Some "food" for thought:
Those who insist that trading is an art rather than a science should join me in the kitchen. Being a gourmet cook, I am told by many dinner guests that the dishes I make are extremely tasty, yet what I do appears so simple and takes no time or effort at all. What they don’t know is that the word “simple” is deceiving, because the first secret of good cooking is a thorough understanding of food science. The second secret is to keep it simple – use the freshest ingredients, don’t over-handle the food, and use quality cookware. The third secret is, of course, no secret. It is experience, gained by – you guessed it – practice, practice, practice. In the end, to make a meal, the chef needs to ensure that all the component parts of an entrée all arrive cooked at the same time in order to serve it up to the awaiting guests. This takes some skill and planning, but it’s certainly not impossible.
I have friends who can never cook chicken breasts correctly. They always end up tough as old hockey pucks. This is extremely vexing for them, and they are forever asking me for tips and tricks to make “perfect” chicken. It annoys them that I can roast them, fry them, stuff them, bake them, grill them, sauté them, BBQ them, pressure cook them, poach and even steam them en papillote, and yet each time, they are perfect, regardless of the method.
What is the problem, you ask? Well, it all begins with the nature of proteins and their reaction to heat, but how many people will ever approach the problem from this angle? In fact, once we understand the process by which proteins molecules are denatured, with very little additional practice, we can also cook beef, pork, eggs, fish, ostrich, and even frog’s legs, all with good results. The tips and tricks that my friends learn about “how to grill chicken breasts” are completely useless when taken out of the proper context and cannot be transferred to any other meat. When they try my techniques at home, the chicken breasts still turn out like hockey pucks! And so it is with trading. Once we truly understand the fundamental nature of price action, we can trade any market, so long as it has sufficient liquidity to reflect a true auction process. |
