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Trade To Win"Those who lose - trade not to lose. Those who are successful - trade to Win." Losing Vs Winning Most traders are more focused on not losing than they are on winning. Do you understand what this means? This means you are acting not in your best interest, but against your self. By focusing on how much you can or might lose, or on not losing, you increase the likelihood of making mistakes which ultimately lead to a losing traders equation, and a negative equity curve. Profitable traders do not care about losing. They understand it is part of winning. They focus on winning. What is the best move in this moment? Should I get out or continue to hold based on what the market is telling me? Winning traders accept the risk totally and completely; before getting into the trade. In other words, they have already lost what is on the line. Therefore they act in their own best interest, not based on their thoughts about what they could lose, but based on what the market is telling them to do in this moment. Other than this psychological difference, here are a few other key components on How to Trade To Win. Defined Edge - Every trader who is making money in the market has some form of edge which he employs. Even if his edge is purely intuitive. This is extreme and rare however, and most traders have clearly defined their edge and will only trade that edge. This removes randomness. Many beginners think they are going to study the market and be able to trade the market no matter what it is doing (trade intuitively). This is simply not the case for most. The purpose of studying the market is to identify opportunities in form of an edge. An edge is a setup or context which repeats itself over time. It might occur once a day, once a week, or once a month. It does not matter. All that matters is that you only trade your clearly defined edge, and leave the randomness behind. For more information, you can read about the edge I use in every market I trade. We also describe how you can develop your own edge, and trade it in any market. Stop Doing, Relax Efforts - If you are losing in the market, chances are you are doing too much. Many beginners, and even experienced traders think they must be trading in order to be a successful trader. This leads to random trading, over trading, and mistakes which compound themselves. You end up digging a hole, and instead of looking for a way out, you look for a different shovel. The harder you try to make a profit, the more you do, the more actions you make, and the more you lose. The market rewards those who are observant, disciplined, and most importantly patient. The market takes from those who try too hard, and do too much. If you dont believe me, try as hard as you can to make money, and see how you do! By relaxing your efforts, you relax your mind. In turn relax your actions and decision making. You do not have to trade every day to be a profitable trader. It sounds paradoxical doesn't it? How can I make money trading if I dont trade? By only trading when it is appropriate like when your edge is present, you better your odds of success. Profitable trading does not come from trading constantly. Profitable trading comes from the act of non-doing, and out of a state of emptiness. Profitable trading is effortless, it comes out of waiting for just the right moment before taking action. And then waiting some more while the market proves you right or wrong. Profitable trading is not forced; it just happens. Active VS Passive Trading - This is very similar to the previous topic. Active trading is a trader who is constantly in the market, trading whatever he see's or feels right. This trader is often wrong, and when he is right he makes the mistake of exiting too early due to fear. This leads to a negative traders equation as he continues to struggle to do the right thing. An Active Trader mentality is one which does not believe in "non-doing." He believes he must, and can, do something. He is afraid of missing out and is often swayed by thoughts and emotions. So he continues trading never looking back, and at the end of the month cannot figure out why his account is in the red. A Passive Trader is the opposite. He passes on more trades than he takes. He does not care about what he misses out on. He only cares about what he takes and the actions he makes in the market. He does not force trades, he just watches the market until he knows what to do. Or he waits and waits until his edge finally sets up. He is passive in his efforts, rather than active. He does not care if he doesn't trade today, this week, or even this month. Trading is not what is important to him; winning is. He knows that profits come from sitting, waiting. Because he is willing to wait, he is peaceful. And profits continue to come into his account, effortlessly. For more information on developing this type of mentality, see below. We also detail how to understand markets through price action, how to create, define, and employ an edge, and how to develop your traders mentality to succeed in markets. If you found this helpful please like! Feel free to comment or ask questions.
SP:SPXEducation
by tradersmentality
Top 3 Reasons Traders Lose or Give Up1). Over-trading and Random trading. Most people and traders think in order to make money as a trader you have to be trading all the time. If you are simply watching the market, you are missing out, or not doing your job by not trading it. This leads to over trading, and trading randomly or outside of your edge. Any trades taken that are not apart of your trading plan and do not align with your clearly defined edge, should be considered random trading. This is common after losing, because the natural tendency to want to make back what you lost. This only compounds mistakes and adds to the losses, making it even harder to recover both emotionally and financially. Being excited or eager to trade is normal, especially for beginners who are drawn to the profit potential. We are all in the market to make money, and if you are not in the market you are not making money. But more often than not, being out of the market is the right thing to do. It is often better to not make any money, than to lose it! By understanding, developing, and only trading your edge you increase your likelihood of earning a consistent income. Remember, all edges have a failure rate between 40-60%. So it is important to not jump back into the market after losing, until the next time your edge sets up. If you do not know what your edge is, you should only trade SIM or not at all until you develop one. 2). Scalping or Not Allowing for Windfall Profits. There is an old saying on Wall Street "you cant go broke taking profits." But you absolutely can go broke by taking profits, primarily when your losses are bigger than your wins. It has become common these days for people to advocate scalping. But they do not understand that the math is against them. They think since the high frequency trading firms are scalping for ticks or a point, that they should too. But a retail trader cannot compete with these institutions. They have algorithms that can make 10 trades faster than you blink, pay minimal commissions, have direct access to the exchanges, hedge their trades, and often use wide stops and scale in to positions. A beginner should never scalp, and even those with experience are better off swing trading as it offers a less stressful and less difficult way to trade profitably. When swing trading it only takes 1 out of 10 trades to offset all the losers and provide a profit. This is the complete opposite of scalping, where it takes 10 winners to offset one large loss. Or if you are using a smaller stop like twice your target (1 point target and 2 point stop), it still takes 2 trades to make up a single loss and a third to make a minuscule profit after commissions. What happens when you lose again? This cycle repeats over and over, and the trader dies slowly but surely from 100 bee stings. 3). Wrong Mentality. There are many examples of the wrong traders mentality which prevents success for so many. One of which is losing. Most traders do not like to lose, they see losing as a problem. They do not understand that losers lead to winners, and that losing is the natural cycle of trading and is imperative to a consistent return. You cant win if you dont lose! Another example is emotions. Most traders see emotions as the enemy, that which stands between themselves and the market, and prevents them from succeeding. So they work to try and remove emotions. But this is not possible. As long as you are a human you will have emotions. You can never remove them. The key is to understand them, and use them to your advantage in the market. And when you are not in the right mental state, remove yourself from the market altogether. A third example is fighting the market. This relates back to the first topic, over trading and random trading. Many traders do not realize the market does not always offer what they are seeking. A trading range is a good example of this. In a trading range, the market goes sideways there are many failures, and the market does not get very far. What happens to a trader who does not realize this? He continues fighting the market, looking for a large gain when the market is not offering one. So it is important to understand your self and the market. Not just the market. You need to be able to realize when you should not be trading because your mind is not in the right state productive to trading. As well as knowing and understanding your edge, which also means the market context it works well in, and when it does not. For more understanding on these topics and more, including how to develop an edge and how to better your traders mentality, see website below. If you found this helpful please like! Feel free to comment or ask questions.
COINBASE:BTCUSD
by tradersmentality
Journey of 1000 psychological trading hacks.Join me - to boldly go where 'no man' has gone before. This is the Final Frontier. I take on the big issue - head on. This is the one that is more likely to make the biggest difference to achieving consistent profitability. I assert that it technical and fundamental analysis are not most important issues in trading - at all! If 'everybody' could simply do proper technical and fundamental analysis and make load of money, then everybody would be rich. It's never happened. It ain't gonna happen! I say that our enemies lie within. I say that dealing with the enemies within - by self-analysis, is the path to unlimited gains. AND - it's not just me saying so. Could this be your 'Mission Improbable' or your 'Mission Possible'? The choice is yours. This post is in keeping with Tradingview's text-based analysis guidance
BITSTAMP:BTCUSDEducation
by Captain_Walker
