Archives of “international trade” tag

rss

A Good Trade -One Liner

  
  Education
#  #  #  #  #  #  #  #
  • A good trade is based on your trading plan; a bad trade is based on emotions and beliefs.
  • A good trade is based on your own personal edge; a bad trade is based on your opinion.
    • “A trader should have no opinion.  The stronger your opinion, the harder it is to get out of a losing position.”  -Paul Rotter
  • A good trade is made using your own time frame; a bad trade changes timeframe due to a loss.
  • A good trade is made in reaction to current price reality; a bad trade is made based on personal judgment.
    • Your plans can make you money because you’re not trying go predict what will happen; you’re adjusting in real time to what is happening.
    • Always trade in the direction of the longer-term trend of your time frame where the easiest money is located.
  • A good trade is made after identifying and trading with the trend; a bad trade fights the trend.
    • “The answer to the question, ‘What’s the trend?’ is the question, ‘What’s your timeframe?”  -Richard Weissman
  • A good trade is made using the trading vehicles you are an expert in; a bad trade is when you trade unfamiliar markets.
    • In the markets you will see that money flows from those who have not done their homework to those who have”

IEA cuts 2014 global oil demand forecast by 60k to 1.29mbpd

  
  Education
#  #  #  #  #  #  #  #  #  #  #  #
  • Cuts 2014 forecast for non OPEC oil supply growth by 250k to 1.5mbpd
  • Lower Russian projections drive estimates lower
  • OPEC crude supply fell in March by 890k to 29.62mbpd on Iraq, Libya & Saudi
  • Says market balances indicate OPEC will need to raise output in second half of year
  • OECD commercial oil stocks fell by 6.5m in Feb to 2.567tn barrels

Brent crude has been looking slightly cheaper on the cut in demand forecast and the 108.30/50 level is still the level that needs to be broken for a push up. 

Appraising Your Trading Relationship To Pride

  
  Education
#  #  #  #  #  #

1.Does your self -esteem rise and fall with your latest trading ?

2.Have you ever taken a trade just to prove your ability as a trader ?

3.Do you brag about your winning trades to others ?

4.Do you try to hide your losing trades from others ?

5.Do you ever make up false stories about your trading to impress others ?

6.Do you worry about what other people think of you as a trader ?

7.Make an honest self-assessment of your trading.

8.Compliment yourself and give yourself credit when you do something right.

9.When you make a mistake or do something that doesn’t serve  your trading ,plan how you will correct this tomorrow or in the future.Say to Yourself ,”That’s not like me.I can do better.”

10.Notice your improvement and commit to doing better each day ,week ,month and Year.

TRADE WHAT IS NOT WHAT YOU THINK SHOULD BE

  
Analysis, Education
#  #  #  #  #  #

tradewhatis

Trade what is… for in doing so your trading is based on fact, substance and reality.  It provides clarity, confidence, manageability, and useful feedback for consistent success where appreciation for winning, and respect for losing, keeps you in the game.

Do not trade what you think should be….for in doing so your trading is based on egotism, a false sense of foresight, the desire for validation and approval, and the “win at all cost” mentality, which  leads to confusion, anxiety, anger, and despair…not to mention the inability to trade another day.

Focus on Trading Solutions

  
  Education
#  #  #  #  #
* How can I trade with discipline?
* How can I find the right places to enter trades?
* How can I manage risk better?
* How can I trade with confidence?
* How can I stick with my winning trades?
* How can I best prepare for the trading day?
* How can I decide the best stocks to be trading?
* How can I decide when I shouldn’t be trading?

Let’s turn those problem-focused questions into solution-focused ones:
* When have I been trading with good discipline? What do I do differently at those times?
* When have I executed trades well? What helped me find good prices for my entries?
* When have I done a good job managing the risk of a particular trade or a particular trading day? What did I draw upon to implement good risk management? (more…)

10 Mistakes -Done By 95% Traders

  
  Education
#  #  #  #  #  #  #
  1. Not honoring your original stops. Big losses make winning systems losing ones.
  2. Quit trading it during drawdowns. All systems have losing streaks, the key is to manage risk and stick to it until the system has time to play out with profits as the market becomes conducive to your system’s method.
  3. Lack of discipline, drifting from taking defined entries and exit signals to  your own opinions is hazardous.
  4. Trading too big, no system can survive huge positions sizing that makes the first string of losses the last.
  5. Style drift is deadly, slowly changing your trading system during active trades is not good. Research has to happen after hours when the market is closed and backtested before changes are made.
  6. If you can’t mentally and emotionally deal with the equity curve of your trading style then you can’t trade it long term. You can’t quite during losing streaks or get too excited during winning streaks.
  7. You have to believe that your method will work over the long term, confidence comes from research, backtesting, and homework.
  8. Don’t trade someone else’s system, build your own. Custom to fit who you are by using the principles that you believe in and work.
  9. Trading too big during losing streaks ruins the potential of winning, don’t try to get back the blood the market took from you instead try to stop the bleeding by trading smaller and smaller until a new winning streak emerges.
  10. Straying from the trading plan and making one big, bold, can’t miss trade and blow up all your previous profits. Don’t let greed make you do something stupid, stick to the plan.

