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TRADING MANTRA'S

trading-mantrasEven the best traders in the market have trading sessions that are less than optimal.  Human nature dictates that we make mistakes, and trading the stock market is no exception.  Subsequently, there is always room for improvement, whether you are a novice trader or a seasoned veteran. 

  1. Stick to Your Guns – Don’t try to run from the market.  The only way to boost trading profits is to stay in the game and keep trading.  Running from the trades and the action will keep you out of the market, whether it is hot or cold.  Sticking to your trading plan and enacting trading discipline are the keys to producing profits.

 

  1. Set Stop Losses and Take Profits – “Set and forget” trading is generally profitable.  When you place each trade, remember to place your exit and stop loss, and then let the market be your guide.  Have a preset limit of how much you’re willing to win and how much you can lose.  Technical analysis will tell you the best price for selling (near resistance) and the best place for buying (near support).  Support and resistance points are the best places to put limit orders. (more…)

Consistency is the Key

Consistency is an essential component for a successful trading career. This is how you achieve confidence and become comfortable with “riding a trading bike”.

Psychological comfort is the key to a long term trading career and is achieved by becoming consistent with small profits. If you can make consistent $ per day: it can be increased drastically within a year and become exponential in long term.

When I hear from students that their goal is ”to make a lot of money“, I always emphasize that there are few essential steps that must be achieved prior : building confidence by achieving consistency with small lot size is the step that cannot be skipped. (more…)

"6 Skills For Traders"

Whether it is day trading, scalping, or investing,there are fundamental skills that each trader should master. Skill-building activities will help you sharpen your ability to make money and cash in on critical market movements.
1. Don’t Be a Perfectionist
Consistent profits are achieved from winning more than you lose – not winning every single trade.There are plenty of professional traders who generate profits by winning just 10% of their trades by maximizing gains and minimizing their losses.
2. Stick to a Trading Plan
Developing a trading plan is extremely important.Day trading around your own set plan for each position will produce consistent profits. A trading plan planner should be your best friend when developing your own trading
style. The key is sticking to what you’ve written down on paper.
3. Know the Odds
You should know the payoff odds for each trade that you take.Scalping produces large gains from small movements with higher risk than swing trading. Your trading plan should include a way to regulate how much capital you’re willing to risk on each position – but you should never risk more than 2% of your total account value. (more…)

Trader Vic’s Principles of Trading

It’s a helpful book to return to when market conditions get tough. A great place to start is Vic’s “business philosophy,” as encapsulated in three rules:

1. Preservation of Capital

2. Consistent Profitability

3. Superior Returns

Below is Sperandeo in his own words:

 Preservation of Capital

Preservation of capital is the cornerstone of my business philosophy. This means that, in considering any potential market involvement, risk is my primeconcern. Before asking, “What personal profit can I realize?”, I first ask, “What potential loss can I suffer?”
…There is one, and only one, valid question for an investor to ask: “Have I made money?” The best insurance that the answer will always be “Yes!” is to consistently speculate or invest only when the odds are decidedly in your favor, which means keeping risk at a minimum.

Consistent Profitability

Obviously, the markets aren’t always at or near tops or bottoms. Generally speaking, a good speculator or investor should be able to capture between 60 and 80% of the long-term price trend (whether up or down) between bull market tops and bear market bottoms in any market. This is the period when the focus should be on making consistent profits with low risk.
…Anyone who enters the financial markets expecting to be right on most of their trades is in for a rude awakening. If you think about it, it’s a lot like hitting a baseball — the best players only get hits 30 to 40% of the time. But a good player knows that the hits usually help a lot more than the strikeouts hurt. The reward is greater than the risk.

Pursuit of Superior Returns

As profits accrue, I apply the same reasoning but take the process a step further to the pursuit of superior returns. If, and only if, a level of profits exists to justify aggressive risk, then I will take on a higher risk to produce greater percentage returns on capital. This does not mean that I change my risk/reward criteria; it means that I increase the size of my positions.

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