Dear Diary -Well, it's 9pm and "today" is just about over. As I look out the window, the sun is setting and my head is about ready to hit the pillow.
And as I look back at the day, "today" was a good day. A very good day. Measured financially, not quite as good as "yesterday", yet a very good day nevertheless. In fact, all things considered, I'd say that "today" was far more satisfying than "yesterday".
"Today" of course started after only a few hours of sleep following "yesterday's" 24-hour trading marathon, which after another early "morning" sprint, began to catch up with me around "noon". And so as "morning" turned into "afternoon", I chose to balance continued trading with capital preservation, while at the same time passing on everything I'd learned over the past two "weeks" to others as I watched them begin their own journeys.
Yet as I lay my head to rest, I am very thankful for "today". For today I was able to walk, think, and breathe on my own, and have been given the incredible gift of opportunity called "tomorrow".
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Of course, "today" refers to 2009. Those who have followed me over the years hopefully know that I look at a year much differently than many, for I consider one year to essentially reflect a single "day", and taken one step further, a single "trade". Everything else is simply noise. And for an even more powerful illustration, check out the opening paragraph to January's "Svithjod Rock" post, which was published on the inside cover of the 2009 New York Trader Expo catalog.
For the following two convictions lie at the heart of my spirit.
1. A year is but a speck of time over the course of eternity.
2. Trading income (or any income for that matter) does one thing and one thing only: It buys time. Time to use how -- and when -- we choose to spend it.
Trading is a wonderful business, for we can start, stop, and restart at any time we choose. There are no rules, no board meetings, no needing to meet someone else's goals or expectations. It is, as I said in my January 2005 Interview with Stocks & Commodities Magazine, the "Ultimate Entrepreneurial Experience".
I know that some day in the future when my memory fails me, I won't remember "today" or even "yesterday". Neither will others.For they will be but grains of sand in the eternal hourglass.
Grains that are unique by themselves when viewed under a microscope, yet only relevant in accumulation.
It seems like "today" has ended for most traders, especially judging by recent ES volumes and extended deadzones.
Yet "tomorrow" will be here soon.
Let's make the best of it before it, too, disappears.
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