Too much information

When I started as a trader thirty years ago, I read every book I could lay my hands on- I bought hundreds of courses and attended endless seminars on all trading subjects.

I felt this would be the most logical way to success and didn't shy to get into debt, assuming this was education and would pay off.

Shortly after that, I started blowing up small sample accounts in series, and the cycle of pain began.

CNN was running all day on a small TV next to my computer screens, and I was sure I would strike gold with accumulating data.

It was a long and rocky road until I discovered the power of principles and turned my sufferings into success.

I am writing this note to you not to gain sympathy but to illustrate that data filtering is an impactful aspect of trading.

I send out daily on this channel video links. This isn't done to share with you people I think are right or with whom I share my opinion; far from it.

I use data like this as a barometer of where general opinion might be and as an indicator of market consensus viewed by various sources.

Moreover, I try to understand people's minds about how a theorist might approach the market or a board member who falls in love with an idea for their company. I try to categorize information and opinion in principle niches so that this way of data filtering allows me to strengthen my principles.

In the nineties, at some point, I hit a barrier of data overload and studied human behavior to distinguish truth and lies to be told, thinking I could create an edge when viewing interviews on CNN to determine if people would tell lies about their companies and in reality creating liquidity to sell their stock or truth being told.

While this was, for the most part, a futile endeavor since so many other moving parts affected the price in real-time, it led me to today's filter system for principle strengthening.

I am writing to clarify that I do not share any opinion of the videos I post and, in general, try to be neutral of opinion as a whole to be able to execute trades as best as possible = unemotional.

I am also not political or in any other way affiliated besides ethically correct principles that my grandma would probably have called 'normal," and in the times we find ourselves are, I guess, "exotic, naive or old fashioned."

In short, I recommend keeping data input to a minimal-this applies, especially for real-time data while trading. All data should have a purpose and, as such, be filtered and put to good logical use, therefore not ego-substantiating or emotionally stimulating.