Archives of “money management” tag

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10 Greedy Characteristics

  
  Education
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1.  You find yourself forgetting your rules.  Which during day trading is the last thing you want to happen since your profit margins are often based on smaller movements.

2.  When reviewing your pre-market plays, every stock looks like a winner.

3.  Shortly after opening your position you see a price target that is much higher but you have no justification for the target.

4.  Trading feels stressful all of the time.  From the minute you get up in the morning, until you close your last position.  Instead of approaching trading with a calm head, you have a constant feeling of fighting and living on the edge.

5.  You stop reviewing your trades.  If someone were to ask your win/loss percentage over the last week you would have no idea; however, you would know how much money you need to make for the week.

6.  You abandon limit orders and start placing more and more trades at market.  Most of the times this will occur when you are trying to get into the position, because you can’t stand the idea of not being in on the winning trade.

7. You start to over trade.  If you normally put on 3 trades per day, you will now find yourself placing 6 or more trades per day.  This sort of behavior will run its course as the increase in trading activity while abandoning your day trading rules always points to losing money. (more…)

Average True Range (ATR) – A Magical Tool

  
  Education
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Average True Range is an indispensable tool for designers of good trading systems. It is truly a workhorse among technical indicators. Every systems trader should be familiar with ATR and its many useful functions. It has numerous applications including use in setups, entries, stops and profit taking. It is even a valuable aid in money management. The following is a brief explanation of how ATR is calculated and a few simple examples of the many ways that ATR can be used to design profitable trading systems.How to calculate Average True Range (ATR):

  • Range: This is simply the difference between the high point and the low point of any bar.
  • True Range: This is the GREATEST of the following:
    1. The distance from today’s high to today’s low
    2. The distance from yesterday’s close to today’s high, or
    3. The distance from yesterday’s close to today’s low

True range is different from range whenever there is a gap in prices from one bar to the next. Average True Range is simply the true range averaged over a number of bars of data. To make ATR adaptive to recent changes in volatility, use a short average (2 to 10 bars). To make the ATR reflective of “normal” volatility use 20 to 50 bars or more.

Will write more with Examples …Next week !!

Technically Yours

Confidence, Discipline and Consistency

  
  Education
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While day-trading is a great way to make a living when you are consistently profitable, it can also be the worse career choice if you consistently lose. Continue forward with system development, or working towards effective risk management, money management, or mastery of your trading psychology. Trading psychology means the big 3: discipline, confidence and consistency.The trading psychology takes precedence because it is needed to make sure that the other two are followed.

It takes a skilled trader to understand execute all of the things that are needed to be successful and earn a significant amount of profit doing this alone. Money Management is essential to preserve your trading capital and is simply a set of rules that governs how much money you have at risk. Take control of your trading Psychology and adhere to strict discipline in trading your developed and refined Trading System.

Building confidence on the system is extremely important as that is the only reason why you stick to the system during bad times. Day trading requires focus and discipline on the part of the trader with a high degree of risk tolerance since losing trades are numerous. (more…)

The Four Elements Of Successful Trading. Do You have all Four?

  
  Education
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The Knowledge

If we don’t do the homework to know what we need to know we will fail due to ignorance. Understanding historical price action, reading books by and about the best traders, seminars, mentor-ships, and  systems testing is all part of the homework we must do to get the needed knowledge.

The Resources

While trading with a small account is a good place to start it is not a good place to stay. Traders must be adequately capitalized for meaningful trading. We must have an affordable broker that does not charge bloated commissions and gives great execution on orders. A trader must have a platform and charting service that is adequate for his trading style. Trading a small account with an expensive broker with poor execution is a path to eventual failure. (more…)

25 -One Liner For Traders

  
  Education
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1. Money management
2. Taking losses while small 
3. Positive expectancy
4. Importance of time out
5. Market can do anything anytime
6. Recognize your mistakes
7. Never indulge in hope
8. Keep things in perspective
9. Concentration, patience
10. Being humble
11. Ride the trends 
12. Define what success is, for you.
13. Do your own research
14. Use sound risk management
15. Lock in your profits when they’re there 
16. Accept that you’ll be wrong.
17. Keep it simple you stupid!
18. Sticking to your plan
19. Contrary opinion
20. Always have a good exit strategy
21. Knowing when to stay out of the market
22. Control your emotions
23. Never average down.
24. DISCIPLINE!
25. Pyramiding profitable positions to maximize profits in the trade.

Poker and Trading…Some Rules Applicable to Both.

  
  Education
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Pay Attention…and It Will Pay You. Concentrate on everything when you are playing/trading. Watch and listen; remember to do both and relate the two.

Understand When to Play Aggressively…It’s the Winning Way. Don’t be a tight or a loose player/trader; be a solid one and recognize when it is time to press your bets/positions. To attain superior returns in poker and investing over the long run, grind it out (in stocks until you are up 30%-40%, and then if you have convictions, go for a 100% year). If you can avoid losing and put together a few 100% years, you can achieve outstanding long-term investment performance.

