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Trading General

Trading General

Joe Ross
Jul
09

Getting Rid of Ego

Getting Rid of Ego
Have you ever wondered how to get your ego out of your trading? Have you wanted to be market-centered, but find yourself consistently being self-centered? One thing I know for sure: your self-concept has to be separate from your trading. You began as an individual long before you ever thought of trading. And you exist as an individual beyond the time you spend trading. When personal self-worth get...
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Joe Ross
Jul
02

ATR Indicator

ATR Indicator
How does the ATR indicator work? The ATR indicator stands for Average True Range, it was one of the handful of indicators that were developed by J. Welles Wilder, and featured in his 1978 book, New Concepts in Technical Trading Systems. Although the book was written and published before the computer age, surprisingly it has withstood the test of time and several indicators that were featured in th...
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Joe Ross
Jun
24

The Close

The Close
Why is it with futures that we see the Close at one price, and then a half-hour later it has moved to another price? Why isn't the Close the same as "Last," and what is the "Consolidated Price?" "Last" is the last price at which an underlying stock or futures is traded. It could also be the "Close." The Close that you see within minutes or seconds after trading has ceased may not be the final pric...
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Guest — CES
Thanks Joe FOR addressing a vexing TOPIC that is rarely explained. I’ve have seen CME documentation that futures settlement ca... Read More
Thursday, 09 July 2020 11:23
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Joe Ross
Jun
18

Can seasonal transitions help a commodity trader?

Can seasonal transitions help a commodity trader?
Yes! Seasonal transitions create workable Spread strategies. I'll let my Andy Jordan, an expert in seasonal fundamentals, answer. Andy! You have the floor: "Change gives birth to risk – but also creates opportunity. Seasonal transitions create workable spread strategies because markets have to struggle to maintain equilibrium between supply and demand as conditions undergo dynamic change through t...
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Marco Mayer
Jun
11

5 Tips on How to Deal with Drawdowns

5 Tips on How to Deal with Drawdowns
After the recent harsh correction in the stock markets and cryptocurrencies, many traders and especially investors currently find their accounts in a not so nice drawdown. So I thought this might be a good time to give some advice on how to deal with such drawdowns. What's a drawdown? Here's a quick explanation: You buy one stock of a company at $100 and after a month it's trading at $120. You're ...
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Joe Ross
Jun
11

Break Out from a Trading Range

Break Out from a Trading Range
Here are two ways to know when prices are getting ready to break out from a trading range.  When prices are in a trading range, count the number of closes above or below a specific price near the vertical mid-level of the trading range. If 70% of the closes are above the mid-level price, and the market cannot rally and close above reaction highs, a severe correction may be imminent. If a mark...
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Guest — susan patton
Very INFORMATIVE. thank you
Saturday, 27 June 2020 15:03
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Joe Ross
Jun
03

Trading Psychology

Trading Psychology
Many traders are aware that trading psychology is the most crucial piece of the puzzle in learning how to become a profitable trader. However, most traders avoid taking the steps that are necessary to correct or improve their response to market behavior and end up paying a hefty price in the end. There are some specific steps you can take to improve your reaction to market action and strengthen yo...
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Joe Ross
May
28

Reader Question

Reader Question
A reader asks: "Hey Joe! I'm pretty new at this. Can you tell me the rules for buy and sell stops?" When the market trades above a buy stop price order, it becomes a market order. The first down tick after the market order price is activated determines the highest price at which the buy stop order may be filled. The rule to remember placing stops is this, "Buy above and sell below." Buy stops are ...
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Guest — J
This is good to know.
Friday, 29 May 2020 07:07
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Andy Jordan
May
21

Your Worst Enemy

Your Worst Enemy
In general, we are our own worst enemy when it comes to trading. There are many ways to sabotage yourself as a trader. Not creating a trading plan, or creating one and then not following it are two of the most common. Some ways to self-defeat are deep seated; they lurk at the back of your mind and work behind the scenes. These are often self-image problems that can rise from as far back as early c...
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Joe Ross
May
21

Fear

Fear
A reader asks: How do you handle fear? I seem to have plenty of it. Let's get one thing straight. Fear, for the majority of traders, is a very real thing. You have it, I have it. Others have it as well. What is it that traders fear? The top three, in order, are: Fear of missing a trade. Fear of losing money. Fear of being wrong and losing face. In order to become a professional trader, you must le...
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Joe Ross
May
14

