Trading has definitely turned me into an asshole. I don’t know if any of you feel the same way, but I think it’s fair to say that in many aspects, it’s ruined my life.
There’s something about the constant self mastery though that is unlike anything else. How to manage fear, anxiety, greed, confidence, and the amount of time spend to develop individual skill sets and an edge. I’ve found this to be what I love the most about trading, aside from the monetary gains and the look of horror on peoples faces when describing what I do for a living.
My biggest professional struggle is finding balance. It may be just me, but post 2008 the game changed significantly. Prior to the financial collapse, people in general were more positive. Trading still had its challenges, but the process was more enjoyable. Even after a dominant performance in 2013 here at iBC, I had to take the time out of my money printing to tell all of you what a bunch of assholes you were. The lack of enjoyment at this sport now days makes it hard to be positive and energetic when I am away from the monitors doing things other than pressing buttons all day. Granted the world is different and people have reasons to be pissed off. I joke often about how each year of this bull market could be defined by a an anti-depressant or amphetamine…but at times it literally took that just in order to suffer through the process of making money.
This last month has really helped me reset from the shit storm of 2014. I’m not back to that high watermark, but will be there by EOY. That’s been my most obvious goal this year. My next, and most important goal is to focus on getting back to finding balance.
Moving forward, I may knock off a part of my day blogging here about something other than stocks. Hopefully, this is something you can tolerate. I hope to get back to the gym…again. I gotta turn this stuff off at the close and focus on a few things more important than the bottom line.
If you have things that you do to find balance, or have thoughts on the topic, feel free to discuss.
See you in the morning.
OA
If you enjoy the content at iBankCoin, please follow us on Twitter
lot of things to find balance..
the gym is one ..take runs and walks in sunny day is another that i learned are due -to not miss ..forcing me to take time away from monitors when i loose persepctive is another .. distract my mind in the week end … again , even though is not easy .. but i know that for my routine i need to be clear lucid in front of monitors 7/7..this need some work to be mantained
it’s not strictly a balance , it’s more of sustaining a zone of , that has to be positive and is a quite much draining mind set
some people in the field do it with coke.. ( balance the stress with coke )
some eventually blow.. other sustain for a part of their lifes
at the bottom and more physically -without drugs- it’s lot more about depleting toxins and related degraded metabolites constantly, from both body and brain..and this has lot to do with managing stress, which is a very subjective and personal life + history matter
knowing my family is fine plays a very important role as well , I’m well aware my performance decline -even dramatically- when this variable fluctuate
i bet these are all things you know somewhat better then me .
have a great w.e. bro
Balance? There aren’t enough hours in the day! Full time job + day trading in the AM + working out + girlfriend. Not sure how I will managed to squeeze in raising kids in there, but one day it will happen.
My goal is fewer higher quality trades (daytrade only) with bigger positions. This should help reduce time daytrading. Then reduce the amount of time I spend reading various stuff about stocks throughout the day. That one is more for fun, since I don’t really use it for trading.
If you have kids, spend time with them. I find myself feeling really guilty when I reflect back on the day in which I was absorbed by trading and not paying enough attention to my daughter
This is a refreshing post, with a dose of humility and honesty that warrants a lot of respect (not ball washing). I’ve been following this site for about 3 months, and following a lot of your recommended trades, the majority of which would have turned out better for me if I had the balls to hold the positions a bit longer….side issue. I’m not sure whether you are seeking commiseration, or a solution, but I doubt you are looking for either. Hopefully you are fine…The stress I have felt increase while trading in this limited period has made me realize that this is not something I could do for a living. Much respect to those of you who can. With that said, those of you that can find the angles, are making money. I am still seeking those angles, but I find certain phenomenon interesting…it’s kinda fucked up as I understand it (and I hope to be corrected if wrong)..So, if the jobs number is good, (when it comes out later today) that will be bad for the market, because that could signal an increased liklihood of a rate hike in December… Obviously higher interest rates are bad for many interests. but why are we championing fewer jobs being created? Is this the symptom of the FED being totally fucked?
because the market is desinged to trail and adhere to a design , besides fluctuation , that somewhat goes behind every day minutes and fed speak; not important who design the algo , or what combination it is ..it is important to understand if there are signficant changes , as you said , to get in the right angles as to maximize profit/minimize loss
the only thing that you can’t buy is experience to do a better job is experience..your trading habit ,manners, instruments and strategy too should reflect and pair well your psichology ( because if not there will be some incoherence in your trading and the path to correct them will too long ) .
i.e. Jeff makes lot of money with options ( and stocks ) , up or down.. while Dobidoo makes the same with commodities .. or futures.. or currency pairs , up or down. They are both skilled and experienced , and nicely confident .
but swap their sits and they will likely find quite very uncomfortable, for a long time .. not that they would want to do it ..
or to exchange habits , or trade flexibility for money
Afterthought: don’t get me wrong, we are all here to make money, but it seems like a paradox that can’t be good for the long term.
sure not an healtful /or one of the most salutary job around
Not for the individual, but for the overall market
@bood: If the market adheres to a design, then who is the designer? …phenomenon is the random chance. But at this point it seems like the Fed is the designer. We all know we have a centrally controlled economy. Are some allowed to front run the Fed decisions?
designers are the one with powers , that is money and algos.
not very important though ..if your task is forecast , you have to forecast and be aware of the design and not speculate the designer..
side note , not of importance , it doesn’t seem deigners changing very soon
I understand. But I am speaking from a place of concern outside of the general concern of the stock market. …I am not trying to be facetious, but just curious about how the stock market seems to now lie farther outside the normal relation to the real economy
actually the stock / bond market is more used to propel / stabilize economy..then reflect it
maybe in the past
back later doug
have a great day !
