Reblog: Linda Raschke’s 12 Technical Trading Rules


Linda Raschke

Market Wizard Linda Raschke’s Technical Trading Rules

  1. Buy the first pullback after a new high. Sell the first rally after a new low.
  2. Afternoon strength or weakness should have follow through the next day.
  3. The best trading reversals occur in the morning, not the afternoon.
  4. The larger the market gaps, the greater the odds of continuation and a trend.
  5. The way the market trades around the previous day’s high or low is a good indicator of the market’s technical strength or weakness.
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Reblog: 7 Expensive Things for Traders


  1. Trading with no stop losses. You can’t control how big your profits are, the market will trend as far as it does. However, you can control and limit the size of your losses with a stop loss and a carefully managed positions size. Not having an exit plan if you are wrong can be very expensive when a trend takes off against your position and you start hoping instead of just cutting your losses and moving on.
  2. Your opinion can cost you money. Trading your opinion against all other market participants can be very expensive. The market goes where it wants and when you disagree with where it is going it will cost you. Going with the flow in your time frame is the best way to make money. Fighting the flow of the market can be expensive.
  3. Egos are expensive things. Inflated egos cause a trader’s #1 priority to be proving they are right and refusing to admit when they are wrong. It is very expensive for ego gratification to be higher on a trader’s list than making money.
  4. Trading off predictions can cost a lot of money when they are wrong. There is more to be made by reacting to what the market is doing instead of predicting what you think it will do later. The future does not exist and it is expensive to pretend like it does.
  5. Stubbornness causes small losses to become big losses. It causes a trader to make the same mistake over and over because they do not assimilate feedback. Instead they keep doing the same thing over and over and expect different results but keep getting the same results. Stubbornness is expensive.
  6. Not having an exit strategy for a winning trade can be very expensive. It is possible to ride a big winning trade back to even. If there is no plan to lock in profits while they are there a winning trade can even turn into a big loser. Trailing stops and targets can put the profits in the bank.
  7. Trading too big of position sizes for your account can be very costly because no manner how good your winning trades are you are set up to give back the profits with a few big losing trades in a row.

The original article posted by Steve Burns appears on newtraderu.com and is available here.


Reblog: A Guide To Stop Losses


“Whenever I enter a position I have a predetermined stop. That’s the only way I can sleep at night. I know where I’m getting out before I get in.”- Bruce Kovner

The biggest reasons traders end up unprofitable is simply because their big losses knock out all their previous gains.

If you went back and removed your biggest losses over the past few months or year what would your trading results look like? Many of the best traders I know did this at some point in their trading careers and had an enlightening moment. The major factors that made them unprofitable or caused them big draw downs in capital were the big losses. The roots of the big losses were usually based in emotions and ego not a market event. A big loss is almost always caused by being on the wrong of a trend and then staying there.

What are the top 10 root causes of big losses in trading?

  1. Too stubborn to exit when proven wrong: You just refuse to take a loss; you think a loss is not real as long as you do not exit the trade and lock in the paper losses.
  2. Too much ego to take a loss: You are on the wrong side of the market trend but think if you hold a losing position you can be proven right on a reversal. While you are waiting to be proven right your loss gets bigger and bigger.
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Reblog: World’s Most Powerful Trading Principles


A book review for Brent Penfold’s book “The Universal Principles of Successful Trading: Essential Knowledge for All Traders in All Markets

This book is excellent for traders that are ready for it. You need a foundation in trading to understand its importance and take the principles seriously. Once you are through the rainbow and butterfly phase of trading and realise that you will not be a millionaire in a year, this book will help you get focused and get serious about your trading and what really works.

Here are the six universal principles of successful traders:

1) Preparation

Author Brent Penfold is in the minority believing risk management is the #1 priority in trading. Brent believes that once you get your trading system and position size in place you must use the amount you will risk on each trade to determine your risk of ruin. The book shows exactly how to figure this out using Excel. His point is that if your risk of ruin is not zero then you will eventually blow out your account. Risking 1% to 2% of your capital in any one trade usually gives you a zero percent risk of ruin but it also depends on your systems win/loss ratio. But the point is to test any system with 30 trades first then determine your risk of ruin.

2) Enlightenment

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Reblog: George Soros‘ 10 Trading Principles


george-soros

George Soros gained international notoriety when, in September of 1992, he risked $10 billion on a single currency speculation when he shorted the British pound. He turned out to be right, and in a single day the trade generated a profit of $1 billion – ultimately, it was reported that his profit on the transaction almost reached $2 billion. As a result, he is famously known as the “the man who broke the Bank of England.”

Soros went off on his own in 1973, founding the hedge fund company of Soros Fund Management, which eventually evolved into the well-known and respected Quantum Fund. For almost two decades, he ran this aggressive and successful hedge fund, reportedly racking up returns in excess of 30% per year and, on two occasions, posting annual returns of more than 100%.

“I’m only rich because I know when I’m wrong…I basically have survived by recognising my mistakes.”

