Questions

(Quotes from Ed in Red)

Answers

Sat, 22 Nov 2003

Real Trade


May I send you 10,000 and trade it when the trade comes that will fit my personal system?

Your note does not specify  the units of measurement for the 10,000.  It does not specify who is to do the trading.  It does not define your personal system.

You might consider SVO-p (see TTP page) and also take your feelings about precision into TTP.

If You Can't Measure It

you probably can't manage it.

For example: good risk management

begins with good risk metrics.

Clip: http://www.glue-it.com/

model-engineering/general-information/

Sat, 22 Nov 2003

BIOTECHS


Dear Ed,

I really appreciate your talent as well as your friends Michael Marcus and I believe that you both are incredible market geniuses, so I just need an advice on the matter of biotechs.

I don't really believe that we have a bull coming up so soon but I have observed that biotechs are cooking something really spicy.

What do you think Ed, I know that what has taken you where you are is your silence and hard work but I just need a tip.

FAQ does not endorse traders or commercial products, or offer instrument-specific trading advice. See Ground rules.

You might check your feelings about trading on tips. 

OK, here's a tip: If you really like spicy foods and big dogs, you might try some Tabasco sauce on a foot-long.

Tip o' The Day:

Don't bite off more than you can chew.

Clip: http://www.roundlakerollerrink.com/

Sat, 22 Nov 2003

Trade with the trend; cut losses and ride winners; manage risk.

Fri, 21 Nov 2003

Thu, 20 Nov 2003

To a mathematician, mathematics is very much and art form.

Art does not play a role. People play roles, including creating and experiencing art.

Math as Art

Clip: http://www-cs-faculty.stanford.edu/

Thu, 20 Nov 2003

Contorted Conundrum


Over the last week I’ve been taking my two dogs for long walks and using that time to concentrate on quieting my mind, experiencing my feelings and staying in the now. This send is a strange account of bodily sensations that seemed to come from nowhere and I’m not sure if my practice of trying to be there with my feelings facilitated them or … well I just don’t know.


Three days ago while quietly sitting at my dining room table, I decided to see if I could quiet my mind long enough to experience any feelings that I was not consciously aware of. I concentrated on just how I felt, not really thinking about anything, just trying to be aware of sensations.

After going through a few feelings and trying to amplify them until they went away I came to one that I had not felt before.

The left side of my face started to twitch, more accurately the left corner of my mouth twitched in such a way that it was being tugged back toward just under my left ear as if I were a fish with a hook in my mouth. Without trying to amplify the feeling or ‘tug more’ I just let it be and for a while my mouth twitched as if I had no control over it. Nothing came of it and it passed away soon after. The only thing peculiar was that it was the first time I’ve ever felt that feeling and soon after I forgot about it.

Last night I awoke suddenly from a disturbing dream. I will not go into any of the details, but the dream scenario had me feeling very upset, both angry and sad. I felt as if I had been manipulated or wronged in a sort of way when I was expecting love or respect. I remember feeling a little humiliated and cheated. The dream ended after an outburst of accusation on my part that was met with ridicule and denial. I wanted repentance and needed caring. I remember wailing in despair at being so grief stricken after being robbed of dignity, friendship, and love. It was, as are most dreams, enigmatic.

After I awoke I still had lingering sensations of despair and sadness. I took the opportunity to try and forget about the dream episode and concentrate of my feelings.

In short order the left side of my face took on a grimace that resembled my twitch state three days prior … albeit without the twitching. My mouth pulled toward the left side of my face. My teeth were clenched. My left eye joined the mix in a squint and it felt as the left side of my face was trying to implode. All the muscles on that side of my head wanted to reach one point so to speak. My head then tilted to the left and my neck muscles became very tight. It was quite draining to remain in that position but it was how my body seemed to want to be. Then I noticed a strange sensation in my upper torso. I know of no other way to describe this last part except that it was as if I were wrapped in a saran wrap blanket. I could feel its tightness and relative coolness on my skin. I stuck with it for awhile, perhaps a minute then my alarm clock went off and the episode ended.

I have no idea what any of this means. I can create theories I guess to back up how I feel but if you are right about the process being derailed by CM then the thing to do would be to relate the experience to a tribe and work it through with TTP.

