When people trade the common misconception is that they are trading the market or taking money out of the market. They are not. They are trading OTHER TRADERS and taking money from OTHER TRADERS. In order for one trader to make money another trader or group of traders needs to lose money. This is how the market works and that is why it is a zero sum game. If you are losing money in the market the market is not taking your money, other traders are taking your money.
Archives of “money” tag
rssConcentration
You can be super motivated to trade, filled with deep optimism, have millions of trading capital available, and a solid trading strategy, but if you don’t devote your full concentration to the trade that you have on at the moment, you will lose money.
It’s essential that you learn to concentrate while executing a trade and scrupulously monitor the market action during a trade
Why is concentration difficult? While in school did you have trouble studying in a noisy library? It’s easy to concentrate when we are in a quiet room and when we are calm and at ease. But trading is often chaotic and full of stress. It’s easy to become shaken and lose your ability to concentrate. When you aren’t fully focused on your ongoing experience, it’s easy for self-doubts to creep into your consciousness. You may start having second thoughts and may want to sabotage your trading efforts.
The more you can stay focused on your ongoing experience, the more you can trade effortlessly and skillfully. But how can you concentrate more easily? (more…)
Warren Buffett Teaches : Part – I
Buffet learned how to involve in high probably investments since high-school. Back in those years, he and one of his friends bought a reconditioned pinball machine for $25. They put the game in a barber shop. They checked the coin box at the end of the first day and found $4. “I figured I had discovered the wheel,” says Buffet. Eventually the pinball business was netting $50 per week. By the time Warren graduated high school, he is an owner of a small farm in Nebraska and has $9,000 in his bank account (more…)
Risk and Reward
Before placing any trade, a strategic trader must always know and identify the maximum risk exposure for the trade. Once the risk is identified, it should be compared to the possible profit target. If the profit target does not justify the risk exposure, the trade should not be taken. It does not make any sense to risk a dollar to earn a penny. One of the common mistakes that cause traders to consistently lose money is that they fail to let their winners run. They quickly close out their trades as soon as they become profitable. While no one can argue against taking a profit, consistently taking profits that are not consistent with the desired risk/reward ratio ultimately leads to a net loss. Once a stop is hit, it immediately eradicates the small profits of three or four trades that were prematurely closed. It is hard to leave your money on the table, but there are ways to move up your stops and use a trailing stop to allow you to stay in your trades to realize your designated target.
Once a trade is placed, prices will always fluctuate; that’s the nature of the auction process. Rarely will a trade directly navigate to the profit target without a retrace. This is where paper trading comes into play. It allows a trader to watch, learn, and record how long it takes to reach a profit target and whether the risk/reward strategy that they are using is in fact feasible and workable.
Traders -Remember These Two Words-Won't & Can't
Won’t– Phrases include: “The market won’t…” or “I won’t make money”. Notice a theme here? You are part of the market, you are not the market. Not getting what you expect, even if it is positive, confuses the brain. If you expect to lose and don’t it is still a bad outcome. Your brain is going through enough as it is. The market is a one way walkie talkie, you listen, it talks.
Can’t– Phrases include: “The market can’t..” or “I can’t…” or “I can’t lose anymore”. Yes the market can, go look at a chart. Go look at a Fed day or about any chart from 2008. Not only can it happen, it does happen. There are no more once in a lifetime moves in the market. There are and always have been life changing moves. No one ever said trading was easy but at least in the case of futures someone is taking your money. If you think you can’t, you probably wont. The market will take every penny you have. If can take every penny you put at risk. Fix the problem, when you run out of money it is too late.
Some Suggestions for Traders
Have you written down your trading rules? Do you have rules for entry and for exit with a profit and with a loss? Do you have a rule telling you whether a market is trending and what the trend is? Do you have rules stating when the market is in a trading range and what that range is? Do you have rules saying what markets you will trade and what has to happen to trade them?
Or do you simply shoot from the hip and call it artistry or intuition? Does this work for you?
Do you follow your rules rigidly without flexibility or discretion? Does this serve you over time?
