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How To Win At Day Trading

  
  Education
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winExit any trade that doesn’t go your way immediately

  • Forget about the commission, forget about how many hours you waited for the setup, forget everything except this rule. I know it’s radical, but just do it.Then YOU will be in control of the one factor that most traders don’t believe can be controlled – the downside outcome of the current trade you’re in.

Every trade starts out as a scalp until proven otherwise.

This means that if you get 2 or 3 ticks gain and the market pauses and moves a tick in the wrong direction, you get out immediately with 1 or 2 ticks gain…. No questions asked.

Metaphors and Similes

  
  Education
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Similes and metaphors play an important role in both the internal thought-process of a day trader as well as in communication between two traders.  To describe the emotional reactions coupled to the movement of a stock in likeness to a rollercoaster, or to compare averaging down in hopes of breaking even to digging one’s self out of a hole is to use simile to quickly illustrate a particular situation as clearly and succinctly as possible.  Every trader uses these analogies, each having his own favorites, and they are used to add structure to an environment that often lacks useful tools for explaining particular occurrences. 

Sports metaphors also play an important role in quickly passing information to another trader with a small chance for confusion.  Traders use base-hit as a metaphor to describe a solid but ultimately small-scale win in the market, and home run for when a trade is “out of the park”.  

Ultimately, metaphors and similes can be used by a trader to keep his mind in the right place, and maintain emotional control.  By metaphorically comparing trading to baseball or basketball, the Michael Jordan truism about never missing a shot he didn’t take or Babe Ruth’s statistical record for strikeouts helps the trader keep in the back of his mind the inalienable reality that he won’t get a hit every time he swings the bat.  (more…)

Ten Laws of Technical Trading

  
  Education
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1. Map the Trends

Study long-term charts. Begin a chart analysis with monthly and weekly charts spanning several years. A larger scale map of the market provides more visibility and a better long-term perspective on a market. Once the long-term has been established, then consult daily and intra-day charts. A short-term market view alone can often be deceptive. Even if you only trade the very short term, you will do better if you’re trading in the same direction as the intermediate and longer term trends.

2. Spot the Trend and Go With It

Determine the trend and follow it. Market trends come in many sizes – long-term, intermediate-term and short-term. First, determine which one you’re going to trade and use the appropriate chart. Make sure you trade in the direction of that trend. Buy dips if the trend is up. Sell rallies if the trend is down. If you’re trading the intermediate trend, use daily and weekly charts. If you’re day trading, use daily and intra-day charts. But in each case, let the longer range chart determine the trend, and then use the shorter term chart for timing.

3. Find the Low and High of It

Find support and resistance levels. The best place to buy a market is near support levels. That support is usually a previous reaction low. The best place to sell a market is near resistance levels. Resistance is usually a previous peak. After a resistance peak has been broken, it will usually provide support on subsequent pullbacks. In other words, the old “high” becomes the new low. In the same way, when a support level has been broken, it will usually produce selling on subsequent rallies – the old “low” can become the new “high.”

4. Know How Far to Backtrack

Measure percentage retracements. Market corrections up or down usually retrace a significant portion of the previous trend. You can measure the corrections in an existing trend in simple percentages. A fifty percent retracement of a prior trend is most common. A minimum retracement is usually one-third of the prior trend. The maximum retracement is usually two-thirds. Fibonacci retracements of 38% and 62% are also worth watching. During a pullback in an uptrend, therefore, initial buy points are in the 33-38% retracement area.

5. Draw the Line

Draw trend lines. Trend lines are one of the simplest and most effective charting tools. All you need is a straight edge and two points on the chart. Up trend lines are drawn along two successive lows. Down trend lines are drawn along two successive peaks. Prices will often pull back to trend lines before resuming their trend. The breaking of trend lines usually signals a change in trend. A valid trend line should be touched at least three times. The longer a trend line has been in effect, and the more times it has been tested, the more important it becomes. (more…)

Goal Setting

  
  Education
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Competitive goals can lead to burnout. Michael Jordan who is a compulsive competitor, exhausted himself in continually reinventing new ways to spark the fire in his enthusiasm.

