[joshdance]

Originally Posted by Rande Howell »

If this makes it easier for you, good for you.

Rande, I enjoyed the article. I'm providing suggestions for YOU so your book will be more readable and correct. I don't have a horse in this race and don't own your book. If you can't take criticism, don't post your article here.

[Rande Howell]

Originally Posted by steve46 »

Today was an excellent day in class...we all made money

The reason I am posting is that this is contrast to yesterday, when we started out with a couple of losses, one of which was caused by a loss of Internet connection while trying to exit a trade.

What I noticed was the following. On the first trade, as people saw it go against them, you could feel the tension as traders watched each tick, and asked me (what do you think Steve, do we get out or wait)....and my answer was....stay calm, breath slowly, monitor your data, remember that your stop is already in place protecting you....just watch and wait, you have plenty of time.....

In the time span of about 3 minutes we got stopped out on our first trade and the reaction was "OK then what do we do now?" and my reaction was, "we remember to keep our head in the game"....."when we have a losing trade, we don't get down, we don't go over and over the trade, we stay in the moment and watch how the market acts.....and we ask ourselves, what is the market telling us".....as it turned out this was an important lesson to learn.....because withing the next 5 minutes I took a long that turned against me and then lost my Internet connection.....I had to respond to students who wanted to obtain my opinion about the postion they were in, and I had to wait for my Internet connection to be restored (automatic on my system) and then close out the position....

Interestingly we made it through that small event and went on to other trades, and during the day, I heard several comments concerning my state of mind and how I managed to keep on an even keel, even though I had no way of knowing what my trade was doing, and how much I had lost...(it was about $1,0000)....

As our situation stablized we took a moment (I asked both students to stop for a moment and look at the daily charts)....we located our targets for the next trade, and we went back to work in a orderly fashion....what we did was to in effect "re-set or start over again fresh" and from then on we did quite well, I ended the day up about $400 and my students about the same based on small accounts trading no more than 5 contracts.

I think there are many lessons to learn from adversity and loss, among them are the need to understand the following sayings taught to me by my boss "things are never as good or as bad as they seem"....."just relax, breath slowly and take a moment to think about what you are doing" and "always keep your head in the game"..."do not allow yourself to get down, or to get too excited about your wins or losses"

This advice has always served me and my students admirably.

Good luck to everyone.
Steve

Steve46

What I like about what you did is that you keep your students grounded in the here and now of staying focused on the trader's performance in a trade, rather than the anticipation of disaster or of a future event.

The state of mind we bring to the trade opens or closes the possibility and probability of the trade. In dealing with ambiguity, odds favor a calm, disciplined, patient, courageous, and impartial state of mind. Fortunately this state of mind can be built if the trader does not come stock with it.

Rande Howell

[Rande Howell]

Originally Posted by joshdance »

Rande, I enjoyed the article. I'm providing suggestions for YOU so your book will be more readable and correct. I don't have a horse in this race and don't own your book. If you can't take criticism, don't post your article here.

It wasn't intented on my part as criticism. And I appreciate your suggestions. Probably the language used comes out of my former life in advertising.

Rande Howell

[steve46]

Originally Posted by Rande Howell »

Steve46

What I like about what you did is that you keep your students grounded in the here and now of staying focused on the trader's performance in a trade, rather than the anticipation of disaster or of a future event.

The state of mind we bring to the trade opens or closes the possibility and probability of the trade. In dealing with ambiguity, odds favor a calm, disciplined, patient, courageous, and impartial state of mind. Fortunately this state of mind can be built if the trader does not come stock with it.

Rande Howell

Yes thanks, staying focused on the data is critical...I call it "keeping your head in the game"

Today for instance, we took a short trade off the open getting filled at 1210.25....We have planned this trade in advance...and my students know that once you are in a winning trade it is imperative that you keep focused on the data so that you can obtain the psychological comfort of knowing that the rest of the market is "with you"....As a result they stayed in long enough to get 5 points...(they can only get 5 right now because they are trading small)...

In the process of holding the position, each student learns that focusing on the data at hand not only helps them to stay in the moment but provides the tools they need to manage the physical stress of uncertainty....each time they do this successfully, I encourage them to "stay with it" just a little bit longer than the previous trade...each time they make a little bit more money and the positive feedback they obtain in the process provides a mental "track record" that they can rely on when a trade turns against them (as it will periodically)..

This version of stress training works best if the teacher is able to provide the proper feedback and put the results in context of what the market is doing...the preferred scenario is to have a series of positive winning trades with few losers interspersed so that the student has a realistic experience of trading. Fortunately that is what we have had so far...

Thanks for your comment.

Steve

[Rande Howell]

Originally Posted by steve46 »

Yes thanks, staying focused on the data is critical...I call it "keeping your head in the game"

Today for instance, we took a short trade off the open getting filled at 1210.25....We have planned this trade in advance...and my students know that once you are in a winning trade it is imperative that you keep focused on the data so that you can obtain the psychological comfort of knowing that the rest of the market is "with you"....As a result they stayed in long enough to get 5 points...(they can only get 5 right now because they are trading small)...

In the process of holding the position, each student learns that focusing on the data at hand not only helps them to stay in the moment but provides the tools they need to manage the physical stress of uncertainty....each time they do this successfully, I encourage them to "stay with it" just a little bit longer than the previous trade...each time they make a little bit more money and the positive feedback they obtain in the process provides a mental "track record" that they can rely on when a trade turns against them (as it will periodically)..

This version of stress training works best if the teacher is able to provide the proper feedback and put the results in context of what the market is doing...the preferred scenario is to have a series of positive winning trades with few losers interspersed so that the student has a realistic experience of trading. Fortunately that is what we have had so far...

Thanks for your comment.

Steve

What your teaching "Focused on the data" is what I call Ruler and Sage. Or the state of mind defined by the emotions of discipline and impartiality. You're using a behavioral immensement strategy whereas I teach a memory enrichment process to build state of mind. With a little luck, the students will attune to your mindset (which happens as a by product of our humanness) and they will habituate it so that it becomes familiar pattern for them. I also appreciate your approach where you are using a process called stress inoculation to adapt your students gradually to higher levels of risk so their confidence is also grown.

Rande Howell