How to deal with uncertaintyHello traders,
All the below are based on my preferences, I don't give any financial recommendations and I have nothing to sell you with this article.
I'm sharing content because I see a lot of traders being/becoming broke and I don't want you to be one of them.
Who taught me to become a great trader?
Was it a majority of trying and failing? or was it masterminds? was it consultants? mentors? books?
I) I was not afraid to fail
I became successful because I wasn't afraid to fail.
We learn quickly when we can fail then instead of dwelling I just got back up and tried again.
And it took me weeks to figure out some issues with my trading simply from analysing my past trades AND it's way faster than reading trading books, buying trading courses taking me months to figure them out.
II) I was totally fine in the unknown
Disclaimer: you'll never be able to predict the future, what the FED is going to do, which country is going to invade which country, which bank will default, etc
Most traders, the reason they can't succeed, is because they're looking for a mentor, a book, i.e. certainty and reassurance
If you can survive and be ok with uncertainty then you realise you don't need all those things because you have common sense and thinking power.
And you can actually think on your feet, you can iterate, you can innovate => fancy words to say you can adapt your trading strategies based on how volatile and directional the market is
Great traders don't need certainty that a scenario will happen for sure.
Regardless if it happens or not, they'll handle it either way.
No blueprint is needed.
They're prepared to trade regardless of how they feel the market should do and that's how I deal with uncertainty too.
I accepted taking those risks with a demo account first and then trading micro-lots for about a year because I trusted I could make it as a trader.
III) Self-education
Now that I have a bit of money, I spend a lot in courses, mentorships, workshops, books, one-to-one coaching with 9+ figures people way above me in the "food chain"
But let me be perfectly clear, I didn't spend a dime when I learned how to trade
I learned by..... doing, failing, again and again and again.... at a 0 or low risk because I was smart enough to trade with the smallest position sizes possible.
Conclusion
The learn on the go mentality doesn't mean you learn and then go.
It means you learn while you go.
It's not because you have incomplete information that you have incomplete action.
You're going to learn more from the completed action than you would from the lesson you're trying to learn through research (book, course, ...)
With enough volume of trades, you'll be directionally correct eventually and then you can iterate from there.
Rather than looking to capture the whole trades profit from top to bottom/bottom to top, not looking for the perfect trades but looking to capture opportunity at every trade, you'll speed up your decision loop a lot.
Thank you for reading
I'll keep bringing a few articles like this every week because it helps me clarifying my thoughts AND giving back to the community makes me feel good about myself somehow :)
Dave
Trading Psychology
If you lost deposit...COINBASE:BTCUSD
Who is at fault?
Let's start by acknowledging that we shall identify who is to blame for the irreversible. Who exactly is at fault for the money you lost?
A market that is unprofitable? A market maker seeking increased compensation? A deceiver who desires to put everyone out of business? A signalman looking to overcharge for his signaled closed channel? Children who find it difficult to focus? Always a troublesome partner?
No, you alone are at fault. You initiated the deal with your own two hands, which resulted in the destruction of everything. Nobody else compelled you to risk everything. Realizing this should cause you to cease blaming others for the results of your own behavior. It gets worse when you realize that your actions caused the money to be lost; it consumes you internally and prevents you from thinking clearly. You shouldn't worry, though, because life continues on. regain your composure.
Errors are acceptable
Each of us has the right to make errors because we are all human. Making mistakes is a necessary part of learning because otherwise, how would we know what is worthwhile and what is not? Just understand that mistakes are a necessary part of our journey and give yourself permission to make them. We learn from our failures and gain priceless experience that helps us reach higher heights. There are numerous examples of people who went completely bankrupt making a comeback among the Forbes list participants, using the priceless expertise they received as a result of their past errors to increase their earnings, accelerate their business growth, and improve as entrepreneurs.
We all know all this famous success stories so the same is true with traders. How did Jesse Livermore come to be the subject of the memoir "Memoirs of a Stock Operator"? He completely lost all of his money and occasionally had to start again from nothing. He persisted and saw the setbacks as vital lessons that he could use to his advantage to eventually succeed.
Work on your flaws
Work diligently to correct your errors, consider your past, and determine what caused you to fail. What were you going through right when it all started? What feelings did you experience? What were you contemplating? What did they desire?
You work
Will you be able to make regular long-term gains with your current trading approach and mindset? Study technical analysis, system trading, money management techniques, trader psychology, and all that comes after if the answer is no. You can only succeed with system trading, restraint, and patience. Find someone whose primary source of money is trading, who is knowledgeable about the aforementioned, and trade with him if you don't have the willingness or time to do all of this and trading is your secondary source of revenue. However, when looking for someone like this, exercise extreme caution and thoroughly research his prior experiences.
Are you plagued by the thought of wondering why, after earning a sizable sum for themselves, they didn't remove money from the market? Did you have any objectives or was money your main concern? Unless, of course, you are a fan of waste paper, money cannot be an end in itself; it can only be a means for achieving goals.
