MISTAKE ONE
Lack of Knowledge and No Plan
It amazes us that some people expect to trade the stock market successfully without any effort. Yet if they want to take up golf, for example, they will happily take some lessons or at least read a book before heading out onto the course. (more…)
If you ever read any book on trading you would notice that every author our there talking about three most important things of successful trading and investing are:
Depending on the book one is reading one of those three are emphasized more or less. If you read book on technical analysis author will say that having edge is most important, and even if you have PhD in psychology if you don’t have proper edge you will not be able to make money.
If you read book on psychology again author will tell you that you can have best trading system on the world if you are not able to take signals you will not be successful trader and that you must make system that will suit your personality.
Finally if you read book on money management, author will tell you that even if you have best system in the world and having best discipline in the world if you risk too much of your capital on each trade you will probably ruin your account and the game will be over.
That post made me think about is it really like that, can we represent those three characteristic as pyramid. Is one more important than the other?
(more…)
Human emotion is both the source of opportunity in trading and the greatest challenge. Trade with an edge, manage risk, be consistent, and keep it simple. Good trading is not about being right, it’s about trading right. Trading with an edge is what separates the professionals from amateurs. Edges are found in the places between the battleground between buyers and sellers. Mature understanding of and respect of risk is the hallmark of the best traders. Ruin is the risk you should be concerned with the most. Don’t spent all your time admiring the fancy tools in the magazine. Keep it simple. Simple time-tested methods that are well executed will beat fancy complicated method every time. Trading with poor methods is like learning to juggle while standing in a rowboat during the storm. Sure, it can be done, but it is much easier to juggle when one is standing on a solid ground. Trading is not a sprint; it is boxing. The market will beat you up, screw with your head, and do anything it can to defeat you. But when the bell sounds at the end of the twelfth round, you must be standing in the ring in order to win. The market does not care how you feel. It will not prop up your ego or console you when you are down. |
1.Price is everything.
2. Ignore the news.
3. Buy a stock when it breaks out of a range.
4. Sell a stock when the trend changes.
5. Buy a stock when it makes a new high.
6. Short a stock when it makes a new low.
7. It’s harder to short stocks than it is to buy stocks.
8. Some stocks trend more than others.
9. Diversify when you can.
10. Ignore the whipsaws.
11. Don’t chase the market.
12. Let your winners run.
13. Cut your losses short.
14. A stock can always go higher and always go lower. (more…)
My favorite Nicolas Darvas quotes from the book on the subject of:
Discipline:
“I knew now that I had to keep rigidly to the system I had carved out for myself.”
Risk/Reward:
“I was successful in taking larger profits than losses in proportion to the amounts invested.”
Exiting profitable trades:
“I decided to let my stop-loss decide.”(Speaking on when to exit an up trending stock)
Bear Markets
“I also learned to stay out of bear markets unless my individual stocks remain in their boxes or advance.”
Technical Analysis versus Predictions
“I believe in analysis and not forecasting.”
Trading Psychology
“I became over-confident, and that is the most dangerous state of mind anyone can develop in the stock market.”
Risk Management
“I decided never again to risk more money than I could afford to lose without ruining myself.”
Fundamental Analysis
“All a company report and balance sheet can tell you is the past and the present. They cannot tell future.”
Trend Following
“I made up my mind to buy high and sell higher.”
The Market tells its own story best
I accepted everything for what it was-not what I wanted it to be.”
24 x 7x 366 Days