Understanding that he was not always right enabled him to cut losses short and position size right.

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Reblog: 10 Signs a Trade is About to Go Bad


Most traders have been in that one monster, parabolic trade where they made a killing. The problem is the exit. It is important to always be wary and plan a trailing stop to get out of your huge winners. So many investors and traders just get lucky, get in the right trade at the right time, and catch a monster trend. Their patience to hold pays off by catching a full move in their favour by letting their winner run. Unfortunately, this patience is a liability if they also hold all the way back down, coughing up big profits. One part of the exit is a well-placed trailing stop under a near term support price, or moving average. Additionally, you can use the psychology of the market as an indicator that it is time to look for a profitable exit.

10 Signs Your Big Winning Trade Is About To Go Bad and it is time to look for the exit.

  1. If they put the ticker symbol, currency, commodity, or index that you are trading as a live permanent quote on CNBC, the end of the trend is near.
  2. If a bull or bear is on the cover of a major national magazine, that market is very close to ending.
  3. If you are on the side of the vast majority of traders, and people against you are vilified, then the trend is almost over.
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Reblog: 3 Simple Money Flow Index Trading Strategies


If you have been day trading with price action and volume – two of our favourite tools – then the Money Flow Index (MFI) indicator would not feel alien to you. Once you move pass the fancy name, the money flow technical indicator essentially acts as a momentum oscillator that calculates the volume and price data in order to measure buying and selling pressure.

By calculating the indexed value based on the stock price and volume of the number of bars specified in the money flow index settings, it plots a line on the chart that oscillates between the 0 and 100 level.

Figure 1: Money Flow Index of CTRP Fluctuating Between the 0 and 100 LevelsFigure 1: Money Flow Index of CTRP Fluctuating Between the 0 and 100 Levels

When a stock’s price rises, the money flow index also rises and is a sign of increased buying pressure.  Conversely, if the stock price drops, the Money Flow Index will also decline and is a sign of selling pressure.  Therefore, you can easily predict the directional momentum in the market by keeping an eye on the money flow index.

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Reblog: Trading As A Business – My Step By Step Guide


You have all probably heard that you need to treat trading as a business if you want to be successful. But what does this actually mean? Instead of letting it be just another meaningless phrase, let’s take a deeper look to fully understand it.

The ideas behind “treating trading like a business” are very important to get you on the right track and after we have taken a look at the different aspects, I am sure you will get some ideas on how to take your trading to the next level and treat it more like a business.

Your setups are your products and services

Every business has either physical/virtual products or services to sell in order to generate profits. The business, hopefully, knows everything there is to know about their products, where it is from, how it is built, what the benefits are, what the potential struggles are, how to keep improving their product, what their customers want, and how to use it in the best possible way. The business must be the #1 expert in what they are offering. Obviously.

As a trader, your setups and your strategies are your products. Your setups are a set of rules and triggers to help you find potentially profitable trades. Whether your setups consist of classic patterns, indicators, pure price action or a combination doesn’t matter here.

What is important is that YOU must be the expert in your setups and patterns. You must know every little detail, when the setup works best, during which market conditions it doesn’t work, in which markets and timeframes to use it, how to improve the odds, how to set stops and pick targets, when to move stops and how to manage trades, when to add to a position or take some off the table, when to stay out, etc.

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Reblog: 15 Quotes From Legends In Sports That Will Help Boost Your Trader’s Mindset


That Will Help Boost Your Trader’s Mindset

Being a top athlete takes a lot of grit and perseverance. Because whenever one feels complacent is exactly when one might fall flat on one’s face. So, professional sports are constant acts of pushing past limits. And not every person can manage such levels of physical and mental efforts.

That is why top athletes often have these extraordinary nuggets of wisdom they occasionally share with the world. And what’s fascinating is how these pearls of wisdom are relevant in trading. But not only — they’re also relevant in business, relationships; in fact, they’re relevant in life in general.

Here are some of the best motivational statements by legends in sports:

1. Success is where preparation and opportunity meet. – Bobby Unser, automobile racer

In trading: Rash decisions that will leave you in a weak position. Always come prepared.

Trader's mindset Michael jordan

2. Obstacles don’t have to stop you. If you run into a wall, don’t turn around and give up. Figure out how to climb it, go through it, or work around it.  – Michael Jordan, basketball icon

In trading: When failure smiles at you, the best thing you can do is smile back, while acknowledging that the lessons that stick are those that hurt. Your failures are stepping stones on your way to success.

3. I’ve missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed. – Michael Jordan

In trading: Again, be patient with yourself. At first, you will make mistakes; you will fail. But you want to fail. You need to fail. Failure is good for you. It builds resilience of mind; develops wisdom; it is the foundation upon which mastery, success, and happiness rest upon.

4. In baseball and in business, there are three types of people. Those who make it happen, those who watch it happen, and those who wonder what happened. – Tommy Lasorda, Hall of Fame baseball player and manager

In trading: You miss 100% of the trades you don’t take. Stay active, trade small. Engagement leads to success. There is no overtrading if you’re trading a proven system.

