 |
|
The source of the best business, financial and legal news |
|
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
|
|
|
|
|
 | |
| |
 |
Business Informations |
|
|
|
A Secret Revealed: Why Most (Day) Traders Fail
The following perspective on (day) trading comes from my many years of experience of active day trading or being the moderator of one of the largest day trading chat rooms on the Internet. One of the biggest problems I see with new traders (and even some old ones) has nothing to do with the software or the broker they are using. Nor is the problem a result of buying too high or selling to low; or not having enough money. The problem isn't any of those things. It has to do with not having a trading plan. A good trading plan will go a long way towards solving the problems mentioned above. Ted Williams was once asked how he hit the baseball so much better then everyone else. He said he had no idea and that he just went up to the plate and swung at the ball. There has only been one Ted Williams and as great as he was at hitting a baseball, I don't think he would have made a great day trader with that approach. Most great hitters have an idea what they are going to do every time they step up to the plate. Traders need to know exactly what they expect every time they enter a trade. Everyone should start out with a basic trading plan and use it. As the old saying goes, "Plan your work and work your plan". However, you also have to be ready to be flexible. That has to be part of your planning. As Clint Eastwood said as his character in "Heartbreak Ridge", "You got to adjust, you got to learn to improvise. And if all else fails, you to learn to survive!" Traders that are not able to make adjustments, improvise and survive will experience their own Heartbreak Ridge. Your trading plan can't be one where you simply figure you are just going to follow someone else. That may be one way to get a start and a bit of experience, and it can be a part of a much bigger overall plan. But it cannot start and end there. You have to learn to trade on your own so you don't accidentally follow someone off a cliff. You have to know who to follow and who not to follow. When I was trading I made a lot of good trades knowing who to follow and who not to follow. Yet, in the long run, I do not believe you can make a living doing that. The biggest problem in following other traders is being too far behind the trade because you are "following" and not leading. I think each and every trader has to become the very best trader he can possibly be, on his own. He needs to get there as fast as he can. Following more experienced traders can be a means to this end and can help get you started, but it cannot be the end. This takes planning. A basic trading plan will take in your long-term goals and objectives as a trader. You'll have to decide if you want to try to make a career out of trading, or just be a part time trader. Once you have decided this you can make other decisions such as how much money you would like to make at either full time or part time trading. Your money goals have to be realistic. They can't just be, "I want to make as much money as I can". These basic decisions will determine the time and money you will have to commit. Your trading plan should be on going, constantly evolving and eventually contain things like how many days, weeks, and hours you will need to trade to meet your goals. If it is as detailed as I think it should be, you would know how many trades per day and how much profit per trade you will have to average. Of course, these things will have to be developed over time and added to your plan as you go and as you gain more knowledge. There are many excellent books on learning to day trade. My favorites are found at http://www.TraderAide.com/books No permission is needed to reproduce an unedited copy of this article as long the About The Author tag is left in tact and included. We do request that we be informed of where it is posted and reciprocal links will be considered. Email floyd@sbmag.org. Floyd Snyder has been trading and investing in the stock market for three decades. He was on the forefront of the day trading craze that swept nation back in late 1990's both as a trader and later as the moderator of one of the Internet's largest real time trading rooms. Floyd is also the owner of http://www.TraderAide.com, Strictly Business Magazine at http://www.sbmag.org, FrameHouseGallery.com and EducationResourcesNetwork.com
MORE RESOURCES:
investing - Google News |
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
