TEACHABLE MOMENT @ TRADER CENTRAL

                                         Staff Is NOT Immune

It all started last Saturday morning; after I got up and walked the dog I started to feel progressively worse for wear. By Sunday afternoon I was a basket case of aches, chills, fever, and a head overflowing with the runny stuff. I called the staff together [-vegas Jr., Chief of Staff Milton Waddums, and Cousin It] and informed them they would collectively be trading my account [Replitrader] until the walls stopped moving and I could actually perform something resembling human movement.

My instructions were simple; follow the rules of the “Long Term –vegas Big Bang Algorithm” and pick the most active times to be together and watch the market for trading signals. The KISS method had been invoked [Keep It Simple Stupid], meaning no multiple lot trading, just 1 lots.

When the Mrs. finally tucked me in I told her, “They’ll screw this up beyond belief”, and then proceeded to zonk-out into Nyquil-Afrin-Advil-Sudafed never-never land. I really don’t remember much of Monday through Thursday; only that the dog came in when chicken noodle soup was delivered. Everything was pretty fuzzy. On Friday I felt much better, but the Mrs. wasn’t buying it and refused to let the staff in for consultation, and ordered me to either sleep or watch some TV.

It was this morning I got clued in to what went on during the week and what action was made in the account. Long story short: We’re hedged up from Monday with a 10 pip loss on a 1 lot.

I “consulted” with each member of the team this morning, and the end result was that they were pretty despondent about the results for last week. I then brought them all together for lunch today [along with the Mrs. and some of her friends] at our hangout seafood restaurant and really tried to inspire them.

My staff members are very intelligent people, with many College degrees, that can think creatively, and last but not least are very fine people. They hang around me, can bounce ideas and other market thoughts off me, have been with me at speaking engagements, and have been able to learn how to trade first hand. Each and every one of them has a burning desire to succeed, be successful, and ultimately mange funds some day.

Yet, they failed.

Some of you probably think I really got after them and gave them a floor-trader tongue lashing that they wouldn’t soon forget. You would be wrong!

What I heard from them was 1) “I thought [or we thought] ….”, 2) I [we] weren’t quite sure …, 3) “This can’t be happening” ….., 4) This market isn’t behaving like I [we] thought” … Anybody see a pattern here besides me?

Where in the algorithm is there a section on what you [or any trader] think? Where does the algo require thought? Thought has already been done; I did that outside the framework of trading.

There, but for the grace of God, go I.

It was so long ago [sometime around March 1981], but I am pretty sure it was somewhere around the 100^th day of my trading after I created [after months of weekend and free time analysis] my original algo when I was a floor trader.

I spent over a thousand hours of research developing the original algo, and was absolutely convinced it was my key to floor trading success.

I would get to the floor, trading would start, and the algo would give a signal. Okey dokey fancy pants, what’s it like to be in your skin now?

                                    Maybe The Circus Is Hiring

Doubt, indecision, and thinking followed by intense regret and anger. On the train rides back home [about 1 hour out to the suburbs] I would just beat myself up unmercifully.

“Algo wins, you lose; what a dumb-ass! Why can’t I follow it?”

“I rack my brains everyday to no avail; no real money. The algo is killing it! What is wrong with me?

Then came a day where my brains cost me about $400, and the algo nailed it for an approximate $1,700 win in just under 2 hours. Seriously, you could have fried eggs on the back of my neck.

The next day, on the train ride in, I just let everything go. “I can’t take this; no matter what I do, no matter what I think is the right trade based on the charts or somebody buying or selling in the pit, it’s almost always wrong. The mental pressure here… my parents …. my family …. paying the bills … being free from corporate Amerika … everything is at stake here for me.”

Yet, here is the algo churning out great profit each and every day.

I GIVE UP!!!!!

And with that admission, a great weight is lifted off my shoulders, as I immediately realize the algo has done the work and all I have to do is follow it!

I know in my heart that if I don’t follow the algo today, I’m out of the trading biz and asking people, “Would you like a hot apple pie with that combo meal?”

That first day I made about $350 [if my memory serves me correctly] and I was happy. On the second day I made over $1,000, and I have never looked back.

I gave up caring about money; I gave up thinking [i.e. trying to be an analyst]; I gave up listening to others; but most importantly I devoted myself to following the algorithm like a Kool-Aid drinker in a religious cult.

It’s the HARDEST EASIEST money you will ever make.

Now, I absolutely know with certainty, that if it can happen to me on the trading floor, to my staff now, that it is affecting a great many of you as well.

Here is my advice: been there, done that – GIVE IT UP!

Will it be hard? Hell yes, especially for veteran traders who have bad habits to break to begin with. For you newbie traders, let this be a blessing in disguise.

All can be right with your trading universe because you have in your possession something more valuable than money; you have within your grasp the ability to escape government and corporate tyranny. What can possibly be more important than that?

Have a great day everyone.

-vegas

P.S. And yes, I’m fine now. I have a backlog of emails from the week to get at, and I will get to them tomorrow [Sunday]. So, if you have sent me your comments/questions during the week, my answer is on the way.