Trading styles, are you the hunter or the hunted?

One of the books that helped me become a better trader was Johnnie Johnson's ' Wing Commander ', an account by Britain's top scoring ace of WW2 of his exploits. In the book, he describes the mood in the pilot's mess shortly before a flying sortie against the enemy as being comprised of two types pf pilot - those who nervously checked their entire escape kits were in order - the hunted, and those who calmly walked out to their Spitfires or Hurricanes for a pre-flight check and a chat with their ground crews, leaders and wingmen - the hunters. Invariably, the former did not live long.

I refer to this in this post because I see a great parallel between these fighter pilots of the Second World War and us traders, with the welcome exception that one's life as a trader is not on the line ( I hope! ), only one's trading account. In the five years I've been trading, one of the biggest things I've had to learn is that the forex market is neither a place for inexperience or timidity. If you have the skills to make money in this business, and by that I mean you do actually know what you are doing, then this counts for nothing if you do not combine this with aggression and conviction when the time comes to pull the trigger. Many of the biggest moves happen fast following a pullback or fake to an area or support and resistance, and the experienced trader will recognize this and act with speed and conviction, not with fear of loss or hesitation.

It is my firm belief that one of the reasons so many traders fail to make money, apart from lacking the necessary technical ability, is because life in other areas just does not train people to be risk takers, in fact, life teaches us to be overly cautious from a very young age, a mind-set we bring into trading, but one which ultimately will lead to our downfall as traders. What we have to be able to do is throw a good deal of caution to the wind, and, like the successful fighter pilots of WW2, to fix onto our target and go for it with all guns blazing. This does not guarantee that we won't crash and burn, but it does put the odds of being a winner firmly in our favour.

I think one of the reasons trading is so difficult is the extreme cognitive dissonance required. Most of us learn to trade under the illusion of fast and easy money but to succeed, we need to take the exact opposite position, to take small chunks consistently and be patient. We need to be ultra cautious with risk but at the same time be bold and aggressive when the market dictates. Almost every aspect of successful trading is marked with similar polar extremes which we need to switch between. Most people can do that to some extent, but only when they feel like it - to do it on an external command, ie when market conditions dictate, is incredibly difficult.

[quote=numbnuts;

"We need to be ultra cautious with risk but at the same time be bold and aggressive when the market dictates."

In a nutshell!

I dunno guys.......the moment you become bold and aggressive with Forex, you will blow your account. I would take the same steady approach......respect the markets.

I agree that we are not wired to take risks (as brilliantly shown by Tversky and Kahneman). Hence, taking risk/dealing with uncertainty (trading) is logically a source of psychological discomfort (cognitive dissonance).

However, I think that having fear (better yet, respect) for the market is not necessarily a bad thing. In fact, it may be a very positive thing. Someone inexperienced without any fear of the market is likely to lose his/hers shirt in no time. Someone who has some fear (as long as it is not paralyzing fear) is likelier to live just long enough to learn how to survive, and possibly even to thrive at some point.

I do agree that not all trades are created equal. One should not let fear prevent from trading bigger size on trades that give a higher win probability. In the end it may all come down to experience.

You want to be patient when u're not in a trade. You want to be aggressive when you are in the trade. Any other combination opens you up to harms way.

+1

Good one there. 1+ from me as well

Resurrecting this thread for this single fact about the fighter pilots of WW2, one that provides a great parallel to trading. Most of those killed had less than 100 hours actual flying time, and some of them as little as ten. The life expectancy for these novice pilots was just three days during the Battle of Britain. Compare that with the more experienced pilots, those that had been flying for a number of years and had amassed as much as a thousand hours of practice, not just of flying, but also of shooting. These pilots did significantly better and on the whole were the ones who survived the war.

In trading terms, this means that if you are putting your money on the line with a live account without having put in the necessary time required to learn about the markets, then expect to get burnt. Just like the fighter pilots of WW2, the overall majority of traders who blow their accounts and who don't come back to trading as a result, are those without the experience and knowledge required.