Showing posts with label Hypnotism. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hypnotism. Show all posts

Sunday, July 3, 2011

who bought whom?

traders lie

when they say

"i have bought so and so shares"

or

"i have shorted so and so stock"

in reality

the trader has not bought the shares

the shares have bought the trader.


the trader has not shorted the stock

the stock has shorted the trader.



this is the only explanation that can be given

to justify the trader behaviour

when he keeps clinging on to

a sinking stock

unless ofcourse,

like the captain of a sinking ship

he is the promoter of the company.

(even promotors these days

are found to have "pledged out"

their stake!)

Sunday, June 19, 2011

the whisper

"why do you move like this?"
asked the breathless bleeding trader
to the market.
"why don't you move straight
where you want to go?"

market raised its head
looked into traders fearful dry eyes
kissed his forehead
and whispered in his ears
"because i don't want you to come with me!"

the innocent trader
took it to his heart
wiped his dry tears
turned
and left.

market felt guilty
went after him
touched his shoulder
and said softly
"want to come with me?"

trader turned again
and silently nodded his head.

market smiled softly and said
"then don't stand too close.
don't look at what i do
just watch from a distance
and try to see
what i am trying to do."

Friday, February 4, 2011

noise

does warren buffet watch business tv channels?

yes and no!

yes

because he is fond of watching

cnbc.

no

because he keeps the sound muted!

the scrolling strip at the bottom

keeps feeding him

"news"

on a conveyor belt

from which

he picks

what he chooses

uninfluenced by

noise!

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

nip that pain in the bud!

pain of loss
is greater than
the pleasure of gain.
--
so when a trade goes wrong
which is often
especially for newcomers
and
loss appears on the screen
the new-bees are left with
only one way
to overcome
and avoid
the pain of loss
???
by not booking the loss
by not honouring the stop loss
....wishing the price
to turn
somehow
into the green
and become
a pleasure of gain!
--
obviously
this doesn't happen.
as a psychological miracle
the pain of loss
gradually turns into
the PLEASURE OF PAIN
and
the pleasure of pain
gradually turns into
the teasing
PAIN OF GAIN.

Monday, December 27, 2010

why u trade decides what u get!

why are you into stock trading?

obviously, for money

but what seems obvious

is not so obvious at the root!

at the root

the reason for coming to stock market may be

- to recover lost money

- to earn some extra bucks

- in search of financial security

- to overcome the poverty

- to gain wealth

- to "prove yourself"

....or any other reason!

--

- if you took to trading to recover lost money, you have brought with you fear and frustration of having been the 'victim of loss'! your subconscious will find ways to prove that you were 'a
victim'! and what better way to prove this than showing you as a victim again! nothing can really happen till you come out of that psyche and trade not to recover, but gain normally!

- if you have come here for that "side income" for "extra bucks", you have reached here with a
baggage of realisation that "it is difficul to making money". your obedient sub-conscious will try its best to defend your belief that it is really "difficult to make monay"! consequently, i won't be surprised if you face so much of difficulty that you don't gain but lose "extra"!

- if you have taken to trading in search of relief from financial insecurity, your psyche is full of fear of insecurity! whatever you earn in stock market, you are unlikely to get that "secure" feeling! your discomfort might increase actually increase! from the insecurity of less money from the insecurity of too much money! the only way left to get security would be to lose this "too much money" and get some relief!

- if you have become a stock trader because you want to come out of years of poverty or financial distress that you and your parents have had to go through, then you have started with an anger against lack of money! whatever money you make in the stock market, is likely to make you remind this anger! rather, the more money you make the more the anger will be there, courtesy that fear of losing it all again. finally, in bouts of psychological stress, your subconscios is likely to land you in losing trades that somewhat relieve you from the pressure!

- if you have started trading to become wealthy you are carrying a strong belief and grudge that
wealth has been eluding you and it is not your fault! your sub-conscious will prove that your
belief is justified. and it is likely to prove this by showing that wealth is still "eluding you"! i am sorry to say that the grudge and belief are here to stay till you nourish them!

- if you are here "to prove" yourself, then i have no hesitation to say that whatever be your
performance you will always have the feeling that you have not "proved yourself enough". this
belief is likely to wrongly influence your decisions which will result in loss that will justify
that "you indeed have to prove yourself!"

--

why do i say all that?

less so because i have experienced one of this myself!

less so because i have seen many around me go thru some of these states!

but more so

because

our minds work that way!

--

whatever is your reality paradigm

whatever is your frame of reference

whatever you think

your subconscious will be out to prove it!

and attract it!!

everything which tallies with your belief world is accepted

everything else is ignored

your subconscious proves what you believe!!!

--

so, what if you have entered the dalaal street with the above reasons?

do you still have hope?

yes!

absolutely!!

but there is a condition!

you have to approach the market with a positive approach!

with a positive reason!

with a positive psyche.

without any negative baggage!

--

remember, if the motive or driving force behind

your taking up trading is

negative

your fate is sealed even before you start!

--

instead

whatever your past

make sure that you are in the market for positive reasons

of aim or ambition or passion or happiness

with darkness behind your back

and your face brightly lit with sunshine!

Sunday, December 26, 2010

snake of loss!

many traders jokingly say
"i will start making money in trading
the day i start taking positions
opposite to what my head asks me to do"
i see pain hidden in this self-joke...
the statement seems to be an utterance in frustration
but in my opinion
is not a bad idea at all...
seriously....
--
why do i say that?
because these traders are almost always wrong
and the opposite of their trades is almost always right!
--
why does this happen?
"negative approach!"
these traders desire profit
but keep thinking and fearing of loss!
consequently
they miss every signal of profit.
what starts in search of profit
ends up a hide and seek with loss!
--
why?
just read this first...
--
once a snake was spotted in the thick bushes
at the end of the lawn in front of the house
the family searched for it frantically
but couldn't find it!
that night they could hardly sleep.
next day they searched again
without any success
"it seems to have gone!" everyone thought
but the fear of snake stayed back.
they kept the light in the verandah on
to scare off the snake
in case it was still around!
none could have a sound sleep that night also
next day they decided that enough was enough
so they set the dry bushes on fire!
all bushes were reduced to ash
and there was no snake!
all family heaved a big sigh of relief!
they expected to have a sound sleep that third night
but somehow they couldn't
the fear of past 48 hours refused to go away immediately!
so they kept the verandah light on for that night too!
night passed off peacefully
next morning
when the lady of the house opened the door of the bathroom
she was welcomed by the snake!
what had happened was that
the burning of the bushes had resulted in the snake being rendered homeless
and hence running out for another shelter
since none existed in the cemented neighbourhood
the wandering snake saw the movement of rodents in the verandah
which were attracted by the light
left 'on' to ward-off the snake.
snake reached the verandah and found the way in!
the very steps to ward-off the snake
resulted in the snake landing directly into the house!
--
fear can do strange things
it can distort your decision making process
and provoke and instigate you to do
exactly what you shouldn't have done
it pushes you in the trap
instead of taking you away!
--
as superbly underlined by rhonda byrne
in the masterpiece revolutionary book
"the secret"
we attract things by thoughts!
--
our compulsive obsessive fear in the head inevitably always shows up!
--
so
don't go after the snake of loss.
he is not after you.
rest assured!
when he appears by sheer chance
just change your path
and leave him alone!

Thursday, December 23, 2010

ready for it - II

if being mentally not ready

is responsible for not succeeding in stock trading

here is a different but effective way to develop a 'millionaire mindset'

but to do that first i need to share with you something

--

in his masterpieces

'6 thinking hats'

and

'6 action shoes'

the great thinker and management guru

Edward de Bono had beautifully driven home the point

that every person has and needs many faces

which he shows or can show!

every face is different

and has a specific ability

suitable for a particular situation

represented by different kinds of 'shoes' or 'hats' in de Bono's books!

it is like playing different roles.

the persona has to come in a totally different avatar for each role!

the problem arises when the man plays the wrong role on the wrong stage!

e.g. if one were to sit across the negotiation table

with the mindset of 'formal navy shoes' (formal approach)

in a situation which demanded

the mindset of 'pink slippers' (informal approach)

the outcome is likely to be a disaster.

what you feel like and behave like and look like

in 'formal navy shoes'

is totally opposite to

how you feel and behave and look

in 'pink slippers' or any other type of shoes!

so, whatever the challenge

just select the right kind of 'action shoes' or 'thinking hat'

and succeed!

