Archive

Dec 21

Day Trading Rules to Live By

By adminNo Comments

Most people looking to make money in the markets believe that the answer lies in finding some simple technical analysis strategies that will catapult them to profitability.

The truth is that trading is not as simple as beginners believe. It is a profession, and like any profession it requires a learning curve. Reading a book or getting a few simple “tips” is not going to turn you into a professional trader.

After studying for a length of time, it’s not uncommon for students to begin their search for the “holy grail.”

They search for more indicators, chart patterns, gurus, alert services or the latest secret day trading strategies and other things that will provide their answer to becoming successful.

But here’s the fact. Success lies within you .. and it won’t come easy.

In fact, one of my favorite success principles is this:

“Successful people do what unsuccessful people are unwilling to do.”

Let’s apply this to trading in the form of my list of “Day Trading Rules to Live By” … all of which have to do more with you than with the market.

The consistency you need is in your mind, not in the market. Many in the market get frustrated because the market often behaves differently than they expect. You can’t rely on the market to be consistent. It is largely a random walk. But there are times when the market does setup with a probability scenario that gives you an edge. Your job is be consistent in trading those probability setups and trade them every time they occur.
Trade like a cat. Most beginners over trade. It’s one of the most common trading sins. Your job is to be better than other day traders in having the discipline to wait like a cat in the brush until just the right moment (your high probability setup) and then jump on the trade without hesitation.
Successful trading is simply a game of not making mistakes. Keep a list of your day trading rules posted on the wall or on your monitor and then follow those rules perfectly. You must be more disciplined than the average trader. Never depart from your rules no matter how good a trade “looks” or “feels” to you if it violates your objective and back-tested rules.
Only trade when you are in an optimal emotional state. Never trade when you are tired or are in an emotionally unstable situation (after a fight with a spouse or friend for example). Day trading is more like athletics than academics. Trading on such a short time frame requires you to be able to make split second decisions, and you’re risking a lot of money when you do. Make sure your mind is sharp and your emotions are centered.
Keep a detailed trading log. Every day trading course I’ve seen has a trading log. Yet my experience in dealing with trading students demonstrates that less than 10% of them actually use it. This is a huge mistake. Not only should you log every trade, but you should also record how you felt and what you were thinking as you took the trade. In this way your logs will become a type of “biofeedback” mechanism for you. Personally, this was the difference that made all the difference for me.

These 5 day trading rules are not the type of rules that you were probably looking for. The masses want rules about indicators, price bars, where you get in and where you get out.

Granted, you definitely need clear objective rules about those things as well. Yet thousands of traders have those types of rules, and yet continue to fail because those rules are about market action.

They fail because they don’t have, or don’t follow, the more important rules the rules about their own action.

If you find yourself resisting the importance of these rules about your own behavior, realize that you are one of the masses who feels the same way. But since the masses fail at day trading, you must set yourself apart and do something different than them.

Following these 5 day trading rules are what the retail traders fail to do. Not because they can’t do them, but because they are unwilling to do them. And remember, “Successful people do what unsuccessful people are unwilling to do.”

Dr. Barry Burns is the owner of Top Dog Trading which teaches people how to avoid the long learning curve in day trading

He started his study of the markets under the direction of his father, Patrick F. Burns, who became independently wealthy through trading and had over 70 years of trading experience before passing away in 2005.

He has been the featured speaker at DayTradersUSA, and developed a 5 Day Course for WorldWideTrders.

Dr. Burns has been a headlining guest speaker for the Market Analysts of Southern California, given seminars around the country at many Wealth Expos as well as many Traders Expos, been interviewed on the Robin Dayne “Elite Masters of Trading” Radio Show, and is the former moderator of the FuturesTalk chat room.

He has a doctorate in Hypnotherapy and is a certified NLP practitioner, and therefore able to help people with the psychology of trading.

Dec 19

Forex Day Trading and Forex Swing Trading – What is the Difference?

