Podcast
The second part of a two-part miniseries on what to expect when you're learning how to trade. Highlights from this episode include: What do you need to give yourself the best chance of success? * Most importantly: realistic expectations. * Knowledge * Trading isn't about knowledge, but background knowledge
Psychology
One of the age-old questions is "why should any pattern work?" In this case, we're not simply talking about patterns on charts, but we could ask the same question of any fundamental, technical, or quantitative pattern: why should there be a seasonal effect? Why should low
Anti
Just a quick followup to this post, in which I suggested the US Dollar might be set for a fakeout rally (that has happened) that might fail into a sharp selloff (this could be setting up.) Let's look at what has developed since I published that post a
General Comments
Just a short note here as we head into the holiday weekend. I want to share a few updates and tell you about about some exciting new things that are coming very soon. * I will be launching a series of short publications soon--whitepaper and mini-book formats. The idea will be
Individual Traders
So you're a trader, huh? (Or investor... if you think of yourself as an investor, just read "invest" instead of "trade"; this message is for you too!) If you are a trader, what do you do? What is your job? It's too
Podcast
This episode of MarketLife looks at some of the things that stand between beginning traders and success. What can you do to make your chances better? What are the challenges you are likely to face? What mistakes do most people make? Why do so many fail and, more importantly, what
Pullback
Markets move in alternating waves of with-trend strength (or weakness) interspersed with moves against the trend. We call these moves pullbacks or consolidations, and they create some of the most powerful and most useful trading patterns we have. (I've written about them here and here.) Many of the
Individual Traders
If you are an individual self-directed trader, expect setbacks and failures, especially in the first two years. Expect that your triumphs may be promptly followed by dramatic failures, that you will make mistakes in areas you thought you had mastered, and that any positive P&L may be quickly
Podcast
This episode of MarketLife answers a reader question: As trading is considered a zero sum game(if we forget the broker), and obviously we enter a trade to gain, it stands to reason that someone has to lose. Can trading be justified in terms of the above mentioned paragraph? Kind
Market Math
So the stock market sold off hard yesterday. If you were living under a big enough rock you might have missed it, but now the doom and gloomers, the technicians pointing at broken "levels" and trendlines, and the permabears will probably be saturating the media for a few
Individual Traders
I spent an hour a week ago talking with a very experienced stock trader. This guy has made a lot of money, but he's made it while fighting a strongly bearish bias--he's been almost exactly wrong, for a long time. He's been wrong, and
Podcast
This episode of MarketLife switches gears a bit, and looks at creativity. How can we cultivate creativity? How can we find creative possibilities that others might miss? How do we nurture that creative spark and integrate the lessons into modern life? I have some ideas and answers to these questions: