Smart drugs for discretionary traders

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superfrank
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I just watched the Newsnight report on smart drugs that have been proved to improve cognitive performance (specifically Modafinil which can be bought online).

So would you, or does anyone, use them?!
gnorwell
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Joined: Thu Apr 30, 2009 3:27 pm

Have a look at this report from university stude nts who tried it.

http://www.nouse.co.uk/2009/06/30/modaf ... nder-drug/

Cheers,
G
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CaerMyrddin
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I can tell tell I don't!
Iron
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When I started reading the article, I was actually tempted to ask my doctor for a prescription!

But then I read this, which put me off:

“With a Friday psychology exam looming, she stayed awake nearly sixty hours, sleeping for just four. She aced the exam, it’s true, but later in the evening she fainted from exhaustion and woke up blind. It took the longest two minutes of all our lives for her eyesight to return fully, and she developed shakes like I’ve never seen, which we couldn’t stop. She was fine the next morning, but it’s still a powerful warning”.

Jeff
gnorwell wrote:Have a look at this report from university stude nts who tried it.

http://www.nouse.co.uk/2009/06/30/modaf ... nder-drug/

Cheers,
G
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to75ne
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be handy if you wished to trade round the clock over several days in that it helps keep you awake. but would they actually do anything to improve trading?

the biggest problem that people seem to have is discipline, not lack of understanding the "mechanics" of trading.

these pills dont seem to do anything about discilpline.
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Euler
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to75ne wrote:these pills dont seem to do anything about discilpline.
:lol:

Everynow and again I've traded 24 hours without rest, but also without drugs. I'd be the perfect test candidate.

I've learnt over many years I can go on for ages as long as I keep active. If I rest for any period of time I'll doze off quickly.
Last edited by Euler on Thu Nov 10, 2011 12:35 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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superfrank
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Do cognitive-enhancing drugs work?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-15600900
On impulsivity, I was more controlled. And on one memory recognition task, where I had to recall patterns at the end of the test that I had seen at the beginning, my score went up from 8/10 to 9/10 - a 10% absolute increase in the score.

Here's how neurologist James Rowe summed up the findings. "What we've seen today, taking modafinil, is some very striking improvements… in memory and, for example, your planning abilities and on impulsivity."
sounds like they could help with discipline!
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to75ne
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just read that frank and googled modafinil. you can buy 10 tablets for £25 plus £3 postage and packing on line.
all we need is someone who lacks discipline in trading to give it go. :?

seriously staying awake for 30 plus hours cant possibly be good for you in the long run. adequate amounts of sleep are vital to stay healthy (physically and mentally)
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Euler
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I've always viewed sleep as an important function else nature wouldn't require it! You know death is bloody annoying, but when you think about it; not many species have survived without it!
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superfrank
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to75ne wrote:just read that frank and googled modafinil. you can buy 10 tablets for £25 plus £3 postage and packing on line.
all we need is someone who lacks discipline in trading to give it go. :?

seriously staying awake for 30 plus hours cant possibly be good for you in the long run. adequate amounts of sleep are vital to stay healthy (physically and mentally)
i think one should try everything once! i might give them a go!
discipline has always been my achilles heel, i'm pretty disciplined at financial trading but i do sometimes get caught up in the heat of the moment on the horses (it's got much better, but i know i've still got some recklessness in me). is that just me?

i agree about sleep... 'wouldn't use it to stay awake.
Zenyatta
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Euler wrote:I've always viewed sleep as an important function else nature wouldn't require it! You know death is bloody annoying, but when you think about it; not many species have survived without it!
Sleep, Aging, Disease, Death etc, all these things are getting in the way of our personal development. We need to get rid of all of them.
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superfrank
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You have done something to your brain. You have made it high. If I lay 10 mils of diazepam on you, it will do something else to your brain. You will make it low. Why trust one drug and not the other? That's politics, innit?
Danny, Withnail & I
(one of the best British films ever made http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Withnail_and_I).
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to75ne
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superfrank wrote: i think one should try everything once! i might give them a go!
discipline has always been my achilles heel, i'm pretty disciplined at financial trading but i do sometimes get caught up in the heat of the moment on the horses (it's got much better, but i know i've still got some recklessness in me). is that just me?
.
if you do try these pills. let someone know who is sensible just in case you have a bad reaction. let someone check up on you periodically once you have taken the thing.

as for discipline i personally think its just emotions you have little control over that are in charge of your mind at any given time.

the only way i have found that is successful (for me), is to be aware of what causes you as individual to take silly risks, and then avoid getting into a situation where your emotions can get the upper hand, either using ba's features to automatically perform some action and or, you sense/feel you are "slipping" or the market is "shaped" in such a way that it is likely to "trigger" an emotion that will cause you to act in a stupid way.
Iron
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to75ne wrote:just read that frank and googled modafinil. you can buy 10 tablets for £25 plus £3 postage and packing on line.
Personally, I wouldn't...

You hear about people buying prescription drugs online, and ending up taking something that makes them sterile or lose their hair!

Jeff
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to75ne
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Ferru123 wrote:
to75ne wrote:just read that frank and googled modafinil. you can buy 10 tablets for £25 plus £3 postage and packing on line.
Personally, I wouldn't...

You hear about people buying prescription drugs online, and ending up taking something that makes them sterile or lose their hair!

Jeff
100% in agreement.
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