Trading Services Part 2: “Sunday Morning Setups”
If you’ve already read Pt. 1 “Educational Videos” and you’re familiar with the boilermaker story then feel free to scroll down… otherwise read on!
In the endless sea of gurus and trading services out there, how do you decide which way to go? You may find yourself evaluating each one based on what kind of services they provide. Because as everyone knows the more time and effort you put into honing your trading skills, the better your profits will be down the line, right? Well, not exactly. In fact, often more time studying, trading or even just watching the market can lead to far LESS profits when all is said and done.
And you’ll also end up losing one of the most valuable commodities we all hold dear… Time. To save time and a lot stress you need find someone who knows where to tap. Consider the boilermaker story…
The Boilermaker, or Knowing Where To Tap by Steve Andreas
There is an old story of a boilermaker who was hired to fix a huge steamship boiler system that was not working well. After listening to the engineer’s description of the problems and asking a few questions, he went to the boiler room.
He looked at the maze of twisting pipes, listened to the thump of the boiler and the hiss of escaping steam for a few minutes, and felt some pipes with his hands. Then he hummed softly to himself, reached into his overalls and took out a small hammer, and tapped a bright red valve, once. Immediately the entire system began working perfectly, and the boilermaker went home.
When the steamship owner received a bill for $1,000 he complained that the boilermaker had only been in the engine room for fifteen minutes, and requested an itemized bill. This is what the boilermaker sent him:
For tapping with hammer: $1.00
For knowing where to tap: $999.00
Total: $1,000.00
If you have to spend your entire Sunday morning to go over countless new setups and technical jargon just to be able to trade the market, then those folks likely don’t know where to tap.
Trading shouldn’t have to take up a lot of time. Especially the precious weekend time that could be spent enjoying the outdoors with friends and family. Out of a thousand setups, there’s only one that counts. The one that works. How do you know which one it’s going to be? You don’t and neither do they, because they’re approach is based on their experience rather than statistical research.
Don’t get me wrong. The human brain in many ways can sometimes outdo the most advanced computer as far as gut instinct is concerned. But the problem occurs when raw emotions take over. Even guys that have been at this for 20 years or more still have their feelings to deal with. And the more experienced they are, the more they are subjected to optimism bias: a cognitive bias that makes someone think they are at a lesser risk of something bad happening than other folks.
When they say this setup “works more times than not” (a phrase I’ve actually heard used) or is the “best”, what does that really mean? 2 out of 3? 4 out of 7? They sure seem to have confidence about it, but when it comes down to it they really don’t know. Throw that uncertainty together with someone who might also be having a bad day (or even an extraordinarily good day) and you can see just how it can have a catastrophic effect on your trading account.
Many websites offer trade setups and many other types of premium services. Feeling like you’re getting your money’s worth with all the extra stuff, can give you a false sense of security just long enough to deplete most of your savings. And a wealth of information doesn’t necessarily make you wealthy. The answers are more often found in the most unassuming places… You just need to know where to tap. -MD
Coming up in part 3 we look at trader’s “Live Chat Rooms.”
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