Comments on: You’re a trader and you don’t take cognitive enhancement drugs?!

By: uglychart.com: a blog about stocks » Blog Archive » Testostorone Levels and Trading

Wed, 16 Apr 2008 18:33:49 +0000

[...] You use your brain for trading and it is part of your body, so the chemicals in your body are going to have an effect on your trading. That is why some traders take cognitive enhancement drugs. And that is why other traders program automated trading systems. This quote is funny: “maybe if more women and older men were trading, the markets would be more stable.” They also talk about the long-term negative effects of these hormones. [...]

By: Bradyn

Bradyn — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 18:28:44 +0000

Why is this news? So you’re saying taking a stimulant keeps you awake, more aware, working harder? So this is what Cambridge does. I need to apply. I got a study for them does smoking weed lead to junk food?

http://www.madnessletters.com

By: Keith Shepard

Keith Shepard — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 19:17:07 +0000

This is why I Swing Trade. No need for drugs when watching paint dry. Just coffee.

By: leroygardner3.com | finance | technology | more » Blog Archive » Performancing enhancing drugs…Mathlete edition

Thu, 27 Mar 2008 17:44:07 +0000

[...] This blog post over at Uglychart.com caught my eye in ye old feedreader today. Cognitive drug taking among intellectual capacity needing users. The original article is from the New York Times. Specifically it mentions a well known poker player whom used Adderall and another prescription drug to focus while earning ~2.3 Million dollars this past year playing. They also cite academicians; test takers and presentation planners, how far removed is it for a trader or analyst to be out popping these pills while preparing the deal book or otherwise. Anyone ask Jerome Kerviel about his stash?Image from nytimes.com, by Luci Gutiérrez [...]

By: Will

Will — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 13:36:32 +0000

“No Side Effects” — How about hypertension, stroke, thickening and stiffening of the cardiac muscle, and eventually if abused enough, fatal pulmonary hypertension?

(BTW, one of the original goals of studying sildenafil in the 90s was as a treatment for PH… but the men in the studies kept getting stiffies, and due to the potential market, the drug was redirected, instead of a PH drug with erectile side effects, into an erectile drug with vascular side effects, and the rest is history; it is also used for PH under the name “Revatio”… I got to be involved in some of the PH studies as a researcher in ‘02; imagine having 3500 100mg Viagra pills in your office at one time!)

Straight amphetamines (like Adderall which is a mixture of pure amphetamine/dextroamphetamine) and amphetamine analogues (methylphenidate or “Ritalin” and its many, many clones by other manufacturers and the various “diet pills” still on the market like phentermine) all do exactly what they say… grossly stimulate adrenergic receptors, and have all the effects of that stimulation. THIS NEWS IS OVER 50 YEARS OLD.

The fact that CNS stimulants improve concentration and performance is not new and has not been since WWII; it’s why military pilots on long missions, presidents and mad scientists did (and still do, in some circumstances) take them.

And the fact that powerful adrenergic stimulation, whether from a commercial drug promoted to your pediatrician by an airhead drug rep in a short skirt as “safe,” or whether from MDMA filtered through the trailer park neighbor’s coffee strainer, always have very predictable effects, both positive (short-term) and negative (long-term). There are plenty of 40-60 year-old women right now being diagnosed with cardiomyopathies who chronically took “diet pills” back in the day, and no one understands why their “heart is going bad, why, Dr, but I have no family history!”

Anyway, we’re adults, we have the right to choose. The good is true, but the bad is true as well. Pop an upper, have a great poker game. Take ‘em three times a day for many years, your poor old hereditary bad ticker will show up years early.

By: Ugly

Ugly — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 12:26:58 +0000

todd - yeah I have posted about Paul Phillips before.
dave - you are right, becoming psychotic is not a good thing. But imagine when they are able to create these drugs with no negative side-effects.
Paul - right now all I take is caffeine until I am convinced the other drugs have no side-effects.

By: Paul

Paul — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 11:22:06 +0000

Yes, 47 years ago I was in my 2nd year of College when I discovered SPEED. Wow!
Increase hours, Increase focus, Increase ability to learn milliseconds faster in everything I did. It had some negative effects. Addiction, a terrible “Down” which required reloading. In reading, today, this discussion of performance enhancing drugs, I wonder if they conquered the negatives. It would be a wonder drug, along with other new performance enhancing drugs - Testosterone, Viagra, etc. I’m always looking for a “bigger and better” feeling to make my day better!

By: Dave

Dave — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 06:17:13 +0000

Yea, except you can get addicted to medications like adderal/ritalin. Even in people with ADHD, they recommend drug holidays. In addition if you had a preexisting heart condition, the use of medical speed could kill ya. I’ve seen people become psychotic from chronic use as well.

By: todd

todd — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 03:44:11 +0000

Interesting NYTimes article. I was checking out one drug they mention in the article, Adderall. From Wikipedia I found this bit of information under the performance enhancing headline:
“Professional poker player Paul Phillips claimed that the use of Adderall and other medications prescribed to him for ADHD treatment made him a much better player and helped him earn more than $2.3 million in poker. The drugs improved his concentration during high-stakes tournaments, he said, allowing him to better track all the action at his table.” Kinda like watching 6 monitors and managing 6 trades at one time. Makes me want to visit my doctor, I think I might have ADHD!