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FAQ August 21-31, 2015 <-- back | down | forward --> |
| Contributors Say | Ed Says | |||
| Aug 30, 2015 Exhausting Hi Ed, First of all I would like to thank you for all the inspiration you provide to people that are going to start trading. It's clear now to me that first of all , trading is a journey inside ourself. We can trade with profit something in which we believe beacuse we worked on, we tested, we analised, etc.... after hours spent on testing and observing the markets I think we gain the necessary confidence to trade our system becasue we new It's work. Talking about trends, could you please help me "how to observe the market" to undestend when it's time to close a position ? what you look at ? how you look at ? How we have to look at the market to undestand the trend is exsaust ? Cheers |
Thank you for raising this issue. You might consider back testing some alternative ways to identify the onset of a downtrend, at which point your position can close itself out on stop. With a system approach, the market directly informs the trade - and you do not have to "understand" anything. Indeed, attempts to understand may open the door to further interpretation and system jumping. You might consider taking you feelings about <wanting to understand> to Tribe. |
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| Aug 30, 2015 Govopoly Comments Hello Ed. While browsing through Govopoly today I notice there is a typo on the back flap of the cover jacket where it gives information about you. In the first sentence Jack Schwager's name is misspelled. There is an extra "a" in his last name. Maybe this is already known to you? Anyways, thank you for sharing your work and ideas in your Govopoly book and its associating commentary on your website. Both of these resources endlessly fascinate (and scare) me. It is eye-opening. Before reading your book I fall in the crowd of people who sense something "just ain't right" as you say. But I assume that things get better over time. I have no idea till reading your book that it is something much more serious. Whatever may come to pass in the coming months and years and how my family is affected by it at least we will not be totally surprised and caught off guard. We have some sense of what to expect and what can and (maybe more importantly) cannot be done about it. So I say thank you for that. I hope all is well with you and your family. Take care. |
Thank you for sharing your comments on Govopoly, and for pointing out the typo. |
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| Aug 28, 2015
Stop Motion Photo I enjoy a wonderful day with my eight and five-year-old sons. I feel pride and joy watching them create a strobe photograph at the Edgerton exhibit in the MIT Museum Cambridge - see attachment. Sincerely,
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Thank you for sharing your process and for sharing your love of science with your children. | |||
| Aug 28, 2015 Reaching Back Out Thank you Sir. What should I be looking for within my relationships to know that it's ok to reach back out to you? Thank you again for your time,
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Thank you for raising this issue. You may reach out to this forum whenever you wish. |
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| Aug 28, 2015 Feelings about System Following Dear Ed, Greetings! I want to share some recent experiences with you and the FAQ tribe. What interesting times we live in! Wild market gyrations creating a rainbow of feelings in me. Two days ago my system generates a bouquet of sell signals – US equities, energy, US dollar among others. As I execute the trades I feel a surprising calming of my nerves. It is only then that I realize some of the anxiety I feel over the past weeks and months may be connected to my positions. I now intuitively feel that my portfolio more closely resembles my current psychological makeup. Being 100% systematic I just have to wait for the portfolio to do what it does – no matter my feelings. But that's not to say I don't enjoy the relief as the portfolio positioning and my feelings finally move into alignment (at least for now). It feels like I'm finally letting my breath out, even though there has been a massive whip-saw in the portfolio since the latest trades: I suffer the biggest one day drop (nearly 2%) in my equity as US equities roar back and oil rallies 10% (wtf!) in one day. My equanimity in this environment surprises me. Your loving and grateful student. |
Thank you for sharing your process. System traders who accept and celebrate their feelings may have a better chance of sticking to their systems than traders who resist and suppress their feelings. The former may accept their feelings, let them pass and stay with the process; the latter may resort to tinkering with the system in an attempt to avoid having to repeat incurring the feelings. |
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| Aug 25, 2015
Wants to Know What to Call It Do you consider a "dual moving average" like the 50 day crossing above/below the 200 day on a market or index a "technical indicator" or "trend following" signal, or both a "technical indicator with the intention of trend following". Or, something different than I have described?