Destination goals, such as, “I’ll get to this particular place by x date” tend to be difficult to maintain since the reward exist in the non-existent future.

Process goals, are increments of cumulative experiences that instantly offer rewards in the present of now. For example, when I first started day trading, I made no attempt to make a lot of money immediately. My immediate goal was to learn market dynamics without suffering major financial losses.

I convinced myself that once I learned how to not loose money, probability favors my chances of starting to make money!.

This approach allowed me to (1) maintain my self-confidence, (2) stay in the game without capital blow-out, (3) develop a non-emotional response to rapid fire decision making, (4) handle small draw down with minimum psychological upheaval, (5) visualize the feeling that I will be doing this for the next 50 years, and (6) secure the knowledge that my journey was a life long commitment to learning.

I believe it is good to set smaller challenges that generate rewards in the present and not in the non-existant future and let the long term goal of consistence of profit flow naturally from a great set of process actions, such as system design, indicator design, system testing, placement of trades, etc.

“It is the very foundation of strategy to be able to adapt to any situation and continue fighting without losing heart. You gain this ability by practicing day in and day out with intensity.”
–Miyamoto Musashi

10 Type of Traders.Which are You ?

  
  Education
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In the markets there are many different types of traders and many motivations that drive them.  Everyone has heard of  different types of traders based on their trading method: Swing Traders, Day Traders, Momentum Traders, etc. But what about different types of traders based on their psychology, their very purpose?  Some trade for fun and excitement, others trade purely for ego. Other love the game and still others are in it only to make money. In the greatest game on earth it is surprising that many traders have different motivations, in reality the only correct motivation is to make money, that should be the real goal of any trader. Here are a list of ten types of traders I have observed on social media. We have all likely been more than one of these types at some time or another while trading. But we need to focus like a laser on the only real reason we should be trading: to make money and once we have made it, to keep it.

  1. Greedy Traders: They trade too big and risk too much because their only goal is the easy money.
  2. New Traders: They have no idea how the markets work so their only goal is knowledge.
  3. Arrogant Traders: Their only goal is to prove they are right and satisfy their fragile egos.
  4. Trend Traders: Their only goal is to ride a trend and make money.
  5. Scared Traders: Their only goal is to not lose their capital.
  6. Perma-Bull Traders: Their only goal is to go long stocks.
  7. Perma-Bear Traders: Their only goal is to short stocks.
  8. Prophet Traders: Their only goal is to rightly predict market movement then let everyone know they did.
  9. Paper Traders: They love the market and study more than anyone but never quite make the plunge into real trading.
  10. Rich Traders: Their only goal is to consistently make money and grow their capital over the long term.

Which are you?

Overcoming the Fear of Loss in Trading

  
  Education
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The fear of “pulling the trigger” stems mainly from the fear of loss. That same fear is responsible for 3 major actions or inactions that destroy traders:

  1. Cutting winners short. You take what you can and fear that if you don’t grab whatever small gains you have now, they would disappear.
  2. Keeping losers. You don’t dare to actualize your losses and hope that the trade will turn around.
  3. Unable to take every valid trade setup. You don’t dare to pull the trigger because you have associated the intense negative emotions of losing or the possibility of losing with being in a trade, so you escape from experiencing those feelings by not entering into a trade.

Psychology was never an issue when I was swing trading stocks, but has now become a major stumbling block when I am trading intraday futures. Hence I have just started to look into this.

All three psychologists mentioned the need to trade small. Other advice include doing visualization exercises, mindfulness exercises, and looking at the bigger picture.

I also found two resources with mindfulness training and a related webinar, links below.

