OK ogSTACUS 10 " (COMIN{; A to<' TRADE R

",-'usury input from tto ..;r ""'1Nm'Wm, their likely Il'action at that lim .. was
to r...... ,~. Tlwy ,,'ay I,,,,".,. w:troll,,1 to act but c"uld nut. Al'l .. rwanl, th~y .......
playt"d I.he ~xperi~,,~...
owr and """r in 11I,,;r mind's <'~'''. ",Ii";ng Ihe feci-
ing. or fear anrl tUle<>naitlty. Th"n, till')' adde<! the (.... lings or shame and
distress r"r "0' having a<;led. Powerful emutions suc.h as fear and embar·
rassmen! burn the ">:peri""",, d .... ply into the human psych .. , ro,ever ass<>-
ciaung a s;tuati,," thaI is unexpecl<'<l and stressful "'-;110 an Inability to act .
Actually, Ille d .... p fr('{'z" I"('acllon is a form of ""If-ddensc in nature,
Many animals, wt ... " ra~,-'(I wi,h no ;"''''wiale op.. "ing fo r llight or fight,
will r ......'" in Iheir tracks. Th is is nol a greal strategy in I.he path or an un-
c."mlng ear tra"ding m ti5 mil.,,; per hour. Dut , il dearly ear, ha"" an advan_
tage in nature, giving the potential vi~tim the {jm.. 10 assess the situation
and gamer strength for """ape. Unfortunately, it can be a financially falal
strategy for u-ddcl>! who must makc hmdy trddinll dcclSlons that can dther
make or 106(' a great deal of money wnh each tIck of the second hand,

1\" '0 1'11 1': ~ II \' IJ tW

" " NI' OR .l (.\\'(:": ·\\,XII-:1"\'

Just as TIg.. r Woorls roulrl freeze when confrotllerl with a situaU"n f"r
which he was unprepared, all jl{'rrOrnle,,", including trade,,", are capable
of freezmg " 'hen confronted with somelhing unexpecterl, Perronnance
is enhanced when the player trams throug~ rejl{'tnivc acllon, Recently.
comjl{'tilo", haw been trai"in,o: more and more with mental . eheat""ls in
addition to the actu,,1 ph~'sk,,1 repetiO,,,, . Menial ",hea,*,l allows a Will-
jl{'titor to try !leW and fl<,>!iSibly dauge"'u" actio,,,. i!l his mind before II('
ewr aW~lllpt. them in reality. The llf'netlt. of menial rehearsal are well
documented by Olympic athletes from MOund the world.
Trade", can also use menial rehearsal tu test the .. trad,ng techn iqu{'S,
When paper trading, a trader is us;nll menial rehea'>I1d to trade lie """"
him""lf taking Ihe trdde eWJllho~ there ,s no money at stake, Also. he
has the opportunity 10""" how he would lrad~ if his "'O''l'y were actually
"n th .. line . This type "f practl~ l. essential to sU~<:ffiSfullmrling sln~e it
pr~r\'l''' capital while a tmMr l. leanling the prufession.
The problem with paper trading and mental rehearsal is that it does nOl
address Ihe facllhal m()/ll people cannot disconnectlhernselves from the
emotional value they gi"e to ,cal ",oney When . m] ",Olley IS on the line.
unde.ly;!1JI issues ri"" 10 the surface with the power 10 freezc action . These
issues are e ~ prt'SSl't1 in selr_talk in !h~ rollowing exa"'ples:

• Whal about all of the hard "'ork I im'esle-d 10 earn tins mOlley in the
first place?