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Trading Educators Blog

#1 Trading Blog Site

Practical Teaching Derived from over 60 Years of Trading Experience and over 30 Years of Mentoring .  Click here to learn about private mentoring with Master Trader Joe Ross.

Dec
19

Discipline and Temptation

Looking at your screen can be much like looking at a slot machine, and stopping yourself from dropping a dollar in the slot and pulling the handle. You must restrain yourself from making an impulsive trade, but there's a very human tendency to seek out excitement and receive a quick reward. You must fight temptation and maintain self-control, however. Electronic trading platforms have made trades ...

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  1871 Hits
Dec
12

The News

​What are the latest headlines? Do they impact the markets? Well, it depends. On Monday, October 17, 2005, here were some of the headlines that may have impacted you. GM reached a tentative agreement with the union. What's the impact? It seemed to satisfy long term investors. Company profits are bound to improve with lower labor costs, right? The Supreme Court refused to allow the government to pu...

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  2168 Hits
Dec
05

Getting Help

​If you're like most modern traders, you try to do it all. You study charts and historical data for trading opportunities. You struggle to devise a thorough, well-designed trading plan. You enter trades on your own electronic trading platform, and you monitor your trades to make midcourse corrections when necessary. Depending on your personality, available resources, and time commitment, you may w...

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  2126 Hits
Nov
27

Hindsight

Do you remember your first impressions of trading? Perhaps you were young and had a strong desire to achieve early success, but if you were like most people, you had unrealistic expectations about the financial resources and skill level that were needed to trade profitably. You probably figured that you could just open a typical online brokerage account and turn $1,500 into a fortune. You probably...

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  2275 Hits
Nov
21

Protection

​It was a muggy day and I couldn't seem to do anything right. I fumbled around all morning. He hadn't slept the previous night. I was tired, and was tempted to just quit for the day, drink some ice-tea, and sit in a hammock by the pool. But I still had enough willpower to fight temptation a little longer. I had been working on a trading plan for the past month and I wanted to see it through. The d...

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  2126 Hits
Nov
14

Be Objective

When your money is on the line, you can't help but feel a little uneasy. What if you lose? It's hard not to put some of your ego on the line with your money, and when you lose, feel hurt. Winning traders, though, keep cool. They don't ride a roller coaster ride of emotions, feeling euphoric after a win and beaten after a loss. They take losses in stride. However, it's hard to stay objective and co...

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  1834 Hits
Nov
07

False Consensus Part 2

​Jim own a Hog farm. He produces 1,000 hogs per month to take to market, so he runs a fair-sized hog operation.Jim grows corn and soybeans for feed. He grinds his own beans into meal, and has silos for storage of both the corn and the beans. In years where the crop of the best quality, Jim stores as much of his crop as possible. If the crop is of lesser quality, he sells his crop in the open marke...

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  1832 Hits
Nov
01

False Consensus Part 1

​Traders and investors try to understand their world. They make hypotheses and test them. Rather than conducting formal experiments, however, they use their everyday experience to test out theories they have about the markets. We study the markets and try to develop our own personal theories about how the markets work. Because we don't conduct formal experiments, we may fall prey to psychological ...

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  1731 Hits
Oct
23

Ready for Action

​In 1981, when I first started day trading, I would get to bed early night, wake up early, and be excited about starting the trading day. I remember on time when it was a cool, sunny day, and I really felt rejuvenated. After a quick exercise session, I couldn't wait for the markets to open, so I could make a few winning trades. I was really hyped. "Today is my lucky day. Today I'm going to make a ...

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  1777 Hits
Oct
17

Making a Comeback

​Have you ever had a bad day when nothing seemed to go right? First, you got up late. Second, your computer wouldn't boot up, and third, when it did, you couldn't seem to get in and out at the right time when executing even the most basic trade. What really upset you was when your Data line went down for 10 minutes during a critical moment in your trading plan. Traders face setback after setback, ...