--

based on the above

here is the trick to develop "a millionaire mindset"

which is otherwise difficult without

a million dollars in your bank account!

--

"Act"

--

in other words

just play the role of a "millionaire"!

i know, you would say that

since you are not a millionaire

your role play will be faulty!

well, don't worry about that.

you will do it quite well

better than a real millionaire!

--

in fact

you can prepare yourself for any role or responsibility

or challenge in life

by just starting to act the role...

first play the role

then it will come out naturally!

--

feel like

behave like

act like

look like

think like

a millionaire in that very situation!

ask yourself

what different would a millionaire think in such a situation?

what would a millionaire do different in such a situation?

how would a millionaire react differently to this situation?

this way you will not chicken out of situations where you shouldn't have

this way you will have the courage to take a risk your indicators say you should have

this way you will survive the difficult situation without booking profit prematurely

this way you will book the stop loss ruthlessly like a seasoned emotionless businessman

...and so on

you will realise that the trouble used to arise

when we used to react in petty and penny ways of

"non-millionaires"!

a change in decisions

will change the results for you!

--

even if you are a rocket scientist or a surgeon or an engineer or a chartered accountant

your daily mannerism and thinking patterns and fears are different from that of a millionaire

and this is the root cause of faulty decisions

which have landed you in your present state-of-affairs!

--

in T.Harv Eker's words

by acting

you are programming your mind

to generate feelings

to create thoughts

to trigger actions

which will bring amazing and different results!

Saturday, December 11, 2010

trading decisions!

5 frogs were sitting on a log of wood

3 out of them decided to jump

how many are left behind?

"2" replied the student.

"wrong! all 5 are still sitting there" the teacher shot back!

"there is a difference between making a decision and acting on the decision!" he explained!

---

the story got etched in the student's mind.

days passed

and then years....

the student became teacher

in 'School of Stock Trading'!

---

"let me tell you a story" he announced in the class

"5 frogs were sitting on a log of wood

all 5 jumped off it!

how many had decided to jump?"

students got really confused.

they had heard about the famous story where the teacher asks how many are left behind!

but this story was strange!

when nobody answered

the teacher declared

"none"

"all 5 jumped in panic without thinking"

"they were all amateur stock traders!"

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

understanding crowd - IV

"Strength of the crowd is in its numbers"

As a corollary, when two crowds of differing opinions come face to face, the bigger crowd decides the resultant!

As another corollary, the larger the crowd the longer it survives before getting scuttled!

A rally is nothing but crowd behaviour at its finest!

So, applying the above logic to a rally

the bull camp is the defending crowd

the bear camp is the offensive crowd

when both these crowds come face to face

1) the bigger crowd decides the direction of the market

2) the larger the following (volumes) of the winner crowd, the longer the rally sustains

.
Also, the speed of a correction is directly proportional to the speed of dispersing of the tired crowd and the speed of increase in the following of the challenger crowd.

.

.

.

.
(jointly written with Ashish Dewett)

.

.
(to be continued)

understanding crowd - III

A full century ago

French social psychologist Gustave Le Bon had said

"A crowd can never accomplish acts demanding a high degree of intelligence"

Crowd behaviour is utter mediocrity at its extreme hype!

All crowds are destined to disperse after the binding force - the influence, fades!

A crowd movement is like a tide that washes ashore all rubbish alongwith pearls and seashells!

Crowd behaviour is stupidity and mass-hypnotism at its high!

Nobody knows why but everyone is running because he sees everyone running.

