Amateurs attempt to make a forecast while professionals manage information to make decisions based on probabilities. Dr. Alexander Elder compares this to a Doctor that received a patient with a knife stabbed in his chest. The family will ask, “will he survive?” and “when can he go home?” But the Doctor is not forecasting, he must prevent the patient from dying, remove the knife, saturate the organs and carefully watch for an infection. He monitors the health trend of the patient and takes measures to prevent any complications. He is managing, not forecasting. To profit in trading you do not need to forecast the future, you need to derive from the market whether the bulls or bears are in control. You need to practice money management techniques for long term survival. You trade against the sharpest mind in the ocean-like markets. Mental discipline is an undivided part of trading. Please remember the following points: Understand you are in the market for the long term, that you want to be a trader in even 20 years from now Develop your trading strategy, either technical or fundamental analysis. If “x” happens then “y “is therefore likely to take place. You may need different tools for trading a bull or a bear market Develop a money management plan, with the first goal being long term survival. Secondary goal is steady money growth and third goal would be high profits. Successful traders do not concentrate on the profit itself but maintaining successful trades regardless of the earned amount. Winners feel, think and act different than losers. Look inside yourself, eliminate the illusions and change the way you have been thinking and acting. Changing is hard but could pave the way to becoming a successful trader. |
Archives of “profits” tag
rssTo lose Money :Just follow 6 points
Here is some common advice that I see all the time, that if you follow it you will lose.
Don’t fall into the trap of accepting it or following it.
Here are 6 of my favorites:
1. Day trading is a low risk high reward way to trade
How many writers do you see talk about day trading and how successful they are at it?
Lots!
Now:
How many of them can show a real time track record of profits over the long term?
None.
This is simply the dumbest way to trade there is. (more…)
My Favorite Passage
It is interesting to observe the way most futures traders play the futures game in relation to the possible ways that money games can be played:
1. The most effective approach to the objective of maximizing results is to play a favorable game on a small scale.
2. Less desirable, but still providing a reasonable chance of success, is playing a favorable game on a large scale with enough profits coming early in the game to avoid ruin.
3. A basically unfavorable game may yield profitable results (presuming that one insists on playing unfavorable games) if one plays seldom and bets heavily.
4. The only road that leads inevitably to disaster is playing an unfavorable game continuously.
The trader who trades on impulse or uses some other invalid method of making trading decisions is following the fourth route, which is crowded with bumper-to-bumper traffic.
It is interesting to observe the way most futures traders play the futures game in relation to the possible ways that money games can be played:Market Wisdom From Bernard Baruch
You don’t read a lot about Bernard Baruch anymore, but his teachings about the market are useful today as they always have been. There are several good books about him including his own “Baruch: My Own Story” which I recommend highly especially for those of you looking for a book to take with you on your vacations.
Baruch started out as most traders do – i.e. losing lots of money because he lacked the knowledge, experience, & discipline. “You have to lose money in order to better yourself.” (more…)
50 Trading Rules
1. Plan your trades. Trade your plan.
2. Keep records of your trading results.
3. Keep a positive attitude, no matter how much you lose.
4. Don’t take the market home.
5. Continually set higher trading goals.
6. Successful traders buy into bad news and sell into good news.
7. Successful traders are not afraid to buy high and sell low.
8. Successful traders have a well-scheduled planned time for studying the markets.
9. Successful traders isolate themselves from the opinions of others.
10. Continually strive for patience, perseverance, determination, and rational action.
11. Limit your losses – use stops!
12. Never cancel a stop loss order after you have placed it!
13. Place the stop at the time you make your trade.
14. Never get into the market because you are anxious because of waiting.
15. Avoid getting in or out of the market too often.
16. Losses make the trader studious – not profits. Take advantage of every loss to improve your knowledge of market action.
17. The most difficult task in speculation is not prediction but self-control. Successful trading is difficult and frustrating. You are the most important element in the equation for success.
18. Always discipline yourself by following a pre-determined set of rules.
19. Remember that a bear market will give back in one month what a bull market has taken three months to build.
20. Don’t ever allow a big winning trade to turn into a loser. Stop yourself out if the market moves against you 20% from your peak profit point.
21. You must have a program, you must know your program, and you must follow your program.
22. Expect and accept losses gracefully. Those who brood over losses always miss the next opportunity, which more than likely will be profitable.
23. Split your profits right down the middle and never risk more than 50% of them again in the market.
24. The key to successful trading is knowing yourself and your stress point. (more…)
Asymmetry
A general principle in trading for me is that without thorough investigation, comprehension, and experimentation leading to full acceptance, no trading rule or system can be properly executed. If one cannot completely understand and embrace the reasoning behind some method or axiom, whether internally discovered or externally given, the reflex necessary to act without further thinking or doubt is fatally compromised — the circuit between the eyes watching the screen and the finger on the trigger cannot afford even the slightest impedence. One area in my trading which I’ve been struggling over has been the disparity between the success of my entries versus the failure of my exits on profitable trades. If I had the ability to accurately anticipate and identify the origins of a move, why were my attempts in capturing and keeping the bulk of the profits so horribly inept? Why was my timing in closing trades so blatantly pathetic in comparison with their openings, to the point where I would either consistently stop-out on the lows of retracements, or conversely wind up giving back the entire move if I tried to avoid getting shaken out. (more…)
FEAR
How to prevent Fear in trading ?
you have decide to trade a particular system. you get an entry signal, and put on the trade. You put in your protective stop, and you know what will be your signal or target for exit. There is nothing more to you need to do or worry about. The market will do the rest for you. You are along for the ride, and you know when to get out. So there is nothing to be fearful about …
“There is hardly anything productive about worry or fear when you cant do anything about the circumstances” by Buzz Aldrin
Fear is an emotion. It is created by us and therefore we can uncreated it. Fear is created when we think that our trade will lose a lot of money or things that will prevent our trade from losing. The keyword is think which is thoughts in our mind. When you keep on thinking of the thoughts of losing money and fearful of it. STOP!! Take a deep breath to break your connection. Then ask yourself, “Is this probable?” Continue to challenge the thought by asking, “What are the probabilities right now?” Then choose to take control of your thoughts and think term of the current probabilities.
Fear will lead you to disaster if you do not know how to release it. Another way to release fear is to have a shower to calm down yourself. (more…)
Trading Fear
Ninety-five percent of the trading errors you are likely to make – causing the money to just evaporate before your very eyes – will stem from your attitudes about:
1. Being Wrong
2. Losing Money
3. Missing a Move
4. Leaving Money on the Table
You will never maximize nor optimize your ability to pull profits from the market on a consistent basis until you incorporate the correct attitude and response to each of the (4) four fears.
Run Like A Thief!
Consider the following, every trade must have two objectives: (1) procedure to manage initial risk, and (2) method to maximize profits. Two faces of the same coin!.
As traders we are trading our “hope and aspirations”, in the “belief” that the market “may” accommodate our expectations.
Hence, if there is no “instant gratification”, we must execute a planned strategy to “run like thieves, with or without the loot!”.
The Win/Loss Ratio
“One common adage on this subject that is completely wrongheaded is: You can’t go broke taking profits. That’s precisely how many traders do go broke. While amateurs go broke by taking large losses, professionals go broke by taking small profits. The problem in a nutshell is that human nature does not operate to maximize gain but rather to maximize the chance of a gain. The desire to maximize the number of winning trades (or minimize the number of losing trades) works against the trader. The success rate of trades is the least important performance statistic and may even be inversely related to performance. … (more…)