How does someone know that they reached the trader’s mindset?
Here are a Few Characteristics :
- No anger whatsoever.
- Confidence and being in control of the self. (more…)
How does someone know that they reached the trader’s mindset?
Here are a Few Characteristics :
Trading in the markets is a process, and there is always room for self improvement. So as we start the new year, here are my 11 rules that help me navigate the markets. By no means is this list exhaustive or exclusive.
Rule #1 Be data centric in your approach : Take the time and make the effort to understand what works and what doesn’t. Trading decisions should be objective and based upon the data.
Rule #2 Be disciplined : The data should guide you in your decisions. This is the only way to navigate a potentially hostile and fearful environment. (more…)
“So far in 2009, what are the the most important thing I had learned about investing, trading, and/or the markets?”
Success takes longer than expected
- That you must learn to trade and trust yourself and not to become so dependent on the opinions of others, which ultimately keeps you from becoming the best you can be
- Keep it simple
- The very best profit opportunities occur in the midst of extreme emotional sentiment
- Always think opportunistic verses too bullish or bearish
- Persistence and dedication to a daily routine is key
- Developing an edge is the first step for trading successfully. Without that, disciplined trading will only make sure you gradually losing money
- The market is one unforgiving bitch!
- It is challenging to find non-correlated markets
- You have to respect the market even if you think it is under some kind of manipulation
- Keep your eyes open and powder dry
- If you fall in love with a stock keep 100 shares and let the rest go
- I’ve learned to be patient in waiting for my patterns to appear
- The value of ETFs
- The importance of finding special situations that will be profitable no matter what the market does
- Stay away from light volume when the only thing trading is the black boxes
- The importance of focusing only on one technical setup in order to improve one’s skill set
- I now think that buy and hold is a serious mistake
- Think big and think long term
- Don’t try to predict the markets
- Don’t be afraid in bear markets, just another opportunity
- The odds are stacked against the retail investor
- There’s no such thing as a sure thing
- The harder I work at it the more likely I am to succeed
- Conserving one’s capital is vital
- I know the rules – I just need to notch-up my discipline
- Smaller entry positions can be helpful
- Opportunities are everywhere
- The market is primarily psychologically driven
- Trade with the trend instead of trying to pick tops and bottoms
- Know where and when to get out before you get in
- As Johny Cash put it “You got to walk that lonesome valley, you got walk it by yourself. Nobody else can walk it for you. You got to walk it by yourself.”
- The difficulty of avoiding over-optimization/curve fitting
- Overtrading can be, and often is, a recipe for disaster
- To breathe before executing a trade
- Trading is not a profession for pessimists
- Never feel confident even when winning. Humility is a good thing
- You need to be quick and brutal with the trading decisions
- It is okay to sit out a potential move – risk management over reward chasing
- Don’t bet the farm in either direction
- There is no consistent logic to trading the market
- Some trades need to be taken when they appear, not just when you are ready
- There’s no rule that quality stocks must go up
- Don’t chase any overbought stocks
- When a sector (like financials) look so hopeless as it did in March there is potential to make a lot of money if things turn around even just a little
- Hope is a four-letter word and has no place in a trading strategy
- Patience. It is ok to sit out once in awhile
- Wait until you have an proven strategy supported by data before trading for keeps
Anything can happen. Trading is all about probabilities
Technically Yours-ANIRUDH SETHI ,BARODA ,INDIA
1)In panics there is almost nowhere to make money without taking excessive risk
2)Timing entries and exits to oversold & overbought conditions helps achieve low-risk/high-reward entries
3)There is no such thing as a safe investment
4)Markets are dysfunctional, corrupt, and have no oversight
5)To let a stock prove itself to me, prior to jumping in based on my analysis alone (more…)
I’ve noticed that my trading is more and more characterised by periods of doing a lot of trading, followed by periods of doing nothing except watching.
This seems to be a positive thing, as the old days consisted of trading every day no matter what the conditions, where as now I find that the markets will go into a mode that I just do not like the look of. In such cases if I try to force something, to “find a trade”, then I’ll get burned for sure.
To some degree I think this is because I have not yet spent much time on developing my strategies for trading insides large consolidation patterns. Of course it gets easier as they become more developed but by that time they are also getting old, and in the past I start making good trades in them just as they are about to end. The hard parts to trade are the start of trends / end of consolidation, and the end of trends / start of consolidation. These are times when the market is changing its basic mode, and are great places to lose money.
What opportunities did I miss and what could have alerted me to those opportunities?
* What kind of trades are making me money? Where am I losing my money? What can I do about that?
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* When I took heat on trades, what could I have done to enter at better prices?
* Was the level of risk that I took in trades commensurate with my conviction in the trade ideas?
* What were the themes and markets driving prices today that I should be alert for tomorrow?
* What are the themes, economic reports, and markets that might drive prices overnight that I should be alert for in the morning?
A list of golden sayings and rules I have gleaned from many sources:
There are probably more, send ’em in…
The key to trading success is emotional discipline. If intelligence were the key, there would be a lot more people making money trading. I know this will sound like a cliche, but the single most important reason that people lose money in the financial markets is that they don’t cut their losses short.”