Trading Educators Blog

​Trading is a challenge. Tens of thousands are drawn to trading, but few last more than a few months. Trading is presented in such a way that it appears to be easy, so it's difficult to face the truth that trading is difficult—at least until you can get the hang of it. Many beginning traders need to win. They are hoping that the huge profits they make trading will solve many problems in their live...

Careful risk management is a key component you being able to trade at your best. Comfort level is really important when it comes to risk. You need to be comfortable in three areas: Emotional, Mental, and Financial. We could even add Physical to that list without having to make too great a stretch. If there is a real danger that you will lose large amounts of capital, or money that you just can't a...

​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 ...

During ongoing activities, such as day trading, you have to learn how to pace yourself. This means alternating between times of intense activity with times of greatly decreased activity, times that require very little of your attention. These "rest periods" should take place when you do not have to quickly react to sudden market moves. This is hard advice to follow for some traders. They just won'...

​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...

​Develop a relationship with that market, as though it was one of your best friends. Know the market's personality and feel its spirit to become one with it. Watch it carefully in various time frames. Watch it every day. One of the best experiences for a beginning trader, who may want to become a professional trader, is to sit in front of a monitor for a month and observe the market. Make price ch...

It is critical to develop a well thought out and organized trading plan. It is then important to have the discipline needed to follow it. Diversify your trading into several unrelated markets, or focus on one market and time frame where you have seen you can make money. Trading, by its nature is not investing. Trading requires consistent monitoring on at least a daily basis because of the large im...

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!...

​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...

​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...

​Once you get into a trade, you must eventually get out. Some argue that this is more important than where you get into a trade. My experience has been that any fool can get into the market, but it takes a successful trader to consistently get out with a win. As I follow the markets, I find there are four reasons to get out of a trade. Prices move significantly against my position. Prices stop mov...

​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...

​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...

Diversification is one of the crucial factors in the success of some, but not all trading plans, and may in fact make the difference between success and failure of the plan. Putting all your eggs in one basket is not a good idea for some traders. This approach takes the position that rather than trading ten contracts in one market, look to trade smaller amounts in several different markets. The ai...

​Mental Momentum drawdown, you can feel a little disappointed, a little stunned, as if you have fallen, and you are having trouble getting up. After you've made a series of successful trades, however, you can feel much more powerful, as if you can relax a little bit. And when you feel relaxed, you also feel creative, and can think of winning strategies. Everything seems to click and you start...

A few years ago I had an interesting conversation with Joe about "what makes a trader a successful trader". We discussed this over several days because we wanted to find out how we can help struggling traders to enhance their trading. We finally came to the conclusion that "confidence" is what makes a huge difference. A trader can have a good system, good money and risk management in place, good u...

You will never be a perfect trader. However, as traders we have a strong need to want complete control over the outcome of a trade. We want to believe that if we analyze the markets long enough, we'll have perfect knowledge and we can trade to perfection. But such desire leads to wrong assumptions that can do us more harm than good. Assuming we must have control restricts our actions and reactions...

It has often been said that trading is not rocket science. I believe that. You don't need to be as brilliant as a rocket scientist to trade the markets profitably. I know I'm not that bright. That said, there are moments when a trader has a brilliant insight and takes home huge profits because of it. (I don't know any rocket scientists, but I'll bet that a rocket scientist isn't brilliant every wa...

​It is Tuesday, and you've been watching the markets closely for the past two weeks. It appears to be the fulfillment of your dreams: prices are making new market highs. You wonder, "What is the smart thing to do?" On the one hand, you can go long, but will this optimism last? Oil prices are still high, but they are lower and a little more stable compared to last summer. Everyone is hoping that co...