It is easy to establish the presence of such a contagion, but not easy to explain.

Proof (of what is happening) becomes more sanctimonious than the Reason (of why it is happening)!

World is full of approval-seeking people ever-so-willing to be labelled as "right"

and there is no way they can be right except being with the crowd!!

Hence, there is no dearth of followers in a crowd!!!

Beyond a critical mass level, crowd is a self-growing self-fuelling monster

200 years ago, the great French thinker Victor Hugo had said

"Nothing can stop an idea whose time has come"

It must have been said in context with the crowd behavior.

It can be safely presumed that 'nothing can stop a crowd whose trigger has been pulled'.

Traders seeking sense and logic in rallies are as misplaced

as is the science looking for logic in art!

Little wonder the "crowd" rallies are big

and inevitably followed by big correction.

.

.

.
(to be continued)

understanding crowd - II

As already mentioned (in part-I)

a crowd is not a crowd in psychology till it has certain characteristics.

In psychology,

Group + Influence = Crowd

So the important factor is

"Influence"

Who influences?

What influences?

Is it the politics?

economics?

A group of sheep never goes anywhere!

So, the influence on the group is rarely from inside.

It has to come from outside!

Political or Economical developments are definitely among the influences!

But these have small effects.

Sheep traders, who are majority in number but minority in value

don't move much immediately in the wake of any political or economical happening!

they just wait for secondary triggers - initial outcome of the original happenings.

so, who decides those secondary triggers?

who is behind those thick dark veils in the market ?

who actually influences the stock market crowd?

It is "the big money"

it constitutes FIIs, DIIs, Funds, Banks, and alike.

the big surplus money flow in the world comes in handy in such adventures!

These big pockets can kneel down an elephant what to talk of overbought RSI

and jack up the blue-whale what to talk of severely oversold SMA

They can bulldoze the logic

and create severe ripples of sentiments...

...

...

...

(to be continued)

understanding crowd - I

a crowd is not considered a crowd in psychology till

- it turns in a particular direction

- personality of individuals is lost in it

- it is driven by reasons but is not conscious about it

- logic goes to sleep and impulse takes the driver's seat

- intelligence goes on leave, wisdom is scared away

- there is overwhelming dominance by sentiments

---

so when caught in a crowd

just run

in its direction.

when out of a crowd

look for one!

And for heavens sake

never stand against it!!

---

And when does the crowd turn?

not so early

not so easily...

atleast never mistaken its slowing down as its reversal

look for typical symptoms of its reversal including its tiring out.

it falls, like every demon, only after a prolonged effort and gyrations!!!

Sunday, November 14, 2010

Clear Hai!

God and Advertisements are everywhere.

Nothing moves without them!

And anything moves with them!!!

Ads are of 6 types:

1. Logical

Ads which appeal to your left brain!

= Like the ads of LIC, Water purifiers, Tata Sky, Dettol

2. Emotional

Ads which want to "set" your Attitude in the right brain!

= Like the ads of Fevicol, Raymonds

3. Abstract

Ads which want to "set" your Ego

= Like the ad of Scorpio, Bournville' !

4. Demostrative

Ads which know they have to "prove it" to "win it"

= Like the ads of Harpic, Dove, Fair & Lovely!

5. Endorsement

Ads directed at the sheep inside every human

= All ads by celebrities!

6. Experiential

Ads which make you feel "it"

= Like the ads of Old Spice, Axe, D-cold, Maggi,

---------------

Stock markets trap you by using these 6 kinds of ad methods!

1. Logical

e.g. " It is severely oversold. Can't go down any further. "

2. Emotional

e.g. by fuelling the panic & greed,

by fanning the left-out feeling....

3. Abstract

symbols of prosperity and powerplays before your eyes

4. Demostrative

trader interviews and success stories

5. Endorsement

all expert opinions and recommendations

6. Experiential

every accidental profit traps your mind for a larger fall!

--------------

To protect myself from all this

I always keep 'Sprite' in my refrigerator!

Clear Hai !!!

