The first thing to keep in mind; not all Forex Trading Systems are equal. In fact, the vast majority of these systems are junk and will end up costing you money in the long run. So you need to proceed with caution and use common sense to get the best system in the market.
Here are some things to keep in mind that will help you find a system that works for you:
Most Forex Day Trading Systems, while very popular, don’t work very well. The logic used by many of the trading systems is flawed and is not reproducible. Be sure to pick a system that that has been tested in the market place and has proved itself trading in real time.
Pick a simple system, it is easier to understand and makes it easier to follow. There is no correlation between complexity and profit producing potential. If you don’t know how it works, you work be able to follow it when you run into a tough market. Also, you should pick a mechanical system, one where your emotions will not get in the way.
Be sure the system uses the same logic on all currencies. Unscrupulous vendors use different parameters when trading different currencies. This is just wrong. They just adjust the curve to match the data, to make a profit. Be wary of hypothetical track records, which are done in hindsight, which makes it easy to create a profit.
Know what the peak drawdown is for the system you are attempting to trade. Every system has losing trades, no matter how good the system is. You need to know what your loss potential is and how much you can absorb in a downturn waiting for the system to turn. If the drawdown is deeper than your capital, you will lose, plain and simple. Some systems will have a drawdown of 50% or more. If you are not comfortable with this size of drawdown, you need to find a different system with different parameters.
Check out the vendor, they should have a good support system and offer a money back guarantee if you find the system is not right for you.
These tips should help you find a Forex Day Trading System that will work for you.
To get more information about trading the stock market, You can go to my websites at www.Trade-The-Stockmarket.com and www.Trading-The-Stockmarket.com. These have a wealth of knowledge about various trading strategies.
Monday, April 30, 2007
Saturday, April 28, 2007
Stocks And Shares Explained- How To Devise A Profitable Trading Plan For Trading Stocks And Shares
Are you a profitable share investor or trader?
Most shares investors and traders would move into shares trading or investing after learning some basic charting, usually moving averages and begin to invest, either making some money or losing some in the initial stages. This is of course, inadequate and a bad way for a someone to start off trading in stocks and shares.
Why?
A person would want to invest in stocks and shares because he has good positive cash flow but he is assets poor. By trading in stocks and shares, he is seeking a way to increase his wealth by balancing his cash position with a realistic amount of assets that will grow in time to further improve his wealth position.
My personal observation is that 95% of shares investors and traders do not have some wealth creation principles inbuilt into their trading plans, if they do have a trading plan at all.
This may appear harsh, but how many of you reading this, have ever built in a system of savings and leverage into your trading plans for stocks and shares, while you trade?
It is well accepted that to build up personal wealth, you need to save money- put aside the money until it grows into a huge cashpile, or you continue to do this while you are trading, increasing your capital each time you do so along the way.
At the same time, it is wise policy to use other people's money as a leverage- to increase the capital base and to be able to invest more, with the profits paying back the interest incurred by leveraging.
Therefore, if you are a share investor or trader, it is important for you to consider improving your overall trading plan with these wealth creation principles.
Here are the steps to a typical trading plan with inbuilt wealth creation principles:
1. Put up a capital of at least $5,000
2. Against this $5,000 get a margin loan of $5000 from your stockbroker or bank, so that you now have leverage to buy $10,000 worth of shares.
3. Buy good fundamental blue chip shares that comprise the stock index. Generally, you can buy the shares within the top 20 of the stock index.
4. Commit a regular monthly saving of minimum $500 to the trading account, with another $500 coming from the margin loan. This is the part of the savings program to boost your capital sum.
5. Use this additional capital to purchase more stocks within the top 20 stocks comprising the stock index.
With these basic wealth creation principles of leverage and savings incorporated into the trading plan, we will now discuss the stock selection process.
In Part #2 of this article, we will discuss how you can trade profitably using a proven technical trading system to continue to build up your portfolio.
Are you a profitable share investor or trader?
Most shares investors and traders would move into shares trading or investing after learning some basic charting, usually moving averages and begin to invest, either making some money or losing some in the initial stages. This is of course, inadequate and a bad way for a someone to start off trading in stocks and shares.
