Trading Defined
“There is nothing
alive more agonized than man of all that breathe and crawl across the earth.”
-The
Iliad, Homer
In one of my favorite quotes from The Iliad, the Head Honcho God Zeus is speaking to the horses of
Achilles’ chariot, who are distressed at the death of Patroclus.
And while “The Gods” can comfort the horses, man is
tormented by the consciousness of the arbitrary nature of “The Gods” decisions,
yet utterly powerless in doing anything about it. Our ultimate agony is “fighting
the fight” and knowing we must lose.
Well, welcome to trading then.
“C’mon, raise your
hand – how many of you feel like some extra terrestrial being [Zeus maybe?] is
ROTFLMAO at watching you trade and lose?”
“Wow, that’s a lot of
hands.”
What brings us to the game is the “sizzle and smell of the
steak”. What terrifies us is the reality that not every piece of steak is filet
mignon.
There are times in every trading market [and boy does it
sure feel to me like I have been through a few months of this] when breaking
even or just losing a hair feels like victory; where the trading Gods test your
ability and humility in suffering all of the human conditions and vices.
In more ways than one, every trader eventually stares into
the abyss at least once; usually over a career multiple times. What you do next
is key to your survival.
Now, a lot of you won’t really listen to what I’m going to
tell you. I realize most of you think you are ‘special” and that “this time it’s
different" [the 4 most dangerous words in the English language], but a lot of
former “Masters of the Universe” are now uttering “Would you like to upgrade to a combo meal?”
1) Lower
volume and leverage immediately,
2) Recognize
“Houston,
we have a problem”,
3) Look
for the defects in your trading algorithm and understand what they are,
4) Make
changes to eliminate risk without giving up profits [easier said than done],
and
5) If
a market becomes “untradeable”, move on to another market.
“So, if I’m in this
kind of situation, when does it end?”
“When it does.”
Have a good day everyone. Be back to full time trading and
posting soon.
-vegas
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