Rande Howell

Actually, my wife and I had lunch with Jan and his son Craig last week in Greensburo, NC at Stamey's BBQ -- where I discovered he had a fondness for vanilla milkshakes. (I'm based in Charlotte, NC -- near Greenburo). Stamey's is one of the legendary Lexington style BBQ resturants that have given NC its BBQ name. Jan lives in Greensburo and his son visits regularly as they work together in the family business there. I met Craig (goes by Hawk) at the NY Traders Expo where we talked extensively about the need for developing the psychology of the trader so that they could better use the Arps TA tools and indicators. This is something they have an interest in. That lead to meeting in Greensburo. The story he told me about how he learned from his father is noted in the Introduction to his book Idiot's Guide to TA. It is under the section called Introduction xxiii and is the second paragraph under Acknowledgments. If it is fabricated, you need to contact Alpha Books (a division of Penguin Publishers) to report this. I figure they have checked their facts pretty well. That's about as far as I need to re-think this. Rande Howell

This is an interesting question. Jan's father was also a mechanical engineer as Jan is and was involved with the oil industry as an engineer predicting futures. It was way above my head. So yes, his father knew what he was doing. Jan actually charted by hand for his father's investments and then they would discuss. Both are also brillant men. Jan's curiosity was encouraged and was taught risk management from his father. Now Jan's son, Hawk, is following this line. And, by the way, they are great people. Our conversation was about how develop traders emotionally and psychologically to use the technology better. Of course, Jan can not understand how people become emotionally incapacitated while trading. Rande Howell

Interesting comments Ingot54. I had lunch with Jan Arps (Idiot's Guide to Technical Analysis) last week. He was born into a family where he was being taught TA from early on. He hand drew the charts that his father was following. He was taught from a very young age to become a manager of risk and uncertainty. It never occurred to him to glue fear and worry onto uncertainty. In many ways, he is a very fortunate man. He loves trading and has made a good business out of selling TA indicators to traders (Trader's Toolbox). Most of us are born into a world where risk, uncertainty, worry, and fear are associated with one another -- a very different world than Jan Arps. The brain organizes the developing self around the avoidance of threat and trading exposes this association of risk, uncertainty, worry, and fear (now embedded in the neuro-circuitry of perception). Once it is exposed, what are you going to do about it? I know people who push through it like a bull and, end the end, re-build what historical adaptation dealt to them. I know people keep running into the same brick walls over and over again. At some moment, a person has to choose how they will take the bull by the horns and change their perceptual map that they produce effective living (and trading). Staying blind to possibility shuts us off from developing our God-given gifts. Changing perception at the level of flesh is challenging. Ask any dieter or trader. You choose your tools and your path. It's your journey. I am fortunate that I have found good teachers and was willing to listen to them. And, yes, it did cost me money. But not seeking out teachers cost me time and money. The choice is always yours. Rande Howell

Our brain's job is to organizes us to survive in a particular environments. Out of this organization come our beliefs from which we see and interact with the world. You can call this "pre-programming". I personally see it as one potential organization of the self that has become your historical perceptual map. Loser's Mind in this way of understanding is only a hardwired way of being in the world -- it is not you. It is a mindset that, at one time, was a successful solution to circumstance. The problem is that it operates out side of our awareness and continues far beyond its usefulness. You find this out in trading especially. Using one-time tricks to change deeply embedded neural circuitry, to me, is a fool's way of attempting change. What you get is catharsis and feel new for a while, then the old wiring of belief pattern re-establishes itself. In much the same way that 95% of dieters regain their weight, so it is with trying to change external circumstance without changing internal belief structure. Real emotional labor is required. This is what I call confronting your psychological demons. It can be done, and requires a mixture of courage, compassion, and healthy shame to reorganize the belief pattern in the brain. I teach this, but it is not a quick fix solution like is promised in some of the processes you suggested. If you're really interested, I'd suggest you attend one of my free webinars or read my book to see how this is done. I'm only saying this because you asked. If you're looking for magic though, don't look here. Rande Howell

