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3 things that will kill your trading success.

Not having a plan. Get a plan, who cares if it is bad, start with something. You can build off of it and refine it. You have to be willing to spend the time to make the plan yours. You do not start anything without some level of planning. Trading is hard; your brain spends a lot of time in fast forward, affecting your memory. You can slow it down by having a plan and increase your brains ability to remember.

Thinking trading is easy. It is not, there are times when it can be slightly less difficult after a lot of time, patience, and hard work. When I think to myself “this is easy” I lose my sharpness. My focus is adverted from my goal. I will lose. It may not be on that trade but maybe the next.

Thinking you have finished. There is only one thing that every trade is guaranteed to give me: a chance to learn about myself, the market, and the interaction between the two. You have to be willing to be relentless in your learning. It will enable you to learn the cheapest.

Trading Rules

*The big money is made from position sizing. You really must stop chasing a holy Grail and spend time on different position sizing rules. This is the one “secret” that separates a professional from the man in the street.

*Question everything and everyone. Even me. Never blindly believe anything you read or hear about. Be careful about what you read and even more careful about what you believe in. after all an opinion is only some-ones belief.

*If you have to ask you shouldn’t be in. I can’t believe people actually ask other people whether they should hold or sell a stock position they are in. Surely before you enter you have your exits all in place. I’ll guarantee if you are asking this question you are not making money.

Book Review-Trading Beyond the Matrix-Great Book for Traders

Now ,This Book in our Library

1. Trading with the use of R Multiples. Risk a set amount per trade with the goal to make a minimum of three Rs for every one risked. If the trade is does not work out cut the loss at 1R.

2. Only trade if you have an edge, which is defined by only taking the very best trading opportunities, position sizing correctly, being in control of your feelings, and having a great risk to reward ratio, etc.

3. To be a successful trader you must know what your trading objectives are, how much do you want to make in a year? What percent of return are you looking for?

4. You need defined goals of whether you want to trade for a living, make a million dollars, or just trade for capital appreciation.

5. A primary goal of this book is to make the leap from trading our opinions about the markets to trading what is actually happening in the markets.

The power of this book is in the psychology and spiritual insights shared by both the author and many successful traders that share their journey with the reader with the chapters they wrote for this book. (more…)

The Richest People in History


When we think of wealth today, we often think of the massive personal fortunes of business magnates like Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, or Warren Buffett. However, it is only since the Industrial Revolution that measuring wealth by one’s bank account has been a norm for the world’s richest.
For most of recorded human history, in fact, the lines around wealth were quite blurred. Leaders like Augustus Caesar or Emperor Shenzong had absolute control of their empires – while bankers like Jakob Fogger and Cosimo de Medici were often found pulling the strings from behind.
This infographic focuses on the richest people in history up until the Industrial Revolution – and in the coming weeks, we will release a second version that covers wealth from then onwards (including figures like Andrew Carnegie, John D. Rockefeller, Jeff Bezos, etc.).

IS THIS LIST OF PEOPLE DEFINITIVE?

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Courage

Not all traders have the courage to stand up to their actions. It takes a lot of courage to deal with the fears a trader must overcome in his career. The first is the fear of success that is so common and is the most prevalent. We want success and are afraid of it at the same time too. As our account grows so does the fear of handling those amounts of money. Could you trade risking a bigger amount as the account grows? Sometimes we sabotage our own success as it puts us out of our comfort zone. Another aspect of the fear of success is the subconscious fear of not being able to sustain that success. Our ego is questioning our ability to avoid messing up and losing that prized status of a hero. Same holds true for a windfall success. We know we might be able to do it again but our ego says we will look bad if we cannot do it again. Professional Traders have developed the ability to methodically achieve success and the confidence to repeat it while reducing the odds of sabotaging themselves via their egos. Professional Traders know that trading is boring and is not full of fun and excitement. That is why they have the courage to give up the fun and excitement in exchange for trading capital preservation. They also have the courage to not become addicted to winning big all the time. They know there will be singles, doubles and losers along the way too. They have the courage to stay on the sidelines at times and miss trading opportunities. They also know when to get out of a trade bravely and have the courage to ask for help when needed. They have the courage to stick to their strategy, ask dumb questions, admit it when they are wrong and finally have the courage to trade for profit and not for pure excitement.