Why Screen Time Is Important

[bootstrap 47]

Here is something that should get pretty lively..

 

Since everyone keeps telling you that screen time is important, there has to be something to it. But nobody is telling you what you should be looking for. What is it going to teach you? There has to be something that those who do this for a living see that you don’t.

 

Well there is. And just like the magician that exposed the secrets to magic tricks on national TV, I am going to tell you what we see.

 

But before I do remember one thing. Take everything you read in a forum or book, or hear from a guru or in a seminar with a grain of salt. Question everything. Only when you prove it to yourself, does it become the rule.

 

What I am about to share can be found on thousands of sites and in countless books. If you have done any research at all, you have come across Dr. Elder’s triple screen, or some permutation of it. You understand the principles behind using multiple frames of reference. What has most likely not been explained to you is why it works or how to apply it correctly. In most cases you are only given a single example.

 

Single example you say? Yes, when most first stumble across using multiple time frames, they follow the rules of:

 

Use the upper time frame to identify the trend, the middle time frame for the set-up, and the lowest time frame to enter.

 

If by chance you are not familiar with the triple screen just goggle “triple screen +elder”.

 

Trading instruments exhibt three different types of market action in any given frame of reference. You use multiple frames of reference (i.e. Time or ticks) to identify the current market environment. These markets are: Trending, Trading, and Volatile.

 

Why screen time is so important is that all instruments do not exhibit the characteristics of Trending in the upper time frame, Trading in the middle, and Volatile in the lower at all times. They can be in any one of the following combinations at any given time:

 

Trending/Trading/Volatile

Trending/Volatile/Trading

Trading/Volatile/Trending

Trading/Trending/Volatile

Volatile/Trending/Trading

Volatile/Trading/Trending

 

Or any one of 84 possible market combinations if you consider Volatile/Volatile/Volatile.

 

Like the major pairs in Forex, the combinations I listed are what I consider the major market combinations.

 

The elusive secret that you are looking for, and what screen time teaches you, is to identify which market combination you are in and then how to trade what you see. Or better yet, when to stay on the sidelines. Each combination requires a different strategy, and some may not be tradeable at all. If you are trading across a broad range of instruments, you only need to master one. The fewer instruments you trade, the more market combinations you may have to learn. But you have to learn them one at a time and only add the next one once the first is mastered.

 

But you ask what about Trending/Trending/Trading? Or how about Volatile/Volatile/Volatile? Or if I use Weekly/Daily/Hourly I get Trending/Trading/Volatile but if I use Daily/Hourly/Min I get Trading/Volatile/Trending.

 

One step at a time grasshopper. One step at a time. As I mentioned there are 84 possible combinations. Multiply this across thousands of instruments and countless frames of reference, and I hope you get the picture. You do not have to learn them all.

 

You only have to learn the few that fit you, your chosen instrument and frames of reference. Find the market combinations that are most prevalent and learn to trade only those. This is why it takes screen time to learn to do this, and why each trader is different. It is also why three traders in the same instrument will be doing something different. Trader A will scalp, trader B will be a buyer, and trader C will be seller, and they all make money.

 

They are using different frames of reference and therefore see a different market

[metalhead 10]

It's like if someone wants to become a better fighter, they have to spend time fighting. Reading books about how to escape from a triangle choke is cool and all but in order to be able to do it effectively you have to actually do it.

[Sledge 13]

Bootstrap-

What a post.... again! Every time I see that you have started a thread, I run to it and listen to what you have to say today. I'd like to thank you for your refreshing, open and honest insight on this vast arena that we all attempt to play in on a daily basis.

 

Your posts are always succinct, well thought out, and beautifully presented. You are providing a wonderful outpouring of information for any trader smart enough to listen to it and take it to heart (and implement it into their edge.)

