Now with Dave Landry
What I'm Reading..And, Thinking About
Again, I'm trying to start fewer books than I finish. And, for the first time in years, I did it! I finally finished Annie Duke's Thinking In Bets. She reaffirms a lot of the concepts that I often discuss in columns, webinars, and Trading Full Circle such as outcome biases, embracing uncertainty, and mentally rehearsing. She discussed the fact that we tend to attribute a positive outcome to a good decision and a negative outcome to bad luck-something I often mention (see the latest Week In Charts where I cite Terrance Odean). Duke sets out with the lofty goal of separating luck from skill. I had my doubts that she'd be able to solve for this. In the end, I think she succeeded. The burden comes back to us by holding ourselves accountable, doing postmortems-things that I often preach. Without giving the book away, she gives us other tools and gets the reader "thinking in bets." Again, this isn't a trading book per say, but much of it applies. She gives us something to ponder...
Annie Duke
"If we can find ways to become more comfortable with uncertainty, we can see the world more accurately and be better for it."
This Week's Content
In celebration of PI day (3.14), I dusted off my "Trading, As Easy As PI" article which harps on the plan your trade, trade your plan mantra. While cleaning up older articles, I republished "Why There Aren't More Consistent and Profitable Traders." This also became fodder for the Week In Charts.
Around DaveLandry.com
I did a little work on the back end of the website. My goal is to enhance the user experience. Someone once told me that "You have a lot of great content. Why do you hide it?" So, I'm working on that.
The Holistic Trader
Wow, I suppose I need to hold myself accountable. Once again, aside from a poor diet, lack of exercise, and no meditation, I did okay with my new goal of becoming holistic in my trading and life. Oh well, maybe next week!
What I'm Trading
Once again, not much! In equities, with the market's erratic behavior, the database hasn't produced much lately. That's okay! Wait for your pitch. Patience is probably the biggest secret to trading out there. Based on what's happening in my personal life, I've really been applying the "F-yeah" thinking when sifting through setups. And, you should too! If you don't find yourself thinking that when considering a trade, especially given this environment, then pass. You might want to write that down.
I've also been sitting on my hands in Forex and the Cryptos. When the time comes, I'll likely step in with something like hourly Landry's Bowties off of MAJOR highs/lows. I touched upon this in the Week In Charts, using trading indices as a proxy for efficient markets. Rather than re-invent the wheel, watch the week in charts to get up to speed.
May the trend be with you!
Dave Landry
P.S. Now that you know what I've been up to, leave me a comment below to let me know what you've been doing.