Friday, November 24, 2006

Don't Look Back, Something Might Be Gaining On You !!!

As you know this blog is relentlessly forward looking. I make it a policy never to discuss my past forecasting successes and failures. If you are interested in these you can follow the links in my posts or the links on the right hand side of this blog.

This is part of my program of giving you forecasts of the future, not forecasts of the past. I try to follow Satchel Paige's advice : "Dont' look back, something might be gaining on you".

Of course traders can't resist the temptation to look back every once in awhile, if only to prepare the P&L for tax season. And this raises the question of what a person can learn from his or her own trading history.

My own view is that traders pay far too much attention to their losses. I think that losses are best forgotten. Instead, a trader should strive to remember his or her profits.

Be on the lookout for a repeat of the circumstances that cradled the profitable entries and exits on you P&L. It is these successes that you should strive to emulate. What did you see that led you to put on a profitable trade? How did the market behave while you were in it? Why and how did you take your profits? Answer these questions and then start looking for similar opportunites tomorrow.

1 comment:

Ron said...

Great advise Carl, I think its important for people to remember that we usually gravitate towards that which we focus on. An example of this which I read about in past is, if your driving and are about to get into an accident, the people that focus on what they are about to hit, hit it! The people who focus away from the impending collision usually steer away in time.