 

I envision your posts will become the type that a newbie trader may read it here, write it off, and in 6 months will flock back to the web in a panic to find your words once again. The posts have a way of sticking, and hopefully they'll re-discover them again (or maybe they will bookmark them now in their gathering and find them again in their bookmark list)

 

When I read a post like this, I smile, because I have been through this very part of the forest at one point in my trading career and it resonates with me. It is a very important step in "lifting the veil" for anyone who plans to do this long-term and it makes some stellar points!

 

You do hear the battle cry of "Screen time, Screen time, Screen time!!" but bringing up a spark to folks to say "Hey yeah, that makes sense" Just looking at it and hoping it clicks isn't enough for most.

 

I have read countless people who make the analogy that getting your trading education is no less as intense and as hard of work as becoming a doctor, lawyer or any other profession. The analogy is true-- but at least becoming a professional "whatever" you go to a structured school, their is a well defined path that you are made to take (certain classes, partake in certain "real world" exercises to assist you in your learning.) Where trading- their is no such "school” What is out there is an internet of, literally, hundreds of thousands of indicators, trading "guru's", shady brokers, black box systems, holy grail pushers. Everyone says that it is "Up to YOU" as a trader to make it. This is indeed the very definition of the "School of Hard Knocks!"

 

Along the way- if you are lucky, you run across people who cut the B.S. and give it to you straight (if you are willing to listen.) You also may be so lucky as to have the initiative and perseverance to not only refuse to give up when this horse throws you- but also take the "bucking" as a learning experience. Your will to "tame this stallion" becomes a goal, a hard fought goal that reaps rewards beyond your dreams- if you can stick with it and not get taken to the cleaners while you are learning.

 

Regards,

Aaron

[zdo 20]

"The obscure we see eventually. The completely obvious, it seems, takes longer." Edward R. Murrow

 

Bootstrap, hope I’m not taking the thread in a direction you would not prefer, but your’s and Sledge’s excellent comments reminded me of some thoughts I had garnered re screentime that may be helpful to noobs.

 

This paragraph is mostly about quantity of screentime. After the curious ‘playing around with it stage’ for a beginner, the quantity of screentime needs to really accelerate. “Let us begin with a straightforward hypothesis that emerges from recent research: There is a core set of characteristics that distinguish the greatest participants in any field of endeavor—including trading. … In “Greatness: Who Makes History and Why”, Professor Dean Keith Simonton points out that mastery of any domain requires approximately 50,000 “chunks” of information and skills. This applies across different fields, from chess and sports to scientific research. To acquire such a wealth of experience and data, the accomplished individual needs to be able to sustain focused attention on work for considerable periods. One of the most important factors distinguishing successful people from unsuccessful ones is the ability to become immersed in work—to become so focused on the task at hand that all self-consciousness is lost. In this state of cognitive focus, the successful person can process information deeply and efficiently. It is as if they enter a state of super-learning, mastering complex skills and material far more readily than the average person…How can people sustain such a focus for a length of time? The psychologist Mihalyi Czikszentmihalyi has found that this is possible because the creative person enters a pleasurable emotional state—a state of flow—when immersed in effortful activity. This intrinsic pleasure enables achievers to weather periods of uncertainty and discouragement on the way to success. All of us have experienced flow states at one time or another: when we get ‘into the zone’ on a basketball court or during trading, when we are absorbed in sexual activity or a stimulating discussion. People achieving the highly focused flow state typically lose track of time and stop thinking about personal plans and problems. It is as if they and their efforts become one.” from Brett Steenbarger article NewPsychiologyOfExceptionalAchievement. If after a month or so of screentime that’s not happening for noobie – s/he should probably look into another game.

 

This paragraph is about quality of screentime. In his latest book, Steenbarger also emphasizes the importance of deliberative practice. “The essence of deliberative practice is what I call the learning loop. A learning loop is an attempted performance, followed by specific feedback about the success/failure of the performance, followed by renewed efforts that incorporate the feedback…If done correctly, a log will reveal patterns. Patterns of what you're doing right and what you're doing wrong and when and how often and under what circumstances”. paraphrasing Steenbarger in ETP

“Contrary to the advertisements common in the popular media, trading expertise is not a function of possessing a superior indicator, mind-set, or chart pattern. Expert traders process market information differently from nonexperts, cultivating sophisticated mental maps that enable them to eliminate irrelevant information and implicitly process the patterns amid the market noise. Armed with such maps, expert traders respond more rapidly, confidently, and accurately to market events than do nonexperts.” also from Steenbarger in ETP.

Noob’s see – http://www.traderslaboratory.com/forums/104/wisdom-from-various-classic-books-3435-2.html

 

 

 

 

 

“We don’t see things as they are. We see them as we are” Anis Anin

[Sledge 13]

from Brett Steenbarger article NewPsychiologyOfExceptionalAchievement. If after a month or so of screentime that’s not happening for noobie – s/he should probably look into another game.

 

This is really the only part of the discussion I'd disagree with. Anyone who thinks that you can be a master chart reader and master any of these markets with a month of screentime is crazy. Whether the statement comes from Steenbarger or not-- that is bunk!

 

Also remember that there are different groupings of people as far as learning capacity. I'll give you an example:

 

Student A:

In my years of academia, I always had people in my classes who had a natural "gift" to pick up information and comprehend the most complex subjects. They were the people who came to class on the first day, made it to class for exams and, at times, never even bought books. And these individuals did very well. They aced the classes-- to them, the subject matter came easy. It was almost "too easy" and it bored them to sit in class 2 or 3 days a week- they had other things to do.

 

Student B:

Enter a different kind of student. One who did well in courses- but had to be in class every day, had to ask lots of questions of the professor. Days before exams- they were pouring over notes of lectures, they were studying, repeating, trying to make connections of the material with something they could grasp so they would remember how to answer the question on the exam.

 

Which person was the better student?

 

Both students aced exams- but one had to work very hard at it, the other- it was easy. I was and always have been a "Student B" many things never came "easy" for me, I ALWAYS had to work for them, I always had to take the hard times, the frustrating times and fight through them- because the end result was that I was to garnish my degree- just like the "Student A" did.

 

Do I wish that I had it easy? Sure!

Do I wish I could honestly look at a chart and after a month say "Ahh hell I got this all figured out" and begin to bankroll millions of dollars? Well yeah, that would be nice too.

 

But I refused to give up- My gumption, my desire, my REFUSAL to be defeated made me who I am in every aspect of my life today. Many many times in my years have people told me that "Ahh, you can't do that" and I'm the bugger who does it to spite them. The natural desire to succeed is there-but the idea that someone actually believes that I cannot do said thing- makes me want it even more!

 

So for the "Student B's" out there- remember this: If you want this bad enough- it can be yours. This will be no different than anything in your life you have lived thus far.

Aaron

[Head2k 10]

This is really the only part of the discussion I'd disagree with. Anyone who thinks that you can be a master chart reader and master any of these markets with a month of screentime is crazy. Whether the statement comes from Steenbarger or not-- that is bunk!

Aaron

I heaven't read anything from that author but I guess he doesn't say that after a month you should be a master of markets. He says that after a month you should experience the state "there is only the screen and me" or something like that.

[zdo 20]

Sledge,

 

re:

 

This is really the only part of the discussion I'd disagree with. Anyone who thinks that you can be a master chart reader and master any of these markets with a month of screentime is crazy. Whether the statement comes from Steenbarger or not-- that is bunk!

 

So for the "Student B's" out there- remember this: If you want this bad enough- it can be yours. This will be no different than anything in your life you have lived thus far.

Aaron

 

"If after a month or so of screentime that’s not happening for noobie – s/he should probably look into another game.

" was my statement and I think you missed the point. 'that' was referring to immersion not expertise. Hopefully you only 'refused to give up' on activities that expressed your gifts and had long term meaning and purpose for you from within. If a Student B noob doesn't have that drive from within to the point where immersion is occurring quite naturally - then s/he should acknowledge that early and walk away.

