Category Archives: Yoga

Stress Free Trading

HedgeFundLIVE.com — As you have noticed from Jeremy’s blogs and talk on the desk Yoga is a great way to release stress and take your mind off of the market. It incorporates breathing, meditation, and muscle toning in a relaxing way. There are also different types of yoga and exercise that are similar, for example, Pilates. Today, I tried a much different form of yoga — Anti-Gravity Yoga.

Can You Handle It?

In the city there are hundreds of different yoga studios but this is the most unique one I have ever heard of or been to. If you don’t like taking yourself out of your comfort zone this is definitely not for you. It combines traditional yoga principles with elements from aerial acrobatics, dance, pilates and calisthenics. Basically, doing different yoga poses upside down in the air. I don’t know many people who have heard of it so I wanted to introduce this because although it is different it is another alternative to relaxing and clearing your mind.

It is very important in trading and any job with finance to stay clear minded and focused to keep your discipline. Not involving your ego and what your emotions are telling you helps you enter and exit the market at the right times. Having that outlet, whatever it may be, after work is important so the next day you aren’t dwelling on your past mistakes and can make the right decisions because of analysis and research. Trading can cause a lot of stress especially when exogenous events occur that cause unexpected results to your day. Yoga or any exercise will definitely help you breathe and be able to move onto the next trade without the weight of your last trade on your shoulders.

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Yoga and Day Trading: The Odd Couple

Hedgefundlive.com- About a year and a half ago, Jeremy Frommer discovered an activity that would change his life; the practice of yoga.  For months, he would rave about the myriad of benefits yoga provided, hail his new found spirituality, and defend the practice’s sacred purity.  While Mr. Frommer’s intentions were undoubtedly good natured, sooner or later people got really fucking sick of hearing about yoga.  After several months he caught on and the issue faded back down to the second floor of 12 Engle Street where it belonged.

Now that the dust has settled and the wounds have healed, I’d like to reopen a chapter in HedgefundLIVE’s history and remind everyone how the practice of yoga can benefit one’s life outside of the studio and on the trading floor.  First, a trading floor can often become hectic and erratic.  Traders and shouting orders across the desk while multiple televisions blare across the room.  A piece of news hits the tape and the market goes mad.  In the yoga studio there are no orders, televisions, or news items.  The serenity of yoga provides a welcome sanctuary after a long day of chaos.

Next, yoga teaches us the importance of the breath.  The ability to take a step back from what we are doing and simply breathe is a skill that few possess and fewer practice.  Often times when our trading begins to suffer it begets a downward spiral that can be mentally exhausting.  When this process begins we often become so entrenched in the trade that we lack the lucidity to make proper decisions.  Take a step back and have a deep breath.

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A Guide To Controlling Your Profit and Loss (P&L): Lose The Ego and Find Your Self.

A Trader Confuses Their Ego With Their Self

My ego took over; I gave my entire month back in two days and then proceeded to go negative on the month. Today I began the journey back, booking $10,000 of profit. I despise my ego. I am not talking about the “ego” that is high on itself; I am talking about the ego that intentionally sabotages your self-discipline. I am talking about the ego that I am in a battle with. Until the ego is eliminated, one’s abilities trading or otherwise will forever be limited. The ego represents attachment. Attachment breeds greed and emotion. When one is attached, they fear losing that which they are attached to. Suppressing the ego as a trader is perhaps the most difficult of journeys. As a trader, one is constantly measuring self worth by a number on a screen. A trader is attached to the number on the screen. In the Yogic tradition we are taught to “be in the present”. Nowhere is that more true than in trading. The dichotomy for me is that a trader’s ego predominantly exists in the present and it is always attached to the screen. As such, the present is one long internal battle. It is the “self” that I strive to be. As the self, I will realize that the emotional swings I experience when my ego prevails are not a true reflection of me, but actually the antithesis. I lost the battle last week. That is behind me and I continue my journey. But how does a trader rationalize no attachment to the changing value on his monitor, yet at the same time the trader’s entire focus is on maximizing that value. One can only conclude that the present is about the decisions not the number. The trading decisions must always be made from an unemotional and unattached

A trader's ego is both a reflection and a number on a screen

position. The Profit or Loss will then be what it will be. While the mind may be elated by profit and distraught by loss, neither is a reflection of the self. It is not the changing P&L that is affecting a trader emotionally. It is the mind’s and the ego’s attachment and perception of that value that destabilize the individual. Control the ego and you control the emotions. Control the

A Trader Searching For His Self

emotions and you control the decisions. Discover your “self” and you are in control of your ego; you are in control of your trading. As I said before the number will be what it will be. But you certainly will improve the odds by finding your “self”. I am still looking; please let me know if you find mine. I can be reached at HedgeFundLive.com. Thanks.


