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BETTER TRADING

  
  Education
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“Any thought put into your mind and nourished regularly, will produce results in your life.” John Kehoe

An affirmation is a statement made in the present about the future as if it had already occurred in the past. Let me say it more simply. An affirmation is a simple statement about what you want to become true in your life. You state it in the present tense as if it were already true. You repeat your hopes and dreams. You declare the opposite of your fears. For example, the fear that you could lose all your money becomes: “I grow my capital through consistently applying my winning methods.”

Be careful to word the affirmation in the present tense. Statements made in the future stay in the future. “Next month I’ll turn my trading around.” stays out there in the future. Now is when you need to turn the trading around.

Affirmations can be repeated to yourself silently or aloud. You can incant them with feeling or whisper them to yourself. You can record them and play them, or write them and read them. A good time to assert them is just as you’re falling asleep or waking up, or any other time of the day. You can say them while you drive or wait in a bank line or as you watch the market or manage a trade.

And here is a little miracle. You don’t have to believe the truth of the affirmation in order for it to have an effect. Of course, it’s better if you imagine it to be true or becoming true.

Sometimes it’s more believable if it’s a process statement. “I am slender” can change to “I am becoming slender.” “I am consistently profitable” changes to “I am becoming more consistently profitable.” There are times when the process is more credible than the reality.

You can also turn the statement into a question. “In what ways am I becoming a better trader?” “How am I becoming a more professional trader each year?” The mind accepts the truth of the question and searches for evidence. (more…)

No Patience on Entry

  
  Education
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Anticipating a signal that never comes is common for traders monitoring the market closely and eager to get some money working. For example, a good buying opportunity arises when a stock breaks from an ascending triangle. Jumping in ahead of the breakout is not an ideal situation because the probability of success buying an ascending triangle is not as good as buying a breakout from one. What causes this mistake? I think a fear of missing out on the maximum amount of profit or the fear of too much risk in buying a stock are the two most common mistakes. Essentially, the two guiding forces of the stock market are at work here; fear and greed. By buying early, we can realize a greater profit when the stock does breakout since we will have a lower average cost. Or, by buying early we can reduce risk since a breakout followed by a pull back through our stop will result in a smaller loss as we have a lower average cost. What tends to happen, however, is that the stock does not break out when expected and instead pulls back. This either leads to an unnecessary loss or an opportunity cost of the capital being tied up while other opportunities arise.

The Solution

The simple and obvious solution is to wait for the entry signal, but there are also some things you can do to help yourself stay disciplined. Rather than watch potentially good stocks tick by tick, use an alarm feature to alert you to when they actually make the break. Watching stocks constantly is somewhat hypnotic, and I think the charts can talk you in to making a trade. However, letting the computer watch the stock may help you avoid the stock’s evil trance. Another good solution is to focus on different thoughts when considering a stock. Don’t think about potential profits, don’t think about minimizing losses. Instead, focus in on the desire to execute high probability trades. It takes time to reprogram yourself, so persevere.

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

Lack of Patience

  
  Education
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The fourth finger of the invisible hand that robs your trading account is Lack of Patience. I forget where, but I once read that markets trend only 20% of the time, and, from my experience, I would say that this is an accurate statement. So think about it, the other 80% of the time the markets are not trending in one clear direction.

That may explain why I believe that for any given time frame, there are only two or three really good trading opportunities. For example, if you’re a long-term trader, there are typically only two or three compelling tradable moves in a market during any given year. Similarly, if you are a short-term trader, there are only two or three high-quality trade setups in a given week.

All too often, because trading is inherently exciting (and anything involving money usually is exciting), it’s easy to feel like you’re missing the party if you don’t trade a lot. As a result, you start taking trade setups of lesser and lesser quality and begin to over-trade.

How do you overcome this lack of patience? The advice I have found to be most valuable is to remind yourself that every week, there is another trade-of-the-year. In other words, don’t worry about missing an opportunity today, because there will be another one tomorrow, next week and next month…I promise.

I remember a line from a movie (either Sergeant York with Gary Cooper or The Patriot with Mel Gibson) in which one character gives advice to another on how to shoot a rifle: “Aim small, miss small.” I offer the same advice in this new context. To aim small requires patience. So be patient, and you’ll miss small.

