Now with Dave Landry
What I'm Reading
I been so consumed with creating the new member's experience (keep reading) that I haven't had time to read much. I did read a little of The 80/20 Principle: The Secret To Achieving More With Less by Koch. Initially, I found it a little redundant--I get it, 20% produces 80% of your results--but as I got further into it, I can see where if you really actually did the exercises and introspection, you would reap the benefits. The book is getting a little tattered with all my dog ears, underlines, and notes. I came across this gem which dovetails nicely with my recent "micro" vs. "macro" thinking and acting:
Most of any individual's significant achievements-most of the value someone adds in professional, intellectual, artistic, cultural or athletic terms-is achieved in a minority of their time.
I did skim over his chapter on investing. I think I can shoot a few holes into that (e.g. "invest for the long haul"). I'm not sure why he didn't stick to the principle. Other than that though, again, I think it's a worthy read.
What I'm Thinking About
Yet again, I'm still thinking a lot about the macro vs. the micro. Life is really made in minutes. It often only takes a minute to do the right thing-both in life and markets. Take a minute to breathe when you feel the urge to take a trade that you shouldn't. On each and every trade, I make sure I reflect for a minute before clicking. Do I really want to be in this trade? Was it a planned trade? Or, am I winging it? It's been proven (see Trading Full Circle-sign up below to watch the first four videos for free) that if you pause for just few seconds, you can bypass the emotional part of your brain to get to the rest of what's sloshing around up there. Try it both in trading and life! You're welcome!
What I'm Trading
As I've been preaching, now's the time to take the "can't stand it" test. If you simply cannot sit on your hands because the opportunity looks so great, then take the trade. On anything else, pass-especially given current choppy conditions.
In stocks, I got long and IPO on a new closing high (i.e. the "Buy At B" pattern). Get the course--on sale now!-and I'll show you which one and a few others that could set up soon. The reason I'm keen on IPOs now is because they can often trade independently of the indices.
Okay, end of the soft cell. Outside of stocks, I tinkered with the ETH/XBT pair in the cryptos (going long). In Forex I shorted the EUR/USD based on an hourly pattern. In these efficient markets (especially Forex!), I like looking at the hourly because that's where the potential to catch an inefficiency lies, especially when they are coming off of major highs or lows.
This Week's Content
In working on the member's area (see below), I continue to find some decent content (and a few turds, LOL, I guess I need a new joke). Anyway, I found this article on trading psychology: Why Technical Analysis Is Alive And Well-Hint, It's Human Nature. In the article, I noticed that I have divulged another one of those "trading secrets:"
Big Dave
"In a nutshell, trading with technical analysis is the use of charts to read the emotions of others while at the same time embracing your own."
I have a bad habit of re-inventing the wheel. Maybe it's part of my new improved 80/20 thinking, but I now make an effort to poke around a bit before starting from scratch. In the process, I found a cool graphic on the process of trading that I created for my Master Trading Psychology course. It's not doing anyone any good buried on my hard drive, so I thought I'd publish it and talk about it--just in case I get hit by a beer truck before I finish the course (probably better odds than me finishing the course!).
Around DaveLandry.com
Same as last week: I'm doing a tremendous amount of work on the website back end. Again, the ultimate goal is to enhance the user experience. I'm making a lot of progress. Of course I'm biased, but I really think I have something special here. Below is a sneak peak of the what the courses area is looking like.
Again, I'll let you know when it's far enough along to introduce beta testers.
The Holistic Trader
As mentioned recently, holding yourself accountable is 95% of the battle. Try it in trading if you're brave enough! Knowing that I'd have to put something in this column got me off my buttocks to log 20-something miles on the Peloton and walk a few miles. I'm not going to win a marathon, but I moved a little. Diet, well, maybe next week. Mind, well, maybe I'll get around to meditating next week too--starting to sound familiar!
Upcoming Appearances
I'll be doing a webinar for Metastock on Wednesday, (05/02/18). I'm going to show the cool new indicators and scans that they programmed for me--and are free to you! They'll be part of the MS15 roll out. I never dreamed 20-something years ago when I bought my first copy of Metastock that some day, I'd be a part of it! Toot toot! On Thursday (05/03/18), I'll be playing the role of Dave Landry in Dave Landry's The Week In Charts.
May the trend be with you!
Dave Landry
P.S. Now that you know what I've been up to, leave me a comment below to let me know what you've been doing.