That enormous profits should have turned into still more colossal losses, that new theories should have been developed and later discredited, that unlimited optimism should have been succeeded by the deepest despair, are all in strict accord with age-old tradition. Benjamin Graham A trading philosophy is something that cannot just be transferred from one person to another; it’s something that you have to acquire yourself through time and effort. Richard Driehaus The essential element is that the markets are ultimately based on human psychology, and by charting the markets you’re merely converting human psychology into graphic representations. I believe that the human mind is more powerful than any computer in analyzing the implications of these price graphs. Al Weiss Opportunities change, strategies change, but people and psychology do not change. If trend-following systems don’t work well, something else will. There’s always money being lost, so someone out there has to win. Gil Blake, New Market Wizards |
Archives of “trend following systems” tag
rss5 Lessons From Legendary Traders: Michael Marcus
Lesson #1: Each Trader has A Distinct Style
“You also have to follow your own light. Because I have so many friends who are talented traders, I often have to remind myself that if I try to trade their way, or on their ideas, I am going to lose. Every trader has strengths and weaknesses. Some are good holders of winners, but may hold their losers a little too long. Others may cut their winners a little short, but are quick to take their losses. As long as you stick to your own style, you get the good and the bad in your own approach. When you try to incorporate someone else’s style, you often wind up with the worst of both styles. I’ve done that a lot.”
This is a very important point: You have to find out your strength and weaknesses and develop a trading style that suits your personality best. If you are good at holding winners – trade trend-following systems. If you are comfortable with several consecutive small losses and several big wins – trade chart patterns. If you are highly disciplined and not too aggressive – you could focus only on high-quality trades which come rarely. Let your personality choose your trading style.
Lesson #2: Always Use Stops
“Always use stops. I mean actually put them in, because that commits you to get out at a certain point”
This one’s a no-brainer, but worth mentioning. Many beginners tend to discard stop losses after seeing several trades touching their stop loss and then continuing in their direction. Very wrong approach. Putting stop loss is crucial for your trading success and performance. If you stop loss is placed in logical place (A.K.A: Support or Resistance level), you should have no reason not to respect it – if price touched it, the basis for your position has voided and staying in the position is highly risky. Also, always have an emergency stop in case of sudden news or catastrophe. (more…)
10 Things that each Trader Must Master
THE THREE M’s: Mind (psychology), Method (a trading edge) and Money (risk or money management).
But what does each of those things mean? Many of these answers came from other great traders sharing their wisdom in books and my own successful trading through all types of markets with bigger and bigger accounts that created a need for me to up my game and get better and better.
Mind (psychology) You must have the right winning mind set to make it in trading.
Discipline to follow your trading plan.
Perseverance to keep going through the losing periods.
Faith that your trading method works. (more…)
Qutotes from Richard Dennis & Paul Tudor Jones
Richard Dennis
“when you start, you ought to be as bad a trader as you are ever going to be.”
“I always say that you could publish trading rules in the newspaper and no one would follow them. The key is consistency and discipline. Almost anybody can make up a list of rules that are 80 percent as good as what we taught people. What they couldn’t do is give them the confidence to stick to those rules even when things are going bad.”
“my research on individual stocks shows that price fluctuations are closer to random than they are in commodities. Demonstrably, commodities are trending and, arguably, stocks are random.”
“There will come a day when easily discovered and lightly conceived trend-following systems no longer work. It is going to be harder to develop good systems.”
“The secret is being as short term or as long term as you can stand, depending on your trading style. It is the imtermediate term that picks up the vast majority of trend followers. The best strategy is to avoid the middle like the plague.”
Paul Tudor Jones
“First if all, never play macho man in the market. Second, never overtrade. My major problem was not the number of points I lost on the trade, but that I was trading far too many contracts relative to the equity in the accounts that I handled.” (more…)