Jan
16
The Weekend Trader – The Critical Trader’s “Feel”
By
Tuesday 1-18-11 Update: A great ongoing discussion re: Christians as traders appears in the comments section of this post.
How relevant is trading “feel”?
Is trading an art or a science?
What are we supposed to do with success?
Is the glass half-empty or half-full?
In today’s longest (17+ minute) video yet, I refer to a recent onlooker’s question to provide my perspectives to all four.
You may find my response to the final one – at the end of the video – a bit surprising.
Or not.
Is the glass half-empty or half-full?
If we look outside of the box it could be neither. It could be that all we need is half a glass.
On our journey of trading, sometimes having half a glass is the way to manage how much we could lose as we walk, reducing the risk of spillage. Or by placing a lid on the glass and turning it over, remember the importance of the vacuum to hold the lid on. Trading is perhaps all about how to manage the water in the glass not how much. If we want more water, just get a bigger glass.
Don,
Its been over 2 years reading your blog on a consistent basis & I have never doubted anything you have written or said! To miss out on the multi millions of dollars from Mass Marketing speaks miles about how Real of a person you are and further validates the spiritual feel of trading, without falling for using the 2+ years of blogging to hype up the industry to mass market a multi-million dollar trading psychology/education bundle package business. Enough said. Don is the real deal, no hype, no bs, no arrogance or supercharged super-ego. Thanx for being the minority in this business that is REAL!!!
Via EMail:
Hi Don:
just a short note………….
I would like to thank you for one of the shortest, yet MOST INSPIRATIONAL statements I have ever heard or read.
To wit: your glass is neither half full nor half empty–but filled to overflowing! Watching your video actually brought a tear to this trader’s eye, I was so moved.
It’s a known fact that the only limits to personal success and achievement are personally imposed; your statement reminds us that the same limitation applies to our own happiness.
Thanks again from a great admirer and an increasingly successful ES day-trader!
I have been following the blog from early 2009 and i feel i have a sense of your personal beliefs and what kind of a person you are.I have to be honest though and tell that every time you bring up your belief in Jesus and what he means to you I get confused.I consider myself a Chrtistian -Buddhist and try to live by what i feel was Jesus,s most important message ,to do unto others as you would have them do unto you.I believe if He were alive today He would not look kindly on the stock market just as He did not look kindly on the moneychangers of His day.I know the pain that i have gone through when things go bad with my trading and i know it is because someone more experienced than me has taken advantage of my as you would say retail side inexperience.and profited from it.I know when I win i profit from someones misfortune ,it,s a zero sum game as you have said many times .How do you deal with that in a truly Christian way of “doing unto others” knowing that you would not want someone to cause you the pain of failure.
Hi. I’m sure there are many better answers than what I’ll try to provide, but here are a few humble perspectives & thoughts from this end on a cold January evening.
Using a business analogy, running a wholesaling trading business is no different than any other business dealing with inventory, and as long as one isn’t trying to manipulate markets or other traders (God and you will of course know your true intent), running such a business should be quite honorable as we provide the service of market liquidity by taking the other side of transactions from people who desire to buy or sell the market at any given point in time.
With respect to the competitive aspect of the business, I imagine Christian athletes face a similar dilemna in their endeavors, as do Christians in other professions who may “beat out” someone for an employment opportunity, job promotion, etc., or run a business so well that it adversely affects a similar business down the street.
Perhaps ultimately it comes down to what we do with the varied talents that God has given us in terms of sharing them and/or using them to enhance or compliment the skills of others. Such is likely why many Christian athletes run camps and why successful Christian businessmen run seminars so as to share their gifts.
It’s likely why many generations of my family have decided to teach at various times in their lives. For me, it’s partly why I began accepting requests to provide trader education in this industry years ago, is one of the reasons we created the Jellie effort (some may remember that part of the Jellyfish genesis was spiritual in nature as we adopted the company name used by Phil Vischer of VeggieTales fame … meaning we’re pretty uselss by ourselves and simply try to drift where God leads us), and probably why I tend to babble in this ongoing journal. For if I can pass on what I’ve learned through my own pain using parables, etc., then hopefully others who heed the words can avoid it.
