Perceptions and Beliefs

"Because you grasp labels and slogans,
You are hindered by those labels and slogans,
Both those used in ordinary life and those
Considered sacred.
Thus they obstruct your perception of objective truth,
And you cannot understand clearly."

Desert

 "One cannot fight the desert and live. One lives with it, or one dies. One learns its ways and its life, and moves with care, and never ceases to be wary, for the desert has traps and tricks for the careless."

-Hondo

Musical Chairs

"In this game of musical market chairs, the largest traders control the pause button.  They wait for the other players to bunch together; then they grab a seat just as they stop the music.  Much of the intraday movement of the market is attributable to precisely this bunching and its exploitation by large traders. "

-Brett N. Steenbarger

Vic

"A major purpose of markets is to transfer resources from the weak to the strong, so that the infrastructure can be augments and stabilized, and everything you read or hear about the market is designed by an invisible evil hand to put you on the wrong foot so that you will contribute and lose more than you have any civilized personage has any right to do."

-Victor Niederhoffer

James J Hill

"Give snuff, whiskey and swedes, and I will build a railroad to hell."

-James J. Hill

www.newleveltraders.com

Learning to trade is a task that most people never complete.  I've been at it for about 15,000 hours and still have a long way to go.

I attribute the degree of complexity to the competition.  There are no minor leagues when it comes to trading, your opponents are professionals and most make the all star game.  So here you are stepping up to the plate with watching 98 mph pitches coming at you as a beginner.

If you trade equities, futures, or options check out my friends at www.newleveltraders.com  I have been trading with them for about a year now, and they have helped me accelerate and solidify core concepts of trading.

The group is warm, friendly, knowledgeable and trade extremely well.

http://www.youtube.com/newleveltraders

The Essence of Markets

"The markets are not something that we create or imagine; it is a natural process of our world that continues as long as life lasts, whether we concentrate on it or not.  So it is an object that is always present; we can turn to it at any time.  One does not have to have any qualifications to watch it, we do not even need to be particularly intelligent – all we have to do is to be content with, and aware of, one rise and one fall.  Great wisdom does not come from studying great theories and philosophies, but from observing the regular.

The Market lacks any exciting quality or anything fascinating about it, and so we can become very restless and averse to it.  Our desire is always to ‘get’ something, to find something that will interest and absorb us without any effort on our part. 

For example, if we hear some music, we don’t think, ‘I must concentrate on this fascinating and exciting rhythmic music’ we can’t stop ourselves, because the rhythm is so compelling that it pulls us in.  The rhythm of the market is not interesting or compelling, it is tranquillizing, and most beings aren’t used to tranquility.  Most people like the idea of peace, but find the actual experience of it disappointing or frustrating.  People and markets desire stimulation, something that will draw them into itself.  

With a lack of a point of view we stay with an object that is quite neutral, we don’t have any strong feelings of like or dislike for markets and just note the beginning of a move, its middle, and end"

-Written by Me