The Joys of Losses

Oh, the joy of seeing the market actually move! The pleasure is doubled when it moves in the direction of your trade. Unfortunately, the joy was corrupted when what was at one time a 1.2% fall, finally ended up being only a 0.6% fall  because the market rallied in the last one hour of trading. How I long for the days when the market delivered pure unadulterated bliss! There are few joys as pure as the joy of the market making a big move and that too in your favor. As in everything else in life, pure unadulterated bliss is now hard to find!

Nifty continues to be a SELL and my STT becomes a BUY if Nifty Jun Futures crosses 5578.10. The LTT will go long only above 5610.10. Here is a list of some other indices and their trading ideas as per STT HSI (HI1 B > 22605) HSCEI (HC1 B > 12550), Kospi (KM1 B > 276.50) and Nikkei (NK1 S < 9459). Among currencies Euro (B> 1.4550) JPY (S < 79.83) are both depreciating against the Dollar. This strength in the Dollar and the fall in the other equity indices is in line with the current weakness in the world economy.

So this brings me to the topic of my discussion i.e. Joys of Losses. Other than the obvious joy of making money (if you are either good or lucky) there are a few other pleasures of being a systematic trader. 1] After leaving the orders in the system one can do pretty much what one wants... pick your choice from playing golf, reading books, watching movies, watching sports television, meeting people or anything else that catches your fancy. 2] If you are someone who needs to go to a place of work, then you can pick your choice of colleague to disturb/irritate for the day. Believe me, there is great pleasure in that. 3]Go out for long lunches with like minded friends and peers in the industry and network. Talk selectively about some stunning winners in your trading year. Lie through your teeth if you have to.This could lead to many advantages including a high paying job! At the very least, your friends will think that you are a good trader.

That is all very good if you are, as I said earlier, good or lucky. All the above sounded more like Joys of Trading. You might ask what joy is there in making losses? Well if not joy, there are certain advantages. The word spreads around the office pretty fast about your losses and you will quickly learn who your real friends are. Same about your social circle. Leave a post on facebook about your losses (exaggerating the losses will help) and you might actually find yourself defriended by a few of your friends. Helps in reducing your friends list. I mean who in the world ever needs a friend in need?

Finally, making losses in trading will teach you something no amount of money can buy. You begin to learn a lot about yourself. I have learned whether I have it in me to stick to the system that I have so painstakingly developed. I learned whether I have the discipline to take the next trade thrown out by my system specially after it has made a string of losses. I learned whether I am the kind of person who grinds it out during bad times or a person who runs at the first sign of trouble. Navratilova once apparently said "The mark of great sportsmen is not how good they are at their best, but how good they are at their worst" I can paraphrase it and say "The mark of great traders is not how good they are when the system is at its best, but about how good they are when the system is at its worst" It is not about whether you have the discipline to stick to the system when it is making you money but about whether you have the ability to stick to your system when it is losing it. I have learned all this. The market did teach me a lot about myself---just don't ask me what those lessons were.

If you have read this note till here then pat yourself on the back. You deserve it. I have just learnt one thing about you. You are not one to give up easily. You will grind through tough times and always complete what you set out to do! You have it in you to become a great trader! In other words you are a WINNER!