Brain Snappers and Other Wall Street Nonsense The last time you spoke with your broker did he use any of the following words? Diversification, Price-to-earnings ratios, discretionary trading, lifting a leg (he's talking to you not your dog), leverage, divergence, fee-based compensation, escalator clause, tactical asset allocation and other mesmerizing words to place you in stupefying shock.Brokers do that to let you know that you don't know anything about the market and you must allow them to make decisions for you. Trading Tips No 4: Technical Analysis The Holy Grail Syndrome Everyone knows that the Holy Grail of investing and trading is a myth. Finding a good technical analysis tool that will give you a trading system that wins all the time is called the holy grail of trading. The Dreaded Direct Question (Please have a glass of water within reach before reading this article.)Your personal financial planning is the topic of discussion here today, but not quite yet. Discipline in Trading and Investing The one thing I can think of that most affects both trading and investing has to be self-discipline.Being disciplined is fully 50% of the job of trading or of investing. 401(k) Plans I've been in and interested in the stock market so long (one year shy of forty years) I can remember when the mutual fund pages in my home town paper were just one page! Now it looks like there are more mutual funds then there are stocks listed on the New York stock exchange.I wonder how many billions of investor dollars are supporting these funds. Investing Online Has Its Rewards: Find Out How To Take Advantage Of Them Computerized investing. Online investing. Options Education : Opinion versus Fact! The most basic aspect of trading is learning to differentiate between what is FACTUAL and what is OPINION. If you stay interested in the financial markets long enough you will discover that there are a lot of sharks out there who have become expert at making that task very difficult. Use this Simple Trick its to Buy $100 Bills Direct from your Bank for only $97 Most People just don't understand the power of using their home as a Wealth Creation Tool. How many people do you know who have lived in the same house for 10, 15 or more years and have virtually no mortgage, You know the Type 'House Rich Cash Poor'. New U.S. Mint Coins a Golden Opportunity In April, the U.S. Preparing to Invest: How to get started Investments can be a source of great potential earnings. The two most common reasons that a person does not invest are either they do not have the money or they do not know how to get started. The Demise of Buy & Hold Based on consistent results I think Buy & Hold should be renamed Buy, Hold & Bye-Bye. It sounded great for a while, especially for the huge majority of investors who don't have the time or interest in really doing due diligence on investments. The High Price of Oil In less than four years, the price of oil has risen about 300%, or over $50 a barrel. The Light Crude Continuous Contract (of oil futures) hit an all-time high at $67. How to Choose the Right Share Class You'll want to opt for the no-load or institutional share class instead. If you're a no-load investor who is determined to buy a fund that's primarily broker-sold, go through a supermarket and opt for the D shares. Before You Start Investing There maybe several reasons why you to want to invest your money. You may want to retire early, want to build your own business in the future, or to pay for your kid's education. The 8 Biggest Mistakes When Designing Portfolios - and How To Avoid Them Are you as good an investor as you think? Do you consider yourself a well-informed investor able to anticipate and avoid nearly all pitfalls associated with investing? Chances are, you are making one of the common errors that could cost you hundreds or even thousands of dollars, or worse yet, your financial independence, control and security."I see people making the same costly mistakes over and over," says Scott Frush, CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER and author of Optimal Investing: How To Protect and Grow Your Wealth With Asset Allocation (Marshall Rand Publishing; available by calling 1-800-247-6553). Investing and the Fear of Regret and Greed People tend to feel sorrow and grief after having made an error in judgement.Investors deciding whether to sell or buy a security are typically emotionally affected by whether the security was bought or sold for more or less than the current price. My Way Or The Highway: Give Your Financial Professionals A Good Talking To! All this talk about Investing is encouraging lately. Over the last few years, more people have become interested in the duty to invest there money, then ever before. Larry, Moe and Curley, Investment Brokers Larry, Moe and Curley were sitting in their favorite restaurant just off Wall Street having their usual 3 martini lunch and were discussing the day's events and their client portfolios.Larry:"I had 12 calls this morning from customers wanting to know why the market was going down". Success Trading: Yet More Basic Terminology for New Traders In this day and age of online brokers for virtually every market out there, there are some very useful tools that will help protect your account and lock in profits when you have them. It is our recommendation that you use a good online broker and take advantage of not only the low commissions they offer, but also the automated tools that are available. Annuity Help Many people today are looking for annuity help. The biggest challenge seems to be that most of the help is biased.
|
| home | site map |
| © 2006 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
||||
|
||||
|