By adminNo Comments

When Forex Trading is talked about, there are two kind of trading styles that are very commonly used – Forex Day Trading and Forex Swing Trading

Both styles are very widely used. Apart from being used on different time frames, there are some big differences in both of these trading mechanisms. Lets go through some of them -

1. Profit Potential Pips per Forex Trade -

Since Day Trading is carried out on lower time frames (5 min chart, 15 min chart or 30 min chart etc), the amount of pips that can be made per trade are typically not as high as the swing trades that are carried out on bigger time frames (1 hr chart, 4 hr forex chart , 8 hr chart etc.)

2. Risk Per trade -

Similar to Pips potential, since the Day trading is on lower time frame, the amount of pips risked per trade is also very less as compared to Swing Trade.

3. Duration of Trades -

A typical Forex Day Trade lasts anywhere between 30 min. to 4 hrs depending on the Time frame of a trade. So, a trade on 5 min chart will last for lower time as compared to one on 15 min. chart

Where as a swing trade lasts from anywhere between 4 hrs to a day and infact some last for few days.

Since the day trades don’t hast for more than few hours, the amount of concentration needed for day trading is much higher than swing trading. If you are just 15 min late in identifying a trade, you may miss the entire trade.

4. Application of Technical Analysis – Both Forex Day Trading and Swing Trading are typically carried out using Technical Analysis. However the higher the time frame, the more accurate the technical analysis becomes. Due to this, technical analysis is more accurate in Swing Trading than in Day Trading.

For both form of trading there are some specialized technical indicators. For e.g. Use of Daily Pivot Points is used in Day trading to identify Support and Resistance levels.

When choosing a particular trading style, it should be seen which form of trading are you more comfortable with.

The above points can help you choose a form of forex trading.

But choosing a form of Currency trading is just one part, the next is to find a reliable Forex trading system that can make money consistently. And if you can come across a course that can not only teach you such a reliable system, but can explain to you the important techniques that can make you a good trader, then that is fantastic.

One Such Forex Trading Course called Forex Success Formula is coming very soon. Click on the link to join its pre-notification list as well as get a free forex trading ebook

Dec 18

Day Trading Tips to Turn Amateurs Into Pros

By adminNo Comments

Day trading can be a thrilling way to make money. But it’s more challenging than most beginners think. Here are some day trading tips that can help the new trader as well as the more advanced trader to achieve your goals faster.

First: Be careful not to over trade. The majority of the time the market is a random walk – meaning that it’s moving without any rhyme or reason. Amateur traders taking small positions in the market are behind these unpredictable movements.

These amateurs do not affect the long-term movement of the market. The professionals, with their large volume and their willingness to hold positions longer, are the ones who create sustainable moves in the market that can provide meaningful profits.

Many people are drawn to day trading because of the excitement of the business and the potential for big, fast profits. This attitude sets up the trader for failure. Day trading does not have the frantic energy of a video game. Most successful day traders sit by the sidelines for long periods of time simply waiting for a high-probability setup to occur. The pros trade much less frequently than the amateurs think.

Second: The trend is your friend … sometimes.

The truth is that the trend is a fair weather friend!

It is your friend early on. But trends get run out of steam.

Therefore there are 2 times to trade when you can put statistics on your side:

When a new trend is just starting.

When a trend has run its course.

Trading only at these 2 times allows you to put the statistics of the “edge” of the bell curve on your side. Trading in the middle of a trend, puts you solidly in the middle of the bell curve where anything can happen.

Third: Join free trading rooms for day trading tips but do exactly the opposite of what you hear!

I’ve participated in many chat rooms over the years, and have received a tremendous benefit from them. But the benefit did not come from listening to the teacher. It came from watching the comments of the participants as they shared what they were doing at any given time in the market.

The vast majority of the time they were dead wrong in their approach.

They reveal the mind of the unprofitable retail traders. It’s almost eerie how the amateurs think alike when it comes to trading the markets. If you listen to them long enough in the trading rooms you’ll start to notice the patterns of the things they do consistently. Do the opposite and win.

As an example, one of the most common problems amateur traders have, is resisting the urge to fight the trend. You’ll often hear comments such as: “The market can’t go any higher than this.” “This market just has to turn around at this point.” “The market is definitely way over-extended now.”