It is not unexpected that you did not withdraw money if your aim was an illogical abstraction, such as a "abstract house," "abstract automobile," "abstract journey," and so forth.
Change of direction
You must express the objective clearly in order to succeed:
The statement "I want to buy a good apartment" will not be effective, but the statement "I will purchase an apartment with panoramic windows in Paris, will be effective. If you don't know why you need money, trading will become for you a toy that rapidly becomes boring and destroys your life. But keep in mind that the objectives should be realistic and truly vital for you.
This strategy will enable you to consistently take winnings from your trading account, set aside money for your objectives, and enhance the quality of your life.
Enjoy yourself
Don't go overboard a while frequently withdrawing money from a trading account. Make sure to spend at least a little money on your family and friends. You will thus be able to envision the outcome, feel inspired, and replenish your mental resources, which you can then use to make money.
Put your affairs in order.
You should bring yourself into balance after addressing the errors.
Take care of your personal affairs, devote time to loved ones, your health, your children, pursue self-education, and relax in order to do this. Money and fresh ideas will undoubtedly come to you, and you'll discover a way out of the predicament.
Life continues; it has not ended. You have a roof over your head, pleasant living conditions, food, water, good health, close friends, and many other things that you take for granted. Trust me, your life is someone's dream. Remember that many people do not have access to all of this, so be grateful for what you do have and enjoy life; everything else is just a minor annoyance.
For your own benefit
Due to the harsh circumstances, you will begin to see opportunities that you previously missed because of your comfortable lifestyle. However, your perspective will change totally as a result of these extreme circumstances. You now have experience, something most people do not. Your own success formula must include experience. He is the one who will keep you from making snap decisions and assist you in working through a challenging circumstance.
"People become weak in good times. Poor people create poor times. People become resilient under tough times. Good times are made by strong individuals."
The more challenging and challenging it is for you, the more probable it is that you will succeed if you manage.
"A person wins internal victories during a tough time, and external victories during a prosperous time."
Success, wealth, and acclaim will come to those who are diligently working on developing their character without giving in to hopelessness and despair. If you look around, you'll observe that most individuals behave in the exact opposite way during difficult times:
Such people start to look for someone to blame for their difficulties when they become depressed, start drinking, and moan to everyone around them. This is due of their moral weakness, and they blame the government, presidents, officials, bankers, family, and friends. The victim's position entirely negates a person's advancement and ends his accomplishment. A person who is upset by fate criticizes more successful and strong people rather than making changes in his life and improving himself.
✅Hope you enjoyed the content I created, You can support with your likes and comments this idea so more people can watch!
* Look at my ideas about interesting altcoins in the related section down below ↓
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Mastering and Understanding Candlesticks Patterns
An overview of Candlesticks
A candle represents the changes in price over an interval of time, such as 1 day or 1 minute. The main body of the candle illustrates the opening price at the start of the time interval and the price when the market closed at the end of the interval. The length of the shadows shows how much the price has moved up and down with respect to a candlestick within a specific duration.
The candlestick body describes the difference between the opening and closing prices for the corresponding time period.
THe market is a battleftield between buyers and sellers. If one side is stronger than the other, the financial markets will see the following trends emerging:
If there are more buyers than sellers, or more buying interest than selling interest, the buyers do not have anyone they can buy from. The prices then increase until the price becomes so high that the sellers once again find it attractive to get involved. At the same time, the price is eventually too high for the buyers to keep buying.
However, if there are more sellers than buyers, prices will fall until a balance is restored and more buyers enter the market.
The greater the imbalance between these two market players, the faster the movement of the market in one direction. However, if there is only a slight overhang, prices tend to change more slowly.
When the buying and selling interests are in equilibrium, there is no reason for the price to change. Both parties are satisfied with the current price and there is a market balance.
Analysis aims at comparing the strength ratio of the two sides to evaluate which market players are stronger and in which direction the price is, therefore, more likely to move.
Fundamental Analysis in Forex Trading
Economic indicators and announcements are an essential part of fundamental analysis. Even if you’re not planning on finding trades using fundamentals, it’s a good idea to pay attention to how the overall economy is performing.
Here’s a cheat sheet covering six key indicators and announcements to watch out for.
1. Non-farm payrolls (NFP)
The non-farm payrolls report estimates the net number of jobs gained in the US in the previous month – excluding those in farms, private households and non-profit organisations.
2. Consumer price index (CPI)
The chief measure of inflation is the consumer price index, which measures the changing prices of a group of consumer goods and services.
3. Central bank meetings
As we’ve seen, most traders follow economic figures so they can anticipate what a central bank might do next. So, it only makes sense that we pay attention to what happens when they actually meet and make decisions.
4. Consumer and business sentiment reports
Multiple organisations are constantly surveying consumers and business leaders to create sentiment reports. While the number of reports they produce is staggering, they all play their part in shaping the markets’ expectation for the future.
5. Purchasing manager index (PMI)
Purchasing manager indices measure the prevailing direction of economic trends in a given industry, according to the view of its purchasing managers. They are used as an indicator of the overall health of a sector.
