We’re getting our first solid snow and by the looks of it winter is off to a healthy start. Last winter featured mild temperatures and practically no accumulation of snow. Jeff Daniels and I can attest to the importance of snow and ice for our iconic lakes. I mostly enjoy the ripe conditions for Tokyo drift driving.
The funny thing about the first significant snow is how everyone acts brand new. Even the well studied librarians insisted it was imminent that the roads would become impossible to trek. Oh the horror! I performed my inaugural double-doughnut parking lot warm up before advancing to some chicane action near the obviously empty golf course. You must always consider your risks when performing advanced driving maneuvers and perform every slide in a kickass manner–Ludacris on bump.
I’m almost giddy to shovel all the snow in the morning. It’s the light and fluffy, good for making you feel boss strong and getting the blood flowing into your rosy cheeks (no butt).
Back to drifting, how do so many people resist the urge to slide their car around like they’re James Bond being chased through Stalingrad by a bunch commies? Are people so caught up in the mundane that they completely overlook a practically free and amusing activity? Then I thought perhaps they don’t have a method for learning the technique. Then I thought about trading.
One thing you will notice about consistent traders is their methodical approach. I look back at the worse trades of my year and they were all deviations from my plan. I tend to throw money at an idea quick, trial-by-fire. Take for example my entry today shorting Macy’s.
One overarching thesis going into the New Year is weakness in high-ish end retail stores. Today the early holiday sales data comes out and we get a bid sell the news reaction. I practically sold the lows on M. I’ve already deviated from my method of trading. My method is simple, it’s momentum and order flow boiled down to two simple steps:
Define the trend (or lack of)
Trade pullbacks in the direction of the trend
I love this method because it has a margin for error. I also know much sooner if I’m wrong. Fortunately I started very small in my M short. But even that is a deviation. Nowhere in my plan does it say, “Toss a feeler on and add when the sauce starts to thicken” or whatever. It says trade the pullbacks. Now I may have to ride peak-to-trough before I can even assess the downward momentum.
I acted brand new. And we should all learn from it. 2013 is about trading the PLAN only. As for drift driving, you can call me Steve McQueen.
http://youtu.be/5cPN6EsE6cc
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