Weaving Through The Crowd

[TheBramble]

I had to go into London this morning and trying to navigate through a very busy Kings Cross I went into my normal 'weaving through the crowd' mode (no, not a persona, at least, I don't think it is).

Basically it just involves not making eye contact with anyone walking toward you either directly or at an angle or anyone to your side. You remain in peripheral vision and maintain an awareness of what's going on - but no direct focus.

Maintaining a regular and medium pace, (you don't want to 'bulldozer' your way through the crowd) you simply 'watch' (can't think of a better word) where the most crowd is OR where the most crowd not going in your general direction is - and you don't go there. You go somewhere else. It's almost like looking for 'cool' spots (open & free) and avoiding 'hot' spots (busy & muddled).

You'll notice (for those who don't already do something similar) people will halt, or break their stride or change direction to accommodate your progress - and they will look at you. But not aggressively or in any annoyed fashion - they are 'interested' in you because you are somehow a little different.

It was only coming back around lunch-time when I was doing the same thing on the same, albeit a slightly less busy concourse that I realised I was drawing an analogy between what I do in THAT circumstance and what I do to a large extent when I'm trading just price & volume.

I must stress - I'm still very much a Learner on the P&V only issue and still execute the majority of my trades using 'tried & tested' methodologies - but increasingly, I am getting more confidence wit the old P&V only side.

Anyhow, the reason for posting in this forum rather than in Lounge was that I've obviously been Socratized...weaving through the London crowds and thinking of analogies to trading...

We'll never be the same.

 

[c6ackp]

Absolutely Tony - I find my self doing the same sorts of things. When I was walking home from the station the other day I found myself looking for patterns, trends and entry/exist points along the tops of a line of distant trees! Must be time for a holiday

 

[blackcab]

Bramble - I've done that in crowds all my life, and have also compared it with trading. Same with driving only more so perhaps - I seem to have an knack for predicting which car in which lane on a motorway will change lane in the next few seconds, and seem to get it right most times, to the extent I base my driving on this 'sixth sense'. It's probably just being sensitive to tiny movements in the car about to switch, but when you point it out to passengers it does look slightly spooky. Maybe everyone does it.

I did advanced motorbike training for a while and found that I used what I learned there in other walks of life - looking far ahead, anticipating the behaviour of others, always having an exit if things go bad, etc. They too talk about different personae and get very Socratic in their thinking. It helps in not slamming into trees, too, which is good. Lots of parallels with trading there.

 

[trendie]

Ahhh, but did knowing the pattern of the heights of the trees help you in deciding whether the next tree in the line was going to be taller or shorter than its predecessor !

Absolutely Tony - I find my self doing the same sorts of things. When I was walking home from the station the other day I found myself looking for patterns, trends and entry/exist points along the tops of a line of distant trees! Must be time for a holiday

 

[sidinuk]

Sounds as though you all have 'Unagi" !

 

[TheBramble]

Sounds as though you all have 'Unagi" !

Japanese grilled eel???

 

[sidinuk]

"Alright, maybe it means that too....Unagi is a state of total awareness". Ross Geller.

 

[TheBramble]

...Or...deciding to not weave through a crowd...

...is another option...

You just sit on your hands until everyone has got off. Wait a few minutes. Then you have the platform to yourself and an half-empty carriage on the Piccadilly line.

I feel another metaphor coming on....

 

[henry766]

nice analogy, except that everyone else is doing the exact same thing , weaving and trying to make way through crowd, to take analogy further your not trying to weave way through crowd like everyone else , but predict which way crowd is gonna go, i.e. into town in morning and visa v

 

[TheBramble]

No, not really Henry. The crowd is doing what the crowd always does - making the best of it.

They're most definitely NOT thinking about the things we are talking about.

And I'm not 'trying to predict which way the crowd is gonna go' - I'm actually LOOKING at where the crowd IS and where they ARE going. Quite different - and IMO - the whole point of what I'm saying.

 

[henry766]

i'm not so sure , the other contributers to this thread have expressed an interest in weaving their way through the crowd , as i suspect most traders will express an interest in making a profit , not just making the best of it, as for the difference between "gonna go" and "where they ARE going" shows a subtle insight into semantics which is sadly lost on me !! anyways good luck with it

 

[TheBramble]

It's not such a subtle difference Henry. It's the meat of it.

Knowing where something IS is a whole lot more valuable than thinking you know where it's 'gonna go'.

This isn't semantics.

 

[henry766]

enough

 

[TheBramble]

Does that mean you've had enough of this discussion Henry?

Bit like weaving through a crowd, when you've got nowhere else to go you just have to stop. Haven't you.

 

[chump]

I don't know about crowds ,but I definitely agree with "Knowing where something IS is a whole lot more valuable than thinking you know where it's 'gonna go'."