Then there’s of course the issue of what we do with the rewards of our labor in terms of furthering the Kingdom (again, something I know I can do a LOT better at despite donating a percentage of the educational tuition proceeds to the American Diabetes Association and GrowUganda.org).
Ultimately, we of course all fall short … which is something I’m still working on
.
Great post! Thanks.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts with me, I like the way you see things for yourself.I guess having been raised an Italian Roman Catholic I still have work to do on not feeling guilty about whatever success I do achieve.
Don,
Great reply as always, and if you can allow me to add that trading teaches self-mastery which is the ultimate goal in life based on all religions.
Being disciplined,patient, focused and managing ones feelings thinking and controlling fear & greed ….etc. is what I call self-mastery.
Thanks again
Keep it up
Regards
Guss
Victor, I think the money changers in the Bible were bankers. Traders are saints compared with that bunch, hehe.
We are blessed to have Don take time from his career to offer training courses for us. I can’t think of another professional athlete that would sacrifice his time to train others to earn a living in his or her field. Don is the Jack Nicklaus of trading. Too bad Jack does not offer golf instruction I am certain he would have been a great teacher.
Well, I certainly wouldn’t call myself the Jack Nicklaus of trading … I just try to avoid as many sand traps as I can (and still find them from time to time).
Running any business involves getting other peoples money, ideally while providing decent “goods and services”. ( Although it does often seem there are increasing numbers of businesses taking money in return for “bads and nuisances” that’s another subject!) . If you don’t run your own business then you work for someone else, or as part of some publicly funded organisation – which ultimately gets its money from business (or worryingly nowadays, by writing IOU’s).
It seems to me that the market based system, which allows speculation to assist in price discovery and liquidity, is the best one human beings have been able to come up with….so far. We know from history having some dictator, cartel or regime decide on the price of everything simply does not work.
So, trade away…or give up money altogether and…?
Don,
Great video! Thanks.
There is so much to comment on. I am a young trader and I value your comments and teaching. It is of great value to me to be able to see and hear your thoughts about trading.
You are right about the cup overflowing! There is an abundant blessing that comes from God.
Wow….this is a topic I’ve thought about before and the first place I’ve ever seen it discussed!!
I struggled with this concept (being profitable at the expense of others) since I experienced a great deal of pain in my early days of trading. But is there any business (legal) that doesn’t involve some sort of struggle in it’s infancy? Or a business that doesn’t experience adversity due to new competition or change in economic landscape? If so, I’m all ears!
I worked for a Hungarian guy who started a bakery and basically lost everything due to mismanagement, lack of a solid business plan, randomness, etc. Should other bakeries be held accountable for this? It’s a zero sum game in the food business too. If I choose to eat in more due to economic conditions, then some restaurant somewhere absorbs my absence and some grocery store reaps the benefits.
I think the real crux of trader failure may lie in the ease of being able to take part in the profession to begin with. It’s much harder to get funding to start conventional businesses, whereas a pulse & some money is about all you need to start trading. Since humans choose the least path of resistance, trading qualifies as a lazy way to “run your own business”. And anyone who runs a business in a lazy way, or on the fly, will most likely perish.
Anyways, great topic of discussion.
Although I struggle to explain it to myself and others as eloquently as I’d like, I view trading as the essence of business or “trade”. It’s an unapolegetic quest for self improvement and finding perpetual value with repeated decision-making. The money is oftenly a focus, but is often times a distraction.
Other businesses provide goods & services in the more conventional sense, but with the same ultimate goal.
I also believe this issue of reconciling profit with religious beliefs may be a large part, if not the only factor, in a lot of struggling religious traders quest for profitability.
Great post and discussion!
I always view electronic trading of any instrument or market as the purest form of “capitalism” for lack of a better word. its one of the very few professions where _only_ your performance counts, and nothing else. not how your boss likes you, or your colleagues, or what you have done in the past, or how you dress. performance only, meaning what you do, your decisions are the only thing that counts, which makes it all the harder