Archives of “losers” tag

rss

40 Trading Lessons

  
  Education
#  #  #  #  #  #  #  #  #  #  #  #  #  #  #  #  #  #  #  #

1. Trading is simple, but it is not easy.

2.  When you get into a trade watch for the signs that you might be wrong.

3.  Trading should be boring.

4.  Amateur traders turn into professional traders once they stop looking for the “next great indicator.”

5.  You are trading other traders, not stocks or futures contracts.

6.  Be very aware of your own emotions.

7.  Watch yourself for too much excitement.

8.  Don’t overtrade.

9.  If you come into trading with the idea of making big money you are doomed.

10.  Don’t focus on the money.

11.  Do not impose your will on the market.

12.  The best way to minimize risk is to not trade when it is not time to trade. 

13.  There is no need to trade five days a week.  

14.  Refuse to damage your capital.

15.  Stay relaxed.

16.  Never let a day trade turn into an overnight trade.

17.  Keep winners as long as they are moving your way.

18.  Don’t overweight your trades.

19.  There is no logical reason to hesitate in taking a stop.

20.  Professional traders take losses because they trust themselves to do what is right. (more…)

5 Thoughts for Traders-Must Read

  
  Education
#  #  #  #  #  #  #  #  #  #  #  #  #  #  #  #  #  #  #  #

1.  We want all trades to be winners. The foolproof system for trading profits is attractive and the seller of such systems can be convincing, yet the profits are elusive.  The market could care less about our system, a past trading record, or the trading record of the one selling the system.  You do know that the market’s attorney requires that the following be posted in a prominent place…like on our foreheads beside the big L sign!: “Past results are not indicative of future returns.”  By the way, the market says, “you’re doing it wrong”.

2.  We want to add to losers. The last time I checked the only reason we add to a loser is when the discussion is about our weight!  Get on the scales and add up more losing pounds!  Be the BIGGEST LOSER!  The market, however, says the way to tip the scales in our favor is to add to the winners and lighten up on the losers.  To do otherwise is to “do it wrong”.

3.  We want to be right.  Two wrongs don’t make a right in life but in the stock market two wrongs (and plenty more) will help you get on the right road to making money.   The market says the trading game is about making money not about stroking the ego.  The “right” road is the “wrong” road when your on Wall Street.  Hey, if  you doing it to be right, then you’re “doing it wrong!” (more…)

4 More Rules to Trade

  
  Education
#  #  #  #  #  #  #  #  #  #  #  #  #

 

1. Average Winners Not Losers.  It is not “don’t frown, average down”; it is applying the discipline to cut losers short and adding to winners that separates the successful from the unsuccessful.  If you have a winning stock then add to it.  If you have a losing stock then get rid of it. 

2.  Never Let a Winner Turn Into A Loser.  Greed is the cause of this mistake.  Let the market tell you when to exit a trade, not whether you have a profit or not.  “If your trade is acting well, as defined by key indicators, and the market activity is supporting your position, stay in.  If not, its go time!” Do not let a good profit vanish into thin air because you want more than the market is willing to give.

3. Never Mix Disciplines.  If you day trade then day trade and do not let a day trade turn into a swing trade.  If you swing trade do not let your swing trade turn into an investment. Follow the rules based on the discipline of your time frame.

4.  Never Try To Trade Back A loser.  In other words, each trade is a new one and should not be used to win back money lost in the last trade.  Always trade in the present not in the past where too many emotional and psychology factors can affect the current trade.  Revenge does not pay in or out of the market. 

Learning From Losers

  
  Education
#  #  #  #  #  #  #  #  #  #  #  #  #  #  #

Traders will typically approach a large loss in one of two ways. First is the dumb way, and that is to become a petulant whiner and throw a fit. Next is the more-constructive way, and that is to use the loss as a means of developing as a trader and to “quote” — learn from your mistakes. But there is a third way. And that is to view the loss as the cost of information.

I don’t mean the cost of doing business per se. This is not typically associated with large losses. Small losses, yes. Because to make money you have to lose some along the way, as casinos do every day.  And not the cost of tuition where the market charges a fee to school us. No, I mean information.

Instead of asking yourself about where you placed your stops and getting all personal about the whole thing, ask yourself what happened. Why did the market move the way it did? If you haven’t suffered a capital depletion, you are not likely to demand an answer and more likely to throw off the question with a wave of the hand and a shrug. “Who knows, who cares. I only play odds.”

Markets are a beast and if you want to play with them, you’ll have to be careful. Wear protective goggles and gloves. If you want to tame them though, you’ll need to wrestle with them. And sometimes you lose some body parts along the way. 

