Thanksgiving Weekend
Tonight closes the end of a great weekend. I had John here, and we got to spend a lot of good, quality father and son time together. We managed to get in some surfing, even went out today and spent all morning catching great waves in very foul weather. After the surf, I took John to Sarasota Bradenton Airport, and got him on his way.
John and I had some very interesting discussions. We talked a lot about philosophy, the philosophers, music, current events, politics, the markets, and Denise. Our holiday was sad without Denise, but we managed. I was surprised to hear that John had entered a paper trading competition, and ended up very profitable, more profitable than his friends at school who want to speculate for a living. He didn’t win, but managed to grind out a respectable profit, despite having several losing trades. That news came out of the blue, as John has shown very little interest in the markets, risk, risk management, gambling, betting, or anything associated with money. He told me that his paper trading profit was blind luck. I told him that I want to see the copy of his trades in order to see what the hell he was doing, thinking, or attempting. I was very surprised when he told me that he used no advice from anyone, and he got that nugget from me. He told me that over the years, he picked up a lot of market philosophy from sitting at the dinner table with us. Although he is enamored with his studies in Latin and Greek, I secretly would be very delighted to teach him a thing ot two about trading. My son would make the ideal protege, as he’s very bright with a sense of humility. His favorite Greek was Euclid, and he feels very comfortable using that logic. That speaks volumes about his mental process, and also tells me that your kids will really surprise you when you least expect it.
Jeff
how very nice for father to teach son, care to teach me one single thing
I only have opportunity 6 out of 25 timeframe bars, while this makes money
it forces me to operate more cars in order to make more money
I don’t suppose you have words of wisdom for me
guy from ET
December 1, 2008 at 7:01 am
Glad to hear you and John had a great Holiday. Mine was as well, didn’t even look at the market on Friday. Last night I watched the ES on Globex and shorted the GBP. Woke up out of a deep sleep at 2am CST and realized Europe had just opened. I turned on the computer and watched my position drop 100 pips in a matter of minutes….satisfied with this move after hours of back and forth, I closed out the trade and went back to bed. Look at what I missed, the Pound dropped another 500 pips! I’m now trading a half size position long…we’ll see if the market can settle down.
I’m heading your way (FL) as my folks are taking us all to DisneyWorld for Christmas!
BTW, gas here in Dallas is around 1.65, oh happy day.
Acetrader
December 1, 2008 at 6:59 pm
Guy From ET,
Thanks for stopping by. I’m sorry that it took so long to get your comment posted, but I’ve been getting around 500 spam a day and I have to go through all that to separate the wheat from the chaff. As for wisdom, you seem to be doing fine, but I’d watch the number of cars you put on as a function of money management. Here’s what can happen when one puts on too much size.
http://masteroftheuniverse.wordpress.com/2008/11/27/tales-from-the-pit-2/
Acetrader,
Good trade, even if you left money on the table. I never kick myself on a trade, as hindsight is always 20/20. Have fun in Disney, which is a place I avoid at all costs:) Seriously, I like Disney but can’t stand all the crowds and waiting in line for attractions. Try to score some VIP passes which can get you to the head of all lines. You might want to google ways to do that, but there are ways. I do know that with a doctor’s note of disability, you can get to the head of any line, but you’d have to google that also.
Jeff
masteroftheuniverse
December 1, 2008 at 11:58 pm