It's like a moth dancing with the light of the fire. What attracts the trader initially is not the reality you find. And many traders have to die of their old motivations as they embrace the reconstruction of the self that makes traders successful long term. Rande Howell

I'm not sure what this means. And I wish you well where ever your journey takes you. If I have assisted you in any way, then I have been blessed. Peace be with you. Rande Howell

From my observation, people are driven to trading for the goals of financial freedom and time freedom. Self deception about the emotional labor required to develop the techincal skills and the psychology to use those skills effectively to become successful is rarely acknowledged until the pain involved in learning (making mistakes, read taking losses) forces them out of their deception (or not). People are naturally resistent to moving out of their comfort zone and developing a new way of perceiving. But until this happens, the probabilities remain the same -- loss. Rande Howell

Cutting to the chase -- we are built to deny death to the very last moment. That is why so few are prepared to die (or therefore live fully). Yet, the Zen Masters, predicted the day of their death. Perspective changed at that moment. Turned to trading, we seek certainty (as an illusion) because initially our brain will seek certainty. Letting go means changing. Anything but that our psychologically based brain thinks. Meanwhile the markets come and go like waves in seeming randomness. The guestion is not about predicting the waves. It is about riding them. Rande Howell

Could be, but don't think so. What matters is whether the interpretation provides an effective way of building a life. In studies where smoking cessation rates were compared between female groups that had started smoking during puberty (adolesence) and during college, those females that started smoking while in college were easily able to kick the habit. Not so with the puberty set. They found it extremely difficult to kick the habit. During the maturation between childhood and adulthood, the brain is restructured and rerouted in a process called arborization. Because of the nicotine in the system of the developing brain, the receptor sites for self regulation (serotonin uptake receptor sites) simply were not developed as compared to the girls who started smoking after puberty. Smoking became wired in as a solution to self regulation of anxiety. This is exactly what the cigarette companies knew as they redeveloped Joe Camel, of Camel cigarettes, as a youthful brand. They had already killed my father's generation, my father included, so they were out to develop market. The same process is found in AA. In the recovery movement, it is said that you never get over an addiction -- you just find an addiction that doesn't piss people off as much. So you go to an AA meeting and you find coffee (stimulent) and cigarettes (CNS depressant) being used to regulate the chemistry of the brain. Much better than before. Behaviors can also be used to regulate the chemistry of mood. This is what the client was doing in the example I gave. Like I said, I have a powerful bias to developing self regulation as part of the skill sets any human being needs to have to work with the uncertainty of life. But, despite what I'd like to believe, I'd rather be effective. In the case cited, he went through my emotional regulation training diligently -- and he still practices on a daily basis. And he credits it with helping to change the way he thinks in the uncertainty of the moment. But he did not respond the way the large majority do as they learn to self regulate fear and impulse. Attachment is at the base of regulation. It's not that it can't overcome, it can. I'm a prime example of that. As crazy as my formative years were, the one thing I knew for sure was that I was loved. If you got that part, the rest is negotiable. Our prisons are filled with people who did not get this wired into their system. This guy did not get this most basic of human needs met. I know this guy well, he's now one of my best friends. He will never a sprinter in the world of emotional regulation, but with a small crutch, he can be on the playing field and has to work like crazy with what he's got. That's how he has learned to negotiate his life and trading. That's "fair". Rande Howell

Maybe I'd go back to the bartender. At least what's she plying me with makes me feel better in the short term. Plus she may be feeding my male ego vicariously ..... Actually there is something important here. I work with a trader who is now taking Celexa (a mild SSRI). He tried earnestly to use use emotional regulation to manage worry with me, but this was not enough. We knew going in that emotional regulation by itself might not be enough. If you take a look at his developmental history, you'd see some serious emotional violence at a very young age. This got wired in to the circuitry of belief. When he grew up, he covered this sense of powerlessness by aggression as an investment banker -- and he did very well. And then came active trading with his own money. You know the rest of the story. He had always been the alpha male, and in trading the markets with his own money, this very mindset turned against him. He had to face his own dark sense of powerfulness. Bottom line, without medication, he could not build the regulation skills needed to maintain emotion sobriety no matter how much he tried. The receptor sites simply were not there (brain development issue) for him to train. Now with the psychiatric end under management, he is able to build the emotional skill sets needed to manage mind while trading. This is not a justification to medicate a trader's mind work of separating uncertainty from worry or fear and building a new mindset. My bias is clearly the opposite. But he's trading effectively now, so some can manage the pharmacy of the brain without outside intervention, others need help. Like with the Serentity Prayer, it's the wisdom to know the difference that we strive for. Rande Howell

