Tuesday Notes - Graduation Week

Expect some brief posts this week as our family is quite busy with Chelsea's graduation activities.

Baccalaureate service is tonight, awards night Thursday, graduation on Saturday, and the party the following Saturday (we'll be rolling out the 2009 Boston Bamboo Trader Picnic tents).

With final grades posted, Chelsea was officially notified of her valedictorian ranking last night.

Sure, this is a trading blog.

Yet more than that, it's my life blog and this deserves far more celebration than any trading accomplishment by this author.

These two recent posts help explain why:

This Trader's Inspiration
Priceless

I'll of course squeeze in some trading material in-between the events, including my plans to begin recording my day's session with the HD camera for both self-evaluation and sharing purposes.

In the meantime, assume the silence indicates all is well.

And thanks to the overwhelming email response to The Weekend Trader post on John Wooden.

His life provided the material.

I simply typed the words.

Monday Notes - Blog Break

Posts will resume mid-week.

The Weekend Trader Part 2 - Lessons From John Wooden

His record as a coach was unmatched. 

His record as a human being may be as well.

- A 99 year life.
- An 88 game winning streak.
- 10 national championships in 12 years.
-  A 38 game NCAA Tournament winning streak
- The best coaching record in the history of basketball.
- A Christian and a gentleman who took the Midwest, one-room schoolhouse values to a west coast campus in disarray and moral decline in the 60's and changed its world.

With this weekend's passing of basketball coaching legend John Wooden, let's look back at some of his memorable quotes -- which aptly apply to the world of traders and their coaches -- with my thoughts in italics:

Be quick but don't hurry. Wholesale (a.k.a "profitable") trading is all about timing.  Wait for the wholesale price positioning and only then grab it quickly with both hands.

A coach is someone who can give correction without causing resentment.  I can do better here.

Adversity is the state in which man mostly easily becomes acquainted with himself, being especially free of admirers then.  Can you say October 6, 2008 or May 6, 2010?

Be more concerned with your character than your reputation, because your character is what you really are, while your reputation is merely what others think you are.  Amen.

Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do.  Suck at DAX trading?  Stick with ES!

Don't measure yourself by what you have accomplished, but by what you should have accomplished with your ability.  As I've said before, it's not greed ... it's maximizing talent.

If you're not making mistakes, then you're not doing anything.  I'll simply add that if you're not making mistakes, then you're six feet under.

It's what you learn after you know it all that counts.  Been there ... and frequent the neighborhood often.

Never mistake activity for achievement.  If you think you're a good hyperactive scalper, does your bottom line concur?

Success is never final, failure is never fatal. It's courage that counts. Again, been there and expect to visit often.

Winning takes talent, to repeat takes character.  Personal lesson learned in 2009.

You can't let praise or criticism get to you. It's a weakness to get caught up in either one.  Another personal lesson learned from years of public exposure.

Success is peace of mind which is a direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing you did your best to become the best you are capable of becoming.  Never let anyone else define your success or peace of mind.

And my personal favorite:

You cannot attain and maintain physical condition unless you are morally and mentally conditioned. And it is impossible to be in moral condition unless you are spiritually conditioned. I always told my players that our team condition depended on two factors -- how hard they worked on the floor during practice and how well they behaved between practices.  This last quote shows me just how much more work I have to do at this end -- on the trading floor and in life.

Please save a seat on the heavenly bench for the rest of us John, as we continue our practice in this pre-season called life.

The Weekend Trader Part 1 - Bigger vs. Better

Choices.

We all have 'em.

In life, it ranges from the "what do we wear and eat today" to the far more critical "what career and/or life partner do we choose?"

And in trading, it seems the choices are infinite in terms of what do we trade, when, what size, when do we exit, when do we rest ... and on and on it goes.

At my end, the choices recently have been mind-boggling, as I've learned that having an abundant amount of resources, performance longevity, and industry backing can result in a deluge of inquiry and opportunity on the business front.  More frequent Expo speaking, auditorium seminars, interviews, vendor partnering, blog Google advertising, reciprocal links, book writing ... the email box is full and they're all there for the taking.