Why?
A person would want to invest in stocks and shares because he has good positive cash flow but he is assets poor. By trading in stocks and shares, he is seeking a way to increase his wealth by balancing his cash position with a realistic amount of assets that will grow in time to further improve his wealth position.
My personal observation is that 95% of shares investors and traders do not have some wealth creation principles inbuilt into their trading plans, if they do have a trading plan at all.
This may appear harsh, but how many of you reading this, have ever built in a system of savings and leverage into your trading plans for stocks and shares, while you trade?
It is well accepted that to build up personal wealth, you need to save money- put aside the money until it grows into a huge cashpile, or you continue to do this while you are trading, increasing your capital each time you do so along the way.
At the same time, it is wise policy to use other people's money as a leverage- to increase the capital base and to be able to invest more, with the profits paying back the interest incurred by leveraging.
Therefore, if you are a share investor or trader, it is important for you to consider improving your overall trading plan with these wealth creation principles.
Here are the steps to a typical trading plan with inbuilt wealth creation principles:
1. Put up a capital of at least $5,000
2. Against this $5,000 get a margin loan of $5000 from your stockbroker or bank, so that you now have leverage to buy $10,000 worth of shares.
3. Buy good fundamental blue chip shares that comprise the stock index. Generally, you can buy the shares within the top 20 of the stock index.
4. Commit a regular monthly saving of minimum $500 to the trading account, with another $500 coming from the margin loan. This is the part of the savings program to boost your capital sum.
5. Use this additional capital to purchase more stocks within the top 20 stocks comprising the stock index.
With these basic wealth creation principles of leverage and savings incorporated into the trading plan, we will now discuss the stock selection process.
In Part #2 of this article, we will discuss how you can trade profitably using a proven technical trading system to continue to build up your portfolio.
Like to know how to use a proven trading system to make winning trades in your trading plan? Be sure to read Part #2 of this article to discover how this proven trading system works ."Click Here For Part #2-Shares And Stocks Explained”
Most shares investors and traders would move into shares trading or investing after learning some basic charting, usually moving averages and begin to invest, either making some money or losing some in the initial stages. This is of course, inadequate and a bad way for a someone to start off trading in stocks and shares.
Why?
A person would want to invest in stocks and shares because he has good positive cash flow but he is assets poor. By trading in stocks and shares, he is seeking a way to increase his wealth by balancing his cash position with a realistic amount of assets that will grow in time to further improve his wealth position.
My personal observation is that 95% of shares investors and traders do not have some wealth creation principles inbuilt into their trading plans, if they do have a trading plan at all.
This may appear harsh, but how many of you reading this, have ever built in a system of savings and leverage into your trading plans for stocks and shares, while you trade?
It is well accepted that to build up personal wealth, you need to save money- put aside the money until it grows into a huge cashpile, or you continue to do this while you are trading, increasing your capital each time you do so along the way.
At the same time, it is wise policy to use other people's money as a leverage- to increase the capital base and to be able to invest more, with the profits paying back the interest incurred by leveraging.
Therefore, if you are a share investor or trader, it is important for you to consider improving your overall trading plan with these wealth creation principles.
Here are the steps to a typical trading plan with inbuilt wealth creation principles:
1. Put up a capital of at least $5,000
2. Against this $5,000 get a margin loan of $5000 from your stockbroker or bank, so that you now have leverage to buy $10,000 worth of shares.
3. Buy good fundamental blue chip shares that comprise the stock index. Generally, you can buy the shares within the top 20 of the stock index.
4. Commit a regular monthly saving of minimum $500 to the trading account, with another $500 coming from the margin loan. This is the part of the savings program to boost your capital sum.
5. Use this additional capital to purchase more stocks within the top 20 stocks comprising the stock index.
With these basic wealth creation principles of leverage and savings incorporated into the trading plan, we will now discuss the stock selection process.
In Part #2 of this article, we will discuss how you can trade profitably using a proven technical trading system to continue to build up your portfolio.
Are you a profitable share investor or trader?