Pay close attention to these fundamentals.
They play a crutial role in trading.
Trading Psychology (Part 1)A philosophy I engage in when trading the markets
- I am not self-employed as a trader.
- The market is my boss and my trades are my employees.
- I merely manage those employees.
Traders often have to think fast and make quick decisions, darting in and out of positions on short notice.
To accomplish this, you need a certain presence of mind. You need the discipline to stick with your own trading plans and know when to book profits and losses. Emotions simply can't get in the way.
It’s NOT that winning traders formulate better trading strategies
It’s NOT that winning traders are smarter
It’s NOT that winning traders do better market analysis
One personal characteristic that almost all winning traders share is that of self-confidence .
Winning traders possess a firm, basic belief in their ability to BE winning traders.
How you trade impacts how you feel 😀It's no secret that managing your trading psychology is the biggest challenge in your trading journey.
Some say it counts for 80%+ of what's needed to be successful.
I totally agree...
However, there's a key factor in this for me.
How you actually trade to start with!
Correct trading psychology starts by realising you need a strategy.
If you're guessing with no real plan or risk management surely you're going to be more stressed and overwhelmed than a trader who has a plan, has the data to support his strategy and manages his risk?
So once you get your system/strategy nailed on, this in turn will help manage your fear.
Greed is another factor, but this comes from your expectation.
Expectations and reality need to be aligned with one another.
Your expectations can come from your data and your testing.
But if you've skipped this step you'll be chasing unrealistic expectations.
Not just in terms of % gains, but in understanding your drawdown periods too.
So in summary both are completely related. You give me a trader that's really struggling with his trading mindset and fear and within a month they won't be feeling the same way.
Likewise, if give me a trader who is calm and in tune with his system and emotions, we'll quickly change this by getting him to trade randomly!
No trading psychology means no trading strategy, No trading strategy means no trading psychology. These two elements are so intertwined.
Thanks for looking at my idea.
Darren 👍
The reason you are not successful...Hello traders,
All the below are based on my preferences, I don't give any financial recommendations and I have nothing to sell you with this article.
I'm sharing content because I see a lot of traders being/becoming broke and I don't want you to be one of them.
Yesterday, I posted an article about how to NOT overtrade when you're emotions are running high:
Now, I'd like to flip the other side of that coin showing how "overtrading" can be beneficial for beginners to achieve their desired outcome. 🧵
I - Alex Hormozi
I discovered this OUTCOME equation thanks to Alex Hormozi on Youtube.
He helped me defining clearly with words how to get to the outcome I want.
Props to him for being such a wonderful business/sales/marketing/thinker.
II - The OUTCOME equation
The equation is defined as: VOLUME x SKILL x TIME = OUTCOME
VOLUME = number of repetitions
SKILL = quality of each repetition
TIME = total duration of practicing those repetitions
Based in foundational principales
The more we do.... the better we get
The better we get.... the more we do
The longer we do it....the better we get
The better we get....the longer we do it
The longer we do it...the more what we did compounds on itself (profit, reducing losses, etc)
In this way, each of the three feed the others, but it all starts with doing .
It's a virtuous wonderful cycle: imgur.com
It works for any skill you want to acquire but let's focus on trading for now.
After years of trading, any of my trade has a higher quality than my trades from my early days.
Why?
Because I spent an enormous amount of time trading intraday first with a demo account, and then with a live account trading with micro-lots/micro-pips.
Once I got profitable CONSISTENTLY for a few weeks, I allowed myself to increase my lot size slightly.
I repeated this cycle made of mini weekly cycles for more than 5 years until I'll reach a capital allowing me to trade the indices futures.
III - Why 97% of traders fail at trading
The majority of traders lose due to a lack of experience which can only come with taking a lot of trades during an extended period of time.
There is no other way....
Forget about getting rich quickly, forget about your 100% automated bots - if such wonders existed, no one in their right mind would sell them and they'd invest everything they and their family own in those magical cashflow generating machines instead...
New traders think only a few weeks of practicing is required to learn about themselves and about the markets.
Your favorite influencers won't tell you this: trading is very hard, most lose all their money, lose their family, lose their home, lose themselves in the process.
The only hedge you have is your WORK.... you can't cheat the GAME.... you have to take a lot of trades for an extended period of time.....
And then, at some point, you'll be able to capture more opportunity per trade, to lose less whenever your Stop Loss is hit, to not get frustrated when the price is leaving without you
All those skills cannot be acquired in weeks ....
One cannot develop character traits required to be a good trader in a short timeframe - talking about patience, discipline and motivated.
Motivated too because it's hard to keep one's dopamine level high after some consecutive days of losing
Don't cheat the game, it's impossible
If you're not profitable yet, forget about leverage please please please please.
How many times do you have to get margin called to understand that leverage wasn't invented for you to make money but to depart from it faster.
IV - True Effort
When learning a new skill at the beginning, everyone sucks.
I certainly sucked at it and you will too.
THAT IS FINE, THIS IS OKAY, THERE IS NOTHING WRONG
How could you not expect to suck at a skill you don't know yet.