Dr Brett Steenbarger

  • If it is due to lack of confidence in the system, back test and/or paper trade the system.
  • If it is due to fear of loss (Steenbarger calls it performance anxiety), do visualization exercises where you picture yourself in the stressful situation but doing the right thing and keeping yourself in the right frame of mind. Also paper trade and trade small. (more…)

John Murphy’s Ten Laws of Technical Trading

  
  Education
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Which way is the market moving? How far up or down will it go? And when will it go the other way? These are the basic concerns of the technical analyst. Behind the charts and graphs and mathematical formulas used to analyze market trends are some basic concepts that apply to most of the theories employed by today’s technical analysts.”

The following are John’s ten most important rules of technical trading:

• Map the Trends
• Spot the Trend and Go With It
• Find the Low and High of It
• Know How Far to Backtrack
• Draw the Line
• Follow That Average
• Learn the Turns
• Know the Warning Signs
• Trend or Not a Trend?
• Know the Confirming Signs

Note: All of the following is the work of John Murphy (not me) (more…)

According To Psychologists : 20 Facts -Why Traders Lose Money in Market ?

  
  Education
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  1. Men trade more than women. And unmarried men trade more than married men. 5
  2. Poor, young men, who live in urban areas and belong to specific minority groups invest more in stocks with lottery-type features. 5
  3. Within each income group, gamblers under perform non-gamblers. 4
  4. Investors tend to sell winning investments while holding on to their losing investments. 6
  5. Trading in Taiwan dropped by about 25% when a lottery was introduced in April 2002. 7
  6. During periods with unusually large lottery jackpot, individual investor trading declines. 8
  7. Investors are more likely to repurchase a stock that they previously sold for a profit than one previously sold for a loss. 9
  8. An increase in search frequency [in a specific instrument] predicts higher returns in the following two weeks. 10
  9. Individual investors trade more actively when their most recent trades were successful.11
  10. Traders don’t learn about trading. “Trading to learn” is no more rational or profitable than playing roulette to learn for the individual investor.

(more…)

18 -Wisdom One Liners for Traders

  
  Education
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1. You will be tested mentally and emotionally this is not for the weak minded.

 2. Master Traders are detached emotionally from profit or loss. 

3. Boredom is the enemy of the master opportunist.

4. Haste is the enemy of great entry points.

5. Doubt is often followed by a lost opportunity.

6. The Trend will give you direction on your path.

 7. Having an exit strategy prevents unnecessary pain.

8. The laws of probability give strength to your fingers.

 9. Going against momentum brings forth the fools reward. 

10. Better the bad trade that is unrewarding. 

11. Habit is built on the principles of probability.


12. Know your exit point in the worst case scenario first.
13. The master trader is an escape artist.
14. When one knows the present they master the futures.

15. Set realistic goals and let the good times role.


16. A loss can be turned into a win when one is swift.
17. A master in day trading trades in an egoless state.

 18. Times of great probability are like diamonds falling from the sky.

How To Reduce The Effects of GREED?- 6 Points

  
  Education
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  • Trade Small: If you are a beginner, trading a small account can be a worthwhile exercise. Use small position sizes and manage risk fiercely. Many traders get into trouble when they haven’t considered risk exposure while taking positions that are too large for their accounts.
  • Expect to Lose: Be prepared to lose when you enter a trade and DEFINE how much you are ready to lose. Don’t panic and change your mind if the market reaches that point.
  • Plan to WIN: Likewise, DETERMINE the amount of profit that is enough to quench your Greed Buds.
  • Time Horizon: Trade with short time horizon. Even if you are not an intraday trader, a shorter-term viewpoint in today’s volatile market environment gives a quick feedback about your analysis and can decrease the time you are exposed to the unpredictable marketplace.
  • Scared Money Never Wins: Trade only with money you can afford to lose that is less important and not significant enough to be protected. Treat your money well and trade well.
  • Nothing Ventured, Nothing Gained:  Be a little greedy! If you don’t trade, you are engulfed by fear. Come up with a trading style that cuts down the influence of greed and fear and is easy for you.
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