Panacea

It's time I had some time alone.

-- R.E.M.

More often than not, time spent away from the market is involuntary for the full-time trader, and typically yields nothing more than mild irritation and/or wistful regret at the opportunities missed. Yet for the independent trader, the ability to step away from the screen at will is an easily overlooked and underdeveloped skill that is vital for career longevity. Time off for a trader can be considered the ultimate panacea: it's simple to implement, exceedingly cost-effective, and unequaled in its ability to provide relief from a number of trading-related ailments we're all familiar with. But in order to truly benefit from this palliative, a trader must believe in time off as a consistently "good thing", with a corresponding disposition to use it whenever necessary, for it's the voluntary aspect of this self-serve medication which really empowers both pill and patient -- kinda turns the term placebo effect on its head, doesn't it? Employing time-off as remedy for suboptimal concentration or performance turns any respite into an active expression of patience not to be underestimated.

Trading axioms that apply to all traders on all occasions are few and far between, but the following I can posit without any reservations: Always trade with the belief that one can always walk away from the screen and return after a period of rest, whether it be the next hour, the next day, the next week, or the next month. Whatever one's time frame, there can be no such thing as time wasted on the sidelines. Beware the occasions when a series of setbacks will have us believe otherwise, luring us into that desperate corner where we start to fret anxiously over finding the next trade that in our minds must succeed-- and which by then, sadly, is already moot. The market is ever-patient when it comes to the taking of a trader's equity; he must be equally enduring if he is to stand a chance.

New Year

Happy new year to you all! It took me a while to ease myself back into a trader's mindset (and a bit longer before I could muster up the focus for this post), but frankly I enjoyed the time away from the screens, and look forward to the coming trading year with fresh enthusiasm and optimism.

What's new besides the calendar turn? For starters, I will be shifting my focus from my personal account into a larger account of pooled funds. I've handled a mixed account before, and it's all coming from close family, so there won't be any external pressures on performance that typically comes from trading "opm". Instead, the biggest differences for me psychologically and strategically will come from having capital preservation as a priority over the maximization of gains. I will be using less leverage with each trade, but more importantly, I will also be executing far fewer trades than before. A major impetus for this change came from realizing that my short-term signals were more valuable in risk/reward as indicators for a time frame beyond intraday; thus I will be taking one step back in terms of market perspective, but still incorporating my prior system directly into my analysis/evaluation for longer-term entries.

So all in all, alot of changes that frankly will take some time and experimentation to grow comfortable with. But I've never been one to look before leaping, and I believe that direct real-time testing in the market is always the best (if not the most painless) way to craft and fine-tune one's trading ideas.