Tharp Trader Test

Spontaneous Trader

You are probably enthusiastic, warm and quite imaginative. You see life as being full of possibilities. In addition, you are able to quickly make connections between events and the information to which you are exposed and then make quick decisions. This quality can be good as a trader, but you also need to be very careful because you only have one of the three qualities that we find in the best traders.

You have the initiative to start ideas and projects and can usually succeed in any endeavor that you find interest in; but sometimes you have a problem with follow through or completion. Your enthusiasm encourages others to get involved in your projects; however this has no real bearing on trading. You should make it a practice to regularly check in with your values, center yourself on what you believe, and then make sure you are living on purpose. Doing so will help you tremendously with the discipline required for trading success.

You tend to want a lot of affirmation from others that you are not likely to find in the trading arena. You also like to give others appreciation and support and you are not likely to find people who want that in the trading arena. You are spontaneous and flexible, using your ability to improvise when needed. However, this is seldom called upon in the trading world in which your actions need to be preplanned and quite deliberate.

Details may seem trivial to you, because you tend to focus on possibilities. Thus, it would be easy for you to see the possibilities in trading success, but difficult to develop the plan that it takes to follow through with your vision. As a result, you may tend to struggle with certain aspects of trading/investing. In addition, you may also tend to take on too much risk before you are prepared to do so. As a result, you need to thoroughly understand the concept of position sizing and its ramifications before you enter into the world of trading.

Trading Strengths

Enthusiasm and a willingness to take action; you probably don’t have a problem with pulling the trigger or trying new trading systems.
You can easily trade a new system comfortably using real money and small position sizing.
If you understand low risk trading ideas then you should be able to trade quickly and easily. Although this is a great strength, if you don’t understand the importance of position sizing, then it could be fatal.

Trading Challenges

Discipline, follow through and attention to detail will always be challenges, and you need to find ways to achieve these that are automatic, scheduled and regular.
You are easily influenced by external sources which means you need approval from others to feel good about yourself rather than being able to trust objective data (this is probably why you want a mentor).
Because you get excited about new things, and like to share often, you can easily get distracted from something that works.
Good trading is boring, therefore you will need other external ways of fulfilling your need for excitement.

Wanna find out what kind of Trader you are? Take the Tharp Trader Test here.

Juno

Caught Juno over the weekend. Its really nice if you like watching Indie flicks like Superbad, Thank You For Smoking and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Very heart-warming dramedy. And the soundtrack is so nice that I'm so gonna buy it.

Catch the trailer here.

My fish tank also arrived! And now its filled with sand, 10 guppies, lotsa shrimp, and Hydrillas! I'll slowly let them grow and then I'll add other nicer looking plants and Tetras to join my water garden. Have to get a carbon dioxide producer from C328 soon. It is a damn good thing that Pasir Ris Farmway is only two highway exits from my place because it sells an awesome lot of cheap fish stuff!!!

We also went to Lower Pierce reservoir to catch snails, shrimps and tiny fishes too!

Oh and I've got this song from the movie totally stuck in my head all day. Its call Anyone Else But You by the Moldy Peaches and if you have it in MP3, talk to me please!

Dong Dong Dong Qiang

Its been a hectic CNY!

Reunion was spent at Long Beach East Coast with the family. Had a sumptuous dinner there.

Chu 1 started with going back home to bai nian, followed by going up to tai pak pak's place where the relatives gathered. Not the most exciting but festive nonetheless. The wifey was almost bored to bits, as were we. But we had another sumptuous dinner at Long Beach East Coast yet again (this time it was the main branch)! Dinner was with gu gu and her son and his wifey. The dinner was more spectacular.