It is absolutely amazing to see how amateurs habitually trade against the trend in an effort to find tops and bottoms. They are constantly looking for the market to turn around. As is always the case, you can profit tremendously by taking the other side of their trades.

Day trading can be extremely rewarding, but to be successful you must stand aside from the masses and avoid the herd instinct that drives so many. These 3 day trading tips can help you be among the minority who succeeds.

Dr. Barry Burns is the owner of Top Dog Trading and writes a Day Trading Blog. He offers a 5-day free video trading course which provides more day trading tips to help traders become successful.

He started his study of the markets under the direction of his father, Patrick F. Burns, who became independently wealthy through trading and had over 70 years of trading experience before passing away in 2005.

He has been the featured speaker at DayTradersUSA, and developed a 5 Day Course for WorldWideTrders.

Dr. Burns has been a headlining guest speaker for the Market Analysts of Southern California, given seminars around the country at many Wealth Expos as well as many Traders Expos, been interviewed on the Robin Dayne “Elite Masters of Trading” Radio Show, and is the former moderator of the FuturesTalk chat room.

He has a doctorate in Hypnotherapy and is a certified NLP practitioner, and therefore able to help people with the psychology of trading.

Nov 16

What is Day Trading?

By adminNo Comments

Day trading is the buying and selling of stocks, currencies, and commodities with the aim of making profits from the difference between their buying and selling prices. This may sound like general trading but it differs in the time lapse between the buying and selling of stocks; currencies or stocks are rarely held overnight or when the market trading is closed for the day.

The time range can vary from a few seconds, minutes or for the entire length of the trading day depending on how the trade is doing. Also day traders may make a single or a multiple trades in the entire day.

Different Types

Day trading has different types: trend trades, counter-trend trades and ranging trades. In case of trend-trades, trades are made in the direction of the current price movements. This means traders will buy if the price is moving up and sell if it is moving down. Counter-trade, as its name suggests, means trading against the stream-buying when the price is going down and selling when the price is moving up. Ranging trade takes place when the market is moving sideways, resulting in the trades going back and forth between two prices. While most traders usually practice a single trade type, there are many who choose a particular trade type depending on the current condition prevailing in the market.

Day Trading Tools and Services

Modern day trading is conducted through exchanges that are run by computers connected to an Internet network. This has enabled day traders to work from almost anywhere in the world using tools such as telephone, trading software and charting software. Besides these, it also involves services such as brokerage and market data. These services, too, are available via the internet. Day traders place their entry and exit orders through the trading software. This software, also known as entry software, displays the current, and in some cases, the current prices for each market, be it securities, currencies, options or stocks. The charting software, on the other hand, displays the past and current market information, such as prices, in a graphical mode. The trading software usually interfaces with the entry software enabling the day trader to have a graphical view of the market.

Risks

By its very nature, day trading involves high risks. If you know the rules of the game, you can trade several times a day and make more profits than you would while trading the entire month. A note of caution is that to reap maximum benefits from it and you must ensure that your expectations are realistic. It is important to keep in mind that not every pick you make will translate into profits. Even if 60% of your picks perform well in the market, consider yourself to be on the right track. To succeed in this business, you need to be up to date with the latest market information to make the right decision.

Advantages

Day traders enable the efficient running of the financial markets via arbitrage. Besides, they provide the market with the much required liquidity.

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Nov 15

Steady Income From Day Trading Futures

By adminNo Comments

There are still a number of expert traders out there who claim that it is impossible to make money day trading. As a person who relies on day trading for my income, this claim always surprises and saddens me. Make no mistake, day trading is no soft option. It is tough, competitive and unforgiving of mistakes. But, if day trading is your dream, it can be made to work for you.

Most successful traders find a niche which suits their temperament and which they become good at. In the process of doing this they may try different vehicles and strategies which are unsuccessful. However, because they fail in a particular area, it does not mean that it is impossible to make money in that area. All it means is that the trader was not good enough when (s)he tried it.