-------------

Thursday, October 21, 2010

What do you do when....?

What do you do when you win an unexpected but handsome profit?

If you pack-up and leave to enjoy the booty then nothing wrong with you

but

If you dare to bet it all or most of it on the next trade

ADVISED by the method

and supported by the just-won profit

then you have in you what makes a professional trader!

On the other hand,

What do you do when you lose unexpected and rather big?

If you fight back instead of surrendering then nothing wrong with you

but

If you dare to accept the unexpected adverse situation and decide to stay away till you regain your sense of understanding of the winds

then you again have in you what makes a professional trader!

In the words of Pat Holland in his dazzling book

"The 35 rules of Gambling that all investors should know"

Rule 4 : Never chase your losses!

Rule 6: Gamble your early winnings!

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Myths & Facts about Hypnotism - II

Myth #1 – Hypnotists have special powers.

Fact: Hypnotists don’t have any special powers. They just know humans inside out, and use that know-how!

Trader's confession : I don't agree with the fact! Market hynotists do have special powers!

====================

Myth #2 – Hypnosis will only work on certain people

Fact: Wrong! Anyone who wants hypnotism to work and is willing to co-operate can get hynotised!

Trader's confession : Here, I am again with the myth. Hardened traders frustrate the hynotist. But I also admit that if a trader refuses to cooperate with the hypnotist, he can't simply be hypnotised!

====================

Myth #3 – People who get hypnotized are weak minded.

Fact : Wrong! People with good concentration and creativity are ideal "hypnotic subjects" they are easily susceptible to hypnotist's suggestion.

Trader's confession : I am once again with the myth! In trading, those who get hypnotized are surely weak minded! But I also admit that more creative the trader mind, more he/she is susceptible to "hypnotist's suggestion".

====================

Myth #4 – Hypnosis can be bad for your health.

Fact: Wrong! It relaxes you if you cooperate!

Trader's confession : In trading, hypnosis is bad for wealth and hence very bad for health! The more we cooperate the less relaxed we are!

====================

Myth #5 – You’ll become dependent on the hypnotist.

Fact: A professional and ethical hypnotist makes you feel empowered rather than dependent!

Trader's confession : The market hypnotists are never ethical.

====================

Myth #6 – In hypnosis you’ll be able to recall everything that’s ever happened to you.

Fact: Wrong!

Trader's confession : On the contrary, trader tends to forget every lesson of the past when hypnotised!

====================

Myth #7 – Hypnosis is dangerous and is the devils work!

Fact: Wrong!

Reality: Hypnosis is surely the market-devils work! We must keep the cross (of method) around our neck!

====================

Monday, October 11, 2010

Myths & Facts about Hypnotism

Myth: A person is asleep during hypnosis.

Fact: A person is totally awake during hypnosis.

Proof: Just watch traders trade!

=====================

Myth: A person in a hypnotic state does not know what is going on around him/her.

Fact: A hypnotised person can hear everything. He/she is aware of the surroundings.

Proof: Just watch traders trade!

=====================

Myth: The hypnotist can make you do things you don’t want to do, like take clothes off etc.

Fact: This is incorrect. The hynotised person can reject any such suggestion.

Proof: (While the myth is definitely wrong, but I can't give a trader's example as a proof as they often forget the fact and endorse the myth, to their own peril!)

=====================

Myth: A person can get stuck in a hypnotic state.

Fact: No. A person cannot get stuck in hypnosis.

Proof: Every trader returns to his senses to realise his blunder!

=====================

Myth: The hypnotist hypnotizes people.

Fact: The person hypnotizes himself/herself. The hypnotist just guides the client through the process.

Proof: Just watch traders trade!

=====================

Myth: A person loses control of himself/herself when hypnotized.

Fact: Incorrect. A person has total control of himself/herself when hypnotized.

Proof: Just watch traders trade!

=====================

Myth: When you say "I’ve never been hypnotized."

Fact: Everyone experiences natural hypnosis, to some degree, every day.

Proof: Just watch traders trade!

=====================