If you have any insights or suggestions as to what I may want to concentrate on please feel free. The weirdness of it all has certainly piqued my interest.

Thank you,

Yes. TTP does not necessarily make sense, until the end, around the AHA point.  Having it make sense during the process is optional, sometimes even counterproductive.

AHA !

It all makes sense now.

Clip: http://www.metrolink.com/seti/history.html

20 Nov 2003

Welcome

Cracow, Poland !

You are on the Directory Page.

Clip: http://galaxy.uci.agh.edu.pl/

~kata/images/cracow.gif

Thu, 20 Nov 2003

TT - Dunstable

ref: October 29, 2003 New England Tribe

Sent this a while back, hoping you have the time to respond.
John

There is not a community listed on your web site near me. I would be interested to find out if there are other traders in my area with a desire to be involved in a Trading Tribe community.

Wed, 19 Nov 2003

Wed, 19 Nov 2003

Wed, 19 Nov 2003

Insights

ref: November 7, 2003 Insights

Dear Mr. Seykota,


I would like to follow-up on an e-mail I sent to you. I am writing an article on whether or not traders should balance their trading plans with their financial plans. Your insights would be of great interest to me. This is my very first article for publication and would appreciate your thoughts into this topic. Please let me know your level of interest in participating.

Once again Mr. Seykota, thank you for your time.

FAQ does not tell people what they should do. See ground rules.

If you wish to balance different plans, you might first determine how much they weigh.

If you wish to write, you might have a look at Strunk and White's Elements of Style.

How to Weigh a Plan,

Weigh yourself with the plan,

and then without it

and compute the difference.

Clip: http://www.4girls.gov/images/scale.jpg

Wed, 19 Nov 2003

The price of ABC is in the now. The average price of ABC is in the now. You compare them now to find the trend now.

Notice that you get to choose what kind of average price you use, so "trend" only exists as your choice.  There is no inherent trend, now or ever.

The Trend is Your Friend

except at the ends

where it bends.

Wed, 19 Nov 2003

Multiple Commitments

Hi Ed,


Last night at our [xxx] Tribe meeting I brought up an issue I have been dealing with for about two months. It involves COMMITMENT ... and my beliefs emanating from how I define the word and how I apply it in my relations, both business and personal.

I am committed to the Tribe meetings. I am committed to a minor hockey league here in Ontario, my son’s teams – both house league and rep./select. I am the Assistant Coach of one team and Trainer of the other. All GTHL teams (rep.) must have a licensed trainer on the bench during games or they will not be allowed to play. They depend on me ... or no game!

Imagine disappointing / letting down, not only your son, but 14-15 other kids, his friends/teammates and even coaches and parents. Furthermore, I am on the ice with both teams during their practice sessions, on different days. I love it!! Very rewarding ... enriching and fun! Smiles and laughs between the drills.


How do I attend a Tribe meeting - - - that I am committed to -  while we have a hockey game -  that I am committed to??

This question has been “hammering” away at me for a while now. It has caused me some stress and some sorrow, what I THOUGHT had come from the conflict of timetable involving both events. It came from the way I viewed commitment, what commitment was to me, what it meant that others depend on me and, basically, what it meant in my life ... how it FELT, keeping it and breaking it. That has changed!


My hot seat started with a pain in my temple, a burning sensation. It traveled to my heart. Two bands, thick and elastic-like, were on both sides of my heart - the contractions felt normal but not when it expanded. It wanted to “break free.” With help from the Tribe it did just that ... "a breakout”! I suddenly felt air, oxygen, lots of it. I felt like I was falling. I WAS!!!!!! I was falling from a height, I don’t know ... a building, the sky or from some tightrope, whatever. I was falling quickly and felt all this air hitting my face, my ears and so on. I felt that I was suspended in air…..off the floor in the room! Truly amazing. AHA!

I feel purified, cleaned up today with reference to dealing with these two commitments and how I FEEL regarding breaking them. It is not as big a deal if I have to break commitments, even if they involve the Tribe or my duties in the hockey league. It was before! As important as these two associations are, I am comfortable with any difficulty interfering with one or the other. So what! Get on with it!! Keep learning and growing.

I couldn’t help but think of this quote (just had to find it) from another Master - - - entitled Purification:

The Master insisted that what he taught was nothing, what he did was nothing.

