Jul 27, 2012

Trading Psychology Journal Part 3


Identifying and neutralizing beliefs that are no longer useful in helping one fulfill their objectives.
  • The next step is to properly integrate the five fundamental truths into your mental environment at a functional level.
  • Using technical analysis you can begin to define these patterns as edges. 
  • Any pattern defined as an edge is simply and indication that there is a high probability that the market will move in one direction or another. 
  • Believe in random results -outcome for each pattern is random relative to one another
  • Believe in random risk-Risk on each pattern is random relative to one another
  • Believe in sample size Trading 
  • At the macro level, over a large sample of events,
  • I will have a satisfactory outcome. At the micro level 
  • each individual event has a random outcome.’
  • Neutralise existing self 
  • sabotaging beliefs and adopt the Seven Principles of 
  • Consistency 
  •  make them a part of your identity by 
  • making them a part of your set of trading beliefs.
  • ‘If you believe it, you will create and perpetuate it 
  • because it will be a natural function and expression 
  • of who you are.’
  • ‘Your consistency happens inside your mind, not in 
  • the market.’

Creating and growing beliefs about trading, that promote objective observation and flawless
execution of one’s chosen trading methodology.
  • Practicable trading beliefs to adopt as part of my personality (the Five Fundamental Truths and the Seven Principles of Consistency).
  • Completed my understanding of the role that 
  • trading with a mechanical system plays in thinking 
  • from the market’s perspective.
  • Confirmed for me the reasons why a mechanical 
  • system is required for nearly everybody that 
  • attempts trading. I say nearly because there are a 
  • very small number of the population that I believe 
  • can learn to trade markets intuitively.




Trading Psychology Journal Part 2

Understanding the nature of beliefs:-
  • ‘Beliefs seem to naturally resist any force that would alter their present form.’
  • ‘Once you tap into a belief it forces itself into your conscious mind.’
  • ‘An inherent characteristic of a belief is that we severely reject any possibility that exists outside the limitation of what we believe is true.’
  • ‘There is a huge difference between being aware and believing.’
  • Committing yourself to trade a mechanical system in predefined sample sizes will cause a head-on confrontation between the variables that define your  edge and any mental forces that are in conflict with the Five Fundamental Truths and the Seven Principles of Consistency
  • Effectively working through these conflicts will create a resolute belief in probabilities and build a sense of self-trust that you will always, without hesitation, act in your own best interests.
  • You are ‘there’ when you are no longer experiencing any conflicting thoughts when you execute your mechanical edge

Why do traders not recognise that  they are making trading errors?
However, it all comes back to beliefs. The beliefs that stand people in good stead to make them successful  in society/business do NOT work in the markets.



To be successful in society/business you need to:
1. Control people, companies, opposition.
2. Be better than people, companies etc.
3. Have better and bigger ideas than others.
4. Manipulate data, people, companies, situation etc.
5. Convince people that you are right and your
company is the right solution.
6. Compete and beat.
7. Win and be right (or more appropriately, not lose 
and not be wrong).
8. Outsell and out maneuver the opposition.
9. Be a step ahead of the opposition – try to predict 
their next move.




    Automatic hard-wired programs that all human beings have are to:



    • Associate the current moment with previous 
    • experiences, and


    • Avoid emotional and physical pain
  • ‘As long as our minds are associating we are NOT  in the “now” moment’.





    ‘Your ultimate trading objective is to get to a point where you can trade from a care-free, objective state  of mind where you are making yourself available 
    to perceive and act upon whatever the market 
    is offering you in any given now moment from its  
    perspective.’






    Through your hard-wired mechanism of association you have likened current 
    information to a past painful experience which is out 
    f the ‘now’ moment. The association creates the 
    perception of a potential threat of emotional pain which automatically invokes your pain avoidance 
    mechanism. This mechanism will cause thoughts 
    to pop into your conscious mind (your beliefs are 
    at work) that result in actions such as delay, freeze,
    avoid, justify, rationalise etc. In this state of mind you 
    cannot be carefree and objective.




    ‘As long as our minds are associating we are NOT in the “now” moment’.


    The actions that could result would be doing more analysis of the charts, researching stocks on the internet, phoning a broker for advice, reading newsletters for additional input into your buy, hold or sell trading decision - all subjective actions – when you should have just acted on your edge.


     In a market environment emotional pain is experienced through:
    1. Being proven wrong.
    2. Losing money.
    3. Missing out.
    4. Leaving money on the table.


    These are the four primal fears that traders, whose trading paradigm is set by the same beliefs that they   operate under in the community and in business, try   
    to avoid. Meaning that we become hard-wired   
    to avoid the above four situations in a market   
    environment. Any action that a trader takes to avoid   
    any of the above four situations is a trading error. 



    This is why people do not recognize that they are making trading errors. To them their mind, through  their time grown beliefs, is operating correctly. 
    And it is, only it is operating correctly for 
    a non-market environment.





    Identifying and neutralizing beliefs that are no 
    longer useful in helping one fulfill their Objectives.