Quotes from Dr Alexander Elder's -Trading for a Living.

  
  Education
#  #  #  #  #  #  #  #

 Successful trader is a realist.

Unstructured environment of the markets makes it easy to develop fantasies.
Many losers do not know that trading is intellectually fairly simple.
A loser is not undercapitalized, his mind is underdeveloped.
The market is not your mother. It consists of tough men and women who look for ways to take money away from you instead of pouring milk into your mouth.
Trading is the most dangerous human endeavor, short of war.

20 Nuggets from a Book : A Better Way to Make Money

  
  Education
#  #  #  #  #  #  #  #  #  #  #  #  #  #  #  #  #  #  #

1.  The secret to losing money in the market is to know why.  “The losers “were ‘playing the market’, not using it intelligently.  The fellow at the other end of the deal, who was using it intelligently, not ‘playing the market’, is the one who got the money.”

2.  “It is an undeniable fact that indiscriminate trading in a hectic market will send one to financial oblivion quicker than any other known process.”

3.  “The most careful preparation-a systematic plan-is one of the essentials of success.”

4.  “Market action is not complex but surprisingly simple.  Yet it is often made to appear complex by newspaper forecasters and market letter writers.”

5.  “Market action is human nature in action.”

6.  All market movements are based on “two deep-seated and entirely natural emotions:  the desire for gain and the fear of loss.”

7.  “So anxious are people to find some talisman, some magic wand, that will help them secure the hidden riches of the market, that they will try anything from coin-flipping to crystal gazing to secure the desired assistance.”

8.  “What marvelous results could be attained in the business of making money if those who buy stocks would take a little time to learn a few simple facts about the market in which they are blindly reposing their faith.”

9.  “Market students are continually diverted from making true evaluations of securities and commodities because they study the statistics made by prices instead of the psychology of prices.”

10.  “Adopt one system of trading and stick to it, just as you employ and stick to one physician in whom you learn to have confidence.” (more…)

Positive awareness trumps negative self talk

  
  Education
#  #  #  #  #  #  #  #  #  #  #  #

The language you use as a trader can provide either positive reinforcement through honest self awareness or negative results through demeaning self talk.  In other words, when discussing your trading with others or in your journal become aware of how you view yourself.  Do you see yourself as an amateur, a whipping post, a loser?  Do you blame an indicator or the market or an advisor for your failures and lack of discipline?  When you are with others do you brag about your winners and hide your losers?  All of this talk is based on fear:  fear of being wrong, fear of what others might think of you and your decisions; fear of the market; fear of being afraid.  When you practice positive self awareness  you create a fertile learning environment that allows you to grow and progress as a BETTER trader, not focus on BECOMING a GOOD trader (implying that you are a bad one).  When I work with individuals I often hear the following:  “If I would just do this I would become a good trader” or “If I had your discipline I would be a able to make money.”  These statements are grounded in a sense of doubt and fear.  Instead, these statements should be replaced with “I am becoming a BETTER trader because I know the market cannot hurt me” AND “I am becoming a BETTER trader the more I stick with my rules.”  See the difference between the two?  One is focused on the joy of progress; the other on the fear of not being good enough.  Are you focused on progress or failure? Listen to yourself and you will quickly figure it out.  It is EASY to get down on yourself and much HARDER to remain positive in the face of adversity. 

20 Habits of Great Traders

  
  Education
#  #  #  #  #  #  #  #  #  #  #  #  #  #  #  #  #

1)      Patient with winners and impatient with losers

2)      Making money is more important than being right

3)      View Tech Analysis as a picture of where traders are lining up to buy and sell

4)      Before they enter every trade they will know profit target or stop exit

5)      Approach trade no.5 with the same conviction as the previous 4 losing trades

6)      Use naked charts

a)      As we mature we begin peeling off indicators

b)      Prices action is key (more…)

Courage

  
  Education
#  #  #  #  #  #  #  #  #  #  #

Concentrate on developing courage now, or risk a shortened investment career. Trading is not for the weak hearted. The markets are unpredictable and even the smartest analyst will make mistakes. Eventually everyone experiences a sequence of losing trades and you will not be exempt. You have a choice between self-pity and self-reflection. The Genius Trader has the courage to look at their mistakes and learn from them. The average trader perceives this as too painful, and simply curses their bad luck.

How do you become a more courageous trader? You must journal every single trade. Over the years, as I continue to interview accomplished investors, they all keep some form of trading journal. This provides such valuable information that I incorporate into other areas of my life. A detailed trading journal will be a big revelation into the success behind your best trades, and possible causes behind your losers. Armed with these facts, self-reflection becomes more productive.

Go to top