This Is Critical To Maintaining Your Edge

Last Friday after the
close I decided to catch a movie.
It had been a while since I done
this in the afternoon, and after the hectic week, decided it would be just the
thing to re-charge the batteries. If I were to have gone home, inevitably I
would have started to work again, looking at charts, responding to emails, you
know the drill; I was in a loop and knew I could not head home just yet. I had
no particular movie in mind but decided to see Touching the Void.

For those of you not familiar with the story
line, it is a true story about two British mountaineers who decide to climb a
peak in the Andes on a route that had never been attempted before. Without
giving away too much, the duo did reach the top but were woefully unprepared for
the descent. It turns out that the way the Andes have formed and the way the
wind cuts across their peaks forms these hazardous cornices and drifts. It was
not long before one of the climbers was seriously injured and eventually
separated from his climbing partner. The odds were stacked against him in a big
way. Ultimately there is a happy ending, but walking out of the theater as well
as during the movie, I had this constant thought of just how much the human body
can endure under the most horrific of conditions. More importantly was seeing
what one was capable of doing in these conditions. The ability to persevere and
do what most would consider impossible was rather humbling to me to say the
least. I do not think that I will ever see the challenges that I or most people
encounter each day quite the same again.

I guess my point in this discussion is two-fold:

1. Always take time away from trading, it is
absolutely critical to maintaining your edge. Hard work takes you only so far,
balance and time for yourself is just as a critical.

2. Never underestimate what your potential is,
specifically as a trader.

If a severely injured mountaineer can somehow
survive those conditions, you can surely have the discipline and foresight to
master the game of trading. It is too easy to get caught up in that
“comfortable place”, pushing it to the edge is what builds character and gets
results.

Last week was a week that was ripe with
opportunity in the FX market. With the dollar finding some new found strength,
most currencies got beat up pretty bad and had incredible range. I will admit,
that while I made money last week in FX, I was not even close to taking my share
of what was easily one of the better trading weeks I had seen in some time. I
am again drawn back to the discussion above, specifically, balance. With the
launch of my FX Service and a few technical issues here in my office, last week
was anything but “smooth”, it was reflected in my performance. It is too easy
to get sidetracked and caught up; you simply cannot get caught up.

So, as I sit here in my office on Sunday
afternoon doing some chart work for the week ahead I have a very clear
perspective for the week ahead. Another movie and dinner on Saturday night with
my wife (son at home with sitter, always nice) has re-charged the batteries.
So, let’s take a look at some levels in FX that may come into play today:

EUR
1.2423, 1.2590, 1.2507

GBP 1.84

JPY
109.50, 108

AUD .7641

As always, feel free to send me your comments and
questions.

Dave