Monday, July 8, 2013

5 Emotions, Part 4

The next emotional key to successful trading is to be able to handle the Money.
Look at a systems average loss. Can you take that loss? Can you take that loss on roughly half of every trade you make?
One thing to do is to look at the historical performance and fund the account accordingly. A trader might not want to risk more than 1% of a $50,000 per trade. As such, the trader should only trade systems whose average loss is less than $500.

Friday, July 5, 2013

5 Emotions, part 3

Tony’s third emotion to handle is Desperation.
As traders, we are familiar with desperation. It usually shows up after we’ve had four or five losing trades in a row.
A major advantage of mechanical systems is they can be back tested to show most consecutive losers.  If a system shows 10 or 11 losses in a row over back testing and still performs well, you should expect to have 10 or 11 losses in a row in the future. 
Don’t get desperate. The system is acting within it’s parameters at 4 or 5 losses in a row.  Should the system show 13 or 14 losses in a row in this example, that might be a case to step back and evaluate.

Wednesday, July 3, 2013

5 emotions, part 2

The second key Tony discusses is to learn how to handle frustration. You may get frustrated taking losses. That is part of trading.  Review the systems average loss and percent losers. If you aren’t comfortable with the figures shown, don’t trade the system.
Learn to expect an average trade and an average winning ratio. To expect more is foolish and sets you up for failure.

Tuesday, July 2, 2013

Emotions of Trading

Five Emotional Keys to Handle to Improve Your Trading

Trading is a mental game. It is you versus yourself. You decide every trade. Your emotions are there at every decision.
I recently listened to an audio by Tony Robbins called “The Five Keys to Wealth and Happiness”. In this audio, Tony goes thru five key emotions we face and must handle in order to reach higher levels of achievement. 
Here, I will give you the emotions we all have as traders and how to deal with them and how Futures Truth magazine can help you handle these emotional hurdles and achieve higher levels of trading success.
The first key is to have a positive attitude. How can we have a positive attitude when even the most successful traders lose on half or more of all their trades? 
Only trade with an edge. An advantage. A systematic approach can give you that edge. You will have winners and losers. But, if the system is robust and logical, it should show positive results over the long-term. Realizing this should help you achieve a  positive outlook.
Tony says a negative attitude prevents us from doing the work necessary to succeed. If you expect to fail, how much research of a trading system to use are you likely to do.
Simona Rich writes that the main cause of negative attitudes is a wrong beliefs about life or certain aspects of it. If you belief your trading should result in 90% winners but are trading a system which shows only 60% winners, you will develop a negative attitude.
Tony further states that having a NEGATIVE attitude destroys discipline.  Discipline is a key foundation to all trading success. So, a positive attitude is key.

Wednesday, June 5, 2013

"Steady Return"

Reading an article in Wall Street Journal.  It criticizes Gold as an investment because Gold does NOT provide a "STEADY" return.  REALLY?!?.  Name an investment that does!!!  The stock market only recently broke out of a 12 year congestion.  A 12 year, violent congestion.  How about dividend stocks.  Most stocks don't pay divis.  So, stocks are speculation. 
What about housing as an investment?  Houses are an expense.  Try missing a loan payment 3 months in a row.  See who really owns the house - the bank does.  If you are renting it out - does it pay the combined cost of Mortgage, Interest, Taxes and upkeep?
Gold has provided double digit returns for 10+ years in a row.  HOW MUCH MORE STEADY CAN YOU GET!