The ONLY Difference Between Professional Traders and Amateurs Is ...
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Here's a revelation that changed my trading forever:
"Successful trading is imply a business of not making mistakes."
That has become such a cornerstone to my trading that I actually framed that saying and put it on my wall over my trading flat screens.
One of the most productive things you can do to become a profitable trader is to make a list of your most common mistakes.
Awareness is the first step.
Then watch your behavior and don't allow yourself to make those mistakes any more.
Each of us has her or his own challenges, so you must make your own list.
But to get you started, I'll expose my sins and share with you what have been my most common mistakes over the years. This is the official list of my own 7 most common mistakes. Perhaps you'll find it helpful:
1. Missing trades. When my setup occurs I need to make sure I'm aware of it and haven't been distracted by chat rooms, email, phone calls or lulled into boredom by a consolidating market.
I also need to make sure I don't hesitate to pull the trigger when I do see my setups.
2. Trading reversals that are not in extended trends and during which the internal market energy has not reversed.
3. Trading only 1 time frame without the confirmation of a longer term chart.
4. Trading while tired.
5. Over trading. Never try to make up for losses or missed trades. Never trade out of boredom. Never take any trade that doesn't match my rules 100%.
6. Not taking profits on my first exit soon enough. This is critical to adjust my cost position in the trade and therefore keep losses small.
7. Exiting my entire position too soon. I must keep at least part of my position alive until the energy of the trade has shifted so that I can ride the big moves.
Well, that's my confession.
Now you know my sins, but I imagine they're not so different than yours.
Have you committed these trading sins ... or your own unique ones?
The only solution is to REPENT!
That doesn't simply mean to say you're sorry.
It means to change your behavior.
Many people treat trading as:
an intellectual exercise.
a mathematical challenge.
or a research project.
Actually it's more about managing your behavior than anything else ... of course that's often the most difficult thing of all!
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I couldn't have said it better!
Barry can be found at: http://www.myspace.com/topdogtrading
Happy New Year !!
Forex Journey
Are you a forex trader or a gambler?
Here's an article I found in my files. Given the approach of the New Year, now is an excellent time to re-enforce those good trading habits and thoughts ... enjoy!!
How many pips do you need to be wealthy? The answer may surprise you.
About 2 years ago I sent out a similar letter that changed the outlook and the lives of many traders. While most at the time were mini-traders a simple 25 pip gain equated to a mere $25.00. "How can I live off of that?" I was repeatedly asked. It didn't take long to put this into perspective.
Determining Percent Return
Profits are one thing, percent return is another. Monthly profits may add up to look nice or not so nice, but what is the actual return? I am sure we have all heard traders say, "I made 1,000 pips last month." OK.. what was your percent return? Not only for one month, but for the life of your trading.
Return Calculation
The simple return calculation is used to determine your return on an investment after you sold it. Or in this case, the profits after closing trades over a period of time.
Here is the formula:
Net Proceeds /Cost Basis - 1 x 100
Let's run through a simple example.
Suppose you traded one standard forex contract for a profit of 200 pips. This would be a raw profit of $2,000. The cost in this case was the spread and the margin needed to secure the contract; the most common margin is 100:1. Thus it cost a temporary, $1,000 to secure this contract. We say temporary because we all know we would not trade without a stop loss, most likely the stop would have been worth about $250.
Calculation:
Net Proceeds = $2000
Cost Basis = $20 (spread) + $1,000 margin
($2,000 /$1,020 - 1) x 100 = 96% (Just under 100% in a single 30 days)
What about per year?
Try it, you will be amazed. Hint: Don't forget to compound.
Take Home Message
Trade conservatively, a few 25 pip trades per week (300 pips per month) on a single lot can give you a return of just under 200% a month. Build your account slowly, trade with the same level of caution, just add more lots. This is the best method, the most realistic method and the lowest stress method of enjoying the rewards of forex.
John Keister
ForexInterBank
Happy Trading from ForexJourney.com!!
Clarity
Clarity. This is my word, my mission for 2008. I am going (notice I did not say “try to”), let me repeat, I am going to achieve clarity in all aspects of life including my trading. As many of my readers know I had a very eventful 2007. I became a dad for the first time. This has brought a new meaning to life. One that many of my friends have mentioned, but one I truly didn’t understand until I experienced it myself. It has been the greatest single joy of my life, not to mention a major adjustment in trading schedule.
I define have one simple New Year’s resolution that will permeate my life and my trading – seek clarity in every aspect of my Forex trading and perform every action with intent!
