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Trade like a Cheetah

Trade like a Cheetah 

The cheetah. An endangered species who has survived against the odds. It has survived by using a simple set of two rules: be faster than anyone else, and be smarter than anyone else. Sound like a good trading principle? Many top traders use animals and hunting as a mental metaphor to guide their thinking when they're trading. The metaphor I use is the cheetah.

To understand the cheetah you must understand a little bit of its history. The cheetah is a member of the large cat family, but it is a very different breed of cat. It was nearly hunted into extinction about 2,000 years ago. It somehow survived by retreating from populated areas and living in a confined space. The price it paid for this survival was a great deal of inbreeding, which has genetically weakened the species. Nevertheless, the species still survives, simply by following two "rules": be faster and be smarter than other animals. It is knowing how the cheetah employs its two rules in hunting that helps me in my trading. The cheetah hunts in six distinct phases, which I call the survey, the stalk, the spook, the chase, the kill and the rest.

The survey finds the cheetah in its typical sitting position. This may look like laziness, but the cheetah is actually very busy mentally. If you notice, it will be sitting in a position of perspective, such as a treetop, on a mound or a hilltop overlooking a watering hole, and what it is really doing is analyzing a herd of potential food. It is surveying the territory, like a trader tracking a group of stocks or commodities on a long-term chart, calmly watching the progress of price and time. Like the trader looking for emerging patterns, the cheetah is looking for particular movements in the herd.

The cheetah's next phase is the stalk, which is a patient stroll to examine a particular opportunity more closely, perhaps a group of animals which may have separated from the herd. The cheetah leisurely walks toward or alongside that part of the herd, checking out the potential prey, focusing on such details as size, strength, nervousness and position. This is like a trader taking a closer look at a few stocks or commodities, following major support and resistance zones, and observing cycles and oscillators. As a cheetah nears this smaller group of animals, he starts watching for motion, focusing intently on the weaker members of the group, much as a trader watches for the first price formation or zone break or oscillator crossing that could indicate the start of a move for a stock or commodity.

The cheetah is waiting for its prey to become fearful and panic, just like a trader waiting for other traders to build up fear or desire and go into a buying or selling panic. Every trader knows you make your big money when a stock or commodity moves fast. Both cheetah and trader are looking for the initial twitch that signals rapid motion. Both are waiting for the target to spook.

As soon as an animal stalked by the cheetah selects itself, the chase is on. The cheetah kicks in the afterburner and sprints up to 70 miles an hour. At this point, the cheetah is in full control, driven by desire, while the target animal is in absolute flight, controlled entirely by fear. The cheetah feels confident that it can catch the prey, but also knows it can abandon the chase and select another animal. For the trader, this is entering, selecting a stop, validating the move and pyramiding the trade. This phase requires absolute confidence in one's own skills. If a trader becomes fear-driven, the trader may become the victim and not the victor.
Like the cheetah who knows there are other animals to be hunted, the trader must keep in mind there are other trades always coming along. Just as the cheetah does not risk exhaustion of all its energy in one chase, the trader should not risk exhaustion of all his funds in chasing one trade. Like the cheetah who has developed the judgment to tell when a chase is fruitless, the trader must develop the judgment to know when a trade will not succeed. This judgment is gained only from the experience of many hunts, chases, successes and failures. Failures are absolutely essential in this learning process and are simply part of the natural order of things.

The next phase is the kill and the cheetah kills its prey very cleverly. Since the lightweight cheetah does not have the jaw strength of big-boned cats, it kills by pulling up alongside its prey at 70 miles an hour, reaching over and tripping the animal with one smooth kick. The prey crashes to the ground, usually breaking its neck. In the worst case, the cheetah will have to pounce on the prey and clamp its jaws on the throat of the already damaged, weakened and nearly dead animal. This is just like the trader who waits for a fast move to crash into a measured move zone or resistance point, waits for the change in momentum, and then closes out the trade.

The final phase is the rest. The cheetah and, I believe, the trader need a rest after a series of intense chases. Neither can run at high speed constantly. After the kill, the cheetah eats, celebrates and rests. I believe the trader should do the same. A good practice is to always reward yourself ( a special meal, a massage, ext. ) then rest from trading for a while. My rule is that after a trade, win or lose, I don't trade for a time. This allows me to refresh myself, stabilize my thoughts and return invigorated to the hunt.


an addition, video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v7p6VZiRInQ

one way of doing it

"and ‘til now I followed the same basic approach I used as a 12-year-old caddie trying to beat the market, i.e., by 1) working for what I wanted, not for what others wanted me to do; 2) coming up with the best independent opinions I could muster to move toward my goals; 3) stress-testing my opinions by having the smartest people I could find challenge them so I could find out where I was wrong; 4) being wary about overconfidence, and good at not knowing; and 5) wrestling with reality, experiencing the results of my decisions, and reflecting on what I did to produce them so that I could improve."

“Wall Street bubbles – Always the same.”

American financier J. P. Morgan is the bull blowing soap bubbles for eager investors.

"When you hit a wrong note it's the next note that makes it good or bad."

war or peace