Most shares investors and traders would move into shares trading or investing after learning some basic charting, usually moving averages and begin to invest, either making some money or losing some in the initial stages. This is of course, inadequate and a bad way for a someone to start off trading in stocks and shares.
Why?
A person would want to invest in stocks and shares because he has good positive cash flow but he is assets poor. By trading in stocks and shares, he is seeking a way to increase his wealth by balancing his cash position with a realistic amount of assets that will grow in time to further improve his wealth position.
My personal observation is that 95% of shares investors and traders do not have some wealth creation principles inbuilt into their trading plans, if they do have a trading plan at all.
This may appear harsh, but how many of you reading this, have ever built in a system of savings and leverage into your trading plans for stocks and shares, while you trade?
It is well accepted that to build up personal wealth, you need to save money- put aside the money until it grows into a huge cashpile, or you continue to do this while you are trading, increasing your capital each time you do so along the way.
At the same time, it is wise policy to use other people's money as a leverage- to increase the capital base and to be able to invest more, with the profits paying back the interest incurred by leveraging.
Therefore, if you are a share investor or trader, it is important for you to consider improving your overall trading plan with these wealth creation principles.
Here are the steps to a typical trading plan with inbuilt wealth creation principles:
1. Put up a capital of at least $5,000
2. Against this $5,000 get a margin loan of $5000 from your stockbroker or bank, so that you now have leverage to buy $10,000 worth of shares.
3. Buy good fundamental blue chip shares that comprise the stock index. Generally, you can buy the shares within the top 20 of the stock index.
4. Commit a regular monthly saving of minimum $500 to the trading account, with another $500 coming from the margin loan. This is the part of the savings program to boost your capital sum.
5. Use this additional capital to purchase more stocks within the top 20 stocks comprising the stock index.
With these basic wealth creation principles of leverage and savings incorporated into the trading plan, we will now discuss the stock selection process.
In Part #2 of this article, we will discuss how you can trade profitably using a proven technical trading system to continue to build up your portfolio.
Like to know how to use a proven trading system to make winning trades in your trading plan? Be sure to read Part #2 of this article to discover how this proven trading system works ."Click Here For Part #2-Shares And Stocks Explained”
Monday, April 23, 2007
Stock Picks 101 - Trading on Insider Activity
Everyone knows that insider trading is illegal, but do you think that keeps it from happening? Of course not. Just because you’re not allowed to trade on insider information doesn’t mean you can’t trade on the telltale signatures that insider trading activity leaves. This can be quite profitable if you can detect it in a reliable way.
Some tools are very useful in detecting insider trading. For one, most of the better discount brokers aggregate the news for you. Be sure to use this valuable feature. Having scanning software that filters for price moves on volume is also vital.
You can suspect insider trading is going on when you see a strong price move in the stock picks you’re monitoring on increasing volume with no news about those stocks. This is the key to detecting insider trading. If the price goes up suddenly on good volume with no news, you really need to ask yourself “Why?” One possible explanation is insider trading.
To detect these strong price moves you should have scanning software that filters for price moves on volume. These scans should be run a number of times daily, focusing especially on early in the day. It’s also important to know that there is no significant “important news” to explain the price moves. Deciding what constitutes “important news” requires some experience. Of course, insider trading volume spikes can also happen toward the end of the day as well.
These happen in anticipation of important announcements after the market has closed.
When you see a price spike on volume, another thing you can check for is whether there is expected to be some significant “newsworthy event” about that stock in the next day or two. Examples of such “newsworthy events” include earnings announcements, announcements of research results, announcements from various kinds of industry-related conferences or any kind of imminent news item about the stock or the industry. This is another sure way of detecting that perhaps insider trading is going on.
Once you’ve detected this possible insider trading, the next question is what to do about it. How and when do you enter the trade? Here is where some experience comes in at detecting what insider trade price moves look like. You can develop this experience by studying price charts that show evidence of insider trading. With some good scanning software you can detect these kinds of price movements.
Finding a good entry point is half the battle, but finding the right exit point is actually even more important. You have control over when you enter the trade and which stock you pick, but once in it, you need to find the exit for that particular stock.