What I'm saying is unpleasant because everyone wants to get rich quick (me included)
My only guarantee to YOU guys is that if you can afford to follow this process with a decent trading strategy and stay consistent, your gains are going to be tiny at the beginning and then PARABOLIC after some time.
As the desired OUTCOME is to become richer and/or live off your trading again, this is the ONLY way
It's IMPOSSIBLE to suck at trading after taking thousands and thousands of trades.
As it's impossible to suck at anything after months and months of constant practice and effort.
And you can learn with a DEMO account (risk-free) or with betting pennies per every trade using CFDs or other similar product.
If you want to learn how to play piano, if you follow some tutorials on Youtube every day and practice 2-3 hours a day for years, I guarantee you that you'll have an excellent playing level.
Stop being lazy, stop cheating the game, stop searching for the way to get rich quick.
Accept the magic pill doesn't exist BUT another way that no one is doing will allow you be DIRECTIONALLY RIGHT and eventually reaching your desired OUTCOME.
Conclusion
I wanted to post this content because this outcome equation is dear to my heart and changed my life for the better
I'm literally kicking ass because I outworked everyone I know
And now that I'm more skilled than them, I can put off my foot from the accelerator working less than them, making more $$ than them
Thank you for reading by dear followers
PS
To all those in the comments about to tell me they have a magical bot printing $$ for them and their community, I invite you to show me your track records and bank account statements and any proof I could believe you didn't use photoshop on to sugarcoat what the reality is...
Candlestick Analysis - A Classic Way Of Using Candlesticks
An overview of Candlesticks
A candle represents the changes in price over an interval of time, such as 1 day or 1 minute. The main body of the candle illustrates the opening price at the start of the time interval and the price when the market closed at the end of the interval. The head and tail represent the highest and lowest prices during the interval.
If the price closed at a price above the opening price, then the candle is referred to as a 'bullish' candle and if the price closed below the opening price, then the candle is referred to as a 'bearish' candle.
The length of the shadows shows how much the price has moved up and down with respect to a candlestick within a specific duration.
The size of the candlestick body shows the difference between the opening and closing price and it tells us a lot about the strength of buyers or sellers.
Below, the most important characteristics of the analysis of the candlestick body are listed.
A long candlestick body, that leads to quickly rising prices, indicates more buying interest and a strong price move.
If the size of the candlestick bodies increases over a period, then the price trend accelerates and a trend is intensified.
When the size of the bodies shrinks, this can mean that a prevailing trend comes to an end, owing to an increasingly balanced strength ratio between the buyers and the sellers.
Candlestick bodies that remain constant confirm a stable trend.
If the market suddenly shifts from long rising candlesticks to long falling candlesticks, it indicates a sudden change in trend and highlights strong market forces.
The 12 Days of Effective Trading Learning
Hey traders,
In this article, we gathered for you 1 2-days intensive trading learning marathon.
We hope that it will help.
1 Day:
Practice placing support and resistance lines.
2 Day:
Perfect placing trend lines.
3 Day:
Study candlestick patterns.
4 Day:
Review chart patterns.
5 Day:
Practice placing fibonacci retracements.
6 Day:
Learn about moving average.
7 Day:
Master market structure.
8 Day:
Watch videos on momentum oscillators.
9 Day:
Learn about divergence.
10 Day:
Study risk managment.
11 Day:
Review fundamental literature.
12 Day:
Create a trading plan.
Let us know if such a marathon helped you in your journey.
How to stop overtrading and get rid of your trading addictionHello traders,
All the below are based on my preferences, I don't give any financial recommendations and I have nothing to sell you with this article.
I'm sharing content because I see a lot of traders being/becoming broke and I don't want you to be one of them.
Here's how to stop overtrading and get rid of your trading addiction:🧵
I - Define a set of rules
The first key to stop overtrading is establishing a set of rules
Create a set of rules so you know when you SHOULD stop over-trading.
It can be based on $ gain/loss or just the amount of trades taken.
Either way, there needs to be a written list you can follow.
For example, let's say I want to make X dollars per month with equates to X/20 (give or take) dollars to make in average per trading day.
Once for a given day I've reached that goal, I'm stopping myself from trading more.
Why? Who here kept trading after making a decent amount of money and ended up losing all the gains?
The reason being, we're humans and not naturally wired to trade.
After making some money, we all tend to become greedy, taking more risks, also not seeing obvious signs we usually see when we're focused.
II - Find a hobby
The second key is having a hobby.
Something you can do once you've stopped trading
It could be...
- Working out (I'm working out twice a day for health benefits but also to meditate and to stop thinking about my trades)
Of course, as an intraday trader, I'm going to workout whenever with 0 opened intraday trade
When I'm invested in SWING trading, I'm taking trades with big enough timeframes so that it's totally fine if I'm not checking the charts for multiple hours in a row
- Doing chores
Could also be cooking for yourself or your family
- Talking to a friend
Trading is a passion and if you're passionate about it, your friends will likely want to hear your thoughts about the markets, the trades
Of course, don't give them any financial advice :)
You don't want to be in a position of recommending or not recommending an action as they may blame you for their losses.