I know what you are thinking; it seems kind of pie in the sky, but think about it. We should approach all our actions with clarity and intent. Design the outcome well before we enter a currency trade. Keeping mental focus it what really separates long term profits and losses.
I encourage each of you to take the time now and revisit your Forex trading plan. Learn from your mistakes, because they are your most valuable teachers. My goal is to always present clear intent into my Forex trading in 2008, what’s your intent?
Happy New Year’s from ForexJourney.com
When You Understand....
Once we know how something works, we will not see it as a challenge. For those people that love challenge, they will lose interest. This is because it is no longer something to go after. You already have the answers and started looking somewhere else for new challenges. In the end such people will not accumulate wealth but he will gain knowledge. Knowledge in the end is what matters.
Last week I lose in Forex trading. I will update screenshot when I have the time. It seems to me that I am starting to lose interest in Forex for the above reason. For other reason I will not be trading forex till start of next year. Holiday season is coming, Im going home for a long vacation and forex has started to lose it appeal.
Those of you still struggling to understand it, keep up the work. Its a feeling undescribe by mere words once you have found the answer. At the time of writing we are seeing major turn on 3 pairs which are EurUsd, UsdChf and UsdJpy. Chrismast is coming and it would be a waste of time to trade now. Let us hope a new year wil bring new fortune to us all. Happy holidays everyone.
Income masyuk
Bayangkan kalau anda mendapat income sebegini dibayar setiap minggu. Amacam? tak melompat cam beruk ke?
SMS misteri dari seseorang yang tidak dikenali
Kalau saya jadi airmata,
Saya ingin lahir dari matamu, hidup dipipi mu dan mati di bibirmu
tapi kalau awak jadi airmata,saya tidak akan menangis
kerana saya tidak mahu kehilanganmu
begitu bermakna dari seseorang yang tidak dikenali.
Forex lak. minggu ni rugi. Nasib baik bisness lain masyuk banyak :)
Free Forex Signal 11 December 2007
Long Eur/Usd @ 1.4620 or better
TP 1.4870
Short Usd/Chf @ 1.1320 or better
TP 1.1060
At the moment all jpy pair is at the height of its momentum. Entry is not adviseable. Wait for it to turn then a fresh entry will be available. I lost much on JPY pair this week due to miss calculation. At the moment my account is down by more than 2k. I will post result at the end of the week.
Mixed week
Mixed week so far. GBP rate cut really messed things up. Things are really looking good for a Gbp correction where the rate cut made the correction very small and no clear market direction.
At the moment i am holding a lot of losing position hoping the market will turn back. At the same time doing hedging to cover the losing position. Hopefully next week all goes well and I manage to recover. If things do not go my way, then I will have to accept losses. Losses happen in forex and it happen a lot. Prepare for the inevitable.
Langit Tak Selalu Cerah
Jangan sekali kali menganggap Forex adalah jalan utk mencapai kekayaan. Ianya mampu memberi pendapatan yang lumayan tetapi tidak utk mencapai kekayaan. Fakta, 10 manusia terkaya didunia tidak seorang pun dari mereka mencapai tahap kekayaan dengan forex. Malah kalau ada yang rajin, boleh kaji 100 orang terkaya didunia dan berapa ramai dari mereka kaya dengan Forex. Jawapan mungkin tidak ada seorang pun mencapai kekayaan dengan forex.
Ini kerana dalam forex langit tidak selalu cerah tapi malangnya laut sentiasa bergelora. Cabaran yang tinggi perlu dihadapi sebelum seseorang boleh hidup dilautan forex.
Nasihat ini telah banyak kali aku berikan kepada orang yang memerlukan. Kalau ingin jadi kaya, kita perlu mempunyai berbagai sumber pendapatan. Periuk nasi perlu ada lebih dari satu. Barulah boleh mencapai kekayaan, itupun kalau kekayaan yang diharapkan.
Secara ikhlasnya aku bermula dengan forex bukan kerana duit tapi kerana ilmu. Dalam dunia cuma 5% saja manusia mampu hidup sepenuhnya dengan trading forex. Kalau aku mampu tergolong dalam umat manusia 5% itu, maka aku akan jadi golongan manusia terbilang. Mudah saja cita cita aku.
Busy Week
At the moment EU is looking good for a big dive. GJ is currently doing a correction before it continue its dive hopefully.