For example, there is not much that you could teach me about various option strategies. Theoretically, I know how to make a lot of money with options, but in practice it never worked out for me. Buying out-of-the-money options does not have enough winners for my temperament. Selling way-out-of-the-money options has plenty of winners, but really high stress levels on those few occasions when the options flirt with the strike price as the expiry date approaches. Multiple option strategies look good, but trading costs always seemed to kill my trades.

That said, I do know traders who do well with options, so obviously money can be made if you have the right strategy and temperament.

Fortunately for me, I found my niche day trading grain futures contracts, and I love it. What I like about it is that it is short and sharp, and the risk is tightly controlled. By short and sharp I mean that I only have to trade for about thirty minutes each day, but I have to really concentrate during that period to make sure that I execute my strategy with no mistakes. As for risk, I am usually in the market for a matter of minutes, a few hours at the most, and never have positions open overnight or at weekends.

This suits me perfectly. I enjoy the quick feedback from my trades, and I sleep easily at night knowing I am not in the market exposed to freak events that can be very painful when you are in a leveraged position.

Authors criticizing day trading are usually trading Forex. The day traders enemy is trading costs, and despite the commission free trading generally offered by forex brokers, trading costs are high because of the spread. If I were to try day trading forex, I would use futures contracts at the CME (Chicago Mercantile Exchange) during high volume periods.

However, I prefer markets with enough volume to ensure a tight spread, but not such a huge volume that the market becomes hard to read. The grains (soybeans, wheat and corn) fill the bill exactly for me. Equity indices (Russell 2000, S&P 500, Nasdaq eminis and the Dow $5 contract) are also good at times, but I find them more difficult. I dislike the very high volume bond market. I am not saying you can not make money there, all I am saying is that I have not succeeded!

Share traders often find a similar effect whereby very high volume shares like Microsoft are harder to day trade than a middle of the pack S&P 500 company. Usually successful share traders watch a group of stocks which they like and feel confident with.

The point is you do have to make the effort to find the best markets for the kind of trading you like to do. I think it is putting the cart before the horse to decide on a particular market before you decide on your trading style. My advice is to find the style that suits you, then find the markets that respond best to that trading style. Of course, markets are not static, so you will always be monitoring them, and be prepared to change if another market comes to the fore.

I have discussed the keys to successful day-trading in other articles, but briefly they are as follows:

Understand how support and resistance works in the market.
Build a trading method utilizing support and resistance levels. (The tactics you can apply near these levels are almost limitless.)
Back-test your method on independent data (not the same data you used to design it). Ensure it has a positive Expectancy and good frequency of trading opportunity.
Plan your money management strategy so that you know how much to invest in each trade without exposing yourself to too much risk.
Practice, practice, practice, so that you can execute your trading plan flawlessly every time the opportunity occurs. This is harder than it sounds when day trading. Things happen fast and there are a lot of things to think about.

The trader who does these things, and has the discipline to stick to the trading plan during winning and losing spells, will be successful. As many, many authors have written, trading is 90% psychology. The main enemies are your own lack of discipline and self-honesty. Of course, the majority of day trading is done from the trading rooms of large investment banks and brokerages, and the professional traders involved are using bank funds and are not subject to the same levels of stress. You have to learn to perform as well as they do despite the additional anxiety of having your own money at risk.

David Bennett trades US commodity futures from his home on the Gold Coast in Australia. He provides coaching and mentoring services for people wanting to start trading for themselves. Visit http://www.12oclocktrades.com to read more futures trading articles.

Nov 14

Day Trading Stocks

By adminNo Comments

When it comes to day trading stocks there is a mixed notion amongst the investors as well as common people who are contemplating of getting into stock trading. Day trading is basically a type of short term trading that is completed within a day’s time. That means you have a few hours to buy and sell the stocks and hence day trading stocks are essentially considered to be the forte of the experienced stock market investors. As you get only a few hours to make up for the loss, if there is any, the risk factor of day trading is higher than conventional long term share trading. But as there is more risk involved you always get more profit from day trading if you consider the time span of the investment that you make for buying the stocks. S0, the bottom line is there are pros and cons of day trading and here we are trying to focus on some of them.