Stay neutral, only share what you're doing and why you love doing it
- Writing
Writing or Journaling helps me clearing
As long as you have SOMETHING you can do everyday after trading
It should help you out
Mine is after 3 consecutive intraday losses, I stop for the session (morning or afternoon) and head to working out, walking, doing anything else other than trading
III - Find a buddy
I would also suggest getting a trading buddy
A trading buddy is simply another trader (or non-trader) that you can talk to throughout the trading day
I'm trading with my father and a community of traders, we're talking often, exchanging ideas on whether a setup looks great or not.
Not to talk about trades, but more as a mental coach
Someone who you can text when you're feeling emotional.
And they will tell you to get off the computer.
Sometimes we just need to hear it from someone else to actually execute
IV - Turn off your computer
Lastly, I would recommend turning off the screens.
Like literally shutting your computer/monitor off and walking away.
You need to PHYSICALLY set yourself apart from the trading scene.
Doing this will allow your brain to think about doing something else, rather than trading.
Conclusion
To summarise:
- Have a set of trading rules
- Have a hobby
- Find a trading buddy
- Physically constrain yourself to stop trading after your daily gains or losses have been reached
Probability Is The Name Of The GameHaving a probabilistic mind and approach to trading is one of the hardest skills to master. It goes against our human nature. We're used to having to know what must (or will) happen in any environment to get the outcome we want. If we don't get it, we're able to force new ways to create the results wanted, and usually, we succeed in doing that. To a point where we can replicate the same method used over and over again to succeed in that particular thing. But in trading, that's not possible. We could trade the same strategy that had proved to be profitable for 10 years but still lose money. Which is so damn painful.
But for professional traders (like me) it isn't. Because we understand that every trader influences the market price. Every trader's buy and sell order forms a candle pattern on the chart that starts or ends a trend. For example, if 5 traders take sell trades in a downtrend, and 10 traders take buy trades in that trend, a bullish candle pattern usually shows up. It may signal a short pullback before the continuation of the trend or the end of it. We see these as lower lows and lower highs. Being aware of those price movements allows a trader to adapt to market changes. But that's only possible with a probabilistic mind.
You can start building it by always looking for "what if scenarios" or "IF and Then scenarios." When analyzing the charts, look for 2-3 different ways that the price will use to tell you when to enter and not. Understand how the bulls and bears will behave; not one of them. Then when planning for the trade, write an IF and Then statement that will tell you what to do. For example, if you're looking for a buy trade at a support level, you write: IF the price bounces off the support level with a bullish engulfing candle pattern, THEN I should buy. You can apply the same strategy in situations where you want to tell yourself to sit on your hands.
Once you start applying the IF and THEN strategies, your trading performance will improve. You'll engage with uncertainty flawlessly. Your equity curve will turn from trending down to rallying to the moon. And you'll be much happier and more grateful for being a trader.
The Psychology of The Market Cycle Explained
The market cycles can be explained from the psychology side of the average investor.
Throughout the various stages that develop in the market, the investor's emotions are also cyclical according to the "mood" of the market.
Market movements are explained by the investor when often hope and fear motivate his thoughts and actions and can predict his future actions.
Throughout the various stages that develop in the market, the investor's emotions are also cyclical according to the "mood" of the market.
The range of emotions ranges from despair to euphoria, and investors usually drive the wrong actions.
Awareness of the psychological side of the masses helps to avoid the effects of negative or positive sentiment and remain feckless on the market. In addition, we can also identify a stage or strengthen our position on the state of the market, explaining investors' feelings.
Once you understand this chart, you can control your emotions and deal without your hurt and with only your mind.
As this market cycle chart is repeating all the time, if you understand where you are located in the graph at any moment, you can take a cold decision of buy or sell a particular asset to maximize gains.
PSYCHOLOGY OF A TRADER | TRADING BASICS
Market psychology is the idea that the movements of a market reflect (or are influenced by) the emotional state of its participants. It is one of the main topics of behavioral economics - an interdisciplinary field that investigates the various factors that precede economic decisions.
Many believe that emotions are the main driving force behind the shifts of financial markets. And that the overall fluctuating investor sentiment is what creates the so-called psychological market cycles.
So, the sentiment is made up of the individual views and feelings of all traders and investors within a financial market. Another way to look at it is as an average of the overall feeling of the market participants.
But, just as with any group, no single opinion is completely dominant. Based on market psychology theories, an asset's price tends to change constantly in response to the overall market sentiment - which is also dynamic. Otherwise, it would be much harder to make a successful trade.
In practice, when the market goes up, it is likely due to an improving attitude and confidence among the traders. A positive market sentiment causes demand to increase and supply to decrease. In turn, the increased demand may cause an even stronger attitude. Similarly, a strong downtrend tends to create a negative sentiment that reduces demand and increases the available supply.
Scaling-in and Scaling-outHello traders,
All the below are based on my preferences, I don't give any financial recommendations and I have nothing to sell you with this article.
