Author name: Steve Burns

‘Twas the week before Christmas, when all through the markets stocks were all volatile, even the financials; Risk was managed with care, In hopes the Santa rally soon would be there; The traders were cautious all small in their trades, While visions of a crash danced in their heads; Obama and congress trying to make […]

There are many trading principles that are common among successful rich traders. It is important to learn the things that allow them to win so we can follow in their footsteps and make money. There are 10 things that new traders can start doing tomorrow to improve their results immediately. If you have been trading

“People who look for easy money invariably pay for the privilege of proving conclusively that it cannot be found on this earth.” – Jesse Livermore It is funny that so many look for stock picks and gurus for trading success. Many think there is a secret that rich traders know but just won’t tell anyone.

Before any trader uses stock options they must understand how options are priced. Options are not assets they are perishable bets on the price of a stock during the time frame of the option. Stock option contracts have different strike prices for different time frames. Inside their prices are imbedded the cost of time, volatility

I believe there are different stages in a traders development and career. There is the stage of the newbie where you know nothing, the next stage is the new trader where you know something but make nothing, the good trader stage where you make some money, then the rich trader stage where you no longer

William Delbert Gann (June 6, 1878 – June 18, 1955) or WD Gann, was a trader who developed the technical analysis tools known as Gann angles, Square of 9, hexagon, Circle of 360 (these are Master charts). Gann Market forecasting methods are based on geometry, astronomy, and astrology, and ancient mathematics. Opinions are sharply divided

What a week this one was. Wild, sharp, quick, and volatile moves. If you held a position more than 5 minutes the odds are that you felt some pain financially or emotionally. Big winners turned into small winners and small winners turned into big losers in the time it took for a restroom break. Markets

One of the most painful things a trader can experience is hindsight. Wishing they let the winner run, cut the loss short, traded bigger, and on and on. Hindsight looks so obvious AFTER the fact. If we followed our trading plan based on our system and method we should not have regrets. Yes, we should

  Fragile- “Easily broken, shattered, or damaged; delicate; brittle; frail.” Robust- “Strong and healthy; hardy; vigorous.” Anti-Fragile- “A postulated antithesis to fragility where high-impact events or shocks can be beneficial. Anti-fragility is a concept developed by professor, former trader and former hedge fund manager Nassim Nicholas Taleb. Taleb coined the term “anti-fragility” because he thought

“Make everything as simple as possible, but not simpler.”-Albert Einstein “Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.” -Leonardo da Vinci My trading success has been a journey NOT of adding things to my trading, but subtracting. My success has always been with simplicity my failures in doing the overly complex. The more I added to my trading

The vast majority of traders have a little voice that arises at times caused by greed and the ego I call “The Inner Trading Demon”. It can feel at times like this “Demon” takes us over and makes us do ridiculous things, especially when we are new to seeing hundreds of dollars come and go

“The elements of good trading are: 1. Cutting losses, 2. Cutting losses, and 3. Cutting losses. If you can follow these three rules, you may have a chance” -Ed Seykota If a new trader comes into the markets with dollar signs in their eyes with nothing but excitement for how much they can make and

Each successful trader has their own traits that enable them to make money in the markets, but every trader also has their own weaknesses and demons that they must battle and keep in check. Some rich traders were born to trade, they have about as much emotional attachment to a big position size as normal

Successful traders have to be very rigid and stubborn in some areas and yet flexible and quick to admit when they are wrong in other areas. Knowing when to be open minded and when to be stubborn is half the battle. Traders should have a very flexible mindset about which way a trade can go