|
Feature
Article :
Personality
Type and Trading: (Part 3)
By Van K.
Tharp, Ph.D.
(Click here to read
previous articles if you missed them.)
This series of articles, focused on Personality Type and Trading Success, is a process in which we are covering the various dimensions of personality developed by Carl Jung and how each of them might influence you as a trader.
Continuing with our series, this week we will explore the other three dimensions. Last week we learned about the Introversion/Extraversion (I vs. E) set. This week will look at the next three:
-
Sensation/Intuition,
-
Thinking/Feeling and
-
Judgment/Perception.
Sensation/Intuition (S vs. N). The two perceptual functions are sensation and intuition. The sensation orientation involves using the five
senses-- seeing, hearing, touching, tasting and smelling -- to convey a concrete reality. It is the function that receives information, from the inner, subjective world and/or the outer, physical world. Sensation is very connected to the present moment. While 75% of the population is thought to be sensation dominant, only 39% of our sample is sensation dominant.
In contrast, intuition is what Jung called "perception by the unconscious mind." The key characteristic of intuition is imagination. It involves "seeing the big picture" and "imagining what is possible." It involves moving out of the present and encompassing both the past and the future to determine what is possible. Although 25% of the population is thought to be intuition dominant, 61% of our sample is intuition dominant.
The intuition function seems to contribute more to success than any other Jungian function or quality. We had 31 traders in our sample with outstanding trading records. Among this group, 26 of them were intuition dominant, while only five of them were sensation dominant. Thus, awareness of the big picture may be very important to successful trading.
Thinking/Feeling (T vs. F). The two judgmental functions include thinking and feeling. Thinking involves logical thought processes entailing cause-and-effect reasoning. It facilitates cognition and judgment. In this particular style, people are concerned with facts, reality, experience, specifics, and the "here and now." Everything is concrete and sequential. When people make decisions by thinking, they tend to weigh all the pros and cons in a sequential way and then make a decision. However, when trading decisions involve pure "thinking," the trade is usually gone before the decision is made. Interestingly enough, people generally make decisions based upon thinking, but they act based on feelings.
Feeling involves making decisions by means of value judgments. It allows us to determine if a thing is important or not. It involves subjective, personal values. Does the person like or dislike it? What is the impact on a person? Is it strong enough to act upon?
If thinking is highly developed in an individual then feeling would be much less developed and vice versa. And you can probably guess that it takes a lot of "thinking" to develop a trading system, but it takes "feeling" to execute the system. Thus, you must be well-balanced in order to trade well. About 50% of the population tends to be thinking dominant while the other half tends to be feeling dominant. In our sample, 57% was thinking dominant, while 43% was feeling dominant.
Top traders in our sample were much more likely to be thinking dominant (by a 6 to 1 ratio) than feeling dominant. However, thinking dominant traders as a whole were more likely to be losing traders than were feeling dominat traders. My guess is that the top traders show a good balance between thinking and feeling, yet are thinking dominant. However, if someone is thinking dominant, with little reliance on feelings, then he is not likely to do well.
Judgment/Perception (J vs. P). The last dichotomy is very deceptive, in that the names used, judger and perceiver, do not adequately describe the two processes involved. This dichotomy refers to the amount of closure a person needs in handling their affairs. Judgers, the first category, want closure, wanting everything organized and in its place. In
contrast, perceivers prefer fluidity by keeping their options open.
The Judger is apt to feel a sense of urgency until a decision is made. They establish deadlines and take them seriously. Judgers tend to believe that work comes before all else--rest or play. Thus, judgers will do all sorts of preparation, maintenance, and cleaning up afterward with respect to their work. About half the population tends to have a bent toward closure and thus be judgers. However, about 72% of our sample showed this type of dominance.
Perceivers tend to be "go with the flow" type people. They resist making a decision, always wanting, and waiting for, more information. Thus, when they finally do make a decision, there is always a sense of uneasiness and restlessness. Perceivers tend to be more playful and easy-going than their counterpart. They want their work to be enjoyable. However, they can also become so caught up in a work project that they totally forget about time and everything else. About half the population is this way. I would expect that people who have trouble making a decision would stay away from trading. And, indeed, only 28% of our sample were perceivers.
These four dichotomies can be used to describe 16 different personality types, as described by Isabel Myers and her mother, Katheryn Briggs. The so-called Myers-Briggs test divides people into 16 different types, ISTJ, ISTP, ESTP, ESTJ, ISFJ, ISFP, ESFP, ESFJ, INFJ, INFP, ENFP, ENFJ, INTJ, INTP, ENTP, and ENTJ. In some ways, I dislike this test because it does
tend to put people into psychological boxes. So rather than going into each of the 16 types, next week, we will begin to look at eight cognitive styles and four temperaments. I will describe each type and give you my opinions about how it functions in the process of trading or trading system development.
--Van K. Tharp
|
|
Listening in....
Excerpts from Dr. Tharp's Discussion
Forum
Stock Selection
Author: Eddy
Mr. Van Tharp said "Since most people believe that stock selection is the key to making money,.."
Does it mean that stock selection is not relevant?