I'm sharing content because I see a lot of traders being/becoming broke and I don't want you to be one of them.
Scaling-in
There are times when I will scale into a position.
When the price dips into the my Moving Average pullback zone, I'll typically get 25% of my position there.
I'll then add a full position if the price dips past that MA
Don't add to winners
I wouldn't advise adding to winners
I would advise adding to losers IF it's part of your plan.
Though, most traders adding to losers end up losing more statistically.... then even I don't do it.
You should always have a stop in place and get out at your stop (or preferably use our hard exit system)
NEVER add to your position after your stop has been hit
That's not what I'm advising
I always make sure to get in a very small position early in case I miss the real entry.
It allows me to still have a decent entry if the price drops lower AND allows me to catch the move if the price decides to rip
Alright, let's talk about exits👇
Scaling-out
Your exit strategy will ultimately depend on your overall strategy
However, for ALL small accounts, I'd recommend NOT to scale.
Scaling exits should really only be for accounts that can afford to take multiple contracts (5-10+)
Otherwise, it's better off just take 100% off at your first target
And I really mean it
Remember, when your Stop-Loss hit you take 100% of a loss.
This should be obvious.... though I see plenty having multiple Take Profit levels and 1 Stop Loss level
And they wonder why they're losing.... mostly because of basic mathematics (literally additions and subtractions).
A big loss is very hard to offset with multiple partial profits across multiple trades.
If you do have a larger account, here's how I'd recommend setting up your exit strategy
IMO, it's best to only have 3 targets/exits MAX.
After 3, there's really no need to complicate your trading anymore
I'm taking the MAJORITY of my profits out at first target... 80+% of your position
Otherwise, I very often end up taking the trades, having a lot of unrealised gains but bringing back home nothing.... which is NOT ACCEPTABLE for me.
It's UNFORGIVABLE to earn a decent amount of $$ and letting everything go because I thought the trade should have gone further.
I like moving my stop to breakeven after I've taken my first partial
After you've taken your first partial, that's when you can leave 20% for runners.
You can either take the remaining runners out at your second target
or
Take half out at your second target and leave 10-15% for your last target
The larger your account size, the more targets I recommend you have
I also like moving my stops up after each target to make sure the trade doesn't go red
Why do I use this scaling strategy?
By taking the majority of my size off at my first target, it allows my strategy to keep a decent R/R rate, assuming I move stops to breakeven
It also leaves my trading more stress-free since I have less of a position on.
Allows for the trade to come back breakeven and I've already taken most off
On top of that, I have 20-30% of my position as runners in case this stock starts to explode
Doesn't happen often, but sometimes the remaining 20% ends up netting me more profit than the original 80% did.
At the end of the day, it's up to you how you want to scale
These are the methods I found most effective, depending on your account size and your strategy.
Conclusion
- As a beginner, I used to stick with 1 TP/1 SL only and that's how I brought home gains
- Once my trading account reached the 6 figures threshold, I allowed myself to have 2-3 TPs but I was taking most off the table at the first TP level and automatically moved my SL to Breakeven
- Adding to losers (aka the Dollar Cost Average method) also called martingale is a solid way for most beginners to depart from their money quickly - I'll make another article on martingale and why I think it's not for everyone
A Beginner's Guide to Candlestick Charts
A candlestick chart is a type of financial chart that graphically represents the price moves of an asset for a given timeframe. As the name suggests, it’s made up of candlesticks, each representing the same amount of time. The candlesticks can represent virtually any period, from seconds to years.
While candlestick charts could be used to analyze any other types of data, they are mostly employed to facilitate the analysis of financial markets. Used correctly, they’re tools that can help traders gauge the probability of outcomes in the price movement. They can be useful as they enable traders and investors to form their own ideas based on their analysis of the market.
The following price points are needed to create each candlestick:
Open — The first recorded trading price of the asset within that particular timeframe.
High — The highest recorded trading price of the asset within that particular timeframe.
Low — The lowest recorded trading price of the asset within that particular timeframe.
Close — The last recorded trading price of the asset within that particular timeframe.
Collectively, this data set is often referred to as the OHLC values. The relationship between the open, high, low, and close determines how the candlestick looks.
The distance between the open and close is referred to as the body, while the distance between the body and the high/low is referred to as the wick or shadow. The distance between the high and low of the candle is called the range of the candlestick.
Being able to read candlestick charts is vital to almost any investment style, learn different candlestick patterns and you will be surprised how accurate they are.
INVESTING VS TRADING VS GAMBLING | Know the Difference
Hey traders,
In this post, we will compare investing and trading with gambling.
📈Investing
Investing is the act of putting money in a financial market with the expectations of a long-term positive return.
The investing decisions are usually made using fundamental analysis.
The main goal of an investor is to predict the long-term market trends and benefit on them.
Professional investing also involves assets allocation and diversification aimed to hedge potential risks.
💱Trading
Trading is the process of selling and buying financial instruments expecting a short-term (occasionally, mid-term) profit.
