Okay, so after a fair bit of reading and learning about myself even more this week, it’s been a bit of an eye-opener. It would appear, as I suspected in an earlier post, I don’t really need to know much more about the markets but more about myself and how I behave when in them.
So, as traders, we all have an ‘edge’ or a collection of things we know, be it from past experience or just common sense, whereby one outcome is more probable than the other. As a trade can only go one way or the other, it would make sense to enter the market every time this opportunity presents itself, yes? However, I’m sure this is not the case for the vast majority of us, myself included (but I’m working on it). Now, I have experienced points when trading whereby I am happy and feel comfortable, completely engrossed in the market, not anxious, scared, or euphoric, watching the information presented to me, seemingly effortlessly entering and closing positions with little ‘feeling’, taking just about every opportunity on offer without doubting myself. Sounds too good to be true? Almost, but I’d say I’ve experienced this on a few occasions.
As you might expect, these occasions have produced good results. What I have just described is the ‘Opportunity Flow’… it’s something incredibly difficult to master, so it would seem as the natural reactions of being human seem to get in the way time and time again. With small stakes, it seems far easier to encounter at the moment, although I believe this is because it is reliant on many other things, possibly even deeper than I realise. To be in this ‘moment’ or ‘flow’, I have to fully accept the outcome of the next trade, good or bad, as my edge is perfect. Also, at the same time, I cannot expect anything from the market. As soon as I expect to win or don’t accept the fact that the next or previous trade is okay to be a loser, I am taken out of the flow, and emotion creeps in. I think this is something that is going to take some time to master.
2 thoughts on “Opportunity Flow”
Hi Caan
I must say what a great post you have written.
If you have spent much time on my blog you will realise that I put a massive emphasis on controlling what goes on in our heads whilst trading/punting.
This ‘Opportunity Flow’ that you talk about is extreme rare for me when trading which I put down to having not spent the time practising the discipline. I would imagine(hope) that the more we practice and work on ourselves the more often we will be in the ‘flow’
by the way were these ideas in the ‘Trading the Zone’ book because if they were then it has gone straight to the top of my wish list.
Keep up the good work
Mark
Yes it has come from the book along with other bits and bobs ive read by trading coaches… its still rare for me but being half the way there is having an impact even, highly recommend the book but to get the most of it i find i have to re-read bits several times and really get it ingrained rather than just paying lip service to it