“Ticking away the moments that make up a dull day
You fritter and waste the hours in an offhand way.
Kicking around on a piece of ground in your home town
Waiting for someone or something to show you the way.”
Makes me wonder if someone from Pink Floyd tried being a remote trader. Trading from home alone is both a blessing and a curse. Let’s take the blessing part and break it down.
Don’t need to shave, don’t need to get dressed, the restroom is comfortable, no commute, no traffic, no trains, weather not a problem. That’s just off the top of my head. Sounds great and it can be, until your trading hits a wall.
Here is where the curse part jumps front and center. You are all alone ..it’s just you and a p/l that’s making you sick, mad, frustrated and crazy. Your head is all over the place. You are working harder putting in more time but nothing seems to be working. Some days you don’t even realize the damage you did to your account till the end of the day. You ask yourself what on earth was I doing! Battling against a stock that you think took something from you, revenge trading, doubling down etc.
By the time you wake up, the damage to your account and mental health may not allow for the miraculous comeback. How on earth did you let this happen? Were you even learning anything during this time? Don’t those hours and days end up being just “fritter and waste”.
In a trading office someone, anyone, probably would have said something like..What in the^%^$# are you doing? But home alone it’s like being in a vacuum. I’m pretty sure you aren’t telling your chat room trading buddies the damage you just did. “Waiting for someone or something to show you the way.” They are probably not going to come knocking on your door, you need to plan your trade and trade your plan now.
That plan should be to find some training or mentoring before its too late. I have been there done that and I know that you pay one way or the other. One way is somewhat painful because it involves the decision to part with some of your funds. The other is deadly because if you don’t figure it all out quickly on your own its over… plain and simple. The dream dies and the mental scarring that takes place makes it so hard to overcome even if you can find a way to try for the dream again. You are competing in so many ways ..competing against pro’s ,competing with your emotions, and competing with Time.
“So you run and you run to catch up with the sun but it’s sinking
Racing around to come up behind you again.”
Trading remotely is hard, lonely and liberating all at the same time. There is no better job in the world than being a pro day trader. It will challenge and reward you in many ways. But the learning curve can be daunting. Seek out good instruction and give yourself a higher probability trade.
“Every year is getting shorter never seem to find the time.
Plans that either come to naught or half a page of scribbled lines
Hanging on in quiet desperation is the English way “
There are some great ways to shorten that curve. The best golfers in the world have coaches, the best hitters in the game still seek counsel when slumping. If these pros seek instruction and mentoring …isn’t your plan to be a pro like them.
“The time is gone, the song is over,
Thought I’d something more to say.”
Jeff Davis @Shaq48_Trading
3 Comments on “Kicking Around On a Piece of Ground: Embrace Trading Success in Your Hometown”
What a post!… what a great post!
I also trade remote. I totally agree with what you’ve just said. That great mentor that you are talking about is SMB. I don’t have enough words to thank you guys for shortened my learning curve.
Trading remote is hard without a doubt. But, as Bella put it, you need to adapt. You need to adapt to how the market trades and also you need to adapt from where you trade. You get sick by watching the mistakes you made, you feel alone when you actually try to speak with someone in flesh and bones and all you get is ‘I don’t know, this trading stuff sounds like gambling, why don’t you try getting a real job?’
But just as for the negative emotions is better to channel them in order to have a better focus, the same can be said about trading remote.It helps you relax. Take things easy. Just close the monitors, close your eyes and…you hear nothing, you feel nothing, it’s just you. You have no mate that has made a lot of money and you feel like a jackass because you traded the same stock – and lost, you have no floor manager that says ‘please step into my office’. It’s quiet, no one is there and the world that made you sick suddenly disappeared. You have no pressure from outside. The market in general trades sideways intra-day and it offers you many opportunities to fell into a trap. So, relax, be selective, put some classic music and be like Szpilman from ‘The Pianist’ – he played the piano while outside there were shootings.
Of course I’d like to be on a floor and the environment there is motivating me. But, trading remote and cursing because I’m are not on a floor and I can’t make money because I don’t have the same tools that floor traders have, that won’t make me any good. Instead I try to find a niche for which remote trading is ok and build on that. Adapt and reinvent.
Awesome post. It’s also way too easy to take naps. Been there done that.
Good post. One of the best things about remote training: personally found it very helpfull to go jump in the backyard pool after an emotional trade (the colder the water the better!). You just can’t do a whole lot more damage to your account if you’re underwater………and you sure value taking those deep breaths again!!!