How many Trades do you need?
I am often asked or advised that I should post more trades and/or have a signal service. This brings me to how many trades do you need. Understand, that enjoying the lifestyle that trading affords is always something you want to strive for. Do you want to be strapped to your computer for 8-12 hours a day? where is the fun in that?
if...
Trading before News
News is a fact of Forex trading and while their are several ways to trade the Actual release and it's aftermath, today I want to focus on trading before the News. Understand that the decision to enter the market before News is a conscious one and you don't have to do it. Prime examples are days where interest rates, for a currency you...
Trade Review and Documenting
Most successful traders review and document their trades, unfortunately, alot of new traders do not. "what's done is done, can't change it...." while that is true, you can, and imho must , learn from them.
Each afternoon, whether I take a trade or not, I review the market and my potential set-ups, executions, and trade completions....
Measuring Success and Goals
As a Professional trader, you have 1 goal...Make money!!
That said, traders like to measure their success differently. Some use pips, some use wins v. losses, personally I use daily return. Understand my focus is on generating income and my mantra is "keep stacking positive days"
Imho, using pips to measure success can be misleading,...
Methodology v Strategy
Some traders use the words interchangeably, I do not.
A strategy is a set of conditions that signal you to enter the market, for example, A moving average crossover, RSI going into oversold/overbought and then reversing, Divergence, etc. and combinations thereof.
A Methodology, on the other hand, is a systematic approach to the market...
Today I published my 100th trade idea. (this excludes educational idea’s)
Here are the quick Stats:
WINS : 49
Losses: 14
Flat trades: 8
Cancelled Trades: 29
PIPS Won: 2,560
Pips lost: 515
A 3.5 to 1 win to loss ratio
A 4.97 to 1 win to loss Pip ratio
*Cancelled Trades: these are trades that were cancelled prior to entry. It is important to understand that I...
CCS Disease:
CCS Disease is a disease many new traders are afflicted with and it can be fatal!! CCS disease is short for "constantly changing strategies". Certainly, I firmly believe that a trader must find a trading strategy that fits both their personality and the time they have to trade. However, once you find a strategy that you like, imho, you must back...
BACK TESTING CONT.:
High probability set-ups
To be a consistently good trader, you must trade in a consistent manner.
As those of you who follow me and review my trade idea’s know, they are the same, almost boring. You see Type 1 (Shown above) or Type 2 trades all the time and they look all the same. EXACTLY!!! That is what you need.
If you have taken (either...
Have a Trade Plan
Although most traders figure out pretty early on that they need a trade plan. They don't always know how to formulate it or what should go into it. Although a Trade plan can be go very much in depth, I will discuss what, imho, are the most critical components:
First and foremost, it must fit YOU!! Any trade plan must fit how YOU want to trade...