Good trading for all of you out there since today is a good day for me coz I am in profit now :D
Why the Fed is Such a Lousy Wizard of Oz
Interesting article by Susan C. Walker - check it out!
By Susan C. Walker, Elliott Wave InternationalSeptember 7, 2007
Central bankers who "follow the yellow brick road" end up in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, every Labor Day weekend for their annual symposium sponsored by – who else? – the Kansas City Fed. (Who can forget Judy Garland saying to her little dog, "Toto, I've got a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore," in the 1939 movie, The Wizard of Oz?)
The Jackson Hole Resort serves as the Federal Reserve's equivalent of the Emerald City, as Fed governors and presidents meet with central bankers and economists from around the world to discuss economic issues. This year, the symposium focused on housing and monetary policy. Usually, the Fed chairman kicks off the symposium and, this year, the new chairman, Ben S. Bernanke, did the honors. He closed his speech with these words:
"The interaction of housing, housing finance, and economic activity has for years been of central importance for understanding the behavior of the economy, and it will continue to be central to our thinking as we try to anticipate economic and financial developments."
Then came the other speeches. And it seems that some of the guests in Emerald City were waiting for their chance to pull back the curtain and prove that the Wonderful Wizard of Oz isn't such a wizard after all. Bloomberg reported that "Federal Reserve officials, wrestling with a housing recession that jeopardizes U.S. growth, got an earful from critics at a weekend retreat, arguing they should use regulation and interest rates to prevent asset-price bubbles." Apparently, one academic paper presented at Jackson Hole graded the Fed an 'F' for the way it has handled the repercussions from the rise and fall of the housing market.
Truth be told, these folks are a little late to the table as critics of the Fed. We're glad they're joining us, but here's what they still haven't learned: It isn't because the Federal Reserve messes up by allowing credit, asset and stock bubbles to form that it's not a wizard. The Federal Reserve isn't a wizard for one particular reason that it doesn't want anybody to know – and that is that the Fed doesn't lead the financial markets, it follows them.
People everywhere want to believe in the Fed's wizardry. But all this talk about how the Fed will be able to help the U.S. economy and hold up the markets by cutting rates now is as much hooey as the Wizard of Oz promising Dorothy, the Scarecrow, the Tin Man and the Cowardly Lion that he could give them what they wanted: a return to Kansas, a brain, a heart, and courage. Because when the Fed does do something, it always comes after the markets have already made their moves.
If you don't believe it, you should look at one chart from the most recent Elliott Wave Financial Forecast. It compares the movements in the Fed Funds rate with the movements of the 3-month U.S. Treasury Bill Yield. What does it reveal? That the Fed has followed the T-Bill yield up and down every step of the way since 2000. And the interesting question becomes this: Since the T-bill yield has dropped nearly two points since February, how soon will the Fed cut its rate to follow the market's lead this time?
[Editor's note: You can see this chart and read the Special Section it appears in by accessing the free report, The Unwonderful Wizardry of the Fed.]
We've got our own brains, heart and courage here at Elliott Wave International, and we've used them to explain over and over again that putting faith in the Fed to turn around the markets and the economy is blind faith indeed.
"This blind faith in the Fed's power to hold up the economy and stocks epitomizes the following definition of magic offered by Teller of the illusionist and comedy team of Penn and Teller: a 'theatrical linking of a cause with an effect that has no basis in physical reality, but that – in our hearts – ought to be.'" [September 2007, The Elliott Wave Financial Forecast]
Because, you see, what makes the markets move has less to do with what the unwizardly Fed does and more with changes in the mass psychology of all the people investing in those markets. The Elliott Wave Principle describes how bullish and bearish trends in the financial markets reflect changes in social mood, from positive to negative and back again. To extend the metaphor: The Fed can't affect social mood anymore than the Wonderful Wizard of Oz could change the direction of the wind that brought his hot air balloon to the Land of Oz in the first place.
As our EWI analysts write, "With respect to the timing of the Federal Reserve Board rate cuts, we need to reiterate one key point. The market, not the Fed, sets rates." Being able to understand this information puts you one step closer to clicking your ruby red shoes together and whispering those magic words: "There's no place like home." Once you land back in Kansas, your eyes will open, and you will see that an unwarranted faith in the Fed was just a bad dream.
Susan C. Walker writes for Elliott Wave International, a market forecasting and technical analysis company. She has been an associate editor with Inc. magazine, a newspaper writer and editor, an investor relations executive and a speechwriter for the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. Her columns also appear regularly on FoxNews.com.
