I think limes are better than lemons…
But when you’re sitting in the Admirals Club at Miami Airport at 8:00 AM, I’m sure you don’t mind too much.
I took an overnight flight from Lima, Peru. I was hoping for a quick layover in Miami on my way to Dallas. Instead, they were caught in a huge airport jam caused by the FAA’s computer malfunction.
Every flight in the US had about a 3 hour flight stoppage…including mine.
It could be Jin’s story. Or maybe it’s my lack of sleep. But this incident gave me a philosophical bent. There are some lessons that can be learned from this incident that I would like to share…
First, always have a backup plan and be ready to change it on the fly.
The FAA clearly had no backup plan…it’s just embarrassing. It’s a shame when a computer glitch destroys the transportation system of the largest and most powerful economy on earth.
But for me it was nothing more than a minor inconvenience. I was able to open my laptop and do some writing and research.
But it does make you think…what other part of our critical infrastructure…or our economy…or our entire lives could be upended by a computer glitch? ?
Like a computer glitch in a complex system, trading doesn’t always go according to plan. Positions can go in the wrong direction. And when that happens, you need to know ahead of time how to get out of it, whether that means following stop losses or other risk management techniques.
More broadly, remember that the more complex your system is, the more likely it is that things will go wrong. If I have a connecting flight, I try to space them out much longer than is generally recommended. Because I know that missing a flight can have a domino effect and leave you stuck for days.
The same applies to trading strategies. Simpler strategies are easier to execute, easier to monitor, and easier to quit when things go wrong. The more complex your strategy, the more likely something will go wrong.
This is what makes Charles Mizrahi’s work so fresh.
Charles keeps it simple. He’s done the same thing his entire career. In short, we’re looking for quality stocks led by game-savvy and agile CEOs. He buys them small and watches them grow.
Sit back, enjoy the ride, and look forward to a big pat on the back from your future self. For more on how well it works, scroll back and hear from him himself.
But before you run, and before I finally catch the flight home to Dallas, I want to share one more piece of information.
Our word fragility today means that as an investor or trader you have to be agile. It also needs to be monitored.
Other traders like Mike Kerr prefer to be agile enough to be in and out of trades in days, even hours, as conditions change quickly.
Mike believes that now is the best time to become a trader for the first time in years, and he proves it with Shakeout Trading Strategy.
This allows Mike to target the market’s most volatile technology stocks in a specific, rare but highly profitable pattern.
Click here to put your name on Mike’s presentation tomorrow, January 12th, and find out more.