Wise Words from Elder

Trading appears deceptively easy. When a beginner wins, he feels brilliant and invincible. Then he takes wild risks and loses everything.

Money symbolizes freedom to many people, even though they often do not know what to do with their freedom

Many traders are loners who abandon the certainty of the present and take a leap into the unknown

The unstructured environment of the market makes it is easy to develop fantasies. A successful trader must identify his fantasies and get rid of them.

If their systems worked, why would they sell them?

The market is not your mother. It consists of tough men and women who look for ways to take money away from you instead of pouring milk into your mouth.

When I was growing up in the former Soviet Union, children were taught that Stalin was our great leader. Later we found out what a monster he had been, but while he was alive, most people enjoyed following the leader. He freed them from the need to think for themselves.

Emotional reactions are a luxury that you cannot afford in the markets.

People change when they join crowds. They become more credulous and impulsive, anxiously search for a leader, and react to emotions instead of using their intellect. An individual who becomes involved in a group becomes less capable of thinking for himself.

Markets do not care about your well-being. Successful traders are independent thinkers.

Our society glorifies freedom and free will, but we carry many primitive impulses beneath the thin veneer of civilization. We want to join groups for safety and be led by strong leaders. The greater the uncertainty, the stronger our wish to join and to follow.

Your human nature prepares you to give up your independence under stress