I'm going to steer clear from all the Parisian news and sentiment. It's horrible and I continue to pray for all the people of France and all those in the world who are victims of conflict and strife.
This isn't a stock post. So if you're looking for a stock or market post, you may as well navigate away because this one will be a little touchy feely. As a trader I am often isolated - only limiting my interactions to my closest friends and family. Having moved to Spain and taken on more students than I normally would, my interactions with people have gone up exponentially. It is due to my teaching that I am reminded of my past exploits because one of my students is experiencing what we in the game call heartbreak. He's a millenial, and like most millenials he is impulsive, emotional, immature and egotistical. But the issue here is not being a millenial but in the matters of love. I think all of us have in some way felt love or at least thought it was love for a person we were genuinely interested in. The problem is as we grow older, we get better at understanding the concept of love. Maybe it's that inexplicable feeling of longing for a person we are fond of. Maybe it's that obsession over a person we like. Again, there's a reason people philosophize over love like it's the biggest mystery in the world. Going back to my student. He recently lost his love to another man. I think this is what is eating him up inside the most - the stark realization of not being enough for a woman who he thought loved him dearly. How many of us have been cheated on? Better yet, how many of us have cheated on our partners? In my playbook, when I get the temptation to cheat on a girl, I automatically break up with her. I'd rather tell her straight up that I no longer find her exciting than be the evil guy to betray her and date another girl simultaneously. However, not everyone in this world shares this 'moral' code. I am not the world's foremost expert on relationships and dating and I wish not to be. I am good at trading and I will stick to that. But, at 35 years, perspective can be a powerful thing. The person I am now has been shaped by years of experience and learning from those very experiences. As I play mentor/big brother to the forlorn, it is amazing how some people really have great difficulty coping with emotions. My student laments about the end of his relationship all the time and yet no matter what I say to him as advice, it will not magically make things better. Call me old fashioned, but in my teenage and 20-something days, dating was a lot less complicated than it is now. Because we didn't have Tinder and all the other apps to facilitate dating, the game really relied on our skills to impress the girls we like. I think that's where the current environment breaks down quite a lot. Here's one thing that really bugs me. A few years ago, I met a younger woman. We went on dates and you know, started seeing each other and stuff. Then one day, she just upped and left. Why? Because apparently she thought the momentum was waning. I will have a different post outlining the wonderful and outrageous reasons women have used on me before. But going back to this, the momentum waning - what does that even mean? I find myself laughing at the fact that in the new age, simply building that important rapport with someone at the beginning of a relationship is no longer significant. People these days seem to give up too easily or worse, are too jaded. Is it so bad to get to know a person really well to serve as the foundation of a lasting and fruitful relationship? Why is it that people now judge a relationship based on how good their partner is in bed? These are the kinds of things I discussed with my student. We do have a generational gap so obviously he may not understand some of the things I've talked about. But it is funny I might add that the new generation these days complicate their lives by simply eliminating the thrill of the chase. Again, I wanted to digress on this post and not talk about the markets for a change. In my dating world - there's the interest, the spark that leads to the chase and then leads to the prize. The prize isn't sex - it's simply being with a person you can build a strong relationship with. But again, that is old-fashioned. Too often, when women really really click with a guy and they give up at the first sign of trouble, what does that really tell you about those kinds of women? Rather I know earlier on that a woman I am interested in can't handle a challenge than find out later when I've invested a lot of time and effort in. Fate is a fickle queen of misery and joy. This is the lesson I am trying to teach my student - to better understand himself, his capabilities and his interests. Only then can he realize what he really wants and to better understand his expectations for his future conquests. I end this post still not an expert on matters pertaining to the heart. But I leave it an enlightened soul - hardened by the painful experiences of the past and invigorated by the love of the women immemorial. I think at the end of the day, you should really just ask yourself, "Does love mean happiness for me or is happiness a state of mind quintessentially tied to love?" Be safe. Be kind. Smile. May all that is holy and good surround you. -G
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Told clients already my plans on PCLN prior to market open. Tweeted I went short near 1369. I was so shocked to see it at 1306, 80 minutes later.
Let's do the simple math. 1365 Puts were trading at $16 a pop. They closed the day at $55. That is almost $4,000 per contract profit. Imagine that. Ready to make money? Above is a pic I took doing my usual sunset jogs in Majorca. There's a reason I ended up here, it reminds me all too well of Santa Barbara. I've always been a beach guy and I think that'll never change. Some prefer to be in big cities like London or NY but I will always be a west coast kid. I will always long for the ocean.
Last week brought about so many things - from the start of my new group's trading journey to dealing with market events and then to all the things in between. It has been a few years since I've taken this many students. Part of it is the fact that no one actually asked me to be their mentor back in CA. The new group has been fantastic. They are an enthusiastic bunch and we pretty much treat each other like familia. I did not expect that being a mentor to a few of these folks would entail that I got to play big brother too. I'm not the go to guy for matters of the heart and I truly think that I would never understand the mysteries of 'love'. However, it reminded me of reality that outside of trading, there is this thing called 'love'. Sometimes we get to engrossed with what we're trying to do, we forget about other aspects of our lives. It was a very busy week for the markets. I think that is even an understatement. We had multiple huge moves from forex to stocks. When you get so deep into these moves, it's so difficult to cater to the ones we care about. It reminded me of a chapter in my life where a past gf would complain when I'm holed up in my house for almost a week being emotionally unavailable because I was so busy trading European and Asian events. But that's just it - it's a nice reminder to know that we do have to live outside of trading. The entire work-life balance concept still is important as a trader. What makes it difficult to balance this is the fact that you're no longer relegated to an office that specifies a 9-5pm routine. You're constantly inundated with market events that if you somehow don't have a good handle on when to stop and take a break - you will for sure lose sight of what's important. I am perfectly okay with not catching ALL the moves last week. It's important to always have a quota and as long as that quota was met, I think everything else is irrelevant. It will always be a constant struggle to balance all of our individual priorities in life. Some of us who have families will have an even bigger challenge. It's all about prioritizing. The markets will also need to be managed and scheduled appropriately. The markets, like anything else, needs to be put in its proper place and be well understood. I suppose the advice I gave to my broken-hearted 25-yr old Spanish student applies to this balancing issue: Realize what went wrong. Reflect on all the things that happened and know the mistakes made. Once those have been assessed, get better at analyzing your next opportunity. You need to understand what you're getting into the next time, and really assess your priorities very well before embarking on a new adventure. Emotion is a fickle thing. If left unchecked, it can leave you at a much worse situation than before you went into your endeavors. At the heart of it all, know yourself really well to know what you are capable of. Few of us ever master the art of self-control. Many seek it. Many want to achieve it but it's harder to get to a level of restraint because after all, we are impulsive and emotional beings. However, as in relationships or in business, get to know really well what you're getting into and if it's worth fighting for, fight for it. Have a good trading week ahead folks! -Gavin |
Multiple AuthorsTraders from Equity Sense will be writing on this blog on positions and other market-related things. Archives
May 2018
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