Archives of “February 2019” month

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Top Ten Reasons Traders Lose Their Discipline

  
  Education
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discipline-a

Losing discipline is not a trading problem; it is the common result of a number of trading-related problems. Here are the most common sources of loss of discipline, culled from my work with traders:

10) Environmental distractions and boredom cause a lack of focus;

9) Fatigue and mental overload create a loss of concentration;

8) Overconfidence follows a string of successes;

7) Unwillingness to accept losses, leading to alterations of trade plans after the trade has gone into the red;
6) Loss of confidence in one’s trading plan/strategy because it has not been adequately tested and battle-tested;
5) Personality traits that lead to impulsivity and low frustration tolerance in stressful situations;
4) Situational performance pressures, such as trading slumps and increased personal expenses, that change how traders trade (putting P/L ahead of making good trades);
3) Trading positions that are excessive for the account size, created exaggerated P/L swings and emotional reactions;
2) Not having a clearly defined trading plan/strategy in the first place;
1) Trading a time frame, style, or market that does not match your talents, skills, risk tolerance, and personality.

Free Books :Related to Market

  
  Education
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Most of these books are courtesy of Gutenberg.org and have to be downloaded.
free_books_online
Hidden Treasures, or Why Some Succeed While Others Fail by Harry Lewis
“Successfull Stock Speculation” Butler
“The Tipster” Edwin Lefevre
“Reminiscences” Le Fevre
The Market-Place by Harold Ferderic
Twenty Eight Years in Wall Street by Henry Clews
The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin by Benjamin Franklin

Respect the Trend

  
  Education
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One of my favorite trading tales involves a very wise, veteran trader who, when asked his thoughts on the market, would simply respond by saying “It’s a bull market,” or “It’s a bear market.” Younger traders simply seeking out a hot tip from the seasoned pro would often leave discouraged – or even annoyed, believing they were being fed a line. JL himself didn’t understand until years later the wisdom that was actually being dispensed with those words: The veteran was simply relaying the path of least resistance, or the trend for the general market, and therefore giving the trader an incredible edge in determining one of the many variables that makes up stock trading.

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Traders should equate the general market to that of a big river with individuals stocks as floating logs. If ones objective was to ride in the general direction of the current, they would not stand on the bank looking for a log that was bucking that trend? Furthermore, even if they found one that temporarily headed in the wrong direction, more than likely it would only be a matter of time before the log reversed course and also headed in the way of all the other logs. (more…)

Learn from Turtle Trading

  
  Education
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“Good judgment comes from experience, and experience comes from bad judgment.” Barry Le Platner

All beginning traders lack one key ingredient for success: experience.  Experience is simply exposure to a particular activity over an extended period of time.  Good judgment is a by-product of experience and is necessary for success in all areas of life, from driving, cooking, golf, to surgery, etc, as well as, you guessed it, stock and options trading.  We can sum it up as follows:

EXPERIENCE = TIME + SPECIFIC ACTIVITY = GOOD JUDGMENT

Unfortunately, very few beginning traders have enough “education” money to succeed at trading because good judgment requires that a person remain focused on a specific activity long enough to draw sound conclusions.  In other words, good judgment is based on trust in the specific activity without doubting its overall effectiveness.  (more…)

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