Tells: Look For Them and You Will Find Them. Poker players and stock markets have tells — giveaway moves that are very revealing. Learn to recognize them. History is your textbook.

ESP…It’s a Jellyroll. In those rare instances when all your card knowledge and market judgment/knowledge leaves you in doubt, go with your strong feelings and not against it.

Honor: A Gambler/Trader’s Ace-in-the-Hole. A good reputation and respect from others will put you in good stead.

Be as Competitive as You Can Be. Go into a poker game and into a trade with the idea of completely destroying your opponent or scoring a major investment coup. If you win a pot or make a successful trade, nearly always play the next pot or make the next trade shortly thereafter — within reason. Although the cards and trades might break even in the long run, rushes do happen and momentum often feeds upon itself. When you earn the right to be aggressive, you should be aggressive. When one has a tremendous conviction in a poker hand or trade, you have to go for the jugular.

Art and Science…It takes Both. Both activities are more art than science — that’s why they are so difficult to master. Knowing what to do is about 10% of the game. Knowing how to do it is the other 90%.

Money Management. The same sound principles of money control apply to the business of tournament/professional poker and to successful investing. The way to build long-term returns or poker winnings is through preservation of capital and home runs.

The Important Twins of Poker/Investing, Patience and Staying Power. Come to the poker table or to the markets with enough time to stay and play for a while.

Alertness is a Key. You must stay alert at all times.

So is Discipline.

Never Let Your Mind Dwell on Personal Problems. Never play/trade when you are upset. Make a conscious and constant effort to discover any leaks in your play, and then eliminate them.

Control Your Emotions. Allowing your confidence to be shaken can turn a simple losing streak into a terrible case of going bad. Keep your emotions in check. When you lose a pot or make a poor investment decision, get up, walk around the chair or take some deep breaths. Don’t lose your poise. If a trade or poker hand does not work out, walk away from the position/hand. Be confident enough about your ability to win afterwards.

Time to Read :Trading Rules !

  
  Education
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To me, it’s useful to re-read things like this sometimes, just to remind myself of the obvious.  I hope you find them useful.  (The last rule alone has saved me a lot of money over the years…)

Trade Management

  • Let winners run. While momentum is in phase, the market can run much further than might be expected.
  • Do not exit winners without reason!
  • Be quick to admit when wrong and get flat.
  • Sometimes a time stop is the right solution. If a position is entered, but the anticipated scenario does not develop then get out.
  • Remember: if one thing isn’t happening the other thing probably is. Historically, this has never been good for me…
  • Be careful of correlations. Several positions can often equal one large position bearing unacceptable risk. Please think.

Other thoughts

  • I am responsible for risk management, money management, trade management, doing the analytical work and putting on every trade that comes.
  • I am not responsible for the outcome of any one trade. Markets are highly random. I do not have a crystal ball. I am not as smart as I think I am.
  • Risk management is the first and last responsibility. I can [mess]anything else up and be ok as long as I do not violate my risk management parameters.
  • Opportunity comes every day. Do not neglect the work. Must do analysis every day.
  • Opportunity comes every day. Get out of [crappy] positions. Move on.
  • I am a better countertrend trader than a trend trader. Sometimes the crowd is right, and they will run me over at those times if I’m not quick to admit I’m wrong.
  • If you’re going to do something stupid, at least do it on smaller size.

Game Plan

  
  Education
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gameplanCreating a game plan is very easy and you can do in a matter of minutes. Here are the key steps to creating a very basic game plan:

1) Write down your reasons for buying or selling a particular market.

2) Write down your entry point for the market you’re about to trade. Why are you getting in? Did you see a technical set up?

3) Write down when you are going to exit this market. Why and when are you going exit? Was your profit target reached, or were you stopped out?

4) Do not make market decisions during trading hours. It may sound easier said than done, but watching the daily ticks can cause your emotions to go haywire. (more…)

Why Trading is Difficult

  
  Education
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difficult-11. Need to internalize lots of trading simulation of specific set-ups in real-time to trade effortlessly
2. Need to trust money management system to weather +10 losses in a row
3. Tuff to internalize that its the 5-6 huge monthly runners that is the big pay-off days
4. Must master +3 trade set-ups to make money consistently month to month.
5. It takes considerable time to mathematically think and act like a trader
6. Trading is a performance skill which requires mastery of every element of trading
7. It requires time capital and considerable effort to achieve the experience to make it effortless and automatic
8. It takes several attempts at different trading methodology to sync with a trader’s personality and cognitive strengths
9. It takes time to set and internalize specific rules that embed a sense of mastery
10. To survive in trading requires weathering the lengthy learning curve

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