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"into wishing." Your beliefs about yourself, unless controlled, will always want to make you believe that you are the most perceptive trader who ever existed. If your unconscious mind can convince your conscious mind to take action, then it will feel wonderful. Your unconscious mind will forget the dozens of losers those "gut hunches" generated (blaming it on other factors), and will remember the one or two winners.
So what exactly is intuition, and how can we become more intuitive? Intuition is increasingly recognized as a natural mental faculty. Intuition is a key element in discovery and problem solving. With the rise of computer power available to the general population, and to traders in particular, the belief that logical arguments and rational programs can be developed to win at the trading game is almost universal. All the books, seminars, and computer programs have so skewed the thinking of most traders that they believe the only possible way to generate consistent profits is by a rational, logical, and sensible trading methodology.
Psychological studies tell us that everything we perceive is an interpretive act. Our perception is influenced by our expectations, beliefs, and values. This is why one trader will say that sugar is in a bear market, and another trader looking at the same exact chart will say that the overall trend is bullish, and that it is only in a correction! For some of the great traders, intuition has done wonders. If reason and empirical observation have set the agenda for trading, and the trader's passion has provided the fuel to do the reasoning, then it is intuition that provides the creative spark of genius.
In the trading universe there are two types of outstanding traders. One type will build up a trading methodology slowly with painstakingly researched facts, much like the tiny marine animals build up a coral reef. The other type will also begin building a trading methodology with carefully researched facts. However, at some point these traders will make a leap of intuitive logic that allows them to soar like eagles.
When we hear or read about great traders, we are seeing the public view. We see the profits that they have made for themselves and/or their clients. We are seeing the final result, which is logical and orderly. We would not see all the false starts and dead ends, all the vague hunches that have been tested and sorted out. As a result, we would conclude that our research must be methodical and logical as well. This is a mistake, since it is our imagination and vague, intuitive thoughts that lead to the discovery of a great trading principle!
There is no logical method of obtaining new ideas. Every discovery about the market will contain an irrational element of creative intuition. All great problem solvers are able to make advances in their discipline by perceiving the

 
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