SUN TZU’S ART OF WAR AND THE ART OF TRADING

  
Analysis, Education
#  #  #  #  #  #  #  #  #

This post will begin a new category specifically focused on the military principles of SUN TZU and their relevance for contemporary traders.  My goal is for you to find my interpretation of this 2500 year old military treatise as beneficial to your trading success as I have.

If you trade and study the market for a living as I do, or have a desire to do so,  I suggest you read SUN TZU’S ART OF WAR.  You can read the complete text here:

SUN TZU ON THE ART OF WAR: THE OLDEST MILITARY TREATISE IN THE WORLD

WHY SUN TZU?

Anyone who has attempted to trade the markets, and by markets I mean any number of financial instruments from oil futures, forex, equities, options, etc., has found out in short order how difficult trading can be. In fact, I would venture to say that trading is one of the most difficult endeavors any of us could ever attempt to master. It is estimated that only about ten percent of those who attempt to trade for a living ever succeed. The ten percent who do eventually succeed will most likely tell us that they lost a few fortunes along the way. It is hard emotionally, mentally, and physically. Only the strongest will survive on this battlefield and is the very reason we need the principles of Sun Tzu to help us along the way. 

Now you know the reason for my site’s motto:

TRADING IS WAR. PREPARE YOUR WEAPONS. (more…)

10 WAYS TO BE A TRADER NOT A GAMBLER

  
  Education
#  #  #  #
  1. Trade based on the probabilities NOT the potential profits.
  2. Trade small position sizes based on your account NEVER put your whole account at risk of ruin.
  3. Trade a plan NOT emotions.
  4. Always enter a trade with an edge that can be defined DO NOT trade with entries that are only opinions.
  5. Trade based on quantifiable facts NOT opinions.
  6. Trade after extensive research on what works and what does not. Don’t trade in ignorance.
  7. Trade with the correct position sizing since risk management is your number one priority and profits are secondary concern.
  8. Trade in a way that eliminates any chance of financial ruin NOT to get rich quick.
  9. Trade with discipline and focus DO NOT change the way you trade suddenly due to winning or losing streaks.
  10. Trade in the present moment and DO NOT get biased due to old wins or losses.

3 destructive habits every trader must avoid.

  
Analysis, Education
#  #  #  #  #  #  #  #

Three destructive habits that will kill your trading day, week, month, or career.

Not having a plan. Get a plan, who cares if it is bad, start with something. You can build off of it and refine it. You have to be willing to spend the time to make the plan yours. You do not start anything without some level of planning. Trading is hard; your brain spends a lot of time in fast forward, affecting your memory. You can slow it down by having a plan and increase your brains ability to remember.  A plan makes it possible to improve. Most importantly, a plan gives you a chance at removing emotion.

Forgetting why you are trading.  The purpose of trading is to make money.  Every action should bend to that goal. That does not mean every trade makes money.  It means every trade gets to closer. If you are looking for comfort, get a teddy bear. If you are looking to be right, play trivial pursuit.  If you want excitement, drive fast.

Letting it go. It is really important to separate what happened from how you felt. The more distance between the two the less time it takes to learn from that situation.  Admitting you made a mistake or are wrong are necessary for letting it go.  Unlike life, you get no credit for admitting you are wrong, it is just a part of trading. Neither matter unless you take action.

Managing the Mind to Stay in the Game

  
  Education
#  #  #  #  #  #  #  #  #  #
  • “The creation of bad trades is easy:  trade your opinion, trade big, don’t cut your losses, just hold on and hope.  Bad trades fight trends; they put out a lot money with the risk of making little.  The entry and exit signals for bad trades are hope and fear, with the ego stepping in and refusing to honor the stop loss.”
  • “Dramatic and emotional trading experiences tend to be negative; pride is a great banana peel, as are hope, fear, and greed.  My biggest slipups occurred shortly after I got emotionally involved with positions.”  -Ed Seykota
  • A good trade is taken with complete confidence and follows your trading method; a bad trade is taken on an opinion.
  • A good trade is taken with a disciplined entry and position size; a bad trade is taken to win back losses the market owes you.
  • “Ninety-five percent of the trading errors you are likely to make–causing the money to just evaporate before you eyes–will stem from you attitudes about being wrong, losing money, missing out, and leaving money on the table.”  -Mark Douglas
    • A loss is not when I lose money; it’s when I don’t follow my plan
    • Turn down the heat when you are getting smoked (pare back position size, trade smaller in a drawdown)
  • A good trade is taken when your entry parameters line up; a bad trade is taken out of fear of missing a move
  • A good trade is taken to be profitable in the context of your trading plan; a bad trade is taken out of greed to make a lot of money quickly.
  • A good trade is taken according to your trading plan; a bad trade is taken to inflate the ego.
  • A good trade is taken without regret or internal conflict; a bad trade is taken when a trader is double-minded.
Go to top