 

More Steenbarger (after not thinking about his stuff for months, seems I got it on the brain today :\)

"Many are called, few are chosen – I believe the implicit learning perspective helps to explain why so few traders ultimately succeed at their craft. Quite simply, they cannot outlast their learning curves. If, indeed, it takes thousands of trials to generate successful implicit learning, a great number of traders would have been bankrupted by then. Many others might not survive that number of trials simply due to the time and energy required. It is impossible to hold a full-time job and generate the degree of immersion in the markets needed for implicit learning. On the other hand, it is impossible to obtain a full-time income from trading without developing the mastery conferred by years of experience. Part-time traders never develop expertise for the same reason that part-time chess players or athletes are unlikely to succeed. For purely practical reasons associated with raising a family, making a living, etc., few people can undergo the “starving artist” phase of skill-building. "

 

And btw, there are no Student A's on this or any other trading forum. This is strictly a conversation between us Student B's

Edited July 25, 2008 by zdo

[zdo 20]

Here is a little bit more from Steenbarger supporting quality screen time.

 

“…implicit learning research suggests that much of the expertise we acquire is the result of processes that are neither conscious nor intentional… It appears that much repetition is needed before implicit learning can occur… The implicit learning research suggests a provocative hypothesis: Perhaps expertise in trading is akin to expertise in psychotherapy. While therapists say their work is grounded in research and makes use of theory-based techniques, the actual factors that account for positive results are implicit, and acquired over the course of years of working with patients. Similarly, traders may attribute their results to the research or patterns they are trading. In reality, however, the research and patterns serve as rationales that legitimize the absorption of markets over a period of years. It is the implicit learning of markets across thousands of “trials” that makes for expertise, not necessarily the conscious strategies that traders profess… There are many ways of becoming immersed in the markets: through research, observation of charts, tape reading, etc. The specific activity is less important than the immersion. We become experts in trading in the same way that subjects learned Reber’s artificial grammars. We see enough examples under sufficient conditions of attention and concentration that we become able to intuit the underlying patterns. In an important sense, we learn to feel our market knowledge before we become able to verbalize it. While simply “going with your feelings” is generally a recipe for trading disaster, I believe it is also the case that our emotions and “gut” feelings can be important sources of market information.

 

The reason for this is tied up in the neurobiology of the brain. In his excellent text The Executive Brain: Frontal Lobes and the Civilized Mind, New York University’s Elkhonon Goldberg summarizes evidence that suggests a division of labor for the hemispheres of our brains. Our right, nonverbal hemispheres become activated when we encounter novel stimuli and information. Our left, verbal hemispheres are more active in processing routine knowledge and situations. When we first encounter new situations, as in the markets, we tend to process the information non-verbally—which means implicitly. Only when we have made these patterns highly familiar will there be a transfer to left hemisphere processing and an ability to capture, in words, some of the complexity of one’s understandings. As we know from studies of regional cerebral blood flow, the right hemisphere is also activated under emotional conditions. It is not surprising that our awareness of novel patterns, whether in artificial grammars or in markets, would appear as felt tendencies rather than as verbalized rules… So finally we get to the traditional domain of the trading psychologist! How do we know when our feelings convey real information for trading and when they merely provide interference from our conflicts over success/failure, risk/safety, etc.? Developing trading expertise is not so simple as following such slogans as “tune out your emotions when you are trading”. Much of what you might know about the markets may take the form of implicit knowledge that is encoded nonverbally and experienced viscerally… the key ingredient in trading development may be the immersion, not the research or the patterns per se. If this is true, efforts to find the best trading system or the most promising chart pattern are off the mark. The what of learning trading may be less important than the how… I believe the most exciting frontier for trading psychology is the development of tools and techniques for maximizing implicit learning processes. Such techniques would assist in the acquisition and utilization of expertise by training individuals to sustain states of consciousness in which they are open to implicit processing. As I hope to demonstrate more thoroughly in my forthcoming book, there are reasons for believing that experienced traders possess greater expertise than they are aware of. This tacit knowledge, to use Michael Polanyi’s memorable term, reveals itself during “hot streaks” in trading and those wonderful experiences where we just “know” what the market is doing and place winning trades accordingly. Too many traders look to emulate others. The secret to success, conversely, might well be to gain greater access to the expertise we have already acquired implicitly and learn to become the traders we already are when we’re at our best."

