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5 Points for Discretionary Traders

  
  Education
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1)  A discipline of pre-market preparation:  All emphasize the importance of process and preparation: sticking to what you do best and being prepared for fresh opportunity–and threat–each market day.

2)  Selectivity:  All have some methods for screening stocks and focusing on a core group that offer opportunity.  Often, these screens focus on stocks that are trading actively, that show good movement, and that are setting up for directional price moves because of earnings reports, breakout patterns, etc.

3)  Patience:  This follows from the first two.  The experienced traders emphasize risk management and waiting for high quality trades, rather than overtrading.  All stress understanding the current market environment and adapting to it.

4)  Diversification:  These traders don’t focus on one or two opportunities, but look at a range of promising shares and setups and trade more than one thing at a time.  All the proverbial eggs are not in one basket.

5)  Simplicity:  My sense is that the traders are focused on understanding what is happening now, not predicting what will happen in the future.  If I had to guess, I’d say that they are talented in detecting the flow of activity in and out of shares and are riding moves as they are getting under way.  They don’t appear to be researching deep value and holding for long periods to wait for that value to be realized.

Why 90 % Traders Lose Money ?Read These 20 points

  
  Education
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  1. They risk too much to try to make so little.

  2. They trade with the probabilities against them.
  3. They think trading is easy money.
  4. Instead of focusing on learning how to trade they focus on getting rich.
  5. They blow up due to improper position sizing.
  6. With no understanding of the mathematical risk of ruin they are doomed after the first long string of losing trades.
  7. Blindly following a guru that leads them down the road of destruction.
  8. They don’t do their homework.
  9. They trade opinions not robust systems.
  10. They go looking for ‘trades’ instead of a methodology. (more…)

5 Trading Lessons-Must Read

  
  Education
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  • Most of the time, markets are very close to efficient (in the academic sense of the word.) This means that most of the time, price movement is random and we have no reason, from a technical perspective, to be involved in those markets.five--
  • There are, however, repeatable patterns in prices. This is the good news; it means we can make money using technical tools to trade.
  • The biases and statistical edges provided by these patterns are very, very small. This is the bad news; it means that it is exceedingly difficult to make money trading. We must be able to identify those points where markets are something a little “less than random” and where there might be a statistical edge present, and then put on trades in very competitive markets.
  • Technical trading is nothing more than a statistical game. The parallels to gambling and other games of chance are very, very close. A technical trader simply identifies the patterns where an edge might be present, takes the correct position at the correct time, and manages the risk in the trade. This is, of course, a very simplified summary of the trading process, but it is useful to see things from this perspective. This is the essence of trading: find the pattern, put on the trade, manage the risk, and take profits.
  • Because all we are doing is playing the small edges as they occur in the markets, it is important to be utterly consistent in every aspect of our trading. Many markets have gotten harder (i.e. more efficient, more of the time) over the past decade and things that once worked no longer work. Iron discipline is a key component of successful trading. If you are not disciplined every time, every moment of your interaction with the market, do not say you are disciplined.

5 Characteristics of less Successful Traders

  
  Education
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1) The less successful traders are anticipating market movement and trading accordingly. The highly successful traders are identifying asset class mispricings and trading off those.

2) The less successful traders are trading particular instruments and pretty much stick to those. The highly successful traders recognize that any combination of trading instruments can be considered an asset class and appropriately priced (and gauged for mispricing).

3) The less successful traders think of their market as *the* market. The highly successful traders focus on interrelationships among markets that cut across nationalities and asset classes.
4) The highly successful traders place just as much emphasis on understanding markets as predicting them. The less successful traders don’t ask “why” questions.

5) The less successful traders are convinced they have proprietary information of value that they must not disclose to anyone. The highly successful traders use their proprietary information to selectively share with other highly successful participants, thereby gaining a large informational edge.

If I had to use one phrase to capture the essence of the highly successful traders, it would be analytical creativity. These traders are creative in their thinking about markets and rigorous in their pursuit of this creativity.

Markets: They Trend, They Flow, They Surprise

  
  Education
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Markets go up, down, and sideways. They trend. They flow. They surprise. Have markets changed? Not only have markets changed, they will continue to change. Check your history books. If you have a valid market philosophy, learning to accept that change and flow with it is your greatest asset. No matter how ridiculous market moves appear at the beginning, and no matter how extended or irrational they seem at the end, following trends is the rational choice in a chaotic, changing world.

That thinking leaves trend followers as generalists when it comes to their trading strategy and that’s not easy to accept for many. The dominant trend within universities is ever-narrower specialization. A higher premium is placed on deep knowledge within a single field (read: fundamental expertise in one market), versus broad wisdom across multiple fronts.3

For example, one trend following practitioner started trading trends in 1974—making hundreds of millions in profits and perhaps billions for clients. The major strategic elements of his trend following trading systems have never changed. He was blunt: “The markets are just the markets. I know that is unusual sounding.” (more…)

The best investors (and traders) are modest

  
  Education
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Let’s face it you suck at investing. Your advisor sucks at investing too.  You have all seen where monkeys picking stocks or throwing darts at a list can do better than many if not all advisors.

But Quartz is out with their annual analysis of just how bad you suck at this game.  If you had picked the best stock to buy every day you could have turned $1000 into $179 billion by mid December. That is a 17.9 billion percent return.

Did you even get a 1 billion percent return? How about 1 million percent? 1000%? 100%? If you did not hit a 100% return then you did not get even 4/10 millionths of what was out there. Translation: You suck at stock picking. People like Jack Bogle will use this type of data to tell you that you are wasting your time even trying and that you should just index your portfolio.