Trade Your Plan

  
  Education
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“When you see a position that is going against you and the market is dropping, and you are losing money on a trade, but your stop loss hasn’t been hit yet, how do you stay with the position? What is your secret? Do you pullback and look at the big picture or do you simple assume its all noise as long as it doesn’t hit that lower low? This is my biggest problem with tracking your trades and most of the time you are right in holding on.” … Because we thought our answer to his question may be beneficial to other traders as well, we wanted to share our reply to his e-mail, which was…

“The key point you stated is ‘but your stop loss hasn’t been hit yet.’ When we put on a trade, it’s like entering into a contract, so we try to stay the course and simply follow the plan. Over the years, we’ve found it’s best to stick with our original analysis because we usually plan a trade at night, or in the pre-market, without the stress of live trading. During the trading session, in the heat of the moment, there is so much pressure that we have to fight the voice in our heads telling us to sell the position when everything around is crumbling. It basically comes down to planning the trade and trading the plan…easier said than done, right? Sometimes, if you have a feeling things are going bad, and you’re an active trader, you can maybe sell 1/4 or 1/3 of the position to ease your mind. However, you must have the discipline to get back in once the coast is clear. Try to lay out a plan, write it on paper, and stick to it. The one thing every trader must accept, in order to be successful, is a loss. You must be fully prepared to lose what you’re risking. Once you accept losses as part of the trading game, the pressure to be right is not so intense. By the way, we at ASR are no different; we fight the same urges to sell that most traders do. It’s a constant battle, that’s for sure!”

What you WILL DO vs. NOT DO is what it comes down to

  
  Education
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In trading you MUST take action and control.  It’s not the market makers, or the talking heads, or your neighbor, or any of the experts or people you entrust with your money that are causing your losses or your poor investing performance.  You are making the decisions, directly or indirectly.   Any trading and investing decisions made in your accounts are all DOWNSTREAM from you and your initial decisions, so you can make different ones in the future.

But you must take measurements.  You must have a plan.  You must assess, then make DECISIONS to GET you to your FINANCIAL, HEALTH and RELATIONSHIP goals.

In trading we teach a very simple and effective way to make consistent profits in the markets.  There is a learning curve and much of that curve is you getting to know you.  It’s understanding the psychological aspects of trading profitably with consistency and making those thought process changes that are necessary to get you in a winner’s trading mindset.

For many people this is a challenge.  The actual steps and actions you must take are not laborious or physically draining, they are simple things that need to be done but will go against the natural instinct to just want to go through each day on ‘autopilot’.

And this is why many a trader who is struggling slips into the ‘blame’ or ‘victim’ game.  Being aware of this is important and we are all human and capable of slipping off track……but the key is to catch it early, forgive yourself for it, and then learn and ‘zig zag’ your way back onto the path that will get you to your goals.

Trading in the Zone

  
  Education
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These Beliefs are the Seven Principles of Consistency from Mark Douglas’s “Trading in the Zone” I highly recommend picking this book up to add to your collection, because it has benefited me tremendously in understand how beliefs and values play a vital role in one’s trading and ultimate success.

I remember the first time I picked this book up I didn’t “get” it and put it away. About a year later I read it again and it just clicked. I now reference it on a weekly schedule just so the principles in the book stay fresh in my mind and to reinforce what I had learned.

I am a Consistent Winner Because:
1.  I objectively identify my edges.
2.  I predefine the risk in every trade.
3.  I completely accept the risk or I am willing to let go of the trade.
4.  I act on my edges without reservation or hesitation.
5.  I pay myself as the market makes money available to me.
6.  I continually monitor my susceptibility for making errors.
7.  I understand the absolute necessity of these principles of consistent success and , therefore, I never violate them.
Five Fundamental Truths: 
1. Anything can happen.
2. You don’t need to know what is going to happen next.
3. There is a random distribution between wins and losses for any given set of variables that define an edge.
4. An edge is nothing more than an indication of a higher probability of one thing happening over another.
5. Every moment in the market is unique.

Addional Mark Douglas Material in PDF form. (more…)

Discipline & Passion

  
  Education
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All successful day traders need discipline, once you have a plan stick to it. When day trading you can lose money as well as make money, as losses can result in an end to your career you need to manage your risks, know where to set your limits and stop loss orders accordingly. Once you have met your objectives do what you planned don’t let greed or fear take control of you. 

Day trading involves being passionate about the market, a good day trader never switches off tracking the market day in and day out following news globally, analysing charts and looking at quote screens. This all has to be processed as quickly as possible, this is of course is what will give a good day trader an edge. 

Top Ten Things Traders Must Change to Survive

  
  Education
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  1. When the market goes from bull to bear, or from an uptrend to a down trend you must change from going long to going to cash or selling short.
  2. When a market recovers from a bear market to an uptrend over taking the 200 day moving average you must go from bearish or neutral to long.
  3. New bull markets most of the time have new leaders you can’t just play the same ones from the last up trend.
  4. When you make a trade and it goes against you, then you were wrong. When your stop is hit you must change your position and get out.
  5. When you have a strong opinion about a trade but it goes the opposite of what you believe day after day you must change your mind, you were wrong.
  6. When a trade does not go the way you expected in the time frame you had planned you have to take a time stop and change to something that is moving.
  7. Each day you must change and grow as a trader and improve on your skills through continuous learning.
  8. While the market will change the principles of winning through risk management, correct trader psychology, and playing the probabilities will stay the same.
  9. The market rotates and different market capitalizations come into favor and out of favor, follow the money.
  10. Different sectors rotate in and out of favor based on the cash flow of earnings, follow the capital.
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