I was asked the following question:

I was asked the following question:
"Do you think that what this guy wrote below is true? 'You can get ahead of yourself in this game, and it's dangerous to get cocky. But I've had times where for an hour I could do no wrong. I'm trading and 99 percent of the trades are good, they're all for 30 or 50 contracts, and I'll make 10 grand. Then I'll overextend myself and maybe buy 10 or 15 contracts, fighting the trend just because I kno...
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Joe Ross
May
07

Support and Resistance

Support and Resistance
One short time ago I received a couple of emails questioning whether or not I believe in support and resistance. In fact, one subscriber said if I didn't believe in support and resistance, then I couldn't possibly believe in trend! Why? Because in all cases the situation ends. Here's what I believe: The trend is your friend until the end. The swing is the thing until it goes "ding." What is suppor...
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Joe Ross
Apr
30

Money Supply

Money Supply
How does money supply affect trading in the markets? There are two important components of federal market activity which affect long- term economic activity and stock and commodity values; these are interest rates and money supply. A contracting money supply was one of the factors that caused the Great Depression of the 1930's. In the early 1980's most traders focused almost totally on the money s...
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Marco Mayer
Apr
30

How much to risk per trade

How much to risk per trade
One of the questions every trader has to think about at some point is, how much of my account should I risk per trade? A percentage? If so, what percentage? I'd love to have the right answer in my pocket for you, like "exactly 1.25% per trade/market and no more than 5% at the same time," but unfortunately, I don't. I know you don't want to waste too much time with this boring aspect of tradin...
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Marco Mayer
Apr
23

Some people seem to like to lose, so they win by losing money

Some people seem to like to lose, so they win by losing money
This is one of the quotes about trading that stuck with me. I googled it and it's from Ed Seykota, I probably read it in one of the Market Wizards books, which I can highly recommend. The exact quote is "Win or lose, everybody gets what they want out of the market. Some people seem to like to lose, so they win by losing money." Now this applies especially well to the retail world of traders. And i...
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Joe Ross
Apr
23

Closing Out a Trade

Closing Out a Trade
You must be disciplined in following the plan of your trade. Once you have closed your position, you should record everything about the trade. Write down where you wanted to enter the trade, what you expected out of the trade, and what you actually did get out of the trade. Make sure to include notes that will help you learn from the trade, reasoning what actually took place once you entered the t...
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Joe Ross
Apr
16

What will success as a trader bring to my life?

What will success as a trader bring to my life?
Success has many faces: peace of mind, high levels of health and energy, loving relationships, financial security, meaningful goals and aspirations, and the feeling that you are growing into all that you are capable of becoming. Becoming all that you can be is called "self-actualization."It is important to recognize that success is not only financial, but exists on many levels. A person may find s...
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Guest — Lindsay
thanks Joe .. Your blog is only allowing me to write in capitals? Lol
Friday, 17 April 2020 21:05
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Marco Mayer
Apr
16

Are you an efficient trader?

Are you an efficient trader?
Most traders start out with a dream. Usually, a part of that dream is once you're a successful trader, you will have more time to enjoy things in life such as spending time with your family, friends, hobbies, time in nature and start other business opportunities. Besides making money, for many, the main reason to start trading is actually to no longer spend 40-60 hours a week sitting in an of...
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Joe Ross
Apr
09

Avoid negative open equity

Avoid negative open equity
​There is an old saying that when day trading positions have had negative open equity most of the day, and an opportunity arises to exit the market at break even with less than 30 minutes of trading rises, go ahead and exit the market.  Unless the market is moving rapidly in your direction with expanding-in-length bars, and no more than 5 minutes left, exit immediately and consider the opport...
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Guest — Bishop
Nice insight Sir. Thanks for sharing
Saturday, 11 April 2020 21:06
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Marco Mayer
Apr
02

Don't wait too long for "Confirmation"!

Don't wait too long for "Confirmation"!
​A popular concept in the world of trading, especially among technical traders and chartists is to wait for confirmation before entering a trade. This means you have a Signal, for example, a price action pattern and now you wait for the markets to confirm that pattern before you enter. The idea, of course, is to filter out bad trades this way and to gain confidence before entering the trade. ...
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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.