slow motion, fast forward

investing is
trading
in slow motion.

trading is
investing
in fast froward.

if you keep this in mind
you will be
relaxed
and can make
better decisions
in both these games.

right, but not profitable enough?

"although i often was 100 per cent right on the market
that is, in my diagnosis of conditions and general trend
i was not making as much money as my market "rightness" entitled me to.

why wasn't i?

there was as much to learn from partial victory as from
defeat.

for instance,
i had been bullish from the very start of a bull market,
and i had backed my opinion by buying stocks.

an advance followed,
as I had clearly foreseen.

so far, all very well.
but what else did i do? why?

i listened to the elder statesmen
and curbed my youthful impetuousness.

i made up my mind to be wise and play carefully, conservatively.

everybody knew
that the way to do that
was to take profits
and buy back your stocks on reactions.

and that is precisely what i did,
or rather what i tried to do;

for i often took profits
and waited for a reaction that never came.

and i saw my stock go kiting up ten points more
and i sitting there with my four-point profit
safe in my conservative pocket.

they say you never grow poor
taking profits.
no, you don't.
but neither do you grow rich
taking a four-point profit
in a bull market."

--


Reminiscences of a Stock Operator
by Edwin Lefèvre

urge to enrich fast

“one major mistake
of all speculators
is the urge to enrich themselves
in too short a time.

instead of taking two or three years
to make 500% on their capital,
they try to do it
in two or three months.

now and then they succeed.

but do such daring traders keep it?

they do not.

why?

because it is unhealthy money,
rolling in rapidly,
and stopping for
but a short visit.

the speculator in such instances
loses his sense of balance.”


--

How to Trade in Stocks
by Jesse Livermore

greatest blunder in trading

"i did precisely the wrong thing,"
livingstone notes.

"the cotton showed me a loss
and i kept it.

the wheat showed me a profit
and i sold it out.

of all the speculative blunders
there are few greater than
trying to average a losing game.

always sell what shows you a loss
and keep what shows you a profit."




reminiscences of a stock operator

trading simple

"livermore never considered himself an investor;
he was a speculator.
he didn't mind being long or short,
he just wanted to be correct.

his approach was to figure out
what the path of least resistance was
and then go with the flow.

he didn't believe in picking tops or bottoms;
he waited for a trend to be confirmed
and then jumped in,
thus never fighting the tape.

livermore never traded out of boredom
or solely for the sake of the excitement it brought to him.

he knew that he could get rich
by following a defined trend
and thus calmly waited on the sidelines
when the market was directionless.

had livermore been alive today
he would certainly be
a momentum / price action based trader."

--



review of
Reminiscences of a Stock Operator

by tradingmarkets.com

how do you trade?

with head?

heart?

liver (gut)?

pocket?

luck?

ears (tips)?

eyes (graph fluctuations)?

blood pressure (impulsively)?

--

howsoever you trade

“all stock market mistakes wound you in two tender spots - your pocketbook and your vanity."

- Reminiscences of a Stock Operator

shadow can't be the body

shadow is shadow.
it cannot be the body.

shadow can do a lot of tantrums
go ahead
go behind
go round and round
become small
and big
even vanish!

all depending upon
the "supply" of light!

but ultimately
it has to tow
the line of the body.

body is free to go anywhere
but the shadow
must ultimately
follow its master.

same is the case with
the price movement manipulated by operators.

whatever they do with the price
wherever
how-so-far
they drive the price
they can't ignore the fundamental scenario.

if demons of inflation
or crude price
or currency strengthening
or political stability etc
are bearish
operators simply can't
flirt with the horns of the bulls
for ever.

in the words of jesse livermore

"whatever might seem to give a big swing, initial impulse,
the fact is that its continuance is
not the result of manipulation by
pools or artifice by financiers,
but depends upon basic conditions.

and no matter who opposes it,
the swing must inevitably run
as far and
as fast and
as long as
the impelling forces determine."