As a therapist, when dealing with adjustment disorders and/or anxiety issues, one of my favorite questions to ask my clients was “where will you be in 5 days?” The logic that spewed from that point would offer up a window into that individual sitting in the chair on the other side of the room. If [...]

2010 is nothing but a memory now much like when I rang in the new century with a closet full of canned food a generator with 50 gallons of diesel in the garage and 10k stuffed under my mattress (that whole Y2K thing was a great scam). I’m always looking to improve myself and those [...]

It seems so easy to focus on the things we do wrong. I can name hundreds of mistakes I’ve made in my life. I choose not to focus on what went wrong, but rather on how I can improve my standing and learn from my mistakes. I found one of the most frustrating aspects of [...]

Over the years I’ve been fortunate enough to get to know thousands of market participants. Some are long-term investors others are scalping pennies per trade on thousands of shares while others manage millions of other people’s money. The interesting theme I picked up on with nearly every one of them is that they each experienced [...]

Nothing gets my blood boiling like somebody that would rather blame others for their issues rather than owning them. Not the best mindset for a therapist, I know, but I was aware of my bias and addressed it by choosing a system of therapy that agreed with me—a psychology of use. I could care less [...]

Fear has a way of making us focus on unfavorable headlines and price action. Fear impacts our ability to evaluate alternatives as it clouds objectivity. Fear is why profits are taken too quickly. Fear is a four letter word that comes in many flavors. Fear of losing: Nobody wants to lose—doesn’t matter if it’s a [...]

As we approach that time of year where we adjust our clocks I take the opportunity to tie several other “to do’s” to this event. I change the batteries in the smoke alarms in my house. I change the water filter in my fridge. And, most importantly, I take inventory of what’s influencing me. Not [...]

When we confuse or frustrate a particular learned behavior it causes a reversion to an earlier learned behavior. This earlier learned behavior is typically less desirable, but comfortable and familiar. This regression of sorts occurs when we are unable to accept and perform at an expected level. Regression is a defense mechanism and can be [...]

I recently read an interesting article about trader education in which Bill Luby wrote “As I see it, all traders are ultimately self-taught.” I can attest to this statement, even though I did have a mentor, as my market participation today is steeped in my own blood and sweat. The knowledge I now have wasn’t [...]

There is no feeling quite like that of success in trading. To take the time to perform analysis on a name, establish a trading plan and then profit from your hard work is an awesome feeling. Putting a string of winning trades together like that is priceless. However, the chance of overconfidence or believing that [...]