Sunday, September 20, 2015

The Mindset of the Winning Trader

A major challenge for traders is dealing with noisy environments.  No, I'm not writing about volatility or even the volatility of volatility, but rather the noise of our own internal environments.

We become caught up in what screens are telling us.  We keep tabs of what others are saying and trading.  We follow news, we read emails, we message back and forth.

The one person we don't listen to is ourselves.  That requires quiet.

How much quiet do we experience in our trading?

It is ironic that some of the traders who most rely upon an intuitive feel for markets operate in the noisiest environments that block access to any possible messages from the gut.  Can there be effective intuition and market feel without quiet within?

When we are noisy, we are trying to keep up with markets and find trading ideas.  When we are quiet, we allow the market to come to us.  

Markets don't speak to us; they whisper.  A quiet mind makes for a keen ear.

Further Reading:  The Challenge of Developing Intuition
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