Do you abandon your rules in the heat of trading, only to regret it? Do you stubbornly go against your rules thinking this time you know better? What would happen if you didn’t do this?
Some people don’t like rules. They don’t want to be told what to do even if it’s themselves telling themselves what to do. They even more don’t like following rules that came with a system for which they paid good (any or excessive) money. They have a polarity response to direction even after it becomes apparent that they’d be more profitable simply following the rules.
Others like to be told what to do, but somehow their rules are conflicting, obscure, or so bound up with discretion as to be meaningless. These traders may not even be aware that in essence they have no rules.
Whatever your situation turns out to be, it may be helpful to think in terms of commandments or suggestions. You may think in terms of absolute rules or simple guidelines.
Do you like clear directions as to what to do? In this case you can think in terms of commandments. For example, when The Ten Commandments says, “Thou shalt not kill,” it doesn’t leave much discretion. Reword your rules as commandments that are precise and clear and easy to follow.
Do you resist being dictated to and bossed around by outside forces? In this case, reformulate your rules as guidelines or suggestions. Give yourself some leeway in certain situations. Reword it so that when you read it, it sounds like a good idea and not a demand.
However, be certain in advance that whether you choose a suggestion or command, the results will be profitable if followed consistently or even most of the time. There’s nothing worse than a bad idea or a rule that doesn’t work. Remember the basics: Find out what works. Verify that it works. And do it.
Bull Market Aphorisms
- Buy in May and Stay Leveraged Long
- Buy the Rumor, Buy the News
- Buy the Dip, Buy the Rip
- Be Greedy When Others Are Greedy
- Bulls Make Money, Bullish Pigs Make More Money
- Rule No. 1: Never Go Short. Rule No. 2: Never Forget Rule No. 1
- Buy Low, Buy High
- The Uptrend is Your BFF
- Always Go Long a Dull Market
- There’s Always a Bull Market Everywhere
- 3 Steps and Soar
- Always Catch a Falling Knife
- Stairs Up, Elevator Up
- Stocks Climb a Wall of Serenity
- Buy When There’s Anything on the Street
- Always Reach for Yield
- Buy Rosh Hashanah, Buy Yom Kippur
- Anyone Who Went Broke Took Profits
- This Will End Well
- Everyone Has a Plan Until They Get Rich in Bitcoin
- The Easy Money Has Yet to Be Made
- The Calm Before the Melt-Up
Invest in women and make money from man
Invest in women and make money from man.
Those who study technical analysis will know that a double bottom looks like a “W” and a double top looks like an “M”. When you see a double bottom with a breakout with volume, it is actually a good time to buy. When you see a double top with a downside breakout, it is a good time take profit.
A Bad Teacher
The World’s Worst Teacher The market often rewards bad behavior. You exit a stock because your stop is hit. You are okay with this because you followed your plan. The market then immediately reverses. You begin to think, “If only I stayed with the position.” The next time the market goes against you, you decide you are not going to get tricked again. This time though, the market does not reverse and what started out as a small manageable loss is now huge. The market will give you loss after loss forcing you to abandon a methodology right before it takes off without you. On the flip side, the market will lull you into a false sense of confidence. You trade larger and larger, taking on excessive risk. You print money until your risks become so excessive that one or two bad trades wipe you out. Learn from the market, but realize that sometimes it can be a lousy instructor. |
COMMANDMENTS For Traders
Have you written down your trading rules? Do you have rules for entry and for exit with a profit and with a loss? Do you have a rule telling you whether a market is trending and what the trend is? Do you have rules stating when the market is in a trading range and what that range is? Do you have rules saying what markets you will trade and what has to happen to trade them?
Or do you simply shoot from the hip and call it artistry or intuition? Does this work for you?
Do you follow your rules rigidly without flexibility or discretion? Does this serve you over time?
Do you abandon your rules in the heat of trading, only to regret it? Do you stubbornly go against your rules thinking this time you know better? What would happen if you didn’t do this? (more…)