
Good morning Jeff. One of the first things I learned from you and will never forget is” trade what you see.” Sounds obvious right? What did Buffet say,” Forecasting says alot about the forecaster and nothing about the future.” It makes me sick to my stomach when I hear BS about the economy or certain stocks from people with personal agenda’s. It doesn’t matter to me which way it goes as long as it goes!
Jeffrey:
Thank you for posting this. I agree totally. Not only are we being bombarded with opinion, even those who express the opinions have some sort of interest in pushing their views. One commentator might be shorting the market and therefore will predict a slow down in an attempt to influence a sell-off; those who are long may do the opposite.
I am not going to offer an opinion on the market to anyone. One attorney told me once: “There are two kinds of advice: advice that you pay for and advice that is not worth a d__n!” How true. Just consider that when you read the WSJ or watch CNBC, that you are getting FREE advice and it is worth exactly what you paid for it.
None !! I only listen to my master mind group, who happens to be you Jeff, and Peter shultz who has 30 years experience in trading spreads and options in general. You both are my mentors and master mind group, and both of you are the only ones that I am going to take advice and learn from, thank you.
A couple of years ago I was getting into trades feeling what you described, but than I decided that I would get to the root of the problem and educate myself to eliminate such fear and emotions. I started listening to Dr Wayne dyer, Dr Deepak chopra, I also read a great book called (the power of the subconscious mind) by Dr Joseph Murphy, and I have been on this path since than, and for me it has helped me get to know myself and has helped me realize that everything as we know it is nothing more than just learning experiences to get to our next level in life, and from these experiences we learn to try not to repeat the same mistakes. I learned from the book (The power of the subconscious mind) The sub mind is habitual, and that we need to replace it with good habits and once we repeat these good new habits, than they become the new norm.
Good advice.I wrote on this subject almost exactly a year ago adding that the need for security enters into the mix and may be the underlying driver of the fear. It may be of interest to you and your readers. http://daytradingwithanni.blogspot.com/2009/01/fear-and-greed-or-is-it.html
And thanks for the Twitter visit.
I think we all went through those trading phases when learning the ropes.
I for one dropped my fear and greed when I set a plan for what I wanted from the markets. That is, I decided that I wanted a specific profit target and no longer needed to swing for fences or squeeze every nickel from every trade.
With stops and profit targets adjusted to the current market, how much I would “take home” or “pay” was now simply a factor of position sizing. If I need more cashflow; I up the capital balance and thus the position sizes I take on.
Thus, my risk remains the same and my target remains the same relative to te market.
Don’t have the extra capital? Just plug away with what you have because at a 5-10% average per day return it doesn’t take long to accumulate a balance that could accommodate anyone’s income requirement.
Now I trade a “set it and forget it” strategy. Once the trade is in, I shut off the computer and go do something else for fun or profit.
It’s much easier that way because I know the outcome(s) in advance.
Your option strategies are very similar in that respect and I use them exclusively for my equity trades.
So, I control fear and greed by establishing pre-determined outcomes, set the trade, then go have fun at something else while the market moves the way only it can predict.
Once in a trade, risk is the only thing I can really control. Controlling risk and accepting set profit targets leaves no place for fear nor greed to take hold.
Dave
Great article – This nervousness you described in your article is known as eustress, which literally means “good stress”. By definition, this is the type of “positive” stress that keeps us vital and excited about life. I learned about this during my training to be a ED/Trauma Nurse and learned to utilize this stress to provide the best outcomes for my patients. I am now working at utilizing eustress to become a successful trader.
“Law of Practice” it seems so simple yet so creative!. I have put 10,000 to paper and will take action on it.
Thanks for sharing this Jeff!
Hey Brent,
Glad you’re part of the Credit Spread Trading Made Simple Tribe! It’s just a matter of time before you become the All-Star of the Month.
JZ
matt furey has the secret which is really no secret at all. which is when you truly want something you will find a way to get it done. matt’s bodyweight exercise system is as basic as they come but will deliver the most results if applied correctly. matt was the reason i found j.z. and credit spreads. if matt’s wife who speaks english as a second language could grasp this and become successful i knew i could as well. it turns out i was correct. i was typical of that 90% of people who started off great guns and then quit after awhile when success does not come immdediatley. after about 6 months of no credit spread study or exercise i have resumed both and of course the results are much more positive and i am back in the zone. it’s really just that easy.
Jeff,
Nice post! A wise man once told me that most “overnight successes” actually take 10 years. It’s nice to know that 10,000 hours works out to only 4.8 years assuming 40 hours per week. That’s not so bad.
-Eric
Hi Jeff,
I first read about this idea of 10,000 hours to mastery in Michael Masterson’s Early to Rise newsletter. In that article he mentioned that a person could cut that number down significantly (I don’t remember exactly by how much) by modeling someone who had already achieved mastery of your goal or by being coached by someone who had already achieved mastery. So. . . thanks for all the great coaching and inspiration for those of us who want to learn to be great credit spread traders. Regards, Laurie L.
Pulling the trigger to get started
Jeff, Thank you for this timely post. I have gotten killed this year with wrong directional trades 9betting on the correction that doesn’t come). My biggest problem is two fold: 1) When to cut and run. i.e. take the loss and get out. 2) Fear – afraid to not be in the directional when the big reversal happens. I’m so sure (wrongly) that the market will tank that I keep making trades based on that. Do I get out of all of those losing trades immediately? What do I do to get back on track? I know you cannot give personal advice but can you broadly comment on this and how to get moving forward again? Please help! Thank you
I’m thankful that I decided to finally take the necessary steps to direct my life where I want it to go and to have linked up with your phenomenal website and group of traders. Thanks!