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Non-Tech : Meet Gene, a NASDAQ Market Maker -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: exdaytrader76 who wrote (874)	8/30/2000 9:00:51 PM
From: dpl	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1426

I used to share an office with a trader who was a psychiatrist.The subject of intuition would come up often.His theory was that when you do a task that is very complex thousands of times the brain starts to do the "calculations" on a subconscious level. Your conscious mind perceives it as intuition. In my trading there is hardly a day that I intuitively want to do a trade that goes "against the book".Most of the time I am right and the book is wrong. :-) David

To: exdaytrader76 who wrote (874)	8/30/2000 9:09:02 PM
From: gene_the_mm	Respond to of 1426

REGARDING INTUITION AND GUT FEELINGS: While as a NEW trader you should congratulate yourself for recognizing that you DO NOT have any intuitions or gut feelings -- YET! I don't know what you have heard but your instincts/gut feelings should ONLY be the culmination of hard work and YEARS of experience in trading. These, by their definition, I guess are NOT really INSTINCTS but rather the subconscious parts of our minds that gives us that feeling when you just 'feel' the trade is right. Unless the losing traders you have seen are real pros in the business (they have been around at least 1 1/2 to 2 years) then, NO, I am pretty certain they probably DO NOT have a good 'feel' for trading. Part of these instincts is knowing when NOT to trade as well as when to take a good trade. I hope that makes sense. There is an intuition that you develop, and absolutely can rely on almost all the time. That same intution, if you listen to it, will tell you when you make a mistake listening to it in the first place and you should FLATTEN or REVERSE the original position. Sometimes we can have good instincts and NOT anticipate some unusual occurence in the stocks we trade. INSTINCT can get you IN and OUT. EGO seems to be our biggest problem... when you just KNOW you are right. The bottom line is EXPERIENCE. You can call it what you want but it is invaluable as a trader. All the best, -- Gene

To: exdaytrader76 who wrote (874)	8/30/2000 10:20:43 PM
From: Threei	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1426

I have to disagree with you on intuition part. In my opinion, great trading is intuitive trading, based on opinionless egoless (even selfless) state of mind, when trader becomes the market, feels it, breath with it, mirrors it... as opposed to analyses and tries to predict it. Really, if stock market were driven by logic relatively easy to comprehend, don't you think we would see way more winners? :) But, as Gene noted in his very good response, you can't possibly expect intuition to come to you on your first month of trading (nor on third nor on fifth). It's not divine intervention. It comes to you after years of hard work and thousands of trades, when all the information collected reaches some critical mass and your right half of brain becomes capable to recognize situation without analysis done by left half. It's hard to believe how effortless trading becomes when it happens to you. I don't want to go into deep details of this, there are 4 great books on this topic: Tao of Trading Zen in the Markets Intuitive Trader The Way of Warriour Trader Best regards, Vadym

To: exdaytrader76 who wrote (874)	8/31/2000 1:29:04 PM
From: Robert Graham	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1426

I think many confuse their intuition with their "gut feelings". Intuition is not a feeling. However, I find it can come as a quickly developing awareness that can evoke a feeling. But what motivates me to a specific action is my awareness of what can happen next in a particular situation, not what I am "feeling". I do not focus on or rely on what I feel as I trade. Actually, I do not want to feel anything at all when I trade. I want to be like the surgeon at the operating table in terms of my training, plan, focus, and discipline. But apparently some people desire or need the false sense of security their feelings can provide them. I also think when a trader applies their rules and sticks to their plan, this helps frame their perspective that intuition can develop from. Just some thoughts FWIW. Bob Graham