Comments on: Pre-eminent Physical Experience

By: When Should I Break the Rules? « Derek Hernquist

When Should I Break the Rules? « Derek Hernquist — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 11:13:50 +0000

[...] things that work for me, but I think they can be applied to most styles and time frames. T0 quote Denise Shull, “your brain is going to interpret market data via pattern matching regardless if you want to [...]

By: DKS

DKS — Thu, 28 May 2009 16:10:11 +0000

In my case Josie, I had some to begin with (after about 3 months). Part of my quest to understand trading psych was to understand how or what that was. Now I know it was the innatie tendency to read the market as a human game. I got messed up with all of the advice about iron-clad plans and control and now it is so clear to me the inter-related roles of thinking and feeling and what becomes experiential knowledge on a non cognitively conscious level.

By: DKS

DKS — Thu, 28 May 2009 16:07:58 +0000

Mark, Never had been to Amelia before. Heard good things and it was guaranteed to be warm, was not too far from NYC by air and had a Ritz Carlton with a course… ironically the day we left, NYC was 80 and sunny and it was raining there. But all in all it was great!

By: Mark Good

Mark Good — Thu, 28 May 2009 15:55:36 +0000

Analogies to golf are very relevant. You have to develop “muscle memory” before you develop the feel. Same with trading. You have to know some basic patterns to see which type of pattern is developing on a particular day before you can have the confidence that your “feel” for the market is likely to be accurate. Living near Amelia Island (well within 70 miles) I was fascinated that is where you vacationed.

By: Josie

Josie — Wed, 27 May 2009 20:57:17 +0000

Denise, I’d love for you talk more about how you developed that intuition or instinct for trading.

We tried an interesting informal experiment. We wanted beginning traders to develop a “feel” for the movement of the market (Forex). We gave them access to 6 months of data and had them watch the 30-minute charts at 30 times normal speed.

Our thinking was that much of the intuition that experienced traders have is a result of the implicit learning (complex pattern recognition) that occurs from years in front of the charts. These traders may not be able to articulate what they know at a subconscious level, but they “feel” what is happening in the market.

Those beginning traders who spent at least 1 hour a day for one month watching the charts, did indeed develop a much better feel for the movement of the market than did their peers. And they were more willing to trust their gut.

If we ever did this experiment again, I think I’d do at least two things differently. First, I’d ask the beginners to notice when certain specific things happen (i.e., pullbacks). This would give them a lens through which to look at the market and would speed up certain types of pattern recognition. And second, I would ask them to notice how they “felt” when it happened.