As short term forex traders, we are exposed to a great deal of price noise since we usually watch time frames that are 15 minutes or less. We are constantly developing our ability to measure when the probability of achieving our potential return is greater than the risk that it presents. What helps us refine this skill and simplify the … Read More
Forex and Pizzerias?
You have all heard the business analogy used a billion times in the trading world. And in case you haven’t, it goes something like this, “If you want to do well at trading, you must treat it like a business.”. Then they go on to cite some business examples and you pretty much get the rest of the idea. So … Read More
Forex: It’s Organic!
Ever hear the statement, “The forex market is very technical.” Or how about this one, “Technical analysis works really well in the forex market because it’s more technical than anything.” Usually statements like these come from promoters of indicators or systems that rely on some combination of special oscillators or other proprietary formulas. For someone who is just starting out … Read More
Why Choose Just One Pair?
A very frequent question I get from traders starting out is, “Which pairs are the best ones to trade?”. Another subtle example of the conditioning people have accepted from equities trading. Modern Portfolio Theory along with just about every personal finance book and blog has pushed the idea of “diversification”. This means don’t bet on just one instrument, spread your … Read More
Losing Trades Are Good For Your Trading Plan?
One of the most overlooked opportunities in the speculative world of trading is the valuable information hidden within trading losses. Less experienced traders usually have a hate/hate relationship with losing trades and don’t want to spend much time thinking about them. We are conditioned to be winners! Losing trades are part of doing business, a necessary expense or as many … Read More
The Social Trading Fantasy
It began with the advances of downloadable trading software and the retail automated trading algorithms back in 2008. Back in those days, web sites popped up that offered programs or “Expert Advisors” that promised to print you money while you slept. What a great idea: You never have to learn anything, just buy the program for $100 – $500, set … Read More
Greed Is Bad. Just Ask My Sanity.
One of the most iconic images people have of Wall Street is the scene from the first Wall Street film where Gordon Gecko delivers his infamous monologue that begins like this, “Greed, for the lack of a better word, is Good”. Since greed and it’s first cousin fear still drive markets, it does serve a purpose in terms of creating … Read More
My Worst Trade
Recently I was going through my trading notes and I happened to come across a trade that I documented a while back. And after looking it over, I realized it can serve as a good lesson to present to newer traders who may not realize that they are also making this costly mistake. Somewhere in our learning curve, we have … Read More