Often, insider trading will plateau, and also perhaps you’ll suddenly find that there is a newsworthy event that could explain the insider trading. This is how you find the exit point. So, exiting insider trading trades is a great example of buying the rumor, which in this case is unexplained strong price movement on high volume and “selling on the news.” This is to say, when the news comes out, the party’s over, and it’s time to go find another trade.
So, as you can see from these tips, riding on the coattails of insider trading can be quite profitable with the right preparation.
Doug Newberry founded Investing Systems Network. He is also its Director. Investing Systems is a vibrant company with more than 20,000 customers who hail from more than 70 countries. These customers use the tools and services they get from ISN to become better, more disciplined investors. To learn more about insider trading, go to Stock Picks.
Note By John:
I like Doug's article. You can pick up on insider trading, and it can be quite profitiable. I've used it myself on occasion. But you have to use caution, I've been burned by this before. But if you see a spike, on high volume, you can ride it. This is a good trade for options, small potential cost, large potential return, short time frame. Usually only a couple of days before the news breaks and the option price rises pretty quickly. Keep in mind, that if the price drops on high volume with no news, the insiders are bailing on the stock. Get a short term put. For more information on trading stocks, check out my website at www.Trade-The-Stockmarket.com
Some tools are very useful in detecting insider trading. For one, most of the better discount brokers aggregate the news for you. Be sure to use this valuable feature. Having scanning software that filters for price moves on volume is also vital.
You can suspect insider trading is going on when you see a strong price move in the stock picks you’re monitoring on increasing volume with no news about those stocks. This is the key to detecting insider trading. If the price goes up suddenly on good volume with no news, you really need to ask yourself “Why?” One possible explanation is insider trading.
To detect these strong price moves you should have scanning software that filters for price moves on volume. These scans should be run a number of times daily, focusing especially on early in the day. It’s also important to know that there is no significant “important news” to explain the price moves. Deciding what constitutes “important news” requires some experience. Of course, insider trading volume spikes can also happen toward the end of the day as well.
These happen in anticipation of important announcements after the market has closed.
When you see a price spike on volume, another thing you can check for is whether there is expected to be some significant “newsworthy event” about that stock in the next day or two. Examples of such “newsworthy events” include earnings announcements, announcements of research results, announcements from various kinds of industry-related conferences or any kind of imminent news item about the stock or the industry. This is another sure way of detecting that perhaps insider trading is going on.
Once you’ve detected this possible insider trading, the next question is what to do about it. How and when do you enter the trade? Here is where some experience comes in at detecting what insider trade price moves look like. You can develop this experience by studying price charts that show evidence of insider trading. With some good scanning software you can detect these kinds of price movements.
Finding a good entry point is half the battle, but finding the right exit point is actually even more important. You have control over when you enter the trade and which stock you pick, but once in it, you need to find the exit for that particular stock.
Often, insider trading will plateau, and also perhaps you’ll suddenly find that there is a newsworthy event that could explain the insider trading. This is how you find the exit point. So, exiting insider trading trades is a great example of buying the rumor, which in this case is unexplained strong price movement on high volume and “selling on the news.” This is to say, when the news comes out, the party’s over, and it’s time to go find another trade.
So, as you can see from these tips, riding on the coattails of insider trading can be quite profitable with the right preparation.
Doug Newberry founded Investing Systems Network. He is also its Director. Investing Systems is a vibrant company with more than 20,000 customers who hail from more than 70 countries. These customers use the tools and services they get from ISN to become better, more disciplined investors. To learn more about insider trading, go to Stock Picks.
Note By John:
I like Doug's article. You can pick up on insider trading, and it can be quite profitiable. I've used it myself on occasion. But you have to use caution, I've been burned by this before. But if you see a spike, on high volume, you can ride it. This is a good trade for options, small potential cost, large potential return, short time frame. Usually only a couple of days before the news breaks and the option price rises pretty quickly. Keep in mind, that if the price drops on high volume with no news, the insiders are bailing on the stock. Get a short term put. For more information on trading stocks, check out my website at www.Trade-The-Stockmarket.com
Wednesday, April 11, 2007
The Early Days
In my last post, I started telling you about my early days trading the market. Being as I had so much success trading puts and calls on stocks, I did what any self respecting trader would do. I changed markets. I figured if calls and puts on the stock market weren’t making me any money, I must be trading the wrong market. (I knew it couldn’t be me, it had to be the market.) I went to the CBOT and traded options on futures.