Positives of day trading -

Day trading gives you the freedom of working on your terms. You can do by yourself the trading online and get the result on that very day. There is no waiting and long-term risk factor involved.

As you get back the money each day after the market is closed you can always start fresh the next morning. So, with day trading you can try wide range of stocks and benefit from definite and short time gains and tips that too with significantly little money in your account.

Stock trading companies offer the day trading facilities in significantly lower brokerage rate. Especially online stock brokers charge really little brokerage for buying and selling stocks online. So, while dealing in day trading stocks you can make more profit if compared to long term trading where the brokerage rate is relatively higher.

Moreover, with lower brokerage you have fewer burdens and can take quick decisions after the stock is moved upward, while in long term trading you have to wait to sell the stock until it gets you profit after meeting the higher brokerage.

While doing day trading you can always make profit from stocks that are not so promising but showing steady progress however small amount it is. While in case of long term trading you cannot really depend on such stocks that do not have long term potential.

Like any good thing in life day trading also comes with some negatives and here are some of them along with some effective solutions to these problems.

Day trading gives you only a few hours to make the corrections. Simply because the lifespan of the day trading is shorter, you run the risk of losing on a certain stock that falls after you have bought them. The situation worsens if there is no sign of betterment even at the end o the day. But you can even make up for the loss by buying the same stock in lower price on long term basis and waiting for the stock to regain. It’s simply buying time for your investment.

Sudden news can affect the stock market that have a deeper impact on the day trading as you cannot wait for the market to get better. Then this is true for any form of stock market trading and it is not a typical problem for the day trading. To avoid such situations you need to have comprehensive knowledge of the industry and keep regular watch on the stock market.

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Nov 14

What Is Day Trading – Understand The Basics Of Day Trading

By adminNo Comments

Many people have heard the buzz about day trading. They have all heard the stories of fortunes being made and lost. With day trading accessible to anyone with a phone or Internet connection, along with the lure of tax free trading it is becoming more popular then ever. With its ever increasing popularity, many more people are asking themselves, what is day trading? What’s all the fuss about?

Well guys and girls, for those of you that are still in the dark as to what exactly day trading is, let me give you a brief introduction, so that you can finally understand what day trading is.

What is day trading?

Day trading, otherwise known as spread trading, allows you to speculate on the global stock market, property futures, indices, commodities and currencies. You can trade from anywhere in the world that has an Internet connection, as many financial bookmakers now have online dealing platforms. In fact, in most cases you can trade 24 hours a day.

Unlike conventional stock trading, when you start to day trade you don’t actually buy the stock that you wish to speculate on. What you are actually doing is placing a spread bet and speculating on where you think the market is heading. The good thing about day trading is that you can make a ton of cash even when the market is heading south, as you can speculate that the market will go up or down.

One of my favorite parts about day trading is that in many parts of the world the profits are all tax free. The reason for this is that all profits are seen as gambling winnings and not taxable income.

In a nutshell day trading allows you to speculate on global markets, and allows you to start trading almost instantly. Day trading can be highly beneficial to many investors. The key to being successful is to study how to trade effectively before you part with your cash. This is made extremely easy for you now as many financial bookmakers offer virtual trading accounts.

9 out of 10 people loose money day trading – Join the 10% that make money. Get these 5 free tips, and dramatically improve your chance of success.

(c) Copyright – Van Lee. All Rights Reserved Worldwide.

Oct 29

Swing Trading Vs Day Trading

By adminNo Comments

Be honest, now. Back in ’99 when seemingly every waiter and grocery-store clerk had a stock portfolio, did you get rich day trading? Back in those good old days there was plenty of talk about making money day trading, but how many people do you know who actually accomplished it? One look at a 10 year Nasdaq chart leaves no doubt that some people did get rich on the way up–and a few of them probably had the good sense to get out before it was too late. But most people ‘played’ the market–and lost–through mindless buying of mutual funds, and by accepting worthless corporate stock options in lieu of actual pay.

Fast forward to 2007. The Dow is at its historic high and the Nasdaq is roaring back to life. It doesn’t take a genius to realize that now is the time to think about trading again. But truth be told, most people will not take the initiative to make their own trading decisions. Most people will get burned all over again.

