< previous page page_115 next page >

Page 115
merry-go-round is always spinning, but you must have the initiative to reach for the brass ring. My advice is always to be decisive. Prepare for the worst and hope for the best, but do something. Otherwise, you become embroiled in what the economist Milton Friedman called the "tyranny of the status quo." One of life's major problems is overcoming inertia. A body at rest tends to stay at rest until moved.
The orders you miss are the orders you really want. We all get greedy and expect to buy at the absolute bottom and sell at the very all-time high. Wake up and get real! Your best chances of success are to turn your position during the middle of the trend line. I mean that you want to initiate a trading position when the stock is moving and close out the position while the stock is still moving in the same direction. Once the price reverses, you are sinking in quicksand, and anyone who buys your position may be standing on your shoulders.
Moreover, don't let eighths of a point stand in the way of a profit. Chances are that a position that looked good at an eighth may still be a good trade when it is moving to a quarter. If we all waited to buy at the high and sell at the low, the market would crawl to a halt.
When you make a profit, you did something right. Don't be a crybaby and feel that you left money on the table because you did not sell at the very high for the day, week, month, or year. You can always return to that stock. You can acquire another stock that is moving your way. There is always another cookie in the supermarket and another trade in the stock market. There will be another bus in 10 minutes.
Don't spend the rest of the day crying over the DAET equivalent of cookie crumbs. Think healthy and look for new trading opportunities. The most successful traders trade actively and don't even think about what could have happened as they trade. Don't agonize about what has happened. Go with the flow of the market.
Never look back in Anguish! Always look forward for additional opportunities.

 
< previous page page_115 next page >

If you like this book, buy it!