His disciples gradually discovered that Wisdom comes to those who learn nothing, unlearn everything.

That transformation is the consequence not of something done but of something dropped.

Drama about multiple commitments often arises from double booking. You can avoid this by conscientious calendaring, or by having an identical twin.

If such drama persists, you might continue taking your feelings about keeping commitments into TTP.

The Bentley Sisters

Can cover appearances for each other

or get you into twice as much trouble.

http://www.deanguitars.com/

wallpaper/custom2/twins.jpg

Wed, 19 Nov 2003

There are very few people who want to trade systems that are still on the drawing board as many in your target market are already waiting on line to take rides in untested aircraft.

Ring Wing

Just being new and different

does not make it right.

Clip: http://aero.stanford.edu/reports/

Sat, 15 Nov 2003

Each group has its own ground rules and admissions policies. Consult the individual contacts for details.  See Tribe Directory Page.

The book is in process, watch these pages for publication notice

Tue, 18 Nov 2003

More e-TTP limitations

Ref: e-TTP Limitations

Hi Ed!

That's very true. E-TTP has a lot of limitations. CM is under almost full control while one is writing.

I live in the country, in a small town.

I have been already criticized by one e-TTP contact for trying to set up a tribe here, as he deems it impossible.

You might check your feelings about criticism.

Clips:

http://www.fbckenner.org/cartoon/

slideshows/winter2002/images/criticism.gif

http://www.cl.utoledo.edu/canaday/

Tue, 18 Nov 2003

Observation's from NY's

Saturday TTP intensive

Ed,

I don't quite trust my words to adequately describe our experience this past Saturday. Perhaps, in time my conscious capacity will catch up to the depth of feeling. For now, some general observations follow:

Dreams may come -- We gave dream development both on Saturday and in
the weeks leading up to it considerable time and attention following an iterative process described in a previous post.

No dream came easily. Some could not come at all, as if the dreamer could not in the moment allow themselves a dream; yet even this led to something from which they could continue the work of the day.

Others could articulate a heartfelt and emotionally charged dream but became overwhelmed with sadness at the seeming disparity between their lives to date and what they imagined possible.

Many found through the process that what they thought they wanted paled against what their unconscious revealed to them. God, I admire these people.

The group provided deep support and respect for each individual's process of discovering what they needed to discover; while not letting anyone do anything less than they could do.

Individually and without exception, every participant embraced that seeming paradox expressed by Admiral James Stockdale reflecting on his experience in prison camp during the Vietnam war

"You must never confuse faith that you will prevail in the end - which you can never afford to lose - with the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they may be." -- Jim Collins in Good to Great

Goals -- We applied a similar iterative process to developing goals and witnessed broad differences in the time frames and reach of the goals that emerged. Again, we witnessed real changes from where people started to what they developed, all of this supported by an intersection of individual and group intention. We developed ample material for Hardball.

Hardball -- Sometimes quietly reflective, sometimes terrifyingly intense. Some worked through legions of "judges", others grabbed onto the first feeling that presented itself and held on for dear life until... sated the feeling evaporated leaving a subtle change in expression - an un-erasable smile or a twinkling eye.

Yes.

Hardball in New York

Same ol' same ol' ...

then suddenly, different.

Clip of Derek Sanderson Jeter - Short Stop:

http://www.new-york-yankees-

baseball.com/new-york-yankees-

derek-jeter.htm

Tue, 18 Nov 2003

Question and Thanks

Seth speaks through Jane Roberts and seems to say things about how our personal metaphors tend to come true: "You create your own reality ... you get what you think about."

Seth speaks through Jane Roberts from 1963 until 1984, when Jane passes away.

If you are in poor health, you can remedy it. If your personal relationships are unsatisfactory, you can change them for the better. If you are in poverty, you can find yourself surrounded by abundance ... Each of you, regardless of position, status, circumstances, or physical condition, is in control or your own experience. -- Seth

 

Some Similar Thoughts

 

For us believing physicists, the distinction between past, present and future is only an illusion, even if a stubborn one. -- Albert Einstein

 

Argue for your limitations and sure enough, they're yours.  -- R. Bach  (Illusions)

 

Never try to teach a hog to sing. It frustrates you and aggravates the hog.  -- Unknown

Clip: www.sethcenter.com/images/sethma.jpg 

Ref:

http://www.secretoflife.com/

Mon, 17 Nov 2003

Still More TTP for Kidz

Ref: more TTP 4 kidz


Hi Ed !

