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                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            In the past few years I have been on social media I have had the privilege of  interacting with many great traders. Some communication has been through facebook messages, some through my trading group, others on twitter. Here are the traders that I have witnessed make profitable trades on a consistent basis through […]

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           Many of the new traders that leave the markets with a bad experience are the ones that could never grasp the concept of reacting to what is currently happening in the markets versus their desire to know what is going to happen. The new traders that look for gurus to predict the future,

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          Many new traders deceive themselves. They celebrate small wins. They look for the magic solution to making money through a fail safe system. They believe a seminar or newsletter will change their life completely. The mistake trading for easy money and coaches and gurus for having that secret recipe for success. Well, there is

Ten Benefits of Trading the S&P 500 Index: You do not have to diversify with multiple stocks for equity exposure, the index is already diversified. The risk of any one stock having something catastrophic happen will not really hurt your trade. No one stock has more than a 3% weighting.  The S&P 500 is much

Last week Thursday rocked the bulls hitting stops and making everyone think that was the yearly top, it ended up running the full trading range breaking from a new all time high and falling all the way back to the 20 day but holding. Then Friday it moved wildly after the payroll report in the

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       Many championship sports team became champions by building the best defenses in their league. Why focus on defense? Why not focus on scoring points and offense? In sports I believe it is much easier to avoid your opponent from scoring in the first place than to have to play catch up. If a defense

  Today the equity marking had some of the nastiest action of 2013. While there has been many signs of bulls horns slowly cracking, today was a real trend changer, and it was fast. $SPY crashed from an attempt to break all time highs to finding support at the 20 day line in one day.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      A trading method and system is only a small part of successful trading. The trader is the weakest part of any method. No trading system will work if the trader trades too big and too often because eventually being wrong will be the end of that trading account. A great trading system will

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                New traders make the mistake of focusing far too much energy and effort into entries. Entries do have to be good to give the trader the potential for a profit. Preferable risking $1 to make $3 and at the point where maybe a trend is starting. However the entry is really not the most

In looking back at my historical trading results my big winning trades that I have banked and held on to were longer term trades. Even with trading weekly options the ones I was able to hold for almost a week or at least roll the profits over throughout the week were where my big returns

 I sold my long positions Thursday as the market started to signal toppiness right on cue at the $SPY 70+ RSI  and I am currently just in cash waiting and watching for what happens next. Lots of cracks in the bull horns forming in equities and we may see some consolidation at these levels and

            Whenever somebody says “we’re in the business of making money,” make sure they also say “we’re in the business of managing risk.” — Michael A. Gayed,CFA (@pensionpartners) November 1, 2013   When it comes to the stock market, apparently money grows on QEes. — Michael A. Gayed,CFA (@pensionpartners) October

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     While twitter can easily become a big waste of time on trivial things I admit. It can also be a powerful tool for instant information, learning, and growth. I generally follow between 40 and 50 people on twitter at any one time and I am very picky about who I follow. My tweet

  An entry does not determine profitability it only determines potential profit the exit is where the win or loss occurs, focus on that. A robust trading system means nothing unless you can follow it with discipline and self control. Charts don’t care about any one persons opinions why should you? Good trading will make

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      “You adapt, evolve, compete or die.” – Paul Tudor Jones  I do not trade the same way I did when I started actively trading the stock market in the late nineties. The market itself has taught me many lessons about keeping my gains and cutting my losses short. I have traded through one of

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            Here are ten questions to ask yourself to see where you are along your own path in the trader’s journey. Are you willing to exit your trade if it gets to a predetermined price level that indicates you are wrong about it? Are you structuring trades through position sizing and stop losses so

        There is a lot of good information, tips, and entertainment floating around on twitter if you can build a high value twitter follow list.  Here are ten tweets that I found to be valuable this week. These twitter accounts are doing it right.   The path of least resistance until proven

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            New traders have to learn what to be concerned about and what to ignore. Trading is about managing risk, the right psychology, growth and development, a good trading plan, a robust method, and reacting to what the market is actually doing instead of trying to predict what it will do. To many new