|  DEC 1989

Trade like a cheetah by Hans Hannula, Ph.D.

Trade like a cheetah by Hans Hannula, Ph.D. The cheetah: an endangered species who's survived against the odds. It has survived by using a simple set of two rules: be faster than anyone else, and be smarter than anyone else. Sound like a good trading principle? At a recent Market Technicians Association (MTA) conference, in a discussion with Dr. Van Tharp, a trading psychologist, I learned something about top traders that I thought was unique to my own style of trading. What I learned was that many top traders use animals and hunting as a mental metaphor to guide their thinking when they 're trading. The metaphor I've always used is the cheetah. To understand the cheetah you must understand a little bit of its history. The cheetah is a member of the large cat family, but it is a very different breed of cat. It was nearly hunted into extinction about 2,000 years ago. It somehow survived by retreating from populated areas and living in a confined space. The price it paid for this survival was a great deal of inbreeding, which has genetically weakened the species. Nevertheless, the species still survives, simply by following two ""rules"": be faster and be smarter than other animals.

by Hans Hannula, Ph.D., RSA, CTA