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Thank you for raising this issue. In this case, what you call it may depend on how you use it. For example, you might call a Smith and Wesson 45 revolver a paper weight, a bullet aimer or an asset depending on how you use it. |
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| Aug 25, 2015
Coddling of the American Mind http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2015/09/the-coddling-of-the-american-mind/399356/ |
Thank you for sending me the link. I read this article as evidence of a societal trend toward medicating "negative" feelings. This, of course, precludes applying the information in these feelings toward pro-active responses. In TTP, we aim to validate all feelings and to respond to them pro-actively. |
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| Aug 25, 2015 Tribe Report Ed, 4 members present, 3 absent. We start at 7:30 PM. Due to our new member we do more exercises than usual. We also introduce ourselves. Then we all say our current challenges and our hot feelings. #1 currently working to finish some paid work and looking forward to getting back into trading. His trading improves a lot in the last couple of years and he makes profits now rather than losses but not at the level he wants. He feels reasonably healthy but wants to exercise more. As the warmer weather approaches this gets easier. Feels a bit "blah" but not hot. #3. I had a breathwork day yesterday. Feel a bit tired as a result but experience many breakthroughs and continue to process these. Not hot. I find the holotropic breathwork incredibly powerful in getting to the issues and getting past resistance. The Rocks process has much power to reprogram old "rocks". #9 His account falls 4% today with the share market crashing. He feels this is a normal event for his system. He investigates a trend reversal system but it does not align with his philosophy. His wife and son are well. I seem to notice that his wife seems to accommodate his attending Tribe these days. I observe this with other Tribe members' spouses who become very supportive of Tribe. He is not hot. #10 Moves to our country recently and starts his new job today. Many years ago as a child he lives here for one year. His wife comes from this country. He has many challenges. He wants to achieve independent wealth and he also wants to spend more time with his family. He feels his problems are "life" not rocks and he is not hot. I feel disappointed because I like to get new people through a rocks process on day 1. Given no-one feels hot we chat for a few hours and then check out around 11pm. #10 asks what we get from Tribe. We mention successes and changes people have. It depends on willingness and in particular opening up about feelings and being vulnerable. I sense that #10 has a high level of knowledge and skills about trading. He does not look like he has a lot of issues to work on but he assures us he does. On check out #10 comments it is great to have sympathetic people to talk to and to listen to him. He intends to come again. I feel disappointed we have no hot seats. I later notice I have a hot seat issue that I "forgot" about. My brilliant strategy for overcoming over-fitting of parameters in trading system comes to nothing so far. This comes as a big surprise - I feel confident before running the tests that I have it nailed. If I am reluctant to do hot seats, will anyone else do them? Next week I intend to solicit hot seats with the questions: Tell me about the most severe gaps between your current life and the life you want. What do you do to bridge those gaps? What issue do you want to start with? How do you feel about that? I miss my 11:30pm train and get home at 2:30am. I then have some trades to do and some other things. I get to bed at 4am. Of late I back off from directing the Tribe and do not push the other Tribe members. I find this results in the Tribe turning into a talk fest. On the way home I think about what I do about it in coming months. In the holotropic breath work I find a new and better source of "magic power" which I intend to use. Such "magic powers" do not require coercion. Anyway it feels that way. |
Thank you for sharing your process and for documenting your meeting. Disappointment registers the difference between results and expectations.
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| Aug 24, 2015 Chartbook Not Working Hi Ed, I notice that your TT_Chartbook didn't update last night. I mention it in case you haven't noticed and wondered if you'd be able to run it for yesterday's date http://www.seykota.com/TT_Chartbook/stocks/Default.HTML Thanks very much, |
Thank you for raising this issue. I have the site under construction - you might expect intermittent service until I complete the upgrade. |
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| Aug 23, 2015 Intrigue Ed, |
Thank you for raising this issue. You may find out more by reading through FAQ, by starting or joining a Tribe in your area, by reading my book (at Resources, above) and by attending a Workshop (not currently in the works). |
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