99% of day traders consistently lose money (educational)In this screencast I present results of a scientific study carried out on day trading, in the Taiwan Stock exchange. I explore some volatile instruments that some day traders may get stung by. The results of the Taiwan study are shocking. Disbelief leads people to argue that 'that's in Taiwan - so what?'. However the results are informative of cognitive and behavioural characteristics of day traders, more widely. Even if the results are 50% applicable outside of Taiwan, they are seriously worrying. For those interested in reading the study, Google: "Do Day Traders Rationally Learn about Their Ability". So, what does it all mean? For me it means: 1. That the knowledge, skill and experience required to be consistently profitable are extreme. 2. Day traders are most at risk of burning their accounts and departing never to return. 3. Even seasoned traders are at huge risks of losing money. 4. It isn't about methodology - it is about 'individual trader psychology' New traders need to be very cautious in following experts. A fair few of seasoned traders have set up training programmes, from which I suspect they make more money training, than in trading. Hard evidence on that is of course not easy to come by. But it's not me just saying so - a handful of true experts out there have said similar. [ For the avoidance of doubt, I have committed never to sell anything to new or seasoned traders. What you see is what you get. I do not need anybody's money. ]
BITSTAMP:BTCUSDEducation
by Captain_Walker
It's a loser's game - officiallyThis post is modified and re-posted after it was banned (a matter of fact and the truth). Why? I was said to be promoting a broker's website seemingly because by I identified the source of quotation and said that they were being honest. I have now substituted the name the broker with a fictitious ABCXYZ (which is not the name of any broker as far as I am aware). The rest of the post is the same. I promote nobody - not even myself. ESMA is not a broker. The quotation is directly from an email I received today from ABCXYZ.com ABCXYZ.com has been fully transparent on the risk of losing money on it's platform. Nothing in this educational post is to suggest that people avoid trading. The sole intention of this post is for new and season traders to better understand the risks, and to realise the amount of effort, discipline, training and sacrifice that are needed to become consistently profitable. As a new trader your chances are very very slim, for making consistent profits over months or years. Some people think that it's all about following a set or rules. Well, if it was that simple then 80% of people would just follow rules and be millionaires. That's not going to happen! For novices, the high probability of losing money is nothing to do with any particular broker. It must be something else! I'm afraid the most important factor is hardly ever discussed in forums. What's that? It's about 'trader psychology'. It's that unseen thing - the elephant in the room - that causes the problems. I say, it does not matter what system you use to tackle the markets with, the underlying obstacle is 'your psychology'. It is not about mastering the charts. It's all about self-mastery. Any dissenting opinions? Have your say now. For the avoidance of doubt or suspicion, I am 100% committed to helping other traders develop for absolutely no pecuniary or other advantage to me - ever! In other words, I'll never take you to some site that sells tips, signals, or courses - where you'd start of at free but then have to pay to learn from some 'inner circle'.
BITSTAMP:BTCUSDEducation
by Captain_Walker
To boldly go beyond technical analysis towards self-analysisHaving been on Tradingview for the last few years, I've observed that perhaps 'the most important' aspect of trading is hardly ever discussed. I'm not sure why that its. Look, this is a loser's game. How? Read on. Some key estimates: 1. 90% of traders will lose money consistently. . 2. 80% of trading success depends on managing individual psychology. 3. It is possible to be consistently profitable even with a 30% win rate. I say that there is an invisible wall that affects many new and seasoned traders. How would I know? I've been there - and head-butted the wall! The difficult aspects of trading: 1. Managing risk 2. Self-deception 3. Finding reasonable entry and exit points. 4. Being disciplined - staying disciplined. 5. Changing patterns of cognition 6. Changing patterns of behaviour. 7. Managing external influences. 8. Managing emotions. Core trading skills to develop: 1. Finding trends early enough. 2. Calculating acceptable losses. 3. Exploiting trends. 4. Understanding when not to enter a trade. How do new traders get conned? 1. They have ideas or beliefs that there is some magic formula or system of trading that will work to beat the markets. 2. They are influenced to join training programs, most of which deliver little or no strategies for coping with the difficulties. 3. They move from program to program spending on 'hope'; losing as they go. 4. They spend on signalling services. The difficulty is that many traders have a difficult time seeing their own psychology. Note - I'm not talking about psychology in general or the stuff you find in textbooks. So a trader could focus on all manner of trading methodology and still have a very big problem. Dig deep fellow traders. The markets are their to punish you but also the markets are sound teachers.
BITSTAMP:BTCUSDEducation
by Captain_Walker
SPAR GROUP INC- Top GainerSPAR has been on a 'sprint' lately giving itself a lot of upwards momentum in such a short period of time, meanwhile not having a strong balance from the previous chart patterns. What I am trying to say is that the position that SPAR is holding on to right now is a very weak position, much like Aquabounty which I also wrote about. SPAR may not fall down as drastically as Aquabounty but it will surely win itself a spot in the top losers sometime soon, but the action will not stop there. There will DEFINETELY be another run in this same quarter ((or maybe at the worst in the very beginning of next quarter)) where SPAR will go on another run where right after it will become the top loser.
NASDAQ:SGRP
by AlbanSako