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  2082 Hits
Oct
10

Intuition

​If only humans were more like machines. In theory, the ultimate trader would act like a robot, analyzing market data with unfailing accuracy, devising a trading plan, and executing it without flaw. But does trading work that way? Trading is more art than science. Without an intuitive grasp of the markets, it's difficult to successfully trade the markets using short-term trading strategies. Humans...

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  1952 Hits
Sep
26

Be Aware

​Beginning traders may make trade after trade and watch their account balance dwindle with each trade. They may feel unintelligent and thoughtless and think, "Why am I making so many losing trades?" At times they may wonder if they are thoroughly incompetent. But it's all a matter of perspective. If you aren't trading profitably, it isn't because you can't. It isn't because you have bad luck. It i...

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  2159 Hits
Sep
19

Graceful Trading

​Whether you're a novice or seasoned trader, there are days when you face setback after setback: Adverse events go against you. You make a trading error. You misread the markets. The possible setbacks can be endless, and it hurts a little to watch your account balance take a hit when one of them catches you off guard. But whatever roadblocks get in your way, you have to take them in stride. How ca...

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  2052 Hits
Sep
12

Setbacks

​Are you experiencing an emotional roller coaster, euphorically celebrating wins, but facing despair when losses mount? If you are, you may be taking things a little too personally. If you want to trade like a winner, you need to take responsibility for your actions, taking every precaution possible to neutralize adverse events and to control risk. That said, when things go wrong, it may not alway...

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  2099 Hits
Sep
05

Be Flexible

​As traders in the markets, it's informative to study everyday examples of mass psychology. Although humans are highly intelligent, they can act like cattle blindly following the leader of the pack to the slaughterhouse. For example, have you ever observed how people drive in busy rush hour traffic? On a crowded freeway, it's common to see people refuse to acknowledge that the flow of traffic has ...

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  1979 Hits
Aug
29

Emotions

​Winning traders are extremely disciplined. They wisely study the markets, devise a trading plan, and follow it. They control their impulse to abandon their plans prematurely, and they don't allow emotions, such as fear and greed, to influence their trading decisions. In the trading profession, emotions often get a bad rap, however. There are critical moments of investing when it's vital to contro...

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  2035 Hits
Aug
22

Regrets

​Fear and greed drive market action. We enthusiastically put on trades when we think a huge profit is assured, but when we see the market shift dramatically, we get out as quickly as possible. We fear being trampled by the masses as they all rush to sell. Fear and greed are powerful emotions that underlie the actions of the masses, but behavioral economists argue that regret is equally powerful. R...

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  2537 Hits
Aug
15

Stress Errors

Have you ever been so excited about a trade that you couldn't sleep at night? Or perhaps you are trying to dig yourself out of a hole and worry has taken a toll. Studies of disasters, ranging from major environmental catastrophes to minor laboratory accidents, happen when people are under extreme stress or experience physical exhaustion. When people are tired, there's an increased risk of disaster...

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  1982 Hits
Aug
04

Creative Idea

​The winning trader stays ahead of the crowd. In ever-changing market conditions, you have to think of new, innovative trading ideas. But it isn't always easy. There are times when you feel mentally stuck and unable to think creatively. When you are feeling a little stuck, there are specific steps you can take to get your creative juices flowing. Creativity can't be forced. If you try to force you...

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  2214 Hits
Aug
01

Three Traders

​The expectations you hold about where your trading career is going can have a powerful impact on what you do and how you do it. Consider three traders, Jake, Steve, and Paul. Each has a different outlook, and this outlook dictates how they approach the markets. Jake is a pessimist. He wants to become a profitable trader, but his attitude gets in the way. He thinks, "I just don't have the talent t...

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  2111 Hits

Derivative transactions, including futures, are complex and carry a high degree of risk. They are intended for sophisticated investors and are not suitable for everyone. There are numerous other factors related to the markets in general or to the implementation of any specific trading program which cannot be fully accounted for in the preparation of hypothetical performance results, and all of which can adversely affect actual trading results. For more information, see the Risk Disclosure Statement for Futures and Options.