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Hi Gary,
Discipline is obviously a very important part of trading, and you will
always make mistakes. But the more you do it the fewer mistakes you will
make. I don't care about losing on a good setup, but if I make a mistake
(which I call "Oops" or "Brain Cramp" trades depending on the severity) that
will REALLY irritate me. But it also "wakes me up" and gets my focus back
to where it should be. You can learn how to use your emotions to your
advantage. Another example - if the market is annoying me or giving me a
headache, then I know it's time to take a break and come back later.
In regards to systems, I am not saying that they can't be profitable, but I
know my results from trying to trade in that manner versus trading as I do
now - and I greatly prefer the latter. For one it's a lot more fun as I
like making my own decisions. It is also much more satisfying. Systems
are also subject to drawdowns, and sometimes severe ones, I am unwilling to
accept those. If you can read the price action and execute there is no
reason to have a losing day (barring order entry errors).
The other thing about systems that does not work for me is that I am a firm
believer in trading without an opinion or bias. And any system has to be
based upon somebody's opinion. I have already learned that my opinion s-cks
and the market couldn't care less about it, so I am unwilling to trade
someone else's opinion or my own.
There is more than one way to trade successfully, so in the end we just have
to find what works for us.
Bob
-----Original Message-----
From: Gary Fritz <fritz@xxxxxxxx>
To: omega-list@xxxxxxxxxx <omega-list@xxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Wednesday, February 16, 2000 12:16 PM
Subject: Re: Which holds best promise?
>Bob Heisler <bheisler@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>> And even though I am "discretionary" trader, I take the same
>> trades/setups every day and set stops and objectives the exact same
>> way - all based on the price action. What varies is adjusting my
>> trade management to the conditions, and no computer can do that for
>> me.
>
>On the other hand, unless you have iron discipline, a discretionary
>trader can unintentionally let other factors -- fear, greed, lack of
>confidence (or overconfidence) in self or system, etc -- creep into
>the decision process. Unless you're a robot, how can you be sure
>that your discretionary process includes ONLY the factors you want?
>
>That's one of the reasons I like systematic trading. I know the
>program's signals aren't influenced by my emotional state at the
>time. All I have to do is follow it. Sometimes I don't do even THAT
>very well, which should give me some clue as to how well I'd do if I
>was trying to call the signals myself. :-)
>
>> And that is one major component that gives us the edge as off
>> the floor traders.
>
>(Can't the floor traders do exactly the same thing?)
>
>It can be a valuable tool. But I don't believe it's the ONLY way to
>trade successfully. A systematic trader with a *good* system can
>trade 100% mechanically and do quite well.
>
>Gary
>
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