Watching Cricket helps you make more money on Dalal Street

I was speaking to a friend of mine who is trying to make money for living by trading. He told me over a beer that he has been making more money whenever there is a cricket match on TV!

mmm…I asked him “That’s really interesting! What do you do different on the days you watch cricket?”

I noted the following points after speaking to him about his day on a cricket match! Let’s call him a “Trader” for our sake.

  • Whenever there is a cricket match, Trader does his home work a day early and since he cannot watch CNBC thru out the day, he makes uphis mind on only few calls. He just doesn’t have time to monitor these calls thru out that day.
  • Trader not only takes few calls on the cricket day, but he also watches CNBC less, monitors his positions less frequently and worries less about his positions on the trade. He just keeps his stop-loss and forgets about his trade.
  • Since Trader takes one or two trading calls on cricket day, he usually spends sometime on analyzing and picking the best ones among all his possible trading opportunities( note this point).
  • Trader not only is less bothered about his position on trade but aslo more relaxed about his trade because the game takes all his attention. Watching cricket gives him joy!

Let’s looks at what he does on days there is NO cricket!

  • He promptly gets ready for the market opening and switches on CNBC and keeps note of every analyst call
  • He trades more frequently because there are more tips available on CNBC.
  • He is hooked on to the PC monitor and he watches his positions tick by tick and he usually gets worked up every time his position goes up and down.
  • At the end of the trading day he is drained and tired. He just managed to break even or lose a little but he feels like he has won a War.

Can you see the difference here?

If you can’t, let me tell you loudly …If you are one of those traders who take trading calls based on TV analysts then you lose often and you live in hell as a trader. If you don’t enjoy and relax while you trade then you are probably not making money!

Where do traders lose more money on their trading? I can tell you without blinking. It’s on tips! and mind you! Every trader typically wants these tips for free. Now c’mon…this is basic human nature and even more so, a trader’s nature.

Few years back one independent research study pointed out that traders lose more money on tips than anything else. It’s so strange for me because you are willing to trust an analyst on CNBC more than you can trust yourself. There is a reason for it. Most traders never invest in learning! They are more than happy to find a short cut to make money.

Now here are characteristics of a Successful trader or Investor.

- Successful traders invest in learning, while they may start with listening to others, over a period of time they learn to have an opinion.
- Successful traders do watch TV, read blogs, take tips- But they never take a trade unless their own trading system rules are met! ( The most Important point)
- Successful traders first important investment is always in tools, software, hardware, books, training so that their investments pay them everyday!
- Successful traders always takes responsibility for their trades and they learn from their mistakes quickly
- Successful traders often make new mistakes but usually avoid repeating old mistakes again!
- Successful traders are least worried while trading because they know taking a loss every now and then is a way of life
- Successful traders are more relaxed because they know their risk management well.

Just take a little bit of time and ask yourself…Is watching TV during trading hours influencing your trading? Then do something about it. I am not against watching TV but I am against getting influenced. May be you are taking trades based on someone’s opinion and your money. It ain’t that smart a thing to do…ha.

Have a nice weekend and great trading week ahead.

Cheers
Suresh

12 Likes

Superb Man. :+1: I always make satires on those Analysts.

I don’t watch TV during market hours. I Watch CNBC from 7am to 8.30am If anyone listen to the famous four Analysts on CNBC especially Technical Analysts, he will definitely loose money.

And It is True Whenever I went to my Table away from TV by 8am I was profitable that day.

But most new entrants land up at Money Control and Follow blindly TV Analysts

I hope TRADINGQNA will change this

3 Likes

Hahaha… This is interesting.

1 Like

well written I must say i belonged to “traders” category till i spent good time focusing on TA. Finally have developed my own set of skills and discipline which is returning far above avg market returns, both fundamentally and technically. I wont say TV analysts are useless or make no money. I have analysed 2-3 anlysts, 100% recos over a span of 3-4 months as book trades. Outcome was very pathetic success ratio with some below 30% also. But verdict is not that they are useless. On the contrary most are very smart. Most of these guys have reco, PM services which they are paid handsomely for. Their recos on TV are invariable very late and foten given when final set of resistances break hence restricting %age of the final move left. This gives two-fold advantage. One is they use euphoria in the stock to capitalise on the move and hence prove the reco correct. Secondly since tons of blind reco followers jump in here, volumes surge with new interest and further rise in price comes. This allows them to give their personal clients sell recos for which the bu recos were given far earlier than on TV. Except on MC and other forums where people make snide remarks about them, which they are least bothered about, their clients make good money using gullibility (read foolishness) of guys lapping up recos blindly from TV. markets and trading run purely on sentiment in over 90% of the cases and these guys sure know how to use that in their favour.

2 Likes

Good one. One thing I have found useful is News…News…& More News… Especially from reputed ones such as Reuters, Bloomberg and Nikkei Asian Review. Listening to Bloomberg Radio also helps because it gives you industry leaders perspective about global economy.

1 Like