Being "In The Zone" by Christophe

Being "In The Zone"

This was posted to NQoos Yahoo Group by Christophe. It speaks to many personal trading experiences I hold both on being "In The Zone" and the value of paper trading.

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Being "In The Zone"

I believe that what we call "being in the zone" is a state of mind
whereby our mind is totally free of thinking and fully into a "feeling
mode". It is a state of mind where fear, greed and all negative
emotions have disappeared as the trader is completely "immersed" in a
world of feeling where he/she is totally in sync with the markets and
the charts he/she is trading. He/she can just "feel" what is going to
happen next and act accordingly with the flow.

This is my personal view and interpretation of "being in the zone".

How do we get there? is the most interesting question in trading IMHO.

I believe that one of the way to get there is basically training,
training, training and training.....

You have to train your mind to get in the flow of the market and its
swings using whatever technical system you may be using (and they all
come down to one thing.... increasing your edge when getting in/out)

I basically believe that the "zone" can be reached once you have
mastered your system and you totally trust yourself, basically when
you have opened the door to "reflexes" and closed the door to "hard
thinking".

Mastering your setup is the basic founding stone that gives you the
mental strength to master your self and be in the zone and deliver
110%

I used to be a fierce critic of paper trading. I have come to realize
now that paper trading is invaluable like training for athlete before
competition. No boxer/martial athlete is going to go in the ring without
training as hard as they can and mastering their techniques, no actor
is going to stand up in a theatre play without rehearsing countless number
of times until he/she feels the speech is coming out automatically
without thinking.

Trading with real money without having mastered your setup/system, is
to me like if one decided to challenge Lennox Lewis in the ring as he
is barely discovering boxing. What are the chances of winning that
fight? Worst not only would one loose but the wounds received during
the fight would be such that the newbie would probably not be able to
stand up for another fight and the negative painful memory association
of the loss would probably hinder any potential the newbie has got in
him/her.

Well I believe the same goes for trading in the zone. One cant be in
the zone without having practicing/rehearsing one's system a countless
number of time. If one starts trading with real money without having
mastered one's system first, one will teach one's brain and one's body
about all the negative experience which will hinder one's ability to
get in the zone eventually.

I believe trading is no different to the activities I have mentioned
above, like sport competition where something valuable (world title)
is to be win or loss. Because the same feelings (fear/greed/lack of
confidence....) will interfere and prevent the athlete from being in
the zone and deliver 110% of his/her capabilities.

Why do children learn much faster and easily than adults? I believe
the answer lies with the lack of negative experiences/feedbacks
associated with the learning process and the fact obviously that their
brain is a green field.

As Nqoos, Buffy and many others have said, "Master you Setup,
Master your Self" and I believe you will be on your way to the Zone :-)

Happy Trading!
Regards,
Christophe