Seriously. I don't want to sound like I am against psychiatrists. I've worked with them for many years and am grateful for their participation in the management of emotional subriety of certain populations of clients, including traders, who for one reason or another are not able to manage emotional state without outside help. The problem for me is that their emphasis has shifted from the noble efforts that brought forth the entire psychological movement into being (Freud was a neurologist). Unfortunately the direction of their profession under managed care became medical stabalization of presenting conditions rather than cure of the problem that creates the symptoms. That's a seismic shift in the intent. In today's medical model, you would more likely get a "How do you feel?" out of your bartender than the typical psychiatrist. Alcohol is certainly one drug that can be used to regulate emotional state and pain in the short term -- and it has a bad history when it is used as a way to medicate emotional state long term. Facing psychological discomfort is a must reality for traders. Smoking and alchohol is a slow ride down and the person can deceive themselves because of the lack of speed in regular life and jobs. In trading the slow ride becomes a fast ride. Getting through self limiting beliefs and into empowering beliefs is the engine of progress in trading. Rande Howell

I would also add: For what purpose does the trader act? Defining money as the source of purpose is a slippery slope long term. My hope, at this level, there is more to the meaning and possibility of money. Templeton and Gates finally began to see money as a tool, rather than the source of power and identity. In Bill Gates situatution, I am thanful for Melinda. Rande Howell

They are very useful in the treatment of certain illnesses. Being that I have been working with Bi-Polars for 20 years, I have great affection for medication in these areas. I also know that there is tremendous over prescription of medication that really needs emotional regulation and a motivation on the side of the client to manage emotional state. , When you have helped wean yet another person off SSRI's, a pattern emerges. Rande Howell

Unfortunately psychiatrist gives you 15 minutes and then medicates the feeling of the emotion. Not much help long term, but great for drug companies. Taking charge of the brain's pharmacy creates a very different way of dealing with emotional triggers. Rande Howell

I'm happy for you that you have built a psychological methodology that allows you to trade your edge. That's the goal, no matter what direction you come from. My work involves a degree of therapuetic intervention, but a whole bunch more development of potential. First, you gotta regulate fear and separate it from uncertainty -- or you just can't trade successfully. When I first started working with personal development, I thought was I getting out of mental health. Needless to say, I was wrong. Anger, fear, and impulse were the same in both domains. Part of this stuff is academic, but most of it is applied to the trenches of our every day struggles. When seized by the alure of financial freedom and personal freedom promised by trading, many people walk into a trap that they are ill prepared for. After that deception falls away, traders wake up to the reality that they must love the game. Because the game of trading is going to require massive changes in the way they believe and perceive the world. It is this place that I have compassion for. By the way, I find these forums an excellent way of keeping my own emotional regulation skills up to speed. There are many invitations for triggering emotionally. I was beginning to miss the challenge of maintaining emotional soberiety. Rande Howell

This is interesting. No matter where your psychology is, you brain is not wired to separate uncertainty from fear in the same why that the brain is wired to trigger to avoidance of snakes and spiders. You can "know" all the logic of a successful probability in a trade, but fear still needs to be de-coupled from uncertainty. This is emotional work until it is a new learned part of the perceptual map of the trader. In this case the trader appears to have de-coupled the neural circuitry of this association. And he has re-interpreted it. And it appears that he has the sense to know that he has to practice this new way of understanding "standing on solid ground" so that it becomes even more highly enriched as a state of mind to bring to the trading room. Every trader can learn from this. Rande Howell