To really profit from the coming bull market you must commit yourself to making your own trading decisions. Don’t trust your broker, your boss, or your brother-in-law. Only by assuming responsibility for your financial future can you expect to achieve success; nobody is in a hurry to do it for you.

Most people who do decide to trade on their own hook will naturally think of day trading. And you can bet when the bull market takes off plenty of pundits and gurus will be urging you to day trade. But for most people day trading isn’t a viable option, either because they can’t afford to sit in front of a computer screen all day, or because they have enough common sense to realize day trading is a lethal game. So how can you profitably trade?

The answer for many people is swing trading. Swing trading is the practice of holding stock positions (long or short) for a few days to a few weeks. You don’t need to sit in front of your computer all day with your finger on the panic button, and you don’t have to play cat and mouse with market makers looking to hang your scalp on their wall. The typical moves made by a stock during a swing play will dwarf the tweenies that day traders salivate over, and with sensible use of stop orders you won’t need to lose sleep at night fretting about the risk.

Day trading is a little like the World Series of Poker. Do you think you could sit down with Greg Raymer or Chris Moneymaker and beat them at a hand of No Limit Texas Hold ‘em? When you day trade you’re taking the same chance. The people on the other side of your trades are professional market makers. What the stock will do in the next day, week or year may be beyond the control of any one person, but what happens in the next 15 seconds depends entirely on the decisions of individual traders. Your loss is their immediate gain, and these guys (and gals) have been doing this for a long time. Even the most perfectly formed setup quickly turns into a sucker-play because these professionals know the newbies will take the bait. In the world of day trading, the losers get their hat handed to them in short order.

With swing trading you get the same fair chance as everyone else, institutional traders and individuals alike. As long as you trade stocks with a reasonable amount of volume, you can rest assured that no one trader, or even a group working in unison (which would be illegal, to boot) has the resources to bully the market. Setting your stop 5% below your entry point virtually guarantees that you won’t get scalped (it doesn’t guarantee the stock won’t move 5% against you, but if it does it won’t be because one trader decided to scalp you). And the profit potential for a well played swing trade could be 10% in a few days, or maybe 20-30% in a few weeks. Of course, it takes knowledge and experience to identify the right trades, but your chances of success are just as good as any Wall Street trader if you’re willing to take the time to ‘plan your trade and trade your plan.’

Truly outstanding bull markets only come along a few times in a lifetime. Swing trading gives you a realistic chance of profiting from those great bull markets. You already missed the last one in ’99. Don’t miss out on this chance. Now is the time to start studying up on swing trading so you’ll be ready.

Todd Strickland

[http://swing-trade-online.biyazo.com]

Oct 29

Day Trading Signals

By adminNo Comments

With the help of day trading signals, day traders sell all long positions and cover all short positions at the end of a working, trading day. In day trading, you usually finish the day with cash in hand, to avoid holding any risks. One of the benefits of day trading is that since the positions are closed at the end of the trading day, any sudden news of events doesn’t affect the opening prices of trading.

In day trading, different shares are bound to undergo different resistance and support levels. As the name indicates, resistance is basically a price level of a stock or perhaps an average that finds it difficult to break through. The support is a price level where the stock or average tends to hold above. The day trading signals are the signals obtained when stocks bounce off of support levels or sometimes even off resistance, if required.

These day trading signals are created watching the moving averages of shares. These moving averages, have trend lines similar to moving averages. A day trading signal depends on the number of times a stock tends to hit a particular trend line. The more faith there is in the trend line, the better it acts as a support for you. The longer the stock stays at a particular level; the better is the day trading signal of support.

The Internet boasts of many websites having bulletins where day trading signals are broadcast the whole day through. With these continuous day trading signals, it makes it rather easy for the day trader to predict how the share market will move. So day trading signals play an integral part in making profits in the share market and in having an interesting day of trading.

Day Trading provides detailed information on Day Trading, Forex Day Trading, Stock Day Trading, Online Day Trading and more. Day Trading is affiliated with Futures Trading Software.

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