Stocks To Watch Tuesday - No Drinking, No Red Meat and No Ego

Range Bound Trading - Lets all relax for a few days

The Hedge Fund Live Collective intelligence has been on a roll. Up over $200,000 in the first 2 weeks of the year, we are in a zone. The market continues to move up, irrespective of the fact that so many believe it should pull in, or perhaps specifically because of that. As I have already stated in my year-end market prediction from my last blog, I will try to stick to the near term. What happens on Tuesday? I expect a shaky open. Within the first couple of hours we should see a 5 – 10 point sell off. Think of it as a “Relief Sell Off”, it exist simply to satisfy our need to know that we still can sell off. Perhaps it lasts the day. If it does, than I expect a number of failed rallies through out the day. Sometime over the first 2 days of the week we will have the first of what will be a series of upward tests at the 1300 level on the S&P. Getting confirmation of a sustainable rally above the 1300 level will take some time, and it should. This should set up for a few weeks of healthy range bound trading.

Tuesday though, marks a new chapter of my personal journey. I begin Yoga teacher certification training on Tuesday. I expect 3 of the most intense months ahead of me. I will spend every free moment with my family; otherwise I will be at the office or in the yoga studio. Good thing HedgeFundLive and the Yoga studio are the only two businesses in the building. I will arrive at the office at 7:30 am. Meditation till 7:50 am. Business and trading till 6:10pm. Tuesday night Yoga certification training 6:10pm to 10pm. every other night, regular scheduled class, 6:10pm to 7:30pm. Put in another hour of work wrapping up the business day. Home to see the family 8:30pm till my body gives out. The weekends will bring little relief. Actually every other weekend will bring the needed sanctuary, as I will be able to spend them with my wife and kids. The other weekends will be spent training. Sat 7am to 5pm. Sun 7am to 12pm. Sun 12pm to 5pm catch up on work. Sunday 5pm to Monday 6am catch up on sleep.

Traders start at a very early age

There are a number of other interesting twists to this journey. NO ALCHOHOL. Yes, you read it correctly. I will be dry for 3 months. I have always considered myself a functional alcoholic; I am concerned about being a dysfunctional non-alcoholic. I do not believe I have gone more than a week since junior year of college, without a drink. Maybe even 3 days, but I am concerned that this might turn off potential investors in the firm, so for now we will stick to a “week”. I am not even sure what I will be like sober for 3 months. I am not even sure how my Meds will work if I am not washing them down with a Cabernet, Jack Daniels, or a glass of Port. I once heard an MD at a major Wall Street firm tell me, “If drinking is interfering with your work, you’re probably a heavy drinker.  If work is interfering with your drinking, you’re probably an alcoholic.” I have always seen a bit of brilliance in this advice.

Next, NO RED MEAT. Yes, you read that correctly as well. I come from a long line of carnivores. I do not believe I have gone more

Traders start on meat at a very young age

that a week without a steak, veal chop or burger since I was a Bar-Mitzvah boy. If you include Cholent (a traditional meat stew:Jewish Tradition), it may even be 3 days at max……. Leo Tolstoy said “A man can live and be healthy without killing animals for food; therefore, if he eats meat, he participates in taking animal life merely for the sake of his appetite.” I was always under the impression that red meat was an essential ingredient for life sustenance. As the prolific modern day philosopher John Cleese has said, “If God did not intend for us to eat animals, then why did he make them out of meat?” No red meat will be quite the enlightening experience for me. There are a number of other major “NO NOs”, but lets jump right to the most interesting one for those who know me well.