*Dague
Thx for your thoughts Brotha!
I still don’t understand how TWTR is a pyramid scheme. Somebody help me out here
Same here.
I’m excited to read we’re going to mix it up a bit! Thanks for all the help thus far! Stay positive.
Hat tip.
Gregorian Chants, and laughing at Peter Schiff
Man, I’m pissed. I am so gun shy now. I’ve been in a ton of big winners, but have been to nervous to keep them through earnings. I sold UGAZ yesterday before the inventory results and lost out on a 10% move, then I sold my SHAK worried about a shake and bake. Another 10% move.
Time to have more confidence in my stock picks.
Anyone playing gold today? I have a feeling it’s going to have a huge move today.
Something interesting to ponder about the $NUGT chart. Using OA’s Stochastics on a daily chart, NUGT’s longest term stochastic reading has never done anything but go straight down to 25 or lower after reaching 75 or higher. If it gold turns on a dime today and heads back up… this would be a change in character signaling a bottom in gold miners, IMO.
Gold getting pole axed. This is why you don’t get in front of the numbers. at this rate, gold could keep going straight down.
Most of us don’t put nearly the amount of time in that you do, so for us balance is easier to prescribe: delegate the hard word of research, back-testing of theories, assessing market sentiment, etc. to people like Option Addict. (I’d include Fly here, but he banned me years ago, so fuck him.)
Separately, part of the joy may be gone because we all know that the foundation under this market is not wholesome. Central Planners and central bankers manipulate, but the reality of debt and demographics will leave our children less well off than they would be if our masters weren’t so short term in their approach. So most of us no longer invest, we just try to grab some money when we spot where the flows might go – a zero sum game.
your business is mental , very mental ….i would suggest to take brisk walks to process these thoughts [let go] ..walk until the thoughts are very spaced out ….sit down …close eyes ….focus on the space between 2 thoughts …..peace be with you
Found the column interesting re: balance.
I have traded since ’82 (1982) and juggled a law office, a family, and the trading.
It was easy from ’82 to about ’89 when I just made two trades a day via Fidelity Sector funds (hourly pricing then) and then to about 1999 via one end of day trade via mutual funds (they cracked down on frequent traders like me- I got kicked out of GT Global, Scudder, and Franklin).
Then did the day trading stocks until a couple of years ago.
It wasn’t fun as before and in fact kind of sucked even though I was making $$.
Then the kids went to college, got married, and are established and I retired from day trading.
Now I am back to simply trading once a day my IRA via Rydex funds at their intra day 10:30 AM pricing. I make the trade and go for a long ride, or go for a swim, or go fishing, or play tennis (my disc doesn’t allow golf anymore). And for about 4 months a year I actually work with humans as a manager of an S&P 500 company annual special project.
Trading is fun again.
I don’t know how old you are but I know you have kid(s) that play basketball..I’m 58, have two sons I’m very close to..32 and 28..Not a week goes by where I don’t long for just another day with them when they were young. It goes by much faster than you can imagine..find a way to cherish every day.
Agreed, I just think of it as an occupational hazard.
Just take a week off. Nothing wrong with that.
It took me 20 year to make a change I was obsessed with always working and trading to the detriment of wife,kids and my life. One day while talking about work and life my best friends father said “you have to step away from the grind every now an again, and realize when you come back the shit will still be there.” I started elk hunting again and took a dear friend on two of those hunts. He told me the first hunt was the best vacation he ever had, he missed the next two due to “being so busy at work…..” Last year he took his own life and I often think about how glad I was he went on the first two hunts and sad that he did not make the last two. He lost perspective and was only focused on becoming the CEO of the company he had worked at for 24 years, I think it killed him. I leave today for a week of Pheasant hunting in SD and while I might miss out on a trade or two and some $$, the value of a cold beer with friends while the sun light fades is more than worth it. When I log back in the shit will still be there and I will pick up my shovel and get back to work with happy thoughts of “Rooster!!!” in the back of my mind.
“No man lays on his death bed wishing he had worked one more day”
I do not have kids and am single having divorced 10 years ago. Use the gym, low/no near diet, and meditation. My girlfriend’s needs probably equal a spouse plus 1 1/2 kids so I insist on a time I need to trade with a time I will spend with her. Cut back on day trading and options only using them to smooth out decay & trading around positions.
This morning my dream is coming true! Perceived higher rates coming coupled with lower oil. Should be good through Monday.
Oh and I increased my intake of filtered water from 1/2 gallon to 1 1/2 gallons per day. My brain fits on ask cylinders, pee a lot!
Good for you buddy!
Just hit the gym then hit that bong bruh. Everything balances out after that.
I just beat off when I feel stressed
Completely agree. Been in the same boat the last few months. You help a lot of us out with the info in After Hours and 12631, so your experience is going farther than just your trading account.
Personally, the longer I have been trading, the more I enjoy doing it, but it can become overwhelming with so much to keep track of and an endless supply of info, and having a bit of a perfectionist streak doesn’t help.
The gym and sports are some of the best ways to get away. I’m also going to focus on fewer positions at one time, but having higher conviction for them. Hopefully being more selective will make it easier to deal with less screen time.
And I’m a different mk than the mk a few posts up. No disrespect though
Looks like the topic has been thoroughly covered with some great responses. I would just add that working out while learning new skills adds an invigorating facet to the typical workout routine. I go to the gym regularly, but over the past few years I’ve added in skill based workouts with trainers/coaches i.e.: boxing, surfing, paddle boarding. adding that learning/mental component to a workout really adds to that feeling of accomplishment that I think most of us relish after the workout.
+1. I need to find a few new hobbies.