"The only traders who trade without emotion are those who are able to do so by talking their charts in the pages of books still read after their deaths."
I DO NOT watch CNBC or any other financial news network, not because of anything inherently wrong with watching financial news but because I have simply found that doing so does nothing to improve my trading skills. I am a trader. I read charts. I trade what I read in the charts. CNBC is not a ticker symbol or a major index. I can’t trade it; therefore, I do not watch CNBC. I pay attention to earnings dates as I do not hold a position through earnings. That is MY rule. Period. I am AWARE of certain important upcoming announcements that could or could not impact market direction for a few hours to a few weeks depending on the market’s mood at the time. That is it. I do not attempt to interpret how the news will affect the market’s direction. That, my friend, is a fool’s game designed for fools and the fools who follow them. I trade. I do not interpret the news. I’ll let the charts interpret the news for me.
My charts, although Greek to some, are plain English to me. Simple. Clear. Not very complicated since all that really matters is price. Either the price is going up, going down, or going sideways. That is it. I do not need anyone to tell me that the market is ready to go up when my charts say we are going down. Those who predict the up are usually out of money by the time the up really begins. And then they are mad because the market did not do what they wanted it to do when they wanted it to do it (when they pressed the “buy at market” key). Of course, these are the same people who said buy at the highs when the market started its descent. I guess it takes all kinds to make a market…including the blind, the foolish, the predictors, the prognosticators, the arrogant, the know-it-alls, and all those in between. I’m simply a servant to the master market. Nothing more. Call me stupid, call me a simpleton. Call me ignorant. I do not care. All that matters is what the market says and how I respond. S-E-R-V-A-N-T. That’s it.
Emotionless trading. Ah, I hear it all the time. The best traders trade without emotion. Do they now? No. They do not! The only traders who trade without emotion are those who are able to do so by talking their charts in the pages of books still read after their deaths. Ask any successful trader the key to trading and it will be found in a controlled process. We are emotional. We act and react. If we do not then we are six feet under. Controlling fear and greed; sticking with a process; letting go of the ego’s need to be right, right now. These are the secrets to trading. Not an indicator, not a candlestick pattern, not my best friend’s moon phase calendar, not trading without emotion. Simple really…if we can just get our emotions under control. The alternative, emotionless trading, is just not an alternative for me right now. I have much more to accomplish…like completing that book your grandchildren will read while the weeds grow around my tombstone.
Just me thinking and sharing a little chartilosophy.