5. There may be people that have more talent than you, but there’s no excuse for anyone to work harder than you do. – Derek Jeter, longtime Yankees shortstop

In trading: You have to depend on your own work ethics to get ahead in this field. Don’t wait for trade ideas from others. Work on being completely self-reliant.

6. Everybody’s got plans… until they get hit. – Mike Tyson, boxing icon

In trading: The satisfaction of instincts cannot be the main way by which you place and manage your trades. You need a plan, and you need to follow it with consistent and conscientious regularity.

Trader's mindset Arnold Schwarzenegger

7. Strength does not come from winning. Your struggles develop your strengths. When you go through hardships and decide not to surrender, that is strength. – Arnold Schwarzenegger, professional bodybuilder, actor, businessman, politician

In trading: Muscles need a certain amount of stress in order to grow. It is with muscles as it is with life –meaningful growth requires challenge and stress. So, don’t think of losses, mistakes, and failures as the end of the world. They’re just opportunities for growth.

8. Bodybuilding is much like any other sport. To be successful, you must dedicate yourself 100% to your training, diet and mental approach. – Arnold Schwarzenegger

In trading: Whoever focuses solely on his/her market edge while neglecting his/her trading psychology will soon discover trading to be an unwinnable battle.

9. Champions keep playing until they get it right. – Billie Jean King, International Hall of Fame tennis star

In trading: Whatever you do, trade small. If you can’t stay in the game, you can’t learn. It’s simple as that. Failures and mistakes have to be small —so small that they can teach you instead of ruining you. If they’re too big, you’ll eventually get booted out of the game.

10. A good hockey player plays where the puck is. A great hockey player plays where the puck is going to be. – Wayne Gretzky, hockey icon

In trading: It doesn’t take a lot to predict price action (human behavior) and capitalize on it. You only have to assume that people will always try to escape a disagreeable situation with the smallest possible expenditure of intelligence. With that in mind, you need a plan to guide your own behavior, and you need to trade that plan with discipline and vision.

11. Always make a total effort, even when the odds are against you. – Arnold Palmer, golf legend

In trading: Part of being a good trader is knowing how to go through drawdowns with grace, courage, patience, and vision.

12. The more difficult the victory, the greater the happiness in winning. – Pele, Brazilian, soccer legend

In trading: You fall, you fail, but after some time, you learn. And eventually, you master! Then get-rich-quick prospectors watch you from the outside, jaw hanging. They see how trading is simple and they think it’s a straight line. It never is.

Trader's mindset Muhammad Ali

13. He who is not courageous enough to take risks will accomplish nothing in life. – Muhammad Ali, Boxing icon

In trading: Here’s something that’ll raise a lot of eyebrows: Even if you’re a consistently profitable trader, you will never become incredibly wealthy by being too conservative. For that to happen, you gotta be wild sometimes, take some daring bets, with size, and be truly ok with failure.

14. It isn’t the mountains ahead to climb that wear you out; it’s the pebble in your shoe. – Muhammad Ali

In trading: When you approach the markets with equanimity, all mental stories are thrown away, and what remains is just the market as it is.

15. Persistence can change failure into extraordinary achievement. – Matt Biondi

In trading: Patience/ resilience/ non-delusion will be rewarded by the markets.

Bonus. If you aren’t going all the way, why go at all? – Joe Namath, Hall of Fame football quarterback

In trading: Resilience is key! Do what you have to do to stay in the game long-term. In due time, you’ll be able to:

  • Trade and understand the market like no one
  • Trade with size
  • Turn small accounts into big accounts

And best of all: Nobody will be able to take that away from you.

The original compilation is by Yvan, appears on tradingcomposure.com and is available here.


Reblog: How to Trade Elliott Wave for Beginners


Before we begin our discussion about how to trade Elliott Wave let’s set the stage by looking at how the Elliott Wave theory was discovered and why Elliott wave strategy is so popular today. In the 1930 R.N. Elliott set out to try to learn more about the stock market after experiencing some losses in the 1929 stock market crash.

Elliott’s discoveries were quite impressive and after careful study of the markets, he began to notice that the market has some repeatable patterns and is trading in a series of five and three waves which is what we call today an Elliott wave strategy.

Our team at Trading Strategy Guides has also adopted the Elliott Wave strategy because it offers us good Elliott Wave entry points which ultimately leads to superior risk to reward ratio.

The Elliott wave strategy is similar to a trend following strategy like the MACD Trend Following Strategy- Simple to learn Trading Strategy or the very popular strategy: How to Profit from Trading Pullbacks.

Even though the Elliott Wave strategy is a trend following strategy, we can spot Elliott Wave entry points even on the lower time frames because the Elliott Wave theory can be applied to all time frames and to all markets so, in essence, is a universal trading strategy.

Now …

Let’s get a little bit deeper into how to trade Elliott Wave and how we can make profits trading.

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