NO EGO. Yes, that’s what I said, “No ego”. This is the one I am truly intrigued by. I was born with my ego. I can assure you I have not gone one hour, let alone a full day, without my good pal “Ego” helping me make daily decisions. I am now expected to say goodbye to my friend of 42 years. Go it alone, leaving “Ego” to fend for himself without

Trader's are born with their egos

my mind and body to carry out his every wish and desire. And I am expected to embrace my “Self”, to see beyond my perceived limitations. John Bradshaw, the acclaimed motivational speaker, said, “The Ego is to the true self what a flashlight is to a spotlight.”

This Tuesday will begin what will be an enlightened extreme experience. Expect enlightened blogs and enlightened trading. Stay tuned.


New Sizzle Reel with Jeremy Frommer in ‘Risky Money’

“Risky Money” Sizzle Reel

CHECK OUT THE NEWEST SIZZLE REEL OF JEREMY FROMMER IN ’RISKY MONEY’! :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2mpuT2HWjUE


The Wall Street Yogi: Day 1

Have we come too far too fast in the stock market? My answer is no. As many of you know, I am yoga practitioner, yogi, or as my family likes to say, I am simply a “granola yoga fanatic”. That said we are taught in yoga, that all is as it should be.  I believe this to be the case in all things in life. The Market has done exactly what I have thought it would. Refer back to my last 10 blogs. The question is not what we have done, but rather what will we do now. We had good earnings out of JPM and INTC. Companies have spent the last three years improving their margins and operating efficiencies. I have seen this in my past life as a CEO of a financial firm. The next step is increasing revenues. I hold to my year-end prediction of a 1275 close on the S&P cash. Or at least to within 10 handles of that number. We have approximately 52 trading days left in the year. The S&P opens this morning at 1170. That would imply that I am looking for another 100-point move out of the S&P. Aggressive, you might think. Well if we go up 8 handles a day every day; we will be up nearly 400 points from here. Clearly that is unlikely. Lets analyze my numbers more deeply. Call it 50 days of trading left for the year, and my expectation of 100 points more to gain, just to keep the math simple. That implies an average of 2 handles a day. Earnings season has just begun with a bang, but keep in mind that as we return to normal, the market will begin to trade on what it perceives the world will look like in 6 months, not today. If that is the case then a reasonable amount of the earnings season is factored into the market. I continue to believe that the November elections hold the key to a year-end rally that takes us to my expected year-end close. So what does all this mean strategically. It means that I will limit myself to mainly trading gaps up or down. As I expect an average of 2 points a day, a gain of 10 points this morning compels me to short the market, and I have. A gap down of similar size would compel me to buy the market. Any thing between creates the same opportunities just on smaller size. Trades need to be quick and built upon only if they move in your desired direction. Trades that are working gets added into. Averaging down or up is a poor strategy for this environment. This could change by mid November and as such over the next couple of weeks, I will look to slowly building a book that will culminate with my appropriate max amount invested by mid November. Remember, everything is as it should be. Once you believe this, then you can trade comfortably with what the new day provides. Long term I am optimistic. But the environment for big bets has passed quickly. There have been 4 months of opportunity for that trade where the risk reward made it worth a larger bet. But that time has passed. It will come again, but it is not today. Tread carefully, trade the extremes and slowly build into a portfolio of names you fundamentally believe in. Everything that has past has come to provide us with the present. We have not come too far too fast, and we will not go too far too fast. Namaste.

The Wall Street Yogi


Striking a Balance

“Everything is perfect, and you are exactly where you should be,” the robed yoga instructor hummed at the conclusion of class.  As the students consumed a deep breath they could feel a shared wave of relief at the yogi’s soothing words.  Every day, our business manifests a new set of challenges, complications, and setbacks.  Working simultaneously on managing a long/short portfolio, constructing a state of the art website, and creating meaningful content often becomes overwhelming.  Through our practice of yoga we are able to put the daily challenges of running a business within a greater context to provide perspective.  By stepping outside of the hectic office environment and into the tranquility of the studio, we are able to clear our minds and gain perspective on the true extent of our problems.  Our practice allows us to achieve the balance necessary to overcome our problems and continue along on our journey.