General Comments
Reader Steve asks a good question: Hi. I know that most of what you talk about isn't really about daytrading, but I am a daytrader and I have a question. Overall I'm not making money. I've found that my problem is that I have
Psychology
Rhythm is a fundamental aspect of the human experience: our bodies pulse with the rhythm of blood and breath. We experience the rhythms of day and night, and the longer cycles of the seasons. Rhythm is fundamental to music, whether it’s the relentless pounding bass of a rock song,
Individual Traders
I did an interview a week or so ago with Abraham Thomas, one of the co-founders of Quandl. I love doing interviews because a thoughtful interviewer makes me ask questions and think about things in a new way. (Stay tuned for some more insights from that interview, and I'
Psychology
Every trader faces fear, sooner or later. In a perfect world, we'd be fearful at exactly the right times and use that fear to manage our risk, but we all know it doesn't work like this--markets naturally seem to provoke the "wrong" emotions at
Psychology
I received a good question from a reader, Jeremy, this morning: From a practical standpoint:How does one deal with market uncertainty?Why is accepting uncertainty so hard for most traders, especially newer traders and/or those who are not consistently profitable?More specifically:How does a discretionary intraday swing
Podcast
Markets have been a bit volatile over the past few weeks, and the future is uncertain. For many investors, these moves can be troubling because it's been many years since we've had a substantial decline--whether we do or do not from the current point (and, for
Psychology
Before I call it a day, I thought I'd share a few thoughts with you. For those of you finding this post later, US stocks broke down Thursday of last week from a long, extended range, and closed the week Friday with what might be charitably called a
Psychology
I’ve written and said many times before that simplicity is a good thing—if you have a methodology that is overly complex, there’s a pretty chance it won’t work. However, so many traders feel drawn to complexity—it feels right and good. Why is that? Why would
Individual Traders
We live in a "quick fix" world in which everyone is looking for "hacks" to solve and shortcut problems. The internet is filled with "you're doing it wrong" posts that purport to show you how to do everything from tying your shoes
Psychology
I was honored to be featured on the Stocktwits Must Follow Podcast series a few weeks ago. I had an interesting conversation with Sean McLaughlin in which we focused heavily on meditation and trader development, but also covered a number of trading-related topics and ideas. Some of you may already
Psychology
We all have ego. Everyone likes to be right, likes to be seen as intelligent, and likes to be a winner. We all hate to lose, and we hate to be wrong; traders, as a group, tend to be more competitive than the average person. These personality traits are part
General Comments
We live in a world where most of our basic needs are fulfilled; most of us have food and water, we have a sense of safety and security, a sense of community and belonging, and, most of us most of the time, can work on that oft-elusive "pursuit of