Interpretations that would result in a more satisfying experience

CHAPTER 6 
THE MARKET'S PERSPECTIVE 
 
For the most part, a typical traders perception of the risk in any given trading situation is a function of 
the outcome of his most recent two or three trades (depending on the individual). The best traders, on 
the other hand, are not impacted (either negatively or too positively) by the outcomes of their last or 
even their last several trades. So their perception of the risk of any given trading situation is not 
affected by this personal, psychological variable. There's a huge psychological gap here that might lead 
you to believe that the best traders have inherent design qualities in their minds that account for this 
gap, but I can assure you this is not the case. Every trader I've worked with over the last 18 years has 
had to learn how to train his mind to stay properly focused in the "now moment opportunity flow." This 
is a universal problem, and has to do both with the way our minds are wired and our common social 
upbringing (meaning, this particular trading problem is not personspecific).
There are other factors relating to self-esteem that may also act as obstacles to your consistent success, 
but what we are going to discuss now is the most important and fundamental building block to your 
success as a trader.
THE "UNCERTAINTY" PRINCIPLE 
 
If there is such a thing as a secret to the nature of trading, this is it: At the very core of one's ability 1) 
to trade without fear or overconfidence, 2) perceive what the market is offering from its perspective, 3) 
stay completely focused in the "now moment opportunity flow," and 4) spontaneously enter the "zone," 
it is a strong virtually unshakeable belief in an uncertain outcome with an edge in your favor. The best 
traders have evolved to the point where they believe, without a shred of doubt or internal conflict, that 
"anything can happen."
They don't 
just suspect 
that anything can happen or give lip service to the idea. Their belief in 
uncertainty is so powerful that it actually prevents their minds from associating the "now moment" 
situation and circumstance with the outcomes of their most recent trades.By preventing this association, 
they are able to keep their minds free of unrealistic and rigid expectations about how the market will 
express itself. Instead of generating the kind of unrealistic expectations that more often than not result 
in both emotional and financial pain, they have learned to "make themselves available" to take 
advantage of whatever opportunities the market may offer in any given moment. "Making yourself 
available" is a perspective from which you understand that the framework from which you are 
perceiving information is limited relative to what's being offered.

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Our minds don't automatically perceive every opportunity that presents itself in any given moment. 
(The "boy and the dog" illustration from Chapter 5 is a perfect example of how our own personal 
versions of the truth are reflected back to us.) This same land of perceptual blindness happens all the 
time in trading. We can't perceive the potential for the market to continue to move in a direction that is 
already against our position if, for example, we are operating out of a fear of being wrong. The fear of 
admitting we are wrong causes us to place an inordinate amount of significance on information that 
tells us that we're right. This happens even if there's ample information to indicate that the market has 
in fact established a trend in the opposite direction of our position.
A trending market is a distinction about the market's behavior we can ordinarily perceive, but this 
distinction can easily become invisible if we are operating out of fear. The trend and the opportunity to 
trade in the direction of that trend don't become visible until we are out of the trade. In addition, there 
are opportunities that are invisible to us because we haven't learned to make the distinctions that would 
allow us to perceive them. Recall our discussion in Chapter 5 of the first price chart you ever looked at. 
What we haven't learned yet is invisible to us, and remains invisible until our minds are open to an 
exchange of energy. A perspective from which you make yourself available takes into consideration 
both the known and the unknown: For example, you've built a mental framework that allows you to 
recognize a set of variables in the markets behavior that indicates when an opportunity to buy or sell is 
present. This is your edge and something you know.
However, what you don't know is exactly how the pattern your variables identify will unfold. With the 
perspective of making yourself available, you know that your edge places the odds of success in your 
favor, but, at the same time, you completely accept the fact that you don't know the outcome of any 
particular trade. By making yourself available, you consciously open yourself up to find out what will 
happen next; instead of giving way to an automatic mental process that causes you to think you already 
know. Adopting this perspective leaves your mind free of internal resistance that can prevent you from 
perceiving whatever opportunity the market is making available from its perspective (its truth). Your 
mind is open for an exchange of energy. Not only can you learn something about the market that you 
previously didn't know, but you also set up the mental condition most conducive to entering "the zone."
The essence of what it means to be in "the zone" is that your mind and the market are in sync. As a 
result, you sense what the market is about to do as if there is no separation between yourself and the 
collective consciousness of everyone else participating in the market. The zone is a mental space where 
you are doing more than just reading the collective mind, you are also in complete harmony with it. If 
this sounds a bit strange to you, ask yourself how it is that a flock of birds or a school of fish can 
change direction simultaneously. There must be a way in which they are linked to one another. If it is 
possible for people to become linked in the same way, then there will be times when information from 
those with whom we are linked can and will bleed through to our consciousness.
Traders who have experienced being tapped into the collective consciousness of the market can 
anticipate a change in direction just as a bird in the middle of a flock or a fish in the middle of a school 