The trading decisions are usually based on technical and fundamentals analysis.
The goal of a trader is to predict local price fluctuations and catch them.
Professional trading implies strict, rule-based actions following a trading plan.
🎰Gambling
Gambling is the act of betting on a specific event with the expectations of winning some value.
Being completely luck-based, gambling usually involves get rich quick schemes and pursuit of easy money.
What differs professional trading and investing from gambling is the fact that professional trading / investing involves objective analysis and strict planning, while gambling remains purely intuition based.
Unfortunately, most of the market participants pretend that they trade and invest professionally while acting as gamblers in fact.
Remember that long-term, consistent profits can be achieved only with the plan. Your intuition may bring some short-term profits, but in a long-run it will most likely lead you to a bankruptcy.
❤️If you have any questions, please, ask me in the comment section.
Please, support my work with like, thank you!❤️
How to get mentally prepared every dayYou're trading at a disadvantage without a proper mindset
Here's how I get mentally prepared to trade each day: 🧵
Trading stars with your body
Recognise that everything in your life connects to trading
That means if you want to be disciplined in trading
Start...
- Eating well and enough - I track my calories and my macros
- Working out daily - I work out twice a day because I'm learning high-level calisthenics skills
- Drinking a gallon of water a day - drinking more tends to make me eat less junk food
- Getting 7h+ sleep - going to bed at the same time every day, taking some supplements to be relaxed + self-massage
Those things will translate into high-quality trading as well as put you in the right mindset for everything you want to achieve in life.
But let's dive into my early morning mindset routine👇
My mindset routine
I have a list of manifestations that I read OUT LOUD every morning
Yeah it may sound stupid
But it literally works
Here's some of what I say:
- David is going to CONQUER this day
- Sticking to his traits of patience and discipline, David will not let emotions get the best of him
- His drive and work ethic will cause him to get ALL of his goals done, no matter what
You can make them trading specific or just about life in general
I mix in both.
The next important key to having the right mindset is Preparation.
If you are prepared every morning with a plan... you'll have a lot more confidence coming into the market.
The last thing I do to get in the right mindset is put on music
This can be a hit or miss but personally, I love trading while listening to music
Maybe I should drop my trading playlist? :)
Final words
To Summarise:
- Make manifestations and read out loud every day
- Have a pre-market routine
- Jam out to some music
The main reason you're blowing up accountsAlmost all blown-up accounts happen quickly
Typically from only 1-3 trades
There are 2 main causes for this:
- Risk Management
- Emotions
Let's dive into both👇
Risk Management
Risk management is crucial to becoming a successful trader
The best way to grow an account is to risk the same % of the account per trade
I suggest no more than 5%, but the lower the better
For example...
If you're risking 3% of your account per trade, you have to lose 33 trades in a row.. to blow up your account.
That's very unlikely.
The reason most traders blow up is because they full port or go all-in on every trade and risk way too much
This is the fastest way to destroy your account.
ALWAYS risk a small % of your account per trade
It not only will prevent you from blowing up... but will also be the fastest way to help you grow your account
Emotions
The second way is Emotions.
Maybe you are using risk management, and are only risking 3%.
Then your stop hits and you don't get out
And price keeps dropping and dropping and dropping...
It will come to my breakeven and I'll get out, you tell yourself
But it never does
Then once you finally get out, your account is gone.
I've done that LOADS of times
So how did I fix that?👇
I realised that I wasn't getting out at my stop because I didn't trust my strategy.
At the time, I wasn't trading with conviction
I'd take a trade because it just looked like price was going to move higher.
No real strategy or reasoning for the trade.
It's extremely difficult to control your emotions when you shouldn't be in a trade in the first place!
Once I noticed this I got a grip on my strategy and really started being strict on my entries
After clearly defining my strategy, it gave me more confidence in my setup and my edge
which ultimately led to me becoming more disciplined and allowing myself to take the loss.
Conclusion
So if you're looking to stop blowing up your accounts...
- Use Risk Management
- Trade with conviction using a clearly defined strategy
Big Bank Imbalance Strategy (Go With The Flow) Example on 1 hour EurChf Chart for Friday ( sell trade, but can do on buy trade too)… its Friday: Don't be greedy).
Note the following:
1) Big Banks selling (note large 1 hour candlesticks- on charts)- only people that can do that are big banks and/or institutions (not retail traders).
2) Two areas of sell imbalance (they must be filled with buy either today or in the near future). In all probable's, I would side with today and big banks are just selling to buy back later today - because the big banks do not want many imbalances when Forex is closed (and/or the weekend)
3) Look for a higher bullish LOW and higher CLOSE candlestick for your reason to enter into a long and/or setting up buy trade soon.
4) After the #3 above has happen (wait patiently)- why? because that candle happened at 3:00 a.m. and/or after Tokyo closed and before NY session opened.
London session does three more hours of accumulation 1 hour candles (see large bottom & top wicks- both buying and selling pressure)- so all big banks and institutions are happy with the current price at this moment.