I know what you’re thinking; trading options is risky, and trading futures is even riskier. Therefore, trading options on futures had to be what the amateur stock trading genius needed.
So I proceeded to lose money on gold, soybeans, wheat and pork bellies. (I had to make at least one trade in pork bellies, I only made one, but I had to make it. I was compelled by the trading gods; after all, it’s what you always hear about.)
I tried silver, I tried heating oil. At least I never tried lumber. My broker loved me. I single handedly sent his kids though college. Actually, several brokers loved me, I had several accounts. Just in case trading with a different firm would make a difference. If I had just the broker fees back that I wasted in the first couple of years, I’d have a ton of money.
I heard about a new product, I had to try it. If there was a new charting software, I got it. It there was a training seminar, I attended. I was an info junkie. If I could just get the next missing piece of information, I’d be the next Warren Buffet, but I just wouldn’t have to hold the stocks as long.
I knew the way to fame and glory was quick trades. Get in, get out, and make a quick buck. It wasn’t unusual for me to make 6 or 10 trades in a single day. I was what they called an active trader. You bet. It just meant that I lost more money faster.
Well, long story short. I lost a lot of money. When I did my taxes and told my accountant how much I lost, he laughed at me. He apologized, and then he laughed again. Finally, he controlled his laughter (but not the snickers and giggles) and helped me with my taxes. I had a good write off for about five years. One thing I learned, trading options was a lot easier at tax time. Trading stocks was a killer, especially for a trader with an itchy trading finger.
Some of you seasoned traders may see yourself in me, because you may have done the same thing. I can hear you saying, I’d never tell all this about myself. Well, for a long time I never did. But it is kinda therapeutic to cleanse yourself of the trading demons. So here I am telling you about my abject failure as a trader. Maybe, I can help the newbies to trading avoid some of the pitfalls that snared me. At least I tried.
When I started out, I heard you traded what you knew about. I had worked in the oil patch, so I bought and sold Halliburton (HAL) and Slumberger (SLB). I had a friend that work for Southwest; they had a cool symbol (LUV) so I traded that too. I traded Ford and GM, I traded the drug market (I didn’t know anything about pharmaceuticals, but I traded them). I traded everything. It still didn’t make any difference. I lost money.
Well enough for now. I’ll tell you how I started bringing it all together in the next post.
I know what you’re thinking; trading options is risky, and trading futures is even riskier. Therefore, trading options on futures had to be what the amateur stock trading genius needed.
So I proceeded to lose money on gold, soybeans, wheat and pork bellies. (I had to make at least one trade in pork bellies, I only made one, but I had to make it. I was compelled by the trading gods; after all, it’s what you always hear about.)
I tried silver, I tried heating oil. At least I never tried lumber. My broker loved me. I single handedly sent his kids though college. Actually, several brokers loved me, I had several accounts. Just in case trading with a different firm would make a difference. If I had just the broker fees back that I wasted in the first couple of years, I’d have a ton of money.
I heard about a new product, I had to try it. If there was a new charting software, I got it. It there was a training seminar, I attended. I was an info junkie. If I could just get the next missing piece of information, I’d be the next Warren Buffet, but I just wouldn’t have to hold the stocks as long.
I knew the way to fame and glory was quick trades. Get in, get out, and make a quick buck. It wasn’t unusual for me to make 6 or 10 trades in a single day. I was what they called an active trader. You bet. It just meant that I lost more money faster.
Well, long story short. I lost a lot of money. When I did my taxes and told my accountant how much I lost, he laughed at me. He apologized, and then he laughed again. Finally, he controlled his laughter (but not the snickers and giggles) and helped me with my taxes. I had a good write off for about five years. One thing I learned, trading options was a lot easier at tax time. Trading stocks was a killer, especially for a trader with an itchy trading finger.