In short, I could go big scale and follow the "American Idol" approach in terms of pursuing the almighty cash machine.

There's only one problem.

It's not me, and -- well, frankly -- I like where I am right now.

You see, I'm a trader.  A trader with a never-ending thirst for daily puzzle solving and personal performance improvement.  A trader with a side, yet equally passionate interest in teaching and associating with other traders via limited small group efforts and blog bantering.

And I thoroughly enjoy both.

So to all those who have recently asked for me to rethink/expand/grow/change my current modest little corner of the trading world, and while I appreciate the opportunities, I'm going to respectfully keep doing what I'm doing -- trading, blogging about corny movie analogies, motivational tools, and daily market battles, and instructing via limited small group efforts to try to maintain a certain degree of quality, freedom, and sanity at this end.

You see, at my end, life has taught me to do one thing well.  Two? Possible, yet the quality of each will likely drop.  More than two? Forget it.

My life experience has repeatedly told me that I'm at my highest degree of productivity and quality output when limiting activities.  Even in trading, my performance has always been best when I've limited my trading to a single market.  Know it, live it, breathe it ... and don't get distracted by anything else.  Boring?  Only if you consider making more bank deposits than withdrawals dull.

Said another way, Navy SEAL Richard Machowicz  -- who I referenced in the Memorial Day post -- says "Master your basic weapon.  Don't try to master all of them".  This guy knows ... he's had to stake his life on it.

I've often referenced the importance of simplicity in my life and trading.  And as outside "opportunities" have increased over recent years, I now know why some race horses wear blinders, lest their performance be hindered.

This fact has been reinforced by my continuing to benefit from and enjoy trading among my Jellie peers -- an association that in some cases is becoming life-long as some of us have chosen to extend our association with each other far beyond the confines of the initial multi-week effort.

And while trading ultimately remains an individual sport, the benefits of a small "Ryder Cup" type of team effort are becoming clearer over time.

A "team" in an individual sport?  Absolutely, with each representing a different body part or personality.  George has an eye for reading the VIX.  John G has an ear for even the subtlest of breakout heartbeats.  Danny created and pursues the IFT (inverse fade trade), which was a spin-off of our no-fade policy during a critical time of the day.  Cliff helps the scalpers see just a bit longer term to stretch their trades.  John B helps remind me of my personal favorite trade if I'm slightly distracted.

Of course, we all have to continually work on not letting chat get in the way of making or pressing our trades.  This is especially true for me.

Yes, I could go bigger.

There's only one problem.

I prefer continuing to work at getting better, both as an individual and a team.

Even if I have to wear blinders and miss the surrounding scenery.

Enjoy the weekend.

Thursday Notes - Office Tour, New Toys, & MATD

Two videos tonight.

The first one (btw, I forgot to turn on the studio light, but it should be fine) addresses today's classic MATD, discusses a partial office equipment makeover, and follows up further on the lower portion of the recent scatter graph.

The second video follows up on the new "toys" in the context of a brief tour of my trading office, which I thought might be helpful since you usually only see a small part of my office (behind me in the videos).

Enjoy the game tonight.

Wednesday Notes - Poker Playing Traders

A short post tonight to provide a recent story in the L.A. Times sent to me by one of the Jellies discussing why some Wall Street trading firms are putting their money on poker experts.

Thanks to Fred from our beta Jellie Team #1 for the link, and continued best wishes to John from Jellie Team #4 who is attending the 2010 World Series of Poker.

On Thursday, we'll continue our discussion of minimizing losses (expenses) that will appear on the lower portion of our individual scatter graphs.

Tuesday Notes - Scatter Graph Follow-Up

First, thanks for the overwhelming positive feedback to the scatter graph referenced in The Weekend Trader, which generated as many emails as any post in recent memory.

Tonight's video provides a bit more perspective on "what it all means", including focusing on the lower half of the graph.

Advance hint: Remember that defense usually wins championships.