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will turn at the precise moment that all of the others turn. However, setting up the kind of mental 
conditions most conducive to experiencing this seemingly magical synchronicity between you and the 
market is no easy task. There are two mental hurdles to overcome.
The first is the focus of this chapter: learning how to keep your mind focused in the "now moment 
opportunity flow." In order to experience synchronicity, your mind has to be open to the market's truth, 
from its perspective. The second hurdle has to do with the division of labor between the two halves of 
our brain. The left side of our brain specializes in rational thought, based on what we already know. 
The right side specializes in creative thought. It is capable of tapping into an inspiration, an intuition, a 
hunch, or a sense of knowing that usually can't be explained at a rational level. It can't be explained 
because if the information is really creative in nature, then it is something that we wouldn't know at a 
rational level. By definition, true creativity brings forth something that didn't previously exist. There's 
an inherent conflict between these two modes of thought, that the rational, logical part will almost 
always win, unless we take specific steps to train our minds to accept and trust creative information. 
Without that training, we will usually find it very difficult to act on our hunches, intuitive impulses, 
inspirations, or sense of knowing.
Acting appropriately on anything requires belief and clarity of intent, which keeps our minds and 
senses focused on the purpose at hand. If the source of our actions is creative in nature, and our rational 
mind hasn't been properly trained to trust this source, then at some point in the process of acting on this 
information, our rational brain will flood our consciousness with conflicting and competing thoughts. 
Of course, all of these thoughts will be sound and reasonable in nature, because they will be coming 
from what we already know at a rational level, but they will have the effect of flipping us out of "the 
zone" or any other creative state of mind. There are few things in life more frustrating than recognizing 
the possibilities evident from a hunch, intuition, or an inspired idea, and not taking advantage of that 
potential because we talked ourselves out of it. I realize that what I've just said is still much too abstract 
to implement on a practical basis. So, I'm going to take you step-by-step through what it means to be 
completely focused in the "now moment opportunity flow."
My objective is that by the time you've read this chapter and Chapter 7, you will understand without a 
shred of doubt why your ultimate success as a trader cannot be realized until you develop a resolute, 
unshakeable belief in uncertainty. The first step on the road toward getting your mind and the market in 
sync is to understand and completely accept the psychological realities of trading. This step is where 
most of the frustrations, disappointments, and mysteriousness associated with trading begin.
Very few people who decide to trade ever take the time or expend the effort to think about what it 
means to be a trader. Most people who go into trading think that being a trader is synonymous with 
being a good market analyst. As I have mentioned, this couldn't be further from the truth. Good market 
analysis can certainly contribute to and play a supporting role in one's success, but it doesn't deserve 
the attention and importance most traders mistakenly attach to it. Beneath the market behavior patterns 
that are so easy to become fixated on are some very unique psychological characteristics. It's the nature 

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of these psychological characteristics that determines how one needs "to be" in order to operate 
effectively in the market environment.
Operating effectively in an environment that has qualities, traits, or characteristics that are different 
from what we're used to requires making some adjustments or changes in the way we normally think 
about things. For example, if you were to travel to an exotic place with certain objectives or goals to 
accomplish, the first thing you would do is familiarize yourself with the local traditions and customs. 
By doing so, you would leani about the various ways in which you would have to adapt in order to 
function successfully in that environment. Traders frequently ignore the fact that they may have to 
adapt in order to become consistently successful traders. There are two reasons for this.
The first is that you need absolutely no skill of any kind to put on a winning trade. For most traders it 
usually takes years of pain and suffering before they figure out or finally admit to themselves that 
there's more to being consistent than the ability to pick an occasional winner. The second reason is that 
you don't have to travel anywhere to trade. All you need is access to a phone. You don't even have to 
roll out of bed in the morning. Even traders who normally trade from an office don't have to be in the 
office to put on or take off their trades. Because we can access and interact with the market from 
personal environments that we are intimately familiar with, it seems as if trading won't require any 
special adaptations in the way we think.
To some degree, you are probably already aware of many of the fundamental truths (psychological 
characteristics) about the nature of trading. But having an awareness or an understanding of some 
principle, insight, or concept doesn't necessarily equate to acceptance and belief. When something has 
been truly accepted, it isn't in conflict with any other component of our mental environment. When we 
believe in something, we operate out of that belief as a natural function of who we are, without struggle 
or extra effort. To whatever degree there is a conflict with any other component of our mental 
environment, to the same degree there is a lack of acceptance. It isn't difficult, therefore, to understand 
why so few people make it as traders.
They simply don't do the mental work necessary to reconcile the many conflicts that exist between 
what they've already learned and believe, and how that learning contradicts and acts as a source of 
resistance to implementing the various principles of successful trading. Getting into and taking 
advantage of the kind of free-flowing states of mind that are ideal for trading requires that those 
conflicts be thoroughly resolved.

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