From the article Learning to Trade: The Psychology of Expertise by

Brett N. Steenbarger, Ph.D.

 

 

 

 

“You shape your brain and then your brain shapes you” Of unknown origin and of questionable accuracy

[OAC 10]

As I hope to demonstrate more thoroughly in my forthcoming book, there are reasons for believing that experienced traders possess greater expertise than they are aware of. This tacit knowledge, to use Michael Polanyi’s memorable term, reveals itself during “hot streaks” in trading and those wonderful experiences where we just “know” what the market is doing and place winning trades accordingly. Too many traders look to emulate others. The secret to success, conversely, might well be to gain greater access to the expertise we have already acquired implicitly and learn to become the traders we already are when we’re at our best."

 

 

The ultimate Holy Grail ?

[bootstrap 47]

I knew this would get a little lively, and feel free to take the topic of screen time in any direction you please.

 

I do not delve into the psychology of trading much. I am just a simple country boy.

 

But since you have brought up the good doctors, I will wade into the pool for a little while. I have nothing against them, I just don't agree with them most of the time.

 

Do I have more expertise than I know I have? Hell no. That is just psycho babble for experience that has become second nature. Things I do without having to think about. But I still know that I have that expertise.

 

It is this second nature that makes it difficult for one trader to teach his strategy to another. There are things that he does that he no longer has to think about.

 

So you are learning from this trader. He has given you his rules. You are watching him trade, and he suddenly does something he didn't explain.

 

If you ask as soon as you see what appears to be something new, the trader can not only tell you what he did, but why. And then he goes into an hour long conversation of additional information. He knows what he knows.

 

I understand body torque, club head speed, loft, shoulder alignment, tee height, stance, and swing planes when playing golf. But do I have to think about all of that each time I pick up a club? I better not. All I need to do is make a quick check and swing the club based on my combined expierence. And based on the ball flight, I know what I did right or wrong.

[OAC 10]

Do I have more expertise than I know I have? Hell no. That is just psycho babble for experience that has become second nature. Things I do without having to think about. But I still know that I have that expertise.

 

 

Second nature is different from implicit learning according to the above article. Actually they are just the opposite. Implicit learning is learning from a subconcious level through immersion and later becoming conscious. Second nature is something you started doing consciousely and then through practice, you gained unconcious competence.

[OAC 10]

Second nature is different from implicit learning according to the above article. Actually they are just the opposite. Implicit learning is learning from a subconcious level through immersion and later becoming conscious. Second nature is something you started doing consciousely and then through practice, you gained unconcious competence.

 

Here is an example of implicit learning in your own words in the "I Look Back.." thread:

 

"Then one day out of the blue, the little red and green candles started to make sense. I saw patterns develop over and over in the same spots. I placed a trade and made a profit. But I had done this before. I removed the MACD from my charts. Placed another trade and made a profit. Maybe I am on to something. Removed the channel indicator that I stumbled across. I could still see the action and new what the MACD was doing and where the action was in the channel without them even being on the chart. I even stopped drawing trend lines.

 

It was just me and the screen. I planned every trade. I knew exactly when, where, and why I entered and exited. I was patient. I became a predator. Lurking and waiting. I took every shot the market gave me."

[bootstrap 47]

Do we learn complex things through exposure or through actively seeking them? Why we learn things? These are the very debates that rage throughout academia.

 

Yeah, I know a sliver about the subject. I just don't agree with passive learning. I see repetition as an active process. Just because the light bulb suddenly goes off, doesn't mean we didn't actively try to understand what was occuring.