5) When NY session opens, what happens? Big banks and institutions are buying (large candles)- your sign to by was actually the 1hour sell candlestick (red) before the large blue candlestick happened. Why? because the big banks and/or institutions are trying to tell you to sell, but you being smart did not fall for that one, right? You said above price action are two areas of sell imbalance that I except to be fill today, so I will plan to buy when that pa reverses and goes north and/or blue above that last red candlestick.
*On Chart related to its Friday & both scalpers and/or day traders should not be holding over the weekend. Why? because Forex is closed and when Forex starts back up- their could be small or large GAPS which take you out, which you have zero control over. Trading is 100% on you, your decisions only- control as much as you can- do not give your broker and/or big banks or institutions any more control then they already have in the Forex world.
If you are scalping and/or day trading these Big Bank imbalance strategy should be 1:1 or: 1:2 risk reward maximum. You can trade this of course buy or sell on pairs. You need to always use risk management. This trade would have seen you doing a 1:1 RR with 17 pip stop vs 17 pip target. Trading is not about pips that you make, but the risk that you take= PER TRADE.
WHY 95% OF TRADERS DO NOT SUCCEED?
The evidence suggests that only a very small proportion of day traders makes money year over year.
There are certain patterns which may separate profitable traders from those who ultimately lose money. And indeed, there is one particular mistake that in our experience gets repeated time and time again. What is the single most important mistake that led to traders losing money?
Here is a hint – it has to do with how we as humans relate to winning and losing.
Our own human psychology makes it difficult to navigate financial markets, which are filled with uncertainty and risk, and as a result the most common mistakes traders make have to do with poor risk management strategies.
Traders are often correct on the direction of a market, but where the problem lies is in how much profit is made when they are right versus how much they lose when wrong.
Bottom line, traders tend to make less on winning trades than they lose on losing trades.
Humans aren’t machines, and working against our natural biases requires effort. Once you have a trading plan that uses a proper reward/risk ratio, the next challenge is to stick to the plan. Remember, it is natural for humans to want to hold on to losses and take profits early, but it makes for bad trading. We must overcome this natural tendency and remove our emotions from trading.
That will help you to be a consistently profitable trader.
WHY THE RICH GET RICHER
The general trend, in a capitalist economy governed by private property, would be for the rich to get richer—for inequality to increase steadily over time. That had been true in the initial stages of industrialization and remains the fact nowadays.
One reason: The wealthiest 1 percent put three-quarters of their savings into investment assets. By contrast, the middle class had 63 percent of their assets tied up in their homes, with home equity accounting for about a third since they have large mortgage debt.
The differences reflect the greater share of high-yield investment assets like stocks in the portfolios of the rich and the greater share of housing in the portfolio of the middle class.
Of course, the rich can afford to lose more—so they can take more risks and make more when times are good. But the lesson is clear: the wealth gap is caused in large part by the investment gap.
Some other psychological reasons should be considered as well, they are nicely reflected on the chart above, so spend some time to examine that.
Secret Key to Becoming a Disciplined TraderDiscipline is the hardest trait to become good at in trading. We need it in analyzing charts and news updates as well as being aware of risk management and psychology. It's difficult to keep track of all those all at once. It can overwhelm us to become impatient and not aware of our mental and emotional states. Which results in poor performance.
I was in that phase in my life for 4 years straight. No coach was on my side guiding me through the journey. I had to teach myself everything that makes a person become a successful trader. It was tough, especially mastering the mental and emotional side of the game. Not being aware of those two and how to improve them is what led to consistent failure.
But when I began studying and applying what profitable traders do to be successful, I became one of them. It was hard though. I had to change my internal monarchy by facing my demons and tearing down old limiting beliefs. I used various techniques to make that happen. The results were astonishing. I became more mindful and self-aware. I understood my emotional nature, which allowed me to be quick to spot and tone down bad emotions.
I did the following to achieve that results:
1. Journaling.
It is a process of recording the what, why, and how behind the trade as well as your thoughts and emotions before, during, and after the trade. Doing this will keep a record for you to reflect on in the future when you want to improve your performance. That feedback will raise your self-awareness which will protect you from sabotaging your trading performance.
2. Meditating.
It is a mental exercise that trains the brain to be mindful and self-aware of your emotional triggers and behaviors that disrupt your performance. Moreover, it will allow you to improve your focus levels for a trading session. So, every day, sit quietly on your chair with your back straight and your eyes closed, then focus on your breathing pattern for 10-15 minutes.
3. Breathing.
I know you can breathe, but I bet you that your breathing is incorrect. Most people breathe through their mouths, which is wrong because the air doesn't get to the brain. The air we breathe through our nose releases certain chemicals in the brain that makes it awake and calm. It also does other things in the body that helps control it when fight/flight emotions trigger. Breathing techniques allow us to gauge those triggers during the trading session. Thus, whenever you tap into a negative state, stop and sit back on your chair, then do the following 4-7-8 breathing exercise. Inhale on the count of 4. Hold your breath on the count of 7. Then exhale on the count of 8. Do this 3-5 times.