Trader and the Marathoner

I went short yesterday when the nifty fell below the first hour's low. What a bummer. It reversed up and ended at almost the high of the day. I felt a glimmer of hope when S&P was negative in the first hour but it has finally ended the day in the positive. To top it, the Tom and Jerry that Traderman referred to seem to be in their make up mode currently. The markets believe that EU will wield a 1.3 trillion war chest to fight the European debt crisis and are therefore trending up today morning. With this background will you fault me for wanting to stick my head under my pillow and not get up at all today? But get up I will and go to the office too and if the nifty trades above 5163 then I will cut my short positions and go long.

Having written this, I realised one thing. One of the traits a trader needs in abundance is Courage. No not the courage of the "in the line of fire" variety which is more of an adrenaline burst for the short term. But the courage of the Marathoner actually. If you consider a Marathon runner, after the the first 25-28 kms, most runners are beginning to feel the fatigue. The muscle strength is beginning to wane and the body begins to rebel against the continued punishment. That is when the Marathoner is called upon to continue to put one foot ahead of the other in a continous process despite the pains and the tribulations. The courage of the Marathoner is more of a passive courage that requires him to continue to do things while his body and mind are screaming to stop. To not worry about the distance, to shun thinking of the end result and to just be and do what is required to be done.

This is exactly the kind of courage required of a trader. To stick to his tested system, to do what needs to be done without worrying about the result of any particular trade. Even though he has a system that has worked over a long period of time there is no way to predict the success of any particular trade. To have three losers in a row and to still take the fourth trade knowing that even that trade can lose money requires courage and strength of character which is similar to that of a Marathoner. Both are in it for the long haul and in my case I do hope that both make it to the finish line safely.

Finally after all this rambling, I need to remind you that I am short and will cut my position and go long only above 5163