My Meeting with the Big Kahuna

I had requested a meeting with Andy before he returns back to China. There was so much I could ask him about I didn't know where to start. Unfortunately that morning I needed IT to help me set up some stuff it ate some precious time. Also we spent time talking about my past/path at the beginning, which was nice that the CEO was taking interest in me but again, this takes up time that I'd rather spend trying to get some words of wisdom from him.

One of the biggest take away I got from the hour or so we spent was that Andy said that in his personal traidng he would try to hold on to winners as long as he can until they force him out. I asked him to expand on this and he says that he would basically use a much wider stop once a trade was going in his favor, which makes sense but I know for me that's really hard to do. I hate to see profit unrealized, but at the same time you can tell if something is really week.

We took a look at my growth chart and Andy informed me that to get to the next stage of higher, more consistent profit, you have to lose your fear. After that you'd have to lose your anger to get to the next level, meaning revenge trade and things of that nature. This coincides with the book I'm reading by Mark Douglass about trading in the "zone" where you lose your fear of losing money and instead trading the set ups that work for you and sticking to your stops.

Other than that, Andy just try to encourage me to develop the habits of the best traders have, such as getting in early and be aware of any news that might affect market movements that day, spending an hour a day after trading to review, and spending an hour a week learning new technology and an hour a week talking to other traders. He also encourages me to go back and watch some of the videos we have done with HP traders, which I have since our first casual chat. I watched them all when I first started but maybe they'll have more meaning this time around. There also was a period where I kept strict recording of all my entries and exists, looking at charts and indicators to see if I could've done better but over time I either got lazy or see the diminishing return of the time I spent that I stopped doing it. Andy sent me a template that another trader uses and I think I'll customize it a bit and start using that.

Lastly he left me with the name Hirschhorn before I had to run back to my desk and get ready for the day. I don't really remember what Andy said about him so I just jotted down his name with the intention of googling him later. Apparently he has a nickname as the Trading Dr. Seems quite interesting... I will have to check him out later.