There are three spokes that make up, what I call the Wheel of Success as it relates to trading. The first spoke is content. Content consists of all the external and internal market information that traders utilize to make their trading decisions. All traders must purchase value-added content that provides utility in making their trading decisions. The most important type of content is internal market information (IMI). IMI simply is time and price information as disseminated by the exchanges. After all, we all make our trading decisions in the present tense based on time and price. In order to scalp the markets effectively, we must have the most live and up-to-date time and price information seamlessly delivered to our PCs through a reliable execution platform and/or charting package. Without instantaneous time and price information, we would be trading in the dark. The second spoke is mechanics. Mechanics is how you access the markets and the methodology that you employ to enter/exit your trades. You must master mechanics before you can enjoy any success as a trader. A simple keystroke error can result in aloss of thousands of dollars. A trader can ruin his entire day with an inadvertent trade entry error. Once you have mastered order execution, though, it is like riding a bike. The process of entering and exiting trades becomes seamless and mindless. Fast and efficient trade execution, especially if you are trading with a scalping methodology, will enable you to hit a bid or take an offer before your competitors do. Remember, the fastest survive. The third and most important spoke in the Wheel of Success is discipline. You must attain discipline if you ever hope to achieve any level of trading success. Trading discipline is practiced 100 percent of the time, every trade, every day. Review the following 25 Rules of Trading Discipline. You must condition yourself to behave with discipline over and over again. Many of my traders and clients read through the rules every day (believe it or not) before the trading session begins. It doesn.t take more than three minutes to read through them. Think of the exercise as praying . reminding you how to conduct yourself throughout the trading session.
1) THE MARKET PAYS YOU TO BE DISCIPLINED:
Trading with discipline will put more money in your pocket and take less money out. The one constant truth concerning the markets is that discipline = increased profits.
2) BE DISCIPLINED EVERY DAY, IN EVERY TRADE, AND THE MARKET WILL REWARD YOU. BUT DON’T CLAIM TO BE DISCIPLINED IF YOU ARE NOT 100 PERCENT OF THE TIME:
Being disciplined is of the utmost importance, but it.s not a sometimes thing, like claiming you quit a bad habit, such as
smoking. If you claim to quit smoking but you sneak a cigarette every once in a while, then you clearly have not quit smoking. If you trade with discipline nine out of ten trades, then you can.t claim to be a disciplined trader. It is the one undisciplined trade that will really hurt your overall performance for the day. Discipline must be practiced on every trade.
When I state that .the market will reward you,. typically it is in recognizing less of a loss on a losing trade than if you were stubborn and held on too long to a bad trade. Thus, if I lose $200 on a trade, but I would have lost $1,000 if I had remained in that losing trade, I can claim that I .saved. myself $800 in additional losses by exiting the bad trade with haste.
3) ALWAYS LOWER YOUR TRADE SIZE WHEN YOU’RE TRADING POORLY:
All good traders follow this rule. Why continue to lose on five lots (contracts) per trade when you could save yourself a lot of money by lowering your trade size down to a one lot on your next trade? If I have two losing trades in a row, I always lower my trade size down to a one lot. If my next two trades are profitable, then I move my trade size back up to my original lot size. It.s like a batter in baseball who has struck out his last two times at bat. The next time up he will choke up on the bat, shorten his swing and try to make contact. Trading is the same: lower your trade size, try to make a tick or two . or even scratch the trade . and then raise your trade size after two consecutive winning trades.
4) NEVER TURN A WINNER INTO A LOSER:
We have all violated this rule. However, it should be our goal to try harder not to violate it in the future. What we are really talking about here is the greed factor. The market has rewarded you by moving in the direction of your position, however, you are not satisfied with a small winner. Thus you hold onto the trade in the hopes of a larger gain, only to watch the market turn and move against you. Of course, inevitably you now hesitate and the trade further deteriorates into a substantial loss. There.s no need to be greedy. It.s only one trade. You.ll make many more trades throughout the session and many more throughout the next trading sessions. Opportunity exists in the marketplace all of the time. Remember: No one trade should make or break your performance for the day. Don.t be greedy.
Continue( Next Post)
1) THE MARKET PAYS YOU TO BE DISCIPLINED:
Trading with discipline will put more money in your pocket and take less money out. The one constant truth concerning the markets is that discipline = increased profits.
2) BE DISCIPLINED EVERY DAY, IN EVERY TRADE, AND THE MARKET WILL REWARD YOU. BUT DON’T CLAIM TO BE DISCIPLINED IF YOU ARE NOT 100 PERCENT OF THE TIME:
Being disciplined is of the utmost importance, but it.s not a sometimes thing, like claiming you quit a bad habit, such as
smoking. If you claim to quit smoking but you sneak a cigarette every once in a while, then you clearly have not quit smoking. If you trade with discipline nine out of ten trades, then you can.t claim to be a disciplined trader. It is the one undisciplined trade that will really hurt your overall performance for the day. Discipline must be practiced on every trade.
When I state that .the market will reward you,. typically it is in recognizing less of a loss on a losing trade than if you were stubborn and held on too long to a bad trade. Thus, if I lose $200 on a trade, but I would have lost $1,000 if I had remained in that losing trade, I can claim that I .saved. myself $800 in additional losses by exiting the bad trade with haste.
3) ALWAYS LOWER YOUR TRADE SIZE WHEN YOU’RE TRADING POORLY:
All good traders follow this rule. Why continue to lose on five lots (contracts) per trade when you could save yourself a lot of money by lowering your trade size down to a one lot on your next trade? If I have two losing trades in a row, I always lower my trade size down to a one lot. If my next two trades are profitable, then I move my trade size back up to my original lot size. It.s like a batter in baseball who has struck out his last two times at bat. The next time up he will choke up on the bat, shorten his swing and try to make contact. Trading is the same: lower your trade size, try to make a tick or two . or even scratch the trade . and then raise your trade size after two consecutive winning trades.
4) NEVER TURN A WINNER INTO A LOSER:
We have all violated this rule. However, it should be our goal to try harder not to violate it in the future. What we are really talking about here is the greed factor. The market has rewarded you by moving in the direction of your position, however, you are not satisfied with a small winner. Thus you hold onto the trade in the hopes of a larger gain, only to watch the market turn and move against you. Of course, inevitably you now hesitate and the trade further deteriorates into a substantial loss. There.s no need to be greedy. It.s only one trade. You.ll make many more trades throughout the session and many more throughout the next trading sessions. Opportunity exists in the marketplace all of the time. Remember: No one trade should make or break your performance for the day. Don.t be greedy.
Continue( Next Post)
No comments:
Post a Comment