Thinking for oneself.

Right then. No more navel gazing around here. Onwards and upwards. Tally Ho! Let free the dogs!

Ah, you can't keep a good man down for long....and me neither.


Sultan, he of Centre Court betting blog fame, left a comment after my post on being a little anal when I was trading a match a week or so ago ("Perhaps discipline is better left to the Spartans"). For anyone who didn't see the comment, here it is:

"Oh boy, it's good to know I wasn't the only one who got stung in this game! I had a large green on Gonzo and was fully prepared to let the whole trade run, at least into set 3. I think where I differ from you is that I am more flexible in my approach. I don't have set exit points based on exact prices. I use my intuition and game reading to make that decision, which is something I much prefer to do as every game is different - though of course, there's no right or wrong way, just waht you are comfortable with.

So I am not so pissed off that I missed out on the green because that's the way I trade. Just one of those things; who would've seen Gonzo throwing away a double break up? The only important thing is that you exit for as little loss as possible.

I think it's important that people don't feel they have to copy everything their 'guru' tells them anyway. Trading styles are very personal and not everything you learn will be something that suits you."


It's an interesting point made about flexibility. To be honest, the rigidity I currently have in my trading is a direct consequence of not yet feeling 100% confident in what I'm doing, particularly when flying solo as it were, without the guidance of an expert. My comfort blanket is having a set point (hah - no pun intended, I assure you!) in my mind upon which to focus - the price hits this point under these circumstances, I enter the trade...hits this price under certain circumstances, I exit the trade. Trading by numbers, essentially.

Now I accept entirely that that approach does not a good and skilled trader make. But I also accept that a good and skilled trader, I am not (yet).

As far as game reading is concerned, that is a skill that I wish to develop. Just for the moment though, it is something I am anxious to avoid indulging in too much. Utilising the strategies that I'm using - which are very much swing-based - if I tried to read the game and let this effect my trading, I don't think I would ever enter the market. In fact, at this stage I think that it might almost be an advantage not to be even watching the match I'm trading so as not to be dissuaded too easily. It still amazes me when I watch so many games that appear to be going only one way, for it to then swing around completely and head off in the complete opposite direction.

The Sultan is right of course, when he says that it's important for people not to just swallow everything a 'guru' may tell them and accept what they are told as a matter of course. If I fell into that trap, then I know that I will never develop as a trader in my own right. I would simply become a robotic automaton, blindly following orders and not actually learning anything. I wish ultimately to be self-sufficient, and an independent mind is a prerequisite if this status is to ever be reached. Having said all that, I believe 100% in the strategies that my 'guru' advocates, have seen them working well, and I accept the long term potential they offer. What I would say though, is that developing my own style of trading is very much what I see as being the next step, and is something I am actively working towards. More of that anon.