To keep it light and to give my aching brain a break from all the programming I'm doing...let's have a link fest post. Here are some posts that caught my eye recently. Enjoy!
Take a dig through Niederhoffer's Daily Speculation site. Pay particular attention to the following articles:
Relativity, by Dr. Mike Ott - I found the discussion on whether things considered popular at the time would have been popular regardless of the time most interesting. Examples given are Einstein and music. This little post hits right to the core in my overall view on life: Don't pay so much attention to the person and their abilities...the key is the application of an idea or philosophy that fits the surrounding environment. Would Jim Rogers have been so wealthy if he hadn't caught the commodity bull of the 60's and 70's? How about John Henry? Would he own the Red Sox if he implemented his simple little trend following system with a rather scary drawdown money management formula in the 90's versus the commodity bull of the 60's & 70's? Better yet...dig deeply through the Market Wizards books and you'll notice a very common theme. Most of the wizards found success at a critical point in the trading landscape. Marty Schwartz and the trading of the financial futures is just one example. So much attention is focused on the greatness of a person when much of their success came about due to being able to take advantage of the landscape. Of course, the other side of the coin is that's the greatness of the person...having the insight/luck/guts to recognize and take advantage of the changing landscape and opportunities it brings. Ha!
Also check out Lobster and Trading Gangs, by Victor Niederhoffer. Interesting insights into the protection of territory whether it be lobster spots, the trading floor, or the general public.
And finally, read The DailySpec Dept of Education Continues, With a Second Market Tutorial, by Phillip J. McDonnell. Gives away an interesting little way to determine the optimal trade size. Don't miss this one...especially if you're a believer in the Kelly Formula for trade size.
TraderMike has a great article on his Thoughts on Day Trading.
One of the best parts of his post is the discussion on commissions. Mike mentions this was one of his biggest changes and I definitely agree. Failure to focus on commission costs in regard to your trading is just asking for trouble. And more importantly asking to be sent to the poor house. What most people out there don't realize is you can take an extremely profitable trading system and apply a small increase in commission costs and go broke trading it. Trading capital is also an extremely important but often neglected topic. Most traders will fail simply because they're trading capital is too small. Or let's put it another way...you pretty much have to be perfect in order to profitably trade with a small amount of capital and high commission costs to boot. And to show you just how neglected trading capital is...look no further than Trader Eyal's Weekly Poll. And yes, I'm the only person who voted that Trading Capital was the most important success factor in Trading.
And that's it from the TaylorTree...where my brain hurts...I'm tired...need rest...but I must go on like a good soldier and knock this code out! Do I feel a vacation coming on after all this is over? Hmmmm....
Later Trades,
MT
No comments:
Post a Comment