Chu 2 started with heading to the wifey's parent's home. Shortly afterthat we shipped them to our home at Sengkang and decided to prepare dinner for them! Actually it was only a maggie mee dinner with crabmeat and pork balls, coupled with yu sheng. Still it was a huge success and everyone was happy. The brother-in-law and his wifey also joined. Further on at night we waited for Xiaohui and boyfriend to join us for mahjong at our place. Played till damn late, highlighted at first by the wifey's auspicious waiting of a final card that was already fully used up by herself in a kong. Ting zi ji de si pai (wait for her own dead card). Secondly was Xiaohui's two time za hu (wrong win). The first time her boyfriend told her she couldn't game with the cards she had, she went to do it yet again. But being the magnanimous folks we are, we asked her to keep her cards backs.

Chu 3 was at Bock Lian's home. We were worried that the turnout would be really bad, but it became overwhelming when we got there. We had us 2 plus Bock Lian, Leon, Shujun, Guoxin, Yiling (Guoxin's gf), Shumei, Roy, Zhiqi, Mingxi, Gladys, Alex (Gladys's bf). Had lotsa fun playing the Wii and then Blackjack after that. We then had to leave early to get to Joy's place for potluck dinner. Luckily it was in nearby Pasir Ris. Turnout was also better than expected, Joy and Bryan's parents and themselves whipped up a slurpalicious dinner for us all. We had us 2, Joy, Bryan, Jinde, Tsen Yeow, Conghui, Yushuang, Yushuang's bf, Chewyan, Mike (Chewyan's husband), Laetitia (Chewyan's daughter), Junming, Daniel. Next JC gathering will probably be at our home for housewarming.

Chu 4 was a relaxed day for me. The wifey is with her JC friends at Bock Lian's place again while I've got no program. Drove all the way down to Qian Hu fishfarm and ended up buying a full 4ft tank set with stand, filter, pump, lighting etc. Taking delivery next week or so. So exciting!

Thats about it for my CNY update.

:)

Happy Chinese New Year To All!

Here's wishing everyone good health, wealth and prosperity in the year of the Rat!

Just had a sumptuous reunion dinner at Long Beach Seafood at East Coast!

Housework

Been slogging since morning catching up with housework.

I'm tired.

Party Of The (New) Year 2008

Friday we had our company's crazy New Year Party, that was formally known as the Late Christmas Party. It was wild, to say the least. As usual, alcohol was free flowing and everyone was dressed fancy. Me the boring one was wearing almost the same stuff I wore last year with a few additions (like really tight leather pants, police baton and kinky furry handcuffs).



As you can see, I was quite drunk along with everyone else. By the end of the night my tight leather pants was torn all over and I had to throw it away. More pix when they're published on the company's website next time!

Thursday we went to try a new golf course (new because we hadn't played there before) in Skudai, Johor. Its called Pulai Springs and it was the worst maintained course I've seen, actually. I had no excuse for my lousy game and I ended up with a score of 133, Youlong 132 and Eugene 111. All of us didn't do to well. Maybe its the stress from the KPGA participants playing there.

The Soc Gen fraud case that cost the French private bank EUR4.9 yards is extremely disturbing. Largely, because it squared off most of its positions on Monday and Tuesday while the whole market was selling off (causing Dow futures to hit its limit down figure of -650!) thereby prompting the Fed to cut rates 75 bp. The question now is whether SG's liquidating of trades during that period was a factor in prompting the emergency cut (not seen since 911) because if so, then chances are that the Fed wun be so eager to cut rates this week anymore. And considering that the market has priced in a 50bp cut already, brace yourselves for more volatility ahead.

Monday is gonna look quite ugly.

Heroes Addict

Its true.

Just bought the set of DVDs.

Watching it all over.

Again.

