95%/5%

[IFocus]

People blog trading because they aren't confident enough in their trading plan to trade without blogging.

Similarly, people post in forums to validate their own beliefs.

eg

Posting "I use a 6.5ATR trailing stop and always close my positions when the stop is breached" will make me more likely to actually do this in practice.


Along the way, there can be indeed much education of others, but first and foremost we post for selfish reasons (and there is nothing at all wrong with that).

Ed Seykota - "Everyone gets what they want from the market."

Staying off topic, Michael you have touched on a number of reasons why people post on forums and blogs but to lump all or even most posters in the same bag is I believe generalizing an issue that runs much deeper and is not so black and white.

Given that most posters are males (assumption) then sure there are a number of underlying psychology foundations that you could generalize about.

However one thing about this site is the wide spread of ages and as a consequence there will be a wide spread of psychological maturity development each level has a range of different emotional needs.

If you study any large group of men interacting age or more importantly maturity has a huge bearing on how and why they interact. I make the point that old men have not necessarily reached full maturity........

Going back to the 5/95 discussion when I think back to all the trading groups I used to attend on the surface the 5/95 rule seemed pretty close to the mark.

 

[Trembling Hand]

People blog trading because they aren't confident enough in their trading plan to trade without blogging.

Similarly, people post in forums to validate their own beliefs.

What a load of rubbish. Another gem from someone who can fit a wide and diverse group into a silly generalization.

 

[2020hindsight]

There are 2 types of people - those that make generalisations,
and those like me who don't

PS tough call TH, I thought MichaelD was accurate - at least when he said (paraphrasing) that we post our tactics to reinforce them in our own mind.

Like nailing your colours to the mast I guess.

 

[theasxgorilla]

PS tough call TH, I thought MichaelD was accurate - at least when he said (paraphrasing) that we post our tactics to reinforce them in our own mind.

I think MichaelD's comment had a far more negative connotation than the way you put it. I think people don't blog their trading because they're not confident enough in their own trading decisions and psychology to have them scrutinised by the world.

 

[julius]

Michael that's a bit far fetched in my opinion... most people don't even like to disclose that kind of information.

I think on some level we all want a bit of recognition for what it is we are doing, be it winning, losing, being in the 5th% or the 95th%...

Especially with trading, it can be a lonely game at the best of times.

 

[2020hindsight]

I think MichaelD's comment had a far more negative connotation than the way you put it. I think people don't blog their trading because they're not confident enough in their own trading decisions and psychology to have them scrutinised by the world.

err
yep!
that'll do it every time lol.

Of course I could blog my trading - and you'd all be rich - just do the reverse.

 

[chops_a_must]

Regardless of where we think we are percentage wise, I think there is something that can make us all feel better, and inflate our egos.

In that, I'm absolutely certain that everyone here can paint better than Cézanne.

Says a lot for the top 5% of artists...

Cheers.

 

[Bushman]

As I am reading about the supersonic transformation of Bear Stearns from financial wizz kid to 2 bob operation, it strikes me that the top 5% of financial market participants have got us all into an awful mess. I mean these firms hired the straight distinction types, paid them a bucket load of cash and watched on with pride as they created a toxic worthless mess that might take us all down with them.

Silly, silly 'top 5%'.