Some of you seasoned traders may see yourself in me, because you may have done the same thing. I can hear you saying, I’d never tell all this about myself. Well, for a long time I never did. But it is kinda therapeutic to cleanse yourself of the trading demons. So here I am telling you about my abject failure as a trader. Maybe, I can help the newbies to trading avoid some of the pitfalls that snared me. At least I tried.
When I started out, I heard you traded what you knew about. I had worked in the oil patch, so I bought and sold Halliburton (HAL) and Slumberger (SLB). I had a friend that work for Southwest; they had a cool symbol (LUV) so I traded that too. I traded Ford and GM, I traded the drug market (I didn’t know anything about pharmaceuticals, but I traded them). I traded everything. It still didn’t make any difference. I lost money.
Well enough for now. I’ll tell you how I started bringing it all together in the next post.
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
Go to My Website
I meant to tell you about my website. It is www.Trade-The-Stockmarket.com and it contains lots of information about trading on the stock market. I wish that I would have had a resource like this when I was starting out.
Bear with me on the website, it is new, and I am putting up lots of new information on a regular basis. I am going to put information about trading stocks and options on the website. I will also put up something about the futures market and trading currencies.
Be sure and stop by and take a look. I hope you like it.
Talk with you more later.
John
Bear with me on the website, it is new, and I am putting up lots of new information on a regular basis. I am going to put information about trading stocks and options on the website. I will also put up something about the futures market and trading currencies.
Be sure and stop by and take a look. I hope you like it.
Talk with you more later.
John
Learning to Trade Options
One of the problems facing new traders is paralysis of analysis. There is just so much information coming at you. If you aren’t careful, you can have a severe case of information overload. You keep waiting on the last perfect piece of information that will make everything perfect.
Well, I hate to burst your bubble, but there just isn’t a perfect anything. You always have incomplete data. You always could use more information. You always worry about making a mistake. You just have to step up and try your best.
Sometimes, when the market tanks and you have a long position, you just don’t want to close out your trade, because you have a losing position. I understand, I really do. However, you don’t want to hold onto a losing position too long, because instead of a small loss, you could end up with a total loss.
I remember when I started trading, I didn’t have that much money to invest, only about $20,000. I wanted to make money fast (don’t we all have that dream) so I wanted to trade options. Because you only needed a small investment, you could trade them online, and there was a lot of liquidity in the options market. I bought the books that made me the instant expert. I understood calls and puts (that was a little hard to grasp at first). Forget about straddles and strangles. Anything with a fancy name like that had to be too sophisticated, so I just didn’t bother to learn it. (Remember, I had trouble understanding puts.)
I bought a call that was worth about $350. I knew what I was doing, (remember, I had read the book) so I loaded up and bought 10. My trade went bad, I knew that I needed to get out, I knew that it wasn’t going to get any better, so I did what any rookie would do. I panicked. I didn’t do anything until it was too late. So instead of losing about $100 on a bad trade, I did the next best thing, I lost nearly $2,000.
They say you learn from your mistakes. I tried to. I really did. The next time I had a losing trade that went really bad, I showed them. I panicked again. This time it was only about $1,000 loss. (You see, I really was improving, I cut my losses in half!)
As you can see, I was really racking up a winning record. Sure, I had some wins, $50 here, $30 there. The occasional $300 to $400 winning trade. But my losses keep coming at me, and they seemed to be bigger than my winning trades. I noticed that the transaction fees were eating up a significant part of my profits. (What profits?) I figured if I changed firms to one with a lower fee, I would be making money.
So I changed firms. Now when I lost $100 on a trade, it only caused me to lose $105 instead of $125. See, I was making progress; I had cut my losses by 20%.
Well enough about my early days in the market. I’ll get back with more about my early days in a later blog. Eventually, I’ll be able to tell you more about my successes in a later blog.
Well, I hate to burst your bubble, but there just isn’t a perfect anything. You always have incomplete data. You always could use more information. You always worry about making a mistake. You just have to step up and try your best.
Sometimes, when the market tanks and you have a long position, you just don’t want to close out your trade, because you have a losing position. I understand, I really do. However, you don’t want to hold onto a losing position too long, because instead of a small loss, you could end up with a total loss.