 

While I was staring at that screen day in and day out, I was not just sitting there. I was actively trying to understand what was going on. So was it a passive or an active learning process?

[OAC 10]

It is not an either or situation( Either you are conscious or unconcious at a given time) You can be absorbing the market information consciousely and unconciousely at the same time. But that traders intuition we covet comes from long periods of unconcious learning.

For instance, if you are talking on the cellphone while you are driving. You are conscious of talking on the phone and unconciousely(subconciousely) driving. If you are conscious of both, you will probably crash.

Edited July 26, 2008 by OAC

[FX_Cowboy 10]

bootstrap,

 

Going back to your original post, you mentioned that there were three types of markets one needs to be able to identify: Trending, Trading, and Volatile.

 

Can you go into any more detail concerning these market environments? When I think of these terms, I come up with correspondences like:

 

Trading - Market is trading within an established range.

Trending - Market is moving from one established range to another in an identifiable way.

Volatile - Would that be...none of the above?

[BHReach 10]

Or any one of 84 possible market combinations if you consider Volatile/Volatile/Volatile.

 

3 x 3 x 3 = 27

[zdo 20]

II do not delve into the psychology of trading much. I am just a simple country boy.

 

But since you have brought up the good doctors, I will wade into the pool for a little while. I have nothing against them, I just don't agree with them most of the time.

 

Yes – and my intentions were not to take the thread in the direction of the expert psychiologits either. It’s just that some of Steenbarger's descriptions did get at the big picture of when my ‘screen time’ had been effective and when it seemed to have no effect a whole lot better than I could say it.

 

More and more I’m starting to believe that quantity of screen time is best seen as a measure of one’s passion, if it’s in the blood, bones, brains… whatever… and if the quantity isn’t coming automatically without any need for will, then one should look for another game. So if the passion is present, in this belief, it’s then the quality of the screen time that is pivotal.

 

In the (pushing buttons ) extreme, passive screen time may be as detrimental ultimately as is ‘paper trading’. If that’s true, what makes it so? Please pardon more psychology, but the concept of ‘dissociation’ comes up.

 

The French psychiatrist Pierre Janet (1859-1947) initially coined the term "splitting" in his book L'Automatisme psychologique. There, he emphasized its role as a defensive mechanism employed in response to psychological trauma. While he considered dissociation an initially effective defense mechanism that protects the individual psychologically from the impact of overwhelming traumatic events, a habitual tendency to dissociate would likely be a marker of a more pronounced psychopathology.

Carl Jung described pathological manifestions of dissociation as special or extreme cases of the normal operation of the psyche. This structural dissociation, opposing tension, and hierarchy of basic attitudes and functions in normal individual consciousness is the basis of Jung's Psychological Types.[5] He theorized that dissociation is a natural necessity for consciousness to operate in one faculty unhampered by the demands of its opposite.

Attention to dissociation as a clinical feature has been growing in recent years as knowledge of post-traumatic stress disorder increased, due to interest in dissociative identity disorder and the multiple personality controversy, and as neuroimaging research and population studies show its relevance.[6]

[1]

 

Old school =

Symptoms of dissociation resulting from trauma may include depersonalization, psychic numbing, disengagement, or amnesia regarding the events of the abuse. It has been hypothesized that dissociation may provide a temporarily effective defense mechanism in cases of severe trauma; however, in the long term, dissociation is associated with decreased psychological functioning and adjustment. Other symptoms sometimes found along with dissociation in victims of traumatic abuse (often referred to as "sequelae to abuse") include anxiety, PTSD, low self-esteem, somatization, depression, chronic pain, interpersonal dysfunction, substance abuse, self-multilation and suicidal ideation or actions. These symptoms may lead the victim to erroneously present the symptoms as the source of the problem.

[1]

 

New school =

…a causal link between trauma and dissociation has not been established and may not be true, due what they describe as "at best, modest" correlations in the literature, possibly obscured results due to uncontrolled confounding variables, and possible positive bias towards self-reports of trauma resulting due to symptoms of dissociation. . Fantasy proneness, which is itself linked to self-reported abuse, is at least as predictive of measured dissociation as self-reported trauma.

