Tradinglife With Brad Jelinek

This episode is about the importance of contingency plans. Much of this I learned from studying Bill Walsh. I also get into my year end review process and a little bit about the market turmoil right now.

I talk about how I approached my tennis match tonight with a different mindset and how it relates to a successful trading mindset.

I discuss the current environment in the stock market and the attention the inverse head and shoulders pattern is getting. When this many eyeballs are focusing on something it creates the potential for a lot of fake outs before the real move happens. Planning ahead and running scenarios can be very useful.

I share some experiences of being caught by getting sucked into the crowd. The more work we do the more we get attached and feel we’re right. It’s when a group of more sophisticated investors agree when caution is needed most.

Today I discuss the perils of losing your own voice and taking on opinions and ideas of others that you haven’t analyzed.

I discuss my thinking around the various election outcomes.

Preserving your momentum is something that you can proactively manage. In this recording I talk about how I do that and why I think it’s one of the most important things you can do in your trading.

Nothing predicts future success more than quick losses and being willing to miss moves.

Stay curious and be willing to take days off to clear your head. It will preserve your momentum and help you stay open minded. It’s been a hard lesson for me to work in a less linear fashion.

An old lesson came back to bite me in a big way at an inopportune time. Position sizing continues to be my greatest strength and greatest weakness but at this stage of my career the downside of that is less tolerable.

You must determine the point where you are going to exit your trade before you enter. Sometimes the more complex your strategy the more you can rationalize not doing that in your head. You can also rationalize that when you are trading well and it doesn’t seem important at the moment...but it IS!

Today I talk about being stuck in a loser at the dentist, how to trade (or not) while moving, and what a good friend reminded me about the freedom and your work.

I talk about how I learned a very painful lesson this week about what happens when you’re not independent in your thinking.

This is a longer than normal episode where I take questions from members of the Edge Trading Group. It’s fairly wide ranging.

It’s important to focus on what actually makes you money. It’s very easy to bleed your day away pursuing intellectual macro discussions that won’t give you an edge. Take the time to do the most important stuff first.

I’m using the inner balance Heartmath device get into a focused state. Practicing that way has made it easier to replicate that state during my day.

What makes the most impact for you? Zero in on that. Develop a process to support that.

You can’t get to the next level until you stop getting beat up doing marginal trades. Focus on your core strategy.

Today we got an example of what can happen in the market when a lot of people are short. Be aware if you’re in a battleground asset.

I talk on how more research can make you less flexible without increasing your odds of success. Instead of working harder you may need to work differently.