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Recipe for catching a reversal:

recipesIngredients: For this recipe you will need one (1) well-known or “classic” technical chart pattern on a daily time frame, preferably near the high or low of the mid-term price range. When your pattern of choice has been observed, you will then need to collect at least two (2) or more instances of public expressions of sentiment which confirm the prognostication of said pattern: pre- or post-market media bytes, business news website headlines, confident/fearful declarations on your favorite trading forum, or any other variety of before-the-fact assumption.

Preparation: When the above ingredients have been secured, wait for a daily close which would confirm “ripeness” of the pattern. Next morning, enter a stop order at the confirmation price in the opposite direction of pattern breakout to initiate position. If stop is triggered, immediately enter protective stop at prior low/high.

Parboiling: If market moves quickly in your favor, take profits on at least a partial portion; mentally “set aside” closed profit for re-entry if market pulls back towards initial entry price with next few days. If pullback manages to hold above prior high/low, re-enter full position at your discretion.

Cooking: Set protective stop for entire position at breakeven and let sit undisturbed for a few days or more if possible.

Presentation: Dish is ready when “failure” point of pattern is breached; serve at market or with trailing stop, whichever you prefer.

Trading Emotions


Confidence Without confidence it is not possible to achieve much in other streams of life. In the equity markets, it is doubly true. If you lack in self-confidence, doubts may creep up in your mind. This may lead to indecision, which in turn lead to missed opportunities and losses. For day-trading and short interval trades, confidence is of utmost importance.On the other hand, on down days be careful. In many instances, you may be tempted to book small profits just to make your day balance sheet look pretty. This is not the issue. When you are faced with loss-making trades sooner or later, that same daily balance sheet will not look pretty at all.Never be far away from the correct principles of trading no matter what your mind is tempted to think. It is just too painful to reinvent the wheel.
Discipline
In order to be a successful investor/trader, you must be very disciplined. Stick to the plan of action. This means that you will stick to trading policies, trading plans and so on. Know your objective and work accordingly.
Ideas
Do not seek to implement new ideas that come all the time during markets. Remember, ideas are just ideas. If you feel there is value in them, they have to be thought about, refined, tested and then brought to the trading room. If you try to implement new ideas immediately to trading all you will do is to erode capital and confidence.
Hope
Do not allow hope to loiter anywhere close to your trading system. Hope has the potential to do maximum damage to your capital.

Recipe for catching a reversal:

Ingredients: For this recipe you will need one (1) well-known or “classic” technical chart pattern on a daily time frame, preferably near the high or low of the mid-term price range. When your pattern of choice has been observed, you will then need to collect at least two (2) or more instances of public expressions of sentiment which confirm the prognostication of said pattern: pre- or post-market media bytes, business news website headlines, confident/fearful declarations on your favorite trading forum, or any other variety of before-the-fact assumption.

Preparation: When the above ingredients have been secured, wait for a daily close which would confirm “ripeness” of the pattern. Next morning, enter a stop order at the confirmation price in the opposite direction of pattern breakout to initiate position. If stop is triggered, immediately enter protective stop at prior low/high.

Parboiling: If market moves quickly in your favor, take profits on at least a partial portion; mentally “set aside” closed profit for re-entry if market pulls back towards initial entry price with next few days. If pullback manages to hold above prior high/low, re-enter full position at your discretion.

Cooking: Set protective stop for entire position at breakeven and let sit undisturbed for a few days or more if possible.

Presentation: Dish is ready when “failure” point of pattern is breached; serve at market or with trailing stop, whichever you prefer.

How to recognise self sabotage in your trading

Self-sabotage occurs in trading in many instances:

1) When you know you should follow the ten tasks of trading, but you don’t.
2) When you know you need to determine if your system will really work, but you just trade it anyway.
3) When you know you should develop a business plan for your trading, but somehow that just seems like too much work.
4) When you know you need to put a stop loss order in on a trade, but you don’t.

Hmm, guilty as charged. 