[1]

 

The markets are not truly abusive and losses are not truly traumatic. However a major trading mistake compounded with downright euphoric sizing error compounded with a major loss compounded with a bit of infrastructure failure compounded with the ‘market then turning and leaving you behind’ and a trader can feel the same as if he or she has been abused and traumatized! Traits like “fantasy proneness” etc and many other factors have to be in play for it to be permanently “damaging” and the “habitual tendency to dissociate would likely be a marker of a more pronounced psychopathology.” [1] – but most of you get the picture One really shouldn’t trade after making a trading mistake until that mistake is really corrected. But how should one approach screen time after such an event?

 

Dissociation is a word that is used to describe the disconnection or lack of connection between things usually associated with each other. Dissociated experiences are not integrated into the usual sense of self, resulting in discontinuities in conscious awareness (Anderson & Alexander, 1996; Frey, 2001; International Society for the Study of Dissociation, 2002; Maldonado, Butler, & Spiegel, 2002; Pascuzzi & Weber, 1997; Rauschenberger & Lynn, 1995; Simeon et al., 2001; Spiegel & Cardeña, 1991; Steinberg et al., 1990, 1993). In severe forms of dissociation, disconnection occurs in the usually integrated functions of consciousness, memory, identity, or perception. For example, someone may think about an event that was tremendously upsetting yet have no feelings about it. Clinically, this is termed emotional numbing, one of the hallmarks of post-traumatic stress disorder. Dissociation is a psychological process commonly found in persons seeking mental health treatment (Maldonado et al., 2002).

Dissociation may affect a person subjectively in the form of “made” thoughts, feelings, and actions. These are thoughts or emotions seemingly coming out of nowhere, or finding oneself carrying out an action as if it were controlled by a force other than oneself (Dell, 2001). Typically, a person feels “taken over” by an emotion that does not seem to makes sense at the time. Feeling suddenly, unbearably sad, without an apparent reason, and then having the sadness leave in much the same manner as it came, is an example. Or someone may find himself or herself doing something that they would not normally do but unable to stop themselves, almost as if they are being compelled to do it. This is sometimes described as the experience of being a “passenger” in one’s body, rather than the driver.

There are five main ways in which the dissociation of psychological processes changes the way a person experiences living: depersonalization, derealization, amnesia, identity confusion, and identity alteration. … A dissociative disorder is suggested by the robust presence of any of the five features.

2

 

Again, the “habitual tendency to dissociate would likely be a marker of a more pronounced psychopathology.” [1] However, for a functionally sound individual, is it possible that screen time after an event that is upsetting and before homeostasis has re-established itself is actually building maladaptive grooves, even ruts, in processing patterns? Could it be virtually building a trance pattern? I think so. What do you think?

And I’m thinking it needn’t be fully traumatic or large scale for this maladaptive trance to build its “rut” … a series of small upsets may be enough.

Then after the ‘trance’ operates routinely, will even just casual carefree screen time deepen the rut and dilute, even harm, the benefits of screen time we’ve been discussing?!!!?

One of the ‘old’ trading rules is “Don’t trade if you are upset”. Should that rule be updated to “Don’t screen time or trade if you are upset” ??

 

Just some thoughts and questions. Am sure there are other and better perspectives regarding quality screen time...

 

 

 

1 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dissociation_(psychology)

 

2 http://www.isst-d.org/education/faq-dissociation.htm#dissoc

[Guest forsearch]

The markets are not truly abusive and losses are not truly traumatic. However a major trading mistake compounded with downright euphoric sizing error compounded with a major loss compounded with a bit of infrastructure failure compounded with the ‘market then turning and leaving you behind’ and a trader can feel the same as if he or she has been abused and traumatized!

 

So which is it? Abusive or not?