Muddy Muddy LC

Posted by the wifey:

yes.. my ultimate name is LC :)

it's sunday again & boss & i were down at the SK field for our ultimate game *beams* early this morning we received news that we have a change in team. negative thots clouded our minds - were we so lousy that the previous team requested us to be out of their team? is the new team gg to be ok? are the pple gg to be frenly? would it be awkward to see the old team?

the thots all fall into place when we were there. the old team mates weren't aware that we are off the team (though i cannot be sure if they were happy to hear the news from us)... later the afternoon, after our game with the new team, we bumped into jason who apologied to us, telling us that he hope we wun think he purposely wanted or requested us out... and so i faked the "yah lor.. we were so upset cos we thot u guys dun wan us" keke..

the new team turned out to be good. :) lots of young pple who focused on the basics and the fundamentals. they were all damn pro so in a way there isn't much of a pressure when i dun really contribute, cos somehow i know if i play lousy, the others will just cover up. :p 4 girls today means lots of running... and they all thot i could run well and so kept asking me to watch the good runners.. i nearly puke from the running and my blister is getting from bad to worse...

couple of cute guys too! guess that is the main and super plus point! there is this guy with a weird name (cannot remember how to spell) who is damn pro and so cute!!! gosh!!! *blush* was talking to boss about it after the game and he commented that i was semi flirting with him... gosh! was it really so obvious?! keke!!! yeah!!!

got to go bathe liaoz... and this is the part that i hate!!! got to do all the washing of the mud-filled shirt, shorts, shoes and socks... wuah!!!

Saxo Soccer Saturday

Played soccer this morning at the regular place. Had quite a good turnout this time compared to the last. Still slowly chugging along my quest to slim down and live a healthier life. Now I've managed to keep a tight schedule of street soccer on Saturday mornings, ultimate frisbee on Sunday afternoons and cage soccer on Monday nights. Lets hope this keeps up. And if the company succeeds in plans of organizing the weekly cage soccer on Tuesday/Thursday nights, then my slimming reso should be in good hands. That means drinking on Wednesdays and Fridays won't be so bad anymore.

Meanwhile, its a really wet Saturday...

Dow Jones tanked 246 points yesterday night. The bear has begun.

Resolutions 2008

Happy new year everyone!

A new year has begun so lets hope its a better one for me!

I've given my resolutions quite some thought and decided to settle with the following resolutions that I want to achieve.

1) Drink less alcohol - This is quite a no brainer considering that since I started my current job in late '06, my drinking habits have mutated from occasional (once or twice a month) to heavy (one or twice a week) to washed up (more than thrice a week). Its tough keeping a tight lid on myself considering my boyz' partying ways, but sooner or later there needed to come a choking point. Friday, 14th Dec, 2007 was THAT day. I hope we have reached the peak in alcohol consumption. Things can only get better from here. Aim is to drink/party no more than twice a month.

2) Exercise more - I can't help but tie this in together with point 1. More time spent partying and drinking = less time spent exercising. And drinking is bad for my tummy while exercising is good of course. Even street soccer saturdays have failed to keep my ever-expanding waistline in check. I currently weigh in at a hefty 80kg. Aim is to perspire for half an hour at least twice a week (sex will not count!) and keep my weight below 80kg.

3) Eat healthier - This one the wifey had to add. A stressful job requires fast food. And fastfood is what I almost always eat. I probably have enough Macdonald's member points to redeem 11 cheeseburgers last I checked. Luckily the company provides ample fruit for snacky consumption in the office. Aim is to eat at home or eat hawker food more and have one fruit a day.

4) Earn more money #1- No resolution compilation of mine will be complete without something about my money! 2007 was a stellar year for me earnings-wise, and I hope the momentum continues! Making hay while the sun shines at work and trying to lift the low salary I'm getting will be continued into 2008. Aim is to earn 30% more than in 2007.

5) Earn more money #2 - While one hand gets, the other hand gives. To the market, that is. A stellar year in earnings has been offset by a lousy year in investments. Stock purchases have done pretty poorly throughout 2007 and I would've ended the year quite bloodied in the red, frankly, if not for one super purchase. Worse still was the foray into Forex which is burned my pockets deep and am only beginning to turn up. Still very much in the red nonetheless. And don't even bother talking about savings (cash in hand) for I have hardly any. (especially after the purchase of house & furniture). Aim is to earn a 10% yield on the total sum of all invested funds.

Thats it for 2008. All quite realistic and attainable, hopefully with enough will I can push myself to greater heights!