I remember when I started trading, I didn’t have that much money to invest, only about $20,000. I wanted to make money fast (don’t we all have that dream) so I wanted to trade options. Because you only needed a small investment, you could trade them online, and there was a lot of liquidity in the options market. I bought the books that made me the instant expert. I understood calls and puts (that was a little hard to grasp at first). Forget about straddles and strangles. Anything with a fancy name like that had to be too sophisticated, so I just didn’t bother to learn it. (Remember, I had trouble understanding puts.)
I bought a call that was worth about $350. I knew what I was doing, (remember, I had read the book) so I loaded up and bought 10. My trade went bad, I knew that I needed to get out, I knew that it wasn’t going to get any better, so I did what any rookie would do. I panicked. I didn’t do anything until it was too late. So instead of losing about $100 on a bad trade, I did the next best thing, I lost nearly $2,000.
They say you learn from your mistakes. I tried to. I really did. The next time I had a losing trade that went really bad, I showed them. I panicked again. This time it was only about $1,000 loss. (You see, I really was improving, I cut my losses in half!)
As you can see, I was really racking up a winning record. Sure, I had some wins, $50 here, $30 there. The occasional $300 to $400 winning trade. But my losses keep coming at me, and they seemed to be bigger than my winning trades. I noticed that the transaction fees were eating up a significant part of my profits. (What profits?) I figured if I changed firms to one with a lower fee, I would be making money.
So I changed firms. Now when I lost $100 on a trade, it only caused me to lose $105 instead of $125. See, I was making progress; I had cut my losses by 20%.
Well enough about my early days in the market. I’ll get back with more about my early days in a later blog. Eventually, I’ll be able to tell you more about my successes in a later blog.
Thursday, April 5, 2007
Welcome to Trade The Stock Market
Welcome to my blog. My name is John Marston, I've been trading the stock market for the past 15 years. I am able to make a decent living working from my home, but it wasn't always that way.
My first trade, I made about $2,000 on an option trade that lasted less than four hours. I doubled my money in less than one day. And it was the worst thing that could have happened to me. I was hooked. I was invincible, I could do no wrong. And I lost more money than you can imagine. Maybe if I had lost on my first trade, it would have been better, I don't know.
The first couple of years, I lost more money than I made. A lot of money. I tried everything, trading options, trading bonds, trading futures. You name it, I tried it. And I lost money at it. I used candlesticks, moving averages, and every new tip and trick that came down the line.
Eventually, I managed to stop the hemorrhaging, and (hooray) I was only losing a little money. And after about two years I actually started showing a profit. But in the meantime, I had lost a years salary. It was almost five years before I broke even. But eventually, I was able to quit my day job and make a living trading the stock market.
I love the freedom that it gives me, but at times, the stress is a killer.
If you do decide to try and make a living trading online, I wish you the best. Get the very best training that you possibly can, buy the best tools you can find, and keep working at it.
In my future posts, I will share with you the tools that I use to successfully trade the markets.
John
My first trade, I made about $2,000 on an option trade that lasted less than four hours. I doubled my money in less than one day. And it was the worst thing that could have happened to me. I was hooked. I was invincible, I could do no wrong. And I lost more money than you can imagine. Maybe if I had lost on my first trade, it would have been better, I don't know.
The first couple of years, I lost more money than I made. A lot of money. I tried everything, trading options, trading bonds, trading futures. You name it, I tried it. And I lost money at it. I used candlesticks, moving averages, and every new tip and trick that came down the line.
Eventually, I managed to stop the hemorrhaging, and (hooray) I was only losing a little money. And after about two years I actually started showing a profit. But in the meantime, I had lost a years salary. It was almost five years before I broke even. But eventually, I was able to quit my day job and make a living trading the stock market.
I love the freedom that it gives me, but at times, the stress is a killer.
If you do decide to try and make a living trading online, I wish you the best. Get the very best training that you possibly can, buy the best tools you can find, and keep working at it.
In my future posts, I will share with you the tools that I use to successfully trade the markets.
John
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