One of my good friend, a fellow trader posted in his facebook, "Trading is the most stressful occupation in the world". Whenever I meet him, he is full of smile and vitality, trades the market opening at the arcade for about 2 to 3 hours daily, whether win or lose, he disappears like David Copperfield.
I hardly see him in the afternoon, so what's so stressful? Probably after trading, he goes to the bank, withdraws his profits in cash and spent the rest of the time ironing the notes at home and worries about where to keep them (LOL).
He just bought a new apartment. Is he not making good money and laughing all the way to the bank? What he is doing is probably the dream of 99% of the traders including me.
I remembered during those early days on the floor, we were both trading the Nikkei contract. Whenever the market goes against him, he would turn around and start cutting his losses extremely fast and hard pushing the prices up or down. Sometimes having the same position as him can be really a pain in the neck.
In the beginning I would go against him to average further since he was selling or buying at prices that can be 5 to 20 ticks away in a not too liquid market. I lost more money going against him as I have to cut further away. He told me "I'm just relieving stress", and thanked me for carrying his baby.
I dared not trade against him after a few attempt to support the market once I knew he was cutting losses. It's kamikaze!
After converting to electronic trading, he revealed that it's common for him to lose a few months in a row before recovering and asked whether I can withstand the drawdown and the emotional roller coaster.
What's his secret?
He is a momentum trader averaging on his good trades without fear and square off all positions immediately once the market turn with just a click of the button, no questions asked or anything to regret. He leverages on his speed and plenty of guts, that's his edge, another of those super trader.
He spent lots of money in motivational programmes, attending seminars like Anthony Robins, Robert Kiyosaki etc and attending various courses every year.
He recently attended a series of courses where the total package comes up to about S$11,000/-. I'm really amazed by this guy. I asked why he spent so much money attending all these courses. "Many attended the course, from CEOs to salesmen, that's the shortcut to knowledge, by learning from those who are successful, time is money" he replied.
My friend deserved to be successful, and his thirst for knowledge is insatiable.
Profit to date for the special account is S$10,749.00
2 comments:
Your trader friend sounds like an interesting guy. I wouldn't mind seeing his account statements; haha. Not that I would ever get such an opportunity. But, I find a lot can be learned about a trader depending on his entries and exits (style, ideology, experience, philosophy, etc).
Yes, Anon, I agree with you.
There are many super traders that I know and all have one major characteristic - guts to act upon the edge they have. They are the top 1% of the traders.
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