Market Reflections

I'm having a great year trading and I went into vacation having my best week of the year.  Thank you TWLO, TPIC, AIRG.

It is important to reflect on where we are and our goals.   It's amazing how a few northwood sunrises can recharge us.

At the cabin there is no internet (outside of what you can get on a cellphone),  this forces us to avoid that noise that creeps into our daily lives.  I do a lot of reading and contemplating.

I keep coming back tot the thought that our actions in the market are a reflection of ourselves. Trading is emotional,  We are not robots and the market will amplify any weakness we have. I think our success or failures is ultimately  a reflection of ourselves.  If we  are undisciplined in our daily lives, things usually turn out fine.  The markets, however, will punish you.  Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow but at some point it will. Practice discipline daily.Let's be champions.  Play like a champion today.

This year I've focused on developing my  market philosophies, mindsets and discipline. I'm having a great year trading. I'm presently up about 140% since February.  This  happens to coincide with the time I began taking martial arts lessons with my son. The constant reinforcement of discipline and respect  of  the process that martial arts teaches has helped all aspects of my life.

In my trading, I've worked backwards from my philosophical beliefs about the markets. Markets are comprised of people who are emotional and not rational. Stocks reflect the emotions of the people that hold them.  etc...  For me, these concepts are nicely reflected in the concept of "Stage Analysis"  which I've built, tweaked, and execute my strategies around.

 I've developed the discipline to let a trade work within my framework and more importantly avoid trades that do not fit into this frame work. When a stock goes into the advancing phase, I've held positions longer and do not have the constant need to "ring the register" that is so satisfying in the short term, but so destructive long term. I took the daily P and L tab off my screen.   This has let me stay in the quick 10% winners and let them develop into the 50 or even 100% winners.

I am reading a Tony Robbins book which introduced  me to the word "Kaizen" which is a Japanese term for the philosophy of continuous improvement.  The concept is that by making small improvements everyday, we can have drastic improvements. The market will be my measuring stick and the possibilities are endless.

Pilsung (certain victory)!