Coincidentally he runs a few dollars in an index fund. I find it more interesting when some manager makes a killing and convinces themselves that they are geniuses. No one in this game is a genius. 100% return sucks remember? (more…)

Ed Easterling’s 12 Rules of Market Cycles

  
  Education
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Here are Ed Easterling’s 12 Rules of Market Cycles:

1. Secular cycles are driven by the inflation rate (deflation, price stability, and higher inflation)
2. Secular bulls occur when P/E starts low and ends high over an extended period
3. Secular bears occur when P/E starts high and ends low over an extended period
4. Cyclical bulls and bears are interim periods of directional swings within secular periods
5. Cyclical cycles are driven by market psychology, illiquidity, or other generally temporary condition(s)
6. Time is irrelevant to the length of secular stock market cycles
7. Secular bulls require a doubling or tripling of P/E
8. Secular bears occur as P/E stalls and falls by one-third to two-thirds or more
9. When real economic growth is near 3%, there is a natural floor for P/E between 5 and 10, a natural ceiling around the mid-20s, and a typical average in the mid-teens
10. If economic growth shifts upward or downward for the foreseeable future, the natural range moves upward or downward, respectively
11. Inflation drives P/Es location within the range; economic growth drives the level of the range
12. The stock market is not consistently predictable over months, quarters, or periods of a few years; the stock market is, however, quite predictable over periods approaching a decade or longer based upon starting P/E

 

Good stuff. That’s an interesting take on broad cycles.

10 Trading Books -Every Trader Must Read

  
  Education
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“If there was easy money lying around, no one would be forcing it it into your pockets.” – Jesse Livermore

There is so much garbage out there concerning trading online and the temptation for easy money that many new traders are lured into childish beliefs about getting rich quick, following a guru that can predict the future, or confusing a salesman for a trader. Contrary to popular belief, trading is not about picks, predictions, or personal gurus. Trading is really about entry signals with an edge, following price action, and learning to trade a system that fits who you are as a trader. Real long term profitable trading is about, risk management, robust trading systems, and mental and emotional discipline. I would not trust anyone that did not have those three things at the core of their trading. Here is the right reading path for a new trader to follow to avoid all the hype, foolishness, con-artists, and childishness that arises from ignorance of a solid understanding of the subject of trading in the real world in real time.

Trade Like a Casino: Find Your Edge, Manage Risk, and Win Like the House (Wiley Trading)  “If we are properly managing the risk and adhering to a positive expectancy model, the act of trading a position should be boring.” – Richard Weissman

Trading Without Gambling: Develop a Game Plan for Ultimate Trading Success “If all your decisions were made during nonmarket hours with timing and execution being your main concern during market hours, you will dramatically increase your chances of success.” – Marcel Link

Trend Following (Updated Edition): Learn to Make Millions in Up or Down Markets “Trend followers are the group of technical traders who use reactive technical analysis. Instead of trying to predict a market direction, their strategy is to react to the market’s movements whenever they occur. This enables them to focus on the market’s actual moves and not get emotionally involved with trying to predict direction or duration.” – Michael Covel

Market Wizards, Updated: Interviews With Top Traders “The most important rule of trading is to play great defense, not great offense.” & “Don’t focus on making money; focus on protecting what you have.” – Market Wizards (more…)

10 points To Become Great Trader

  
  Education
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  1. Cutting losses short is an edge. Only having small losing trades will save you from the big losses.
  2. Letting your winning trade run as far as it will go is a huge advantage over most traders. Having some huge winning trades will help your overall profitability.
  3. Eliminating the risk of ruin through limiting the total amount of capital you will lose on any one trade will keep your account intact and is an edge over those traders that eventually blow up their trading account.
  4. Proper position sizing will allow you to keep your correct decision making process in place by limiting the emotional impact of any one trade. This is an edge over many others that panic during a big trade and make an emotional decision.
  5. Having the discipline to consistently follow a predetermined written trading plan is an edge over many others that make decisions based on opinions and feelings.
  6. Having the confidence and faith in your trading method to follow it through losing periods is a huge edge. Most drift to new methods right when their last one finally starts working. (more…)

Twenty Rules For Traders

  
  Education
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  • 1. Forget the news, remember the chart. You’re not smart enough to know how news will affect price. The chart already knows the news is coming.
  • 2. Buy the first pullback from a new high. Sell the first pullback from a new low. There’s always a crowd that missed the first boat.
  • 3. Buy at support, sell at resistance. Everyone sees the same thing and they’re all just waiting to jump in the pool.
  • 4. Short rallies not selloffs. When markets drop, shorts finally turn a profit and get ready to cover.
  • 5. Don’t buy up into a major moving average or sell down into one. See #3.
  • 6. Don’t chase momentum if you can’t find the exit. Assume the market will reverse the minute you get in. If it’s a long way to the door, you’re in big trouble.
  • 7. Exhaustion gaps get filled. Breakaway and continuation gaps don’t. The old traders’ wisdom is a lie. Trade in the direction of gap support whenever you can.
  • 8. Trends test the point of last support/resistance. Enter here even if it hurts.
  • 9. Trade with the TICK not against it. Don’t be a hero. Go with the money flow.
  • 10. If you have to look, it isn’t there. Forget your college degree and trust your instincts.
  • 11. Sell the second high, buy the second low. After sharp pullbacks, the first test of any high or low always runs into resistance. Look for the break on the third or fourth try. (more…)
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