Trading Educators Blog

Winning traders approach the markets with an optimal mindset. They trade "in the zone," but it's surprising how stress can impact your ability to enter this ideal state of mind. You can carefully delineate a complete trading plan, for example, in which every aspect is spelled out clearly, from when to enter and when to exit, and you may have a wealth of experience executing such plans, but when yo...

It's the day after a holiday. Are you going to trade today? Some traders believe that stock prices tend to rise the day after a holiday. Perhaps you have anticipated a rise in prices, and are holding a few positions in the hopes that you can sell into the strength brought on by the holiday. Nevertheless, the day before the holiday there's going to be less trading, just by the mere fact that the tr...

Note: I believe the article below was written by Adrienne Tograhie, a good friend and great trading coach. The Manic/Volatile trader has learned to create emotional volatility by developing a great imagination. By looping positive and negative stories with more detail, he is very effective in becoming dramatic. With enhanced feelings, he has justified to himself about being right. This keeps him s...

When confronted with a choice, how do you decide? Are the choices you make in life in general different from the choices you make in trading? It has been my experience that decisions in life that involve a perception of a possible loss, being wrong, or making a mistake, will very often take the same approach as the decisions you make in trading. Stuck Gary was a "want to be" trader for over twenty...

To position yourself for success in investing (and life in general), it's useful to identify the one key area that's holding you back. These factors can range from needing to free up more money to invest each month, to cutting back on frivolous spending, or even a lack of education on how to best manage your investments. You'd be shocked at how many people are unable to pinpoint obvious blemishes ...

In a number of places and at various times, I've mentioned that trading in the past was a lot easier than it is today. When it comes to making money over the long-term, the "instant results" generation is at a huge disadvantage. Most of the focus today (thanks to the business media) is on checking your financial scoreboard frequently. As a result, many modern market watchers are more like gamblers...

I will never stop learning. This is my mantra and I will continue to practice it each and every day. Why? Because you never know where your next big opportunity may lie. Constantly learning will benefit you in many areas of your life. You'll uncover new investment opportunities, such as dividend stocks that are attractive for new money. Or, you can acquire new skills that open the door to bigger p...

Have you ever been a part of a conversation when someone decides to anoint a particular individual with the "rich" label? There's not really anything wrong with it, except for when the next part of the conversation moves on to discrediting how he/she was able to get in their particular position. Yes, sometimes people born into wealth squander their head start and "blow" their family's fortune. How...

Losses apply to all traders, regardless of their chosen markets. The story below could apply to Forex, futures, bonds, or stocks. Ray Activ has just taken a big risk and lost. He has been watching a stock for the past month and it's been going down. But today an earnings report was released. Yesterday, Ray had a strong hunch that actual earnings were going to beat analysts' estimates. In preparati...

If you're like most people, your moods change throughout the day. There are times when you are extremely energetic and optimistic. You feel as if you can do anything. You're in an optimal state of mind for trading. A "state of mind" consists of a set of moods, feelings, thoughts, and memories. In an optimistic state of mind, you feel powerful and ready for action; you feel enthusiastic and energiz...

Trading can be frustrating at times. You put in a heroic effort, but it doesn't always pay off in the way that you had hoped. When you finally do win big, you naturally want to celebrate. You may even get a "swelled head," and feel invincible, as if you are on top of the world. Why not celebrate? You deserve it. It's healthy to occasionally pat yourself on the back for a job well done, but don't g...

Trading is risky. Depending on your personality, you may be extremely intolerant of risk. I know a man who uses "riskaverse" for his email address. Most people avoid risks at all costs. Humans had to make prudent decisions in order to survive and evolve. Even though traders know they must risk money to make money, the natural inclination to avoid risk is powerful. How much risk are you willing to ...

If you're an eternal optimist, you hate bad news. But bad news is relative. What is bad news to some people is mere information, and possibly good news, to others. Some traders hate bad news, and do anything to avoid hearing it. It takes many forms, and at Trading Educators we have heard them all. Some traders keep losses on paper to avoid acknowledging them. Other traders avoid looking at perform...

The experienced private trader doesn't have to trade all day, every day. Market conditions change, and it is wise to stand aside until your trading methods, your risk tolerance, and your objectives match market conditions. At other times you might be feeling "off," and it might be better to watch the market than to trade it. Trading is a matter of moving from studying and observing to actively par...

Of all the email I receive, I dread most the ones that are sent to me by traders and investors who want to be (and want me to be) socially responsible. "Socially responsible" is cousin to being "politically correct." However, I am not a good judge of what is socially correct. I can measure moral correctness only in terms of the Bible. I have held Philip Morris, Altria, and Lorillard stocks at one ...

A couple of years ago I read an article on "thedailybeast.com", which discussed the debate of whether or not the brain acts like a muscle. An interesting part of the article described a program that was set up for a low-performing elementary school in Oakland. Over the course of eight weeks, twice a week, kids would go into one of two rooms to play board games, video games, and card games. Each ro...

This morning, I happened to catch a video on YouTube. It was something about the coolest guy on Earth. It made me think about being cool and having your act together as a trader. Trading can be fast-paced. As an active trader, you may sift through a barrage of information from media reports to earnings statements to unexpected national events. It's sometimes hard to make sense of it all, and to se...

In the trading profession, profits are hardly a sure thing. Even the most experienced traders make big mistakes and pay the price. Professional traders, as well as independent short-term traders, can mount huge losses. If you are experiencing a severe drawdown, don't feel badly about it. You're not the first person, and you won't be the last, to experience a severe drawdown. Emotionally, it is dif...

How good a trader are you? Everyone eventually must ask and answer this question. The answer may be unpleasant, but sooner or later you have to face your limitations. Some traders feed their accounts every month to avoid looking at how poorly they are doing. It's natural to take such measures. We all want to be successful, and it can be devastating to discover that, despite our best efforts, we ju...

Have you ever had one of those days in which you wished you had stayed in bed rather than executed your first trade of the day? Perhaps you excitedly put together a trading plan the night before, only to get a poor fill when the markets opened the next morning. Maybe you were just in a bad mood and frustrated that nothing was going right. Some trading experts warn against trading while upset or fr...