Regarding your suggestion to validate [my wife's] suppression teaching expertise:

We have a nice discussion where I explain how in tribe meetings we carefully look for an entry point to get past the conscious mind, and the whole process. I compliment her on how well she installs these emotions and suppressions. She laughs as she sees her own judge which tells her this is a good way to teach.

So tonight, [my son] is doing homework at the desk in my office. He says he has a painful headache at his right temple. So here we go ! We process this feeling, and he says it goes away after some minutes. Then he falls into a deep sleep, same as during the first processing last week.

I tell [my wife] about [my son], and she is very interested now. She wants to learn the process. I explain how it works, and we work on neck and headache, which she says reduces from a 10 to a 4 on a scale of 1-10.

Then something comes up in her throat and we work on that. We encounter a few judges not willing to feel these things. Though there is movement, recognition, acceptance, we don't get to complete clarity.

Yes.  Family is the Essential Tribe.

The Essential Tribe

The Essential Tribe

The Essential Tribe

Three Dogs With Glasses

Clips:

http://research.microsoft.com/

~daniel/family.jpg

http://draves.org/pix/family/family.jpg

http://akaka.senate.gov/

graphics/family.jpg

http://www.virginiasystems.com/

Mon, 17 Nov 2003

Whiskey and Trading


Dear Ed,


I started reading FAQ approximately 1 year ago and back then you gave me the directions that made me find my own way. People say: "friends are the ones who give without expectation to get something back". Well, it was exactly what you did to me. I'm truly grateful for your teachings and I want to say that what you taught me with only a few sentences not only changed my approach to trading, but to life itself.
I will continue to be loyal to my feelings. Thank you very much, my friend.

PS: The other day, I was watching TV and I remembered this person's e-mail to you:

"I have read about you and many others that what I consider gifted in their endeavor. I have been working on this."

If you allow me, I want to share an interesting point of view about gifted people, accomplishments, the "now moment" and trend following:

It's Johnnie Walker's trend following system:

"Keep Walking"

That slogan means a lot of things.

Grocer, Johnnie Walker notices, circa 1820, that the flavor and consistency of whiskey varies greatly from keg to keg. Using his tea blending experience, he begins blending his own whiskeys to improve consistency. He begins producing private blends for special customers.

Johnnie Walker, Whisky Trader

Circa 1820

Sometimes in the Black

Sometimes in the Red

Clip: http://www.nostalgia.co.uk/

Mon, 17 Nov 2003

Position Sizing

Ref: Position Sizing 11/12/03

Dear Mr. Seykota,

Your comment "Repressed feelings can masquerade as logic" is a very fitting description on me.

For about a month or so, I have noticed my tendency to analyze instead of feeling, and even put this thought in my journal.

I have brought the issue of not feeling the feelings to TTP (or more precisely if intention = results, not intending to feel even consciously I am saying I want to feel). While I can "feel" emotions such as sadness, disappointment, frustration and etc.

A good receiver can facilitate the flow of feelings. Receiving is making a space into which the feelings flow.

To Get Water to Flow

Make a Space For It

Same goes for feelings

Rule of Holes

If you find yourself in a hole,

stop digging

Clips:

http://europa.eu.int/comm/research/

iscp/10years/land-ecosystems/

images/management02.jpg

http://www.monroecc.edu/wusers/

Sun, 16 Nov 2003

There is no particular "right" time ... there is not even any time ... there is just the never ending moment of now.

Time is a convenient illusion.  You can't feel it and you can't measure it directly.

By "right time," perhaps you mean that, looking over historical charts, you can see higher and lower prices than your trades.  Perhaps you want to have the feeling of being "right" or "wrong" and you associate being "right" with trading at highs and lows.

To straighten all this out, you might consider joining a Tribe and taking your feelings of wanting to trade at the right time, into TTP.

Time

Some Right, Some Not so Right

right-top, left-top,

left-bottom and right-bottom

(going counter-clockwise, that is)

Clip: http://www.discovery.com/area/

skinnyon/skinnyon970129/skinny1.html

Sun, 16 Nov 2003

Young Freds


Dear Mr. Seykota,

Thank you for putting forward the CM-Fred framework. Such are the fleeting and slightly uncomfortable feelings that Fred sends me, my usual automatic reaction is to sweep them away.

