Investing Information

Trading Is Not Rocket Science!


Despite what some people may lead you to believe; day trading, swing trading and trend trading is not anywhere as difficult as they would like you to think. It really boils down to two key components.

First, you have to have an approach that helps you identify trades that have a consistently high probability of making money. Once you have this you must exploit this "edge" over and over again.

The only way to do this is to use the necessary discipline to never deviate from your system. The minute you start tinkering or tweaking things is when you will lose your edge!!!

You will most likely be tempted to do this after you have had a few losers. This is the time however to keep your focus and remind yourself that your system has a statistical advantage that has held up over time.

Think about this for a moment? If you go gambling in Las Vegas and can even gain a 1% advantage over the house you can make a literal fortune by exploiting this edge. That little one percent advantage can make the casino lose a whole lot of money over time. As a matter of fact the minute they notice that you have a viable system they will label you a cheat and ban you from the playing. It sure is a good thing that can't happen to traders!

Now consider what happens if you have a trading strategy that produces trades that go into the money more than 60 to 80% of the time?

Now the second step to success is to manage your emotions. Two of the biggest indicators of a trader who is not managing their emotions are FEAR & GREED. These two emotions will wipe out every trader over time, both experienced and inexperienced alike.

Let's talk about them for a minute...

FEAR: Fear of losing money or fear of being wrong is what causes traders to have this emotion.

"Trading with scared money" often causes the fear of losing money. This is when a trader is risking money that should be used for the rent, food, children's education etc. If this is the case the only solution is to find additional funds that you are willing to put at risk. This helps to put the mind at ease and reduces the fear.

Fear of being wrong is simply the part in all of us that just doesn't like to be wrong. The cure for this is to simply realize and accept that losses are part of this game. Think about this? A baseball player only need hit the ball once for every three times at the plate and this will get him into the Hall of Fame.

I feel this every once in a while and remind myself that... My approach for trading has both historically and real-time produced consistent winning trades. This gives me the confidence to step up to the plate and keep swinging. Also I tell myself that the only way to earn the big money is to get into the game.

GREED: Traders who are greedy are often the exact opposite of the ones who are fearful. They have no fear and this can get them into trouble. They will tend to over trade, not follow the rules and basically "wing it". Sometimes this will work, but it always ends up back-firing.

One of the biggest problems when greed sets in is the inability to know when to take profits. These traders are so bent on making a killing that they are never happy. If they are up 10, 20 or 30% they don't even think about cashing out, as they want more. This often leads to the inability to see the trade turning against then and they will allow winning trades to turn into big losing ones.

One solution for this is to realize that making 3, 5, 10 or 15% on a regular short time basis adds up really quick. I know for me personally, once I was confident in my methodology, I no longer felt the occasional feelings of greed. Now I don't worry about "going for broke" as I know that there is always another good trade waiting for me.

This article is courtesy of Dr. Jeffrey Wilde, a trading veteran with 15 years of experience in all major markets. He is a trading coach to over 1400 traders in 38 countries.

For additional info: http://www.win-at-trading.com


MORE RESOURCES:

BiggerPockets a forum for real estate investing
Chicago Tribune, United States - 15 hours ago
The special-interest media and publishing company offers free tools and resources on real estate investing throughout the country, educating and uniting the ...


Exchange traded funds change investing
Vancouver Sun,  Canada - 13 hours ago
Mawer's World Investment fund has been named Canada's top international fund four of the past six years, and fund manager Gerald Cooper-Key was named 2007 ...


The 10 Commandments Of Muni-Bond Investing
Forbes, NY - Jul 3, 2008
Simply read and follow the new 10 Commandments of Municipal Bond Investing and thou shalt have the where-with-all to survive the credit crisis. ...


Investing for Retirement - Cramer's Mad Money (7/3/08)
Seeking Alpha, NY - 11 hours ago
While many people who are investing for retirement tend to be risk averse, Cramer thinks one can go out on a limb once in a while; he reminded viewers it ...


The Investing Mistake That Could Destroy Your Retirement
Motley Fool - Jul 3, 2008
You direct your contributions into the asset class or investment style that suits your needs -- large-caps, growth stocks, small-cap value stocks, ...


Get These Stocks Out Of Your IRA!
Motley Fool - Jul 3, 2008
But the other reason to do some investing in taxable accounts is that you can cut your taxes. It may sound counterintuitive that a taxable account could be ...


Global Investing in One Tidy Package
U.S. News & World Report, DC - Jul 3, 2008
The fund (symbol VTWSX) requires a $3000 minimum investment and charges 0.45 percent in annual expenses. So far, not many ETFs offer global exposure. ...


Servcorp investing RM96mil in i-City project
Malaysia Star, Malaysia - 22 hours ago
By FINTAN NG SYDNEY: Australia’s Servcorp Ltd, the world’s second largest serviced office operator, is investing US$30mil over five years into ...


Make This Your Best Investing Year Yet
Motley Fool - Jul 3, 2008
Today, he's investing in First Solar (Nasdaq: FSLR) and Visa (NYSE: V). Fast-forward another five years. Evidence abounds that, for investors, it's going to ...


BBC News

The Five Secrets to Succeed at Bear Market Investing
Money Morning - Jul 2, 2008
But here’s the ultimate irony: Bear-market investing offers a direct pathway to the biggest profit opportunities most investors will ever see. ...
Investing in Commodities: Diversification or Hedging? Seeking Alpha
Investing Strategies for Today's Bear Market Smartmoney.com
Its Black Everywhere istockAnalyst.com
Washington Post - Globe and Mail
all 258 news articles

Investing - Google News

home | site map
© 2006