"Essence of Trading" Posts

5 Similarities Between Profitable Day Traders And Professional Poker Players

By Lawrence

I was having fun talking to an old friend who has been playing poker professionally for many years. He is one of those players who consistently making money from playing in poker halls and tournaments but seldom show up in the final tables. During our conversation, he raised the issues of player statistics and how […]

Having A Trading Edge Is Not Enough

By Lawrence

Many aspiring traders who have a scientific or strong common sense background would arrive at the conclusion that if they discover an edge in trading, it is the answer to everything. They think all these psychology stuff on trading are not necessary as long as they have an edge on hand. They think that they […]

The One Character Trait That Predicts Trading Failure

By Lawrence

Story At A Busy Pharmacy I went to this hospital pharmacy to pick up some special prescription. There were many people there. The place was jam packed. I thought it would be a very long wait. I was planning in my mind immediately on how to better spend the next 30 minutes to an hour. […]

Essence of Trading: The Peculiar Practice Of Financial Analysis

By Lawrence

Financial analysts often make a big fuss with very detailed analysis of the financial data reported by the exchange listed corporations. And then as an after thought, a chart or two would be thrown in at the end of their report to provide a technical excuse that the price should go the way they claimed. […]

Essence of Trading: How I Kicked A Bad Habit

By Lawrence

I used to take seasonal allergy medicine religiously every year. At the beginning of spring, while people keep talking about how great the coming season will be, I would look allergy medication to stock up. It is not just a matter of inconvenience taking those medications, it is also a major annoyance in life as […]

Essence of Trading: What You Want Isn’t What You Need

By Lawrence

A dilemma I often witness from my unique position in talking to potential investors and hedge funds is that people often do not know what they need. I have several interesting stories to share addressing this issue. You may find the story relates well to someone you know. A Small Hedge Fund Doing HFT The […]

Essence of Trading: Don’t Blame The Politicians

By Lawrence

The latest fiscal cliff fiasco and the ongoing financial crisis in Europe and Japan spurred a lot of discussion on the net. Some blame it on the politicians not doing their jobs. Some blame these politicians being stupid or "not having enough political will". Personally I do not under what this last phrase means at […]

Essence of Trading: Hunt As A Human

By Lawrence

In trading, younger traders often feel pumped when they have to struggle through many trades during the day in order to come out ahead with a profit. For older traders the same struggle is exhausting and often giving them a headache. Over time if a trader has not moved on from liking the experience, this […]

Essence of Trading: The Three Pillars of Critical Thinking (Part 4)

By Lawrence

… continue from part 3 "The only thing more expensive than education is ignorance" – Benjamin Franklin Self-correction is the most difficult part in critical thinking. We may be very logical in analyzing a situation. We can be very objective in evaluating things. Yet, it is very difficult to apply these two skills onto ourselves. […]