I have yet to hear anyone say, “I don’t make money picking stocks – I make money by cutting my losses short and letting my profits run. And more importantly, I meet my investment objectives through the judicious use of position sizing.”So, less focus on the system – more focus on self and self discipline.

6 Stages Of A Trader

Very interesting description of how traders evolve over time. The pieces of advice Bo Yoder andVadym Graifer give at the end of the article are spot on. Definitely worth reading as every trader worth his salt can relate to all the different stages. Enjoy.
Stages of a Trader
Stage One: The Mystification Stage (by Bo Yoder)
This is where the neophyte trader begins. He has little or no understanding of market structure. He has no concept of the interrelationship among markets, much less between markets and the economy. Price charts are a meaningless mish-mash of colored lines and squiggles that look more like a painting from the MOMA than anything that contains information. Anyone who can make even a guess about price direction based on this tangle must be using black magic, or voodoo.
However, as one begins to observe, read, study, the mess may begin to resolve itself into something that may make sense. Sort of.
Stage Two: The Hot Pot Stage
You scan the markets every day. After a while (sometimes a good long while), you notice a particular phenomenon which pops up regularly and seems to “work” pretty well. You focus on this pattern. You begin to find more and more instances of it and all of them work! Your confidence in the pattern grows and you decide to take it the very next time it appears. You take it, and almost immediately your stop is hit, and you’re underwater for the total amount of your stop-loss.
So you back off and study this pattern further. And the very next time it appears, it works. And again. And yet again. So you decide to try again. And you take the full hit on your stoploss.
Practically everyone goes through this, but few understand that this is all part of the win-lose cycle. They do not yet understand that loss is an inevitable part of any system/strategy/method/whathaveyou, that is, there is no such thing as a 100% win approach. When they gauge the success of a particular pattern or setup, they get caught up in the win cycle. They don’t wait for the “lose” cycle to see how long it lasts or what the win/lose pattern is. Instead, they keep touching the pot and getting burned, never understanding that it’s not the pot (pattern/setup) that’s the problem, but a failure on their part to understand that it’s the heat from the stove (the market) that they’re paying no attention to whatsoever. So instead of trying to understand the nature of thermal transfer (the market), they avoid the pot (the pattern), moving on to another pattern/setup without bothering to find out whether or not the stove is on. (more…)

Recipe for catching a reversal:

sexy-chef
Ingredients: For this recipe you will need one (1) well-known or “classic” technical chart pattern on a daily time frame, preferably near the high or low of the mid-term price range. When your pattern of choice has been observed, you will then need to collect at least two (2) or more instances of public expressions of sentiment which confirm the prognostication of said pattern: pre- or post-market media bytes, business news website headlines, confident/fearful declarations on your favorite trading forum, or any other variety of before-the-fact assumption.
Preparation: When the above ingredients have been secured, wait for a daily close which would confirm “ripeness” of the pattern. Next morning, enter a stop order at the confirmation price in the opposite direction of pattern breakout to initiate position. If stop is triggered, immediately enter protective stop at prior low/high.
Parboiling: If market moves quickly in your favor, take profits on at least a partial portion; mentally “set aside” closed profit for re-entry if market pulls back towards initial entry price with next few days. If pullback manages to hold above prior high/low, re-enter full position at your discretion. (more…)

Importance of money management

In Jack Schwager’s book Market Wizards, Schwager interviewed some of the world’s top traders and investors, nearly all of whom emphasised the importance of money management. Here are a few of my favourite excerpts:

‘Risk management is the most important thing to be well understood. Undertrade, undertrade, undertrade is my second piece of advice.Whatever you think your position ought to be, cut it at least in half. ’-Bruce Kovner

‘Never risk more than 1% of your total equity in any one trade. By risking 1%, I am indifferent to any individual trade. Keeping your risk small and constant is absolutely critical.’ –Larry Hite

‘You have to minimize your losses and try to preserve capital for those very few instances where you can make a lot in a very short period of time. What you can’t afford to do is throw away your capital on suboptimal trades.’ –Richard Dennis

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