[Kiwi 16]

That depends on whether you are a sensitive little child or a battle hardened market warrior.

 

Bring it on!

[Sledge 13]

Re: Second nature

 

I understand body torque, club head speed, loft, shoulder alignment, tee height, stance, and swing planes when playing golf. But do I have to think about all of that each time I pick up a club? I better not. All I need to do is make a quick check and swing the club based on my combined expierence. And based on the ball flight, I know what I did right or wrong.

 

Stellar analogy bootstap.

[OAC 10]

Trending/Trading/Volatile

Trending/Volatile/Trading

Trading/Volatile/Trending

Trading/Trending/Volatile

Volatile/Trending/Trading

Volatile/Trading/Trending

 

Or any one of 84 possible market combinations if you consider Volatile/Volatile/Volatile.

 

 

Whether it is 84 possible combinations or 27 possible combinations, isn't the Guppy's Rainbow or the VMAR bands much simpler or much more intuitive way of identifying market conditions ? Or at least a more practical way for the discretionary traders ?

[ammo 10]

something you get with screen time is a feel,when your in a trade and you have a profit or a loss,you can feel the chances of it getting better or worse,if it doessn't feel right you know it's time to get out of that trade,regardless of your target or stop

[zdo 20]

forsearch re

So which is it? Abusive or not?

It’s only abuse if it is registered by the system as abuse

 

kiwi re

That depends on whether you are a sensitive little child or a battle hardened market warrior.

The sensitive little woosees aren’t going to make it in any case.

So, not so ironically, my comments were actually about the battle hardened warriors. You know the ones that from all appearances have no residual ptsd carryover from the traumas… the ones that build up a certain air about their persona … you know the ones that it takes a while but invariably the damage and denial and serious vulnerabilities begin to show up big time. But that’s not where I was going with that dissociation post…

 

If that post was setting anything up at all it would be the importance of entering and maintaining a certain (fully associated, among other things) state BEFORE going screen. I’m loosely theorizing that before ‘playing in the zone’ that something happens in the ‘locker room’. And that screen time may be partially wasted, even detrimental, if done in sub optimal states. Some noobs would be well served by making it an explicit priority of reaching state instead of racking up screen time then realizing much later and usually too late the importance of state. (and few will of course )

 

In my own discretionary trading, the times that I persisted in ‘doing state’ before ‘doing screen’ resulted in entry into more positions that immediately went for or against, longer runs / strings of winners, more experience of flow instead of conflict, and in general a lot more fun trading. The times when I left state to chance / previously established repetoire of habits still resulted in some ‘zone’ play but more often resulted in regression to ‘struggle’ and increased susceptibility to ‘impulse’ trading (btw many types of ‘impulse’ trading are there?)

 

The idea here is if you want to vastly improve the quality of your screen time then explicitly go state before you go screen. During screen time, mindfully watch the state and if you slip out of state then get away from screen too - until state is reinstated…

[bootstrap 47]

i am going to agree to disagree with most on how the mind works. i respect everyone's opinion, i just don't agree.

 

if using Guppy's Rainbow or VMAR bands help you identify the market conditions, then by all means do so. i will never tell anyone to not use something. just because i do not use it does not mean it is not a valid approach. the one thing that i will tell you is that you need to understand how it is calucated and what it was developed for.

 

So what do I mean by Trending, Trading, and Volatile? The simplest explanation is:

 

Trending and Trading market conditions both move in an overall orderly fashion.

 

Trending markets are moving in an upward/downward direction

Trading market conditions are moving between S/R

 

Volatile market conditions are the hardest to identify as they can occur by themselves, but mostly occur within both the Trending and Trading conditions. They are usually short lived compared to Trending/Trading markets. These are those times where the market has lost its way, there is little order and it is trying to find a direction. You can have large moves up and down, small moves, gaps, multiple outside bars followed by inside bars, etc....

[OAC 10]

How about those tight contracting triangle or tight horizontal coil that we see all the time ? Is it not trending, trading, or volatile ?