Duly noted. At the bottom is the basic assumption I hold about the invention of one's life. That you follow your passion. That is what I'm doing. When I, other others don't follow what they are passionate about, trouble follows. In Jungian terms this is called Lover. It is that passion that sustains you on your journey. Without the passion, you are not really willing to change to become the person you need to be in a certain domain. My passion is in helping people moving beyond the roadblocks in the evolution of their potential. Learning to manage fear, then our biases that blind our perception, are skills sets that apply to any domain of action. Trading is no different. There are specific psychological skills sets that need to be learned. It is not rocket science. What I teach has proven effective for performance over a range of domains of action. For instance, in physical sports high levels of emotional arousal are useful to get keyed up and a build a game face. American Football is a good example of this. If you were to take the same strategy to chess (or trading), it would produce the probability of failure. Why? The more cognition over physical effort required, the less arousal is part of peak performance. Chess and trading require low arousal states because of the need of thinking. The more the excitory process of arousal, the less you are able to maintain a deliberate, impartial state of mind. It is the skills that have to be built specifically for performance. You don't have to trade to figure that out. You do need to be able to observe, then manage, performance and state of mind though. Which is something that most traders have difficulty with. It so happens, I teach these very skills. I don't need to know trading methodology. I need to know how to work with the emotions and states of mind that trading requires. Very different. Rande Howell

As I was saying. Talking heads taking on different positions. Please note that my spirituality is of the Christian tradition, I teach Aramaic Christian thought and Christian meditation at my church, and used to be a therapist for Lutheran Familty Services. So it's not like I divorce spirituality from what people see in the mirror when they trade. In fact, I see trading a great place to look into a person's soul. At least his mind. And to truly get to knowt he self. I also have respect for any one who organizes their practices and produces success. I simply have a particular way of viewing improving performance. Rande Howell

Ingot54 You're is a long post. First, by the standard you assess by, I have zero credibility. I do not trade and don't care to trade. Traders are no different in their psychological make up than anyone one else. Their way of interpreting the world is still opening and closing the possibilities they see and act in. In psychology, you look for what blocks the development of potential. It is always belief system, assuming methodology gives the edge, that trades. This is called perceptual map. I don't play tennis, but I work with mind of a tennis player. I don't play golf, but do the same. People keep paying me because they see results. I encourage you to check things out. Decide from there. Rande Howell

The mother of all fears is the fear of death. Though we have a really souped up hot rod brain compared with other mammals, fear is still governed by the limbic system, or emotional brain. It is around 50 million years old while our new brain is barely beyond being a new born baby. What this means is that the amydala is going to interpret all threat to disorganization of the biological system as a threat to life. It has no idea that you have a psychology. This part of us was wired and operational long before a psychology of self emerged. And the limbic system doesn't "think", it interacts with its environment on an emotional level. And because the communication network is highly enriched moving from the emotional brain to the new brain (and sparce from the new brain to the emotional brain), the emotional brain's emotional urges overwhelm the new brain's capactity to manage the environment rationally. When you hesitate in pulling the trigger on a "by the books" trade, you are experiencing this phenomenon. Distinguishing uncertainty, worry, and fear (and regulating them) becomes vital to a trader. Uncertainty (to the emotional brain) generates confusion, which is going to trigger the brain to fear. This is primitive programming and must be decoupled. Life is uncertain as is trading. If the trader interacts with the biological bias of fear in that uncertainty, a fear based course of thinking and action are brought forward. Regulation work can decouple this connection and a new way of interacting with uncertainty becomes possible. Worry, as an emotional state, is about negative attribution toward the future. Not life threatening, but a diminished sense of possibility about the future. Traders begin to trade "not to lose" while in a worry state. Fear is your brain's response to what it interprets as a life threatening situation. If you have experienced panic or terror, you know the emotion. Getting at the psychological expression of the biological fear of death is immensely important. Otherwise your finger stays paralyzed as you attempt to pull the trigger. Logically, after the incident, you wonder why you couldn't pull the trigger. Your psychology has been officially hijacked by the limbic system mandate to avoid perceived threat in the environment. The problem is that it was a psychological threat (which you can do something about), but not a biological threat to life, which your limbic system doesn't have the capacity to distinguish on its own. This is where emotional regulation and deconstructing the meaning that has been fused into the emotion becomes part of the evolution of the trader. The voice of your fear running around unabated in your mind has to be brought into observation. This is where change can happen Rande Howell

