days as I have a setup/plan that has an edge and just need to trade it. I am profitable - but not as much as my plan is ...

Interesting - I thought that more research and analysis which proves/supports the edge would help me overcome the latency in taking signals - but now I realize that I must deal with my "emotional side" NOT through reason but by other ways ...

Your posts help me ... as for the others who complain ... I don't really concern myself with their issues.

[PYenner]

Thanks Doc
I could use some talk on "chart stress", after 3 hours of jumping at positive and negative signals I look back at a chart that went nowhere useful and wonder why the hell I reacted so strongly to it.
Then I come to this forum and can find myself wanting to fire bullets at any slightly "off" attitude from others, more perceived than real perhaps. The markets are a bit like trench warfare.
It seems to flow over into the real world too easily.

The chart entrainment seems to be making me jumpy or paranoid(?) towards other people. Don't know what to make of it.

[torero]

Merging the two worlds is very difficult. This is the reason why moving from demo to real trading is difficult because the stakes are real and perishable. To overcome that, it's matter of time to give in to accept that fact that (all is unpredictable and perishable) is when we stop hallucinating and look at charts the way we look at charts when we're NOT in a position.

[thetradingdoctor]

It takes time. Lots of time. If you plan ahead by doing homework every night, then review in the morning, it helps. Also, learning to manage your stress is critical. Trading is among the most stressful of any occupation. If you find yourself frustrated and anxious, you are likely not trading from a place of calm and not breathing properly. What is your exercise regimen, including any meditation, yoga or pilates?

Thanks!

Janice

[walterw]

	Quote:	thetradingdoctor
	If you are interested in my writing more about this, please let me know and I will?

Oh yes, its a very interesting topic and I would love to learn more.... thanks Walter.

[PYenner]

Thanks Torero
Yes, I made things worse by demo trading on a $100K demo account which is a breeze compared to a startup account.
The stakes are so much greater when your equity is limited and when you are trading out of your own money instead of out of profit.
On top of that is the awareness of exponential potential, which might change a person's life, or simply waste their life chasing a false promise.

Doc
Oh dear, confession time.
Meditation? puts me to sleep (all go or all stop).
Yoga or pilates? try zombie hours, dozing off at the desk, coffee and smokes to stay awake, arrgh.
Okay bullseye on that one.
My frustration comes largely from impatience, forex moves a turtle speed.
Yes it is all in the mind isn't it?

The size of the stake has a lot to do with it.
I am comfortable with a certain level of risk or gambling, but as the stakes get higher there comes a struggle with risk aversion.
The strangest thing of all is that when I do take some damage it bothers me less, I can sleep like a baby afterwards, weird!!

[walterw]

	Quote:	thetradingdoctor
	What is your exercise regimen, including any meditation, yoga or pilates?

I personally on the morning read the Bible and meditate on it, also pray.. after trading I do long Park Walks by the lake...(very relaxing, lots of trees an oxigen there) at night I always try to see some funny movie... cheers Walter.

[PYenner]

Sounds like a nice life Walter.
Yeah, the air around trees is special, a good place to be.