Staying Positive after the Summertime Doldrums

 

Well I hope your summer went well and you had a great time with the family while taking a vacation for yourself. Now the kids are back to school and the Bar-BQ’s is winding down. Now is the time to hunker down and get back to serious trading.

 

As we all know in the summertime the market seems to shift and this one was no exception, it was a rocky road in many cases. Its personality did change and strange movements occurred. 

 

The news up-coming elections and new changes in policy on the horizon have everyone still on edge and our goal has to be to stay positive.  This is a lot harder than one would think.  This year we felt the added influences from the global effect more than we have in the past and adjusting to the moves proved at time to be a challenge. The lack volume showed in the markets. Stand-in traders taking over trading desks were filled with apprehensions and were less aggressive with smaller size, this can be felt to the average trader.

 

So, if you have been trading for years you know all this already and my point of this article is to really talk about being positive.  The reason is, year after year that summertime tends to bring out negative feelings in general.

 

There is always an “I can’t wait till it’s over” attitude and rightly so. The markets can be frustrating and slow. Finding long running trends can be scarce and “choppy” is said more in the trading room than in a Chinese kitchen. (BTW – I love Chinese food, don’t you?)

 

So traders can look at this time and stay frustrated or they can change their thinking if they used this break to their advantage and re-charged. Summertime is always a great time to fine tune strategies, exercise patience, spend time with the family and relax and re-group.

 

I remember when I was in my late 20’s and was living in Mexico City and I would fly from NYC to Mexico I would look to sit next to interesting people for the long flight. I would look for men who had great shoes and would try to sit next to them. They always had great conversation to share. I was flying one time from New York to Mexico City and found THE shoes and when we got to know each other he told me he was a Wall St. trader and he worked all year long and went to Mexico for 3 months and than back to New York to trade. I knew nothing about trading at the time. Trading for me was harder and more foreign than the Spanish I had to learn at the time.

 

While I was always good with numbers women really didn’t have aspirations to go into trading in the 70’s.  Yet now looking back it must have left en impression as I still remember how “cool” it would be to work 9 months and rest 3.

 

Anyway I am really getting off the topic – forgive me a senior moment.

 

OK being positive…it’s so important to not let the summertime markets get you down. Staying positive is very very important and I don’t say that ONLY to feel good it’s down right healthy too.

 

We all experience stress at some point in our lives and trading combined with stress is unhealthy in so many ways. Your body reacts and works to protect you and when stress happens, you can start to get symptoms. Ulcers, lack of sleep, skin conditions, digestive problems, and a few more I forgot. Bottom line you don’t want stress in your life and being negative can cause stress.

 

It’s also not a good thing to trade being stressed. Knowing your are stressed in the first part…..and coming up with ways to un-stress can be very rewarding and beneficial.

 

Unfortunately, we are being bombarded with bad news.  Unemployment, foreclosures, Vets coming home and ending up homeless and your own situations.  I am sure you know of someone who is having a hard time close to you.  We never imagined all this could happen this way.

 

Didn’t we learn anything from the last depression?

 

We need to get better at making lemonade out of lemons and successes from failures. Given these events that are going on unusual things do happen when we are thrust into crisis.

 

Many will fail pray to their surroundings, but others will get more aggressive to figure out a way to get through and change things. Having a “growth mind-set” assumes that no talent is entirely heaven-sent and that effort and learning make everything possible.  This is the mind-set we need to adapt in the bad environment.

 

Here are some things you can do:  Related to your work, ask yourself if you are still learning so you can move ahead. View each challenge as an opportunity rather than building stress.

 

Feeling down – This is NOT the way you are (most people feel this way) Instead of letting feelings of failure take you over think of it as temporarily derailed and a work in progress. This will shift the stress and energize you.

 

Also think of a time when you were at your peak and what did you do to get there. Reproduce this attitude and leverage your strengths.

 

Bottom line: Use your mind and thoughts to steer clear of the bad environment.  Remember YOU and only YOU are in control of your mind.

 

You will be one the people that will get through this.  Leave the bad stuff out of the trading room.

 

Great Trading!