MMS People confuse emotions with feelings. Feelings are the subjective experience of the emotion. They let you know the emotion is present. That's it. But by ignoring the feeling, the emotions grows and hijacks mind. Men, in particular, have a difficult time working with emotions. First, I offer a different understanding of emotion. An emotion is an deviation to a standard sensorial pattern. It is the disruption to this familiar pattern that triggers the emotion into being. The emotion is composed of (1) motivation -- what it is tellling you to do (hesitation, etc), (2) meaning - perception that becomes fused with the emotion (3) arousal - that the chemistry of emotion commonly called stress (4) temperment - that's the genetics and (5) feeling - this is your experience of the emotion and is the least important part of working with the emotion. It is these components that need to be explored before a grounded assessment can be made about what you brought forth. But it is the emotion that creates the kind of thinking that you are capable of in a trade. Learning to regulate and work with the emotion comes next. Rande Howell

Trying to reason with an entrenched belief, I have found, is simply not productive. There is a cost to everything. I try to provide a path for people so they can form assessments and explore them. Pain is ultimately the best teacher. When the trader has experienced enough, they will move beyond their entrenched beliefs and explore new ways of creating their futures. Otherwise, its like getting conservative Republicans and liberal Democrats to come to agreement. That is called gridlock. Rande Howell

MP-TT People live in their beliefs. Stay where you are and you will continue to find ammunition to support your biases. Locked into a particular perceptual map of the world, good luck with your trading and your life -- may it be prosperous. In the comic strip Pogo, Pogo is sitting around a campfire with his comic strip friends deep into a conversation. The possum looks out at his friends and declares, "I have seen the enemy, and he is us!" Same applies here. For our growth as traders or as human beings, we are own worst enemy. Changing a calcified cynical belief about the world (or me for that matter) can not be done from the outside -- it has to be done from the inside at the level of one's heart. The invitation is always present. Come to a webinar -- they are free. If it makes sense, talk with me - that's free. Then with a healthy sense of skepticism ask for referrals - that's free. So challenging your biases costs you nothing. Who knows, you might be right. Who knows, a new ways of understanding how you go about creating your world might show up. It's your management of your perception that is at stake. Staying in cynicism is another option. It just depends on what world you volutionally intent to create. Peace be with you. Rande Howell

Keagan, a research psychologist from Havard, did a study to determine the most effective form of therapy (modalities). What he discovered was that the modality was not the determining factor in different therapuetic positions. Rather it was the empathy that the therapist had toward the client was what produced change. This is what I call compassion. Unless compassion is the creator of the state of mind, the old self limiting pattern may go into remission, but will reappear as new pattern substitutions become degraded over time. And the client who is doing the changing has to remain rigorous with his new beliefs. Of course, you can stay in the belief pattern of holding that self development of the mind is ineffective -- and certainly you will find all the evidence in the world to continue believing and living in that reality. The truth is in the eye of the beholder. Change is also. Rande Howell

n00btrader These are fair questions. 1. I don't keep numbers, but my best guess is somewhere between 100-200. Other workshops, many more. 2. Many. I use winning percentage and the ratio of winners to losers as the guage. I know of only 3 who did not produce success over the course. Two of those I developed close friendships with and faced really significant challenges. They have become very different people on many levels beyond trading. And they are closing in on profitability. I also know of some others that didn't keep to the rigor of keeping their psychological ship in order. Managing your psychology is much like managing your methodology, you gotta do the maintainace work up or problems start slipping into your decision making. 3. I'm not going to subject people who are doing me a favor to some of the stuff that happens on this forum. If someone were to truly interested, engage in the free stuff I offer, and actually explore this as an option, I would be delighted to offer them referrals. I would be willing to give you the names of the two guys who did not produce success during the course. Rande Howell