Master And Commander

I finally relented to curiosity today and submitted myself to a Myer-Briggs personality test online. Although I’m can’t be sure if those things are completely accurate I was pretty stunned by what I found. And by that I’m not referring to the actual results, which in case you are wondering came out to ENTJ-A:

Yeah, big surprise there, ain’t it. No, what really stunned me was the description of the ENTJ-A personality type as it really describes me down to a tee. They really should put my picture next to that one. I’m not going to dwell on all the good stuff, besides I’m sure you’re more interested in the dirt:

There is not much room for error in the world of the ENTJ. They dislike to see mistakes repeated, and have no patience with inefficiency. They may become quite harsh when their patience is tried in these respects, because they are not naturally tuned in to people’s feelings, and more than likely don’t believe that they should tailor their judgments in consideration for people’s feelings. ENTJs, like many types, have difficulty seeing things from outside their own perspective. Unlike other types, ENTJs naturally have little patience with people who do not see things the same way as the ENTJ. The ENTJ needs to consciously work on recognizing the value of other people’s opinions, as well as the value of being sensitive towards people’s feelings. In the absence of this awareness, the ENTJ will be a forceful, intimidating and overbearing individual. This may be a real problem for the ENTJ, who may be deprived of important information and collaboration from others. In their personal world, it can make some ENTJs overbearing as spouses or parents.

Sounds familiar? I recall numerous occasions in the past when I lost patience with some people commenting here and it often resulted in conflict and some individuals leaving the conversation (which I regretted after the fact). This is actually something I have been trying to work on in recent years and I hope it shows.

ENTJs love to interact with people. As Extroverts, they’re energized and stimulated primarily externally. There’s nothing more enjoyable and satisfying to the ENTJ than having a lively, challenging conversation. They especially respect people who are able to stand up to the ENTJ, and argue persuasively for their point of view. There aren’t too many people who will do so, however, because the ENTJ is a very forceful and dynamic presence who has a tremendous amount of self-confidence and excellent verbal communication skills. Even the most confident individuals may experience moments of self-doubt when debating a point with an ENTJ.

I guess that right here explains why I have continued to run this blog for the past eight years. Although I do seem to check many of the required boxes in terms of decision making, confidence, problem solving, and so on., trading in complete isolation is not something I enjoy. Which in some ways is contradicting as trading decisions are not made by committee and one thrives toward complete self sufficiency. However the daily exchange here does satisfy the need to share, inform, and if nothing else keep myself honest by putting my work out there for everyone to see.

Enough About Me

Anyway, the point of all this is that learning all you can about yourself (positives and negatives) is a must for any serious trader as it will help you realize some of the areas that may require a bit of improvement. There has been an increasing trend in thinking that everyone is a special snowflake but in truth we all probably will be able to identify closely with at least one of the 16 Myer-Briggs personality types that have been defined. I suggest you take the test today and report your findings here. It would also be good to see what your take away was and which areas you plan to improve on. I myself will definitely continue to work on my tendency to be dictatorial and abrasive. Although if I show too much improvement this place may just get too boring 

In terms of setups I don’t see too much today. Equities are in utter spasmodic whipsaw mode and participation here is littered with treacherous traps. However what we have going for ourselves is that the sessions are relatively directional, which means actually more daily realized volatility and less intra-day RV. Thus I decided to give the bulls one more chance and take out a long position on a little dip lower (e.g. 2120 until 2115) with a stop below ES 2100.

If we drop through 2100 then I believe the bulls are in a world of hurt and we most likely would be descending lower and retest the ES 2k mark. You know the drill – keep your position sizes small and your stops at least 1xATR-14 away. Most importantly: don’t do anything stupid.