Trading Educators Blog

​Your ability to concentrate fully and intensely can mean the difference between consistently taking home huge profits and barely staying above water. It's really important that you pay attention to multiple sources of information, sift through them, prioritize each separate piece, and make a wise decision once all information has been scrutinized. You can't be distracted and unfocused while formu...

​Marvin has been following a company stock for the past year. It's a great company with solid management, high sales growth, and consistently high earnings. It is in a booming industry sector and a favorite of the media. After a year's worth of careful deliberation, Marvin has decided to pull the trigger and buy a large position. He can't see what can go wrong. What can go wrong? It's a good compa...

Don't follow the crowd! You've been warned over and over, but few are that independent minded. Breaking away is harder than it looks. We are all familiar with the rebel, the person who breaks all the rules and is skeptical of the status quo. At the other extreme, the ultra-conformist seems to follow the rules too blindly. Neither extreme is optimal for trading. It's necessary to find the right bal...

​Jake has just made three losing trades in a row? He decides he is in a slump and is now worried that he can't get out of it. But is he really in a slump? Perhaps he's just panicking for no good reason. He may just have a pessimistic attitude, but this might be enough to keep him stuck. Thoughts are powerful. The reality of the situation may not matter. All that matters in the end is your percepti...

​Making profits as a trader is often a matter of trading in the proper state of mind. Trading expert Dr. Van K. Tharp, author of several best-selling books on trading psychology and head of the Van Tharp Institute, describes three states of mind that may dictate how you approach trading. As traders gain experience with trading the markets, they move from a "having" state of mind to a "doing" state...

​It would be wonderful if there were a foolproof and valid instruction manual for how to trade the markets profitably, a cookbook of sorts where you merely follow the steps and you are successful. For decades, traders have tried to find recipes for financial success. For some, the Holy Grail comes from the latest trading guru. For others, it may be a new software program. As appealing as a trading...

The need for control is the biggest psychological impediment to profitable trading. Traders strive to control the markets, but in the end, they find that they must accept their fate and settle for controlling their emotions. When your money is on the line, it's difficult to remain calm, rational, and in complete control. You want to win, and there is a strong need to want the market action to fall...

There has been great interest in the markets lately, so there's no reason that you shouldn't take home huge profits, right? Although many traders profit, there are some who still can't seem to make a profit, even during relatively good times like these. Let's consider some of the psychological impediments that may limit success. The most obvious reason for an inability to win is a lack of experien...

Even though there is great interest in the markets these days, and more opportunities than usual, it's vital to approach trading with the proper mindset. You can't try to do too much, too fast. Successful traders approach trading with a carefree, focused attitude and putting added stress on yourself interferes with attaining this peak performance mental edge. When you are in the proper mindset, yo...

​Even during a strong bull market, you have to do your homework. Many stocks will go up while the public is interested in trading the markets, but not all stocks are equal. Some will go up dramatically while others will barely move. If you want to trade like a master trader, you must closely study the markets to find stocks that are likely to go up. Despite the necessity of studying the fundamenta...

Preconceived images have a powerful influence on our decisions. If we believe that a company has a hot new product, we can't help but think its stock price is bound to go up. Trading the markets can be 99% psychology at times. The image of a company can often mean more to us than actual earnings reports, but the masses can be fickle and it is vital to consider as many factors as possible while out...

​Why do so many traders abandon their trading plan? Is it their personality, an inherent pitfall of the trading profession, or temporary insanity? A host of factors may contribute to a lack of discipline. Depending on your personality, background, training, and experience with the markets, you may have trouble reigning in your tendency to act on impulse. For some people, impulsivity is in their na...

​Jim has been holding a position for six months. A media analyst predicted the stock would hit $100 by the end of the year. He bought it at $75. It went down to $50, and it's on the way back up. During the recent interest in the markets, Jim is hoping that it will hit $75 so he can sell it and break even. The break-even point is critical. When you are on the losing side of a trade, all you can do ...

​Disciplined trading is critical for lasting success. Profitable trading requires a combination of skill and probabilities. The winning trader implements proven trading strategies over and over, so that across a series of trades, the law of averages works in his or her favor. Unless you make trades, you have no chance of winning. The more times you try, the more likely you will succeed. An importa...

​Successful trading is part reliable method and part mental edge. Without a sound set of methods and financial resources, it is impossible to trade profitably. Your method should also have a good track record, and it is essential to have enough capital to allow your method to work in terms of realistic position sizes and the number of losing trades you can afford to take before you hit upon a winn...

To the best of my knowledge, no one has ever figured out a truly accurate way to figure out future turning points. As far as I know, it has never been done. I don't believe that it will ever be done. I have encountered traders who have told me that so-and-so does it, but I have never seen the proof. Nevertheless, I'm willing to listen. I used to live in the "show-me" State of Missouri, so show me!...

​Eternal optimists often make the best traders. The winning trader engages in a constant search for innovative ways to take profits out of the markets. It takes a positive attitude to persist in the face of almost endless setbacks. If you are an optimist, you will pick yourself up gracefully after a loss. When you can't seem to find a high probability setup, you'll keep searching until you find on...

​Eternal optimists often make the best traders. The winning trader engages in a constant search for innovative ways to take profits out of the markets. It takes a positive attitude to persist in the face of almost endless setbacks. If you are an optimist, you will pick yourself up gracefully after a loss. When you can't seem to find a high probability setup, you'll keep searching until you find on...

​Do you ever wonder if you secretly want to fail? It's hard to believe, but some people do want to fail. They may not want to do better than their parents, and secretly, they set themselves up for failure. Others fear success. They associate success with added responsibility, and they want to avoid responsibility at all costs. But if you're like most people, you want to succeed. For whatever reaso...

​How well have you been doing in the markets these days? There have been many opportunities in the past few weeks, but an abundance of market opportunities, don't always guarantee success. Setbacks can be the rule rather than the exception when it comes to trading. Discovering reliable trading strategies is a challenge, and frequently, a promising strategy produces a series of losses, especially u...