Without your TTP FAQ, I wonder if I would pay sufficient attention to ever appreciate the significance and preciousness of Fred in my life time. So thank you!

I look at my two beautiful little daughters and wonder how they can make friends with their Freds sooner and better than I have. My 2-year old seems to have no problems expressing her feelings naturally. She cries when her feelings direct her so. She smiles and laughs a lot too. Her Fred is well accepted by my wife and I. There is no judgment. She is young and we don't try to use our CM to reason with her.

My 4-year old has a much wider range of perceptions and feelings. When she expresses her feelings in the adult world, not all of them are as readily accepted. When there is an altercation, we try to use our CM to "educate and reason" with her Fred - her Fred reminds us too much of our own Freds to be allowed to see the light of day.

Yes.  Commitment to growth and to listening to children, both generate waves that reach far and wide.

Waves

from shore to shore

Waves

from mouth to ear

Waves

from heart to heart

Clips:

http://www.mth.kcl.ac.uk/

~fasolo/Research/research.html

http://static.howstuffworks.com/

gif/mp3-waves.gif

http://www.likenz.co.uk/personal/

photopages/phottort.html

Sun, 16 Nov 2003

Greetings from India

Dear Mr. Seykota Sir,

I am from Mumbai, India.

I was so happy to read about you today. I first read about you in 1997 in Market Wizards. I fell in love with your cool approach to things. You made it appear
so effortless.

Unfortunately I was wiped out somewhere in 1998 and have just rejoined the market this month after putting my life in place.

Your gracious note honors this site.

Yes, you have permission to spread the message. See Ground Rules.

Eligible implies someone choosing you. You might take a look at your feelings about choosing.

Sometimes, Accepting Choices

 Has Limitations

Right Livelihood

means working through community

to create healthy choices.

http://www.mindfully.org/

Jonik/Jonik-Your-Choice.gif

Sun, 16 Nov 2003

More Inter-Tribe Communication

Limitations of e-TTP

Yes I have some trust/intimacy issues. It is time to welcome and celebrate these feelings. I am tracking underlying feelings in current relationships. I have trouble getting intimate with groups and relationships, and I feel some unease about it. I get some jolts in the linings and guts, resolving into some heat all over the abdomen.

I would like to explore more of these feelings about trust/closeness/intimacy and share with my group. This coincides with my current willingness to get our group closer, and, perhaps, even assemble a "physical" community. So, I propose that we arrange a virtual meeting with Microsoft Messenger, in that all of us co-operate to send and receive. In about two to three weeks I will finish my last year in college and so I will have more time and freedom to schedule a weekly meeting at a convenient time. Meanwhile I am restricted to Saturdays or Sundays.

Nevertheless, if you feel we might get e-Hardball going by e-mail, for our current task, as suggested by Amir, we might switch roles now. Incidentally this is quite relevant to my current task about intimacy/closeness/trust and co-operation.

Best regards,

-----

During Hardball we focus on one feeling at a time. When that feeling completely passes we switch roles, then when its your turn again, the question is asked: What stands between you and account funding? Then you work on the next feeling that comes up. So as we go back and forth you keep on working down the stack of feelings. However only one feeling at a time.

So, in your case you outlined two feelings

1) the idea of this achievement rather scares me
2) I am afraid of losing my freedom
Lets just focus on one feeling perhaps as Andy pointed out feeling #2. So please share with us what does loss of freedom feel like or as Andy said Experience the loss of freedom. What happens?

Once you report back, [xxx] and I will go back and forth with you until this feeling dissolves, at that point you will say 'pass'

After this feeling is completely resolved, we switch roles, you become the receiver and perhaps Andy the sender. ( Andy if you could work on your goal)

-----

A possible limitation of e-TTP is that it does not allow the immediate communication of emotion. Another is that it communicates emotions  through logical and motor channels.

The difference between e-TTP and TTP might be like the difference between learning to ride a bicycle over the internet and learning to ride a bicycle with your father.

There's Nothing Like Learning

with someone there

to encourage you

and to show you how

Clip: http://www.coolclips.com/

sports/cycling.htm