Reading Van Tharp's TYWTFF [Trade Your Way To Financial
Freedom], I understood that position sizing is maybe the most important thing for a trader to make big money...
I also read that expectancy is surely as much important since you want a positive probability to make money on the long term before applying
MM [money management/position sizing].
But, expectancy has to deal with stocks selection... at least this is my belief and
I have issues seeing contrary possibilities... even if you cut your loss short, you need to find a way to detect some stocks that are going to hit the sky (the higher they go will
proportionally depends on the Win/loss ratio)
Reply To This Message
Re: Stock Selection
Author: Chris Anderson
Date: 02-18-04 08:05
Eddy:
You really just want to "pick" stocks that move relative to the risk you have to take at entry. As an example, D.R. Barton's 10minute trader works by finding stocks that might trend (up or down) rapidly early after open. There is really 3 pieces that are necessary:
1. How do you find stocks (or other trading instruments) that might move a lot relative to the risk you have to take;
2. How do you handle your entries and exits to maximize your expectancy in those situations;
3. How do you position size to maximize profits while controlling your risks?
I agree with you that Position Sizing alone, on an unprofitable strategy, will not make you $. Likewise, a "good" stock selection criteria with reckless position sizing is a disaster waiting to happen.
Hopefully that helps.
Chris
Reply To This Message
Re: Stock Selection
Author: Hollin P
Date: 02-18-04 08:52
"Mr. V. Tharp said 'Since most people believe that stock selection is the key to making money,..' does it mean that stock selection is not relevant?"
No, it appears Mr. Tharp is saying that it's not the key people think it is.
There's a site I've come across that some guy who fancies himself the world's greatest "stock-picker" runs. His entries/exits are awful, and he doesn't use stop losses. He'll hold indefinitely instead of admitting he's wrong. He has a price target, and if and when the stock hits that target, then he exits. But sometimes that takes a year or large parts of. So he ends up keeping capital unproductively used for stretches at a time. He only announces his winning closed trades and ignores the impact of his losing positions, and so he's convinced himself that his results are legendary, as do the yahoos that follow him since they don't know any better. All this because they think that superior stock selection is key.
Read
the full, unedited thread by clicking here.
Van K. Tharp and traders, investors and wealth builders around the
world connect on this site, share ideas and learn from each other.
|
|
Trading
Tips:
Peak Performance Trading
Tips
Don’t
Step on Your Head
by D. R. Barton, Jr.
" A
hundred wagon loads of thoughts will not pay a single ounce of
debt.” --Italian Proverb
The more I trade and interact with other traders (both old and new),
the more convinced I become that the markets can best be approached
not as a problem to be solved but as a game of understanding group
psychology. Since all
of my formal training (chemical engineer, MBA, yada, yada, yada…)
is in problem solving, a market that acts more like a psychological
process poses ongoing challenges for me. I tend to step on my head a
lot. Let me
explain. When people do
something that impedes their own progress we say that they are
“tripping over themselves.”
I don’t think that such a lackluster metaphor captures the
essence of the barrier that most traders face.
It seems to me more like “stepping on one’s head.”
While physiologically difficult (if not impossible), I think
this metaphor strikes a clear picture in my mind of what’s really
going on when people are stuck trying to explain the markets as a
pure numbers game. I
say this because the problem that I’m describing here is that of
thinking too much. You
can call it over-analyzing. Or trying to act smart and say
intelligent things. But the bottom line is that most traders
seem to try to understand the markets in a purely technical /
analytical / logical / linear fashion.
And when the markets don’t act in accordance with this
analytical model, they think harder, overanalyze, pull out new (or
old) indicators and get stuck in the mud of numbers, numbers and
more numbers. They step on their head.
Am I saying there is no place for technical analysis?
Absolutely not! Technical
analysis forms the basis for most actions that good traders take in
the markets. Should we
resort to relying on fundamental analysis?
Fundamentals have their place, especially as set-ups, but
it’s tough to use fundamentals to time things.
No, what I’m advocating here is interjecting common sense
into our trading. Instead
of thinking harder and crunching more numbers there are situations
that call for a good understanding of crowd psychology and how
people’s expectations, hopes and fears are moving the markets.
Over the next couple of weeks we’ll look at some examples
of over-analysis, and at some characteristics of traders that strike
a good balance between technical analysis and common sense. Until then, good trading and may your head be tread-free.
D.
R. Barton, Jr. is a lead instructor for IITM courses. He is the
Chief Operating Officer and Risk Manager for the Directional
Research and Trading hedge fund group. D. R. has been actively
involved in trading, researching and teaching in the markets since
1986. In 1999. D. R. has created extensive and innovative new
training products and taught extensively in many investment areas
including intra-day trading, swing trading, and cutting edge risk
management techniques.
His writing credits include: Safe Strategies for Financial Freedom
by Van K. Tharp, D. R. Barton, Jr. and Steve Sjuggerud and cover
articles for the trade newsletter Market Mastery where he also
serves on the editorial advisory board. In addition, D. R. writes a
stock screening newsletter for traders and investors called The
10-Minute Trader.
|