General Comments
What Do You Really Want From the Market?
A look at the true reasons and motivations behind our trading.
Latest
Individual Traders
Know Your Risk
[dc]"F[/dc]irst, know your risk." Every trader has heard this, and for good reason: It truly is one of the most important elements of successful trading. Amateur traders get into a trade thinking about all the money they stand to make, while professionals always define the
Individual Traders
Volatility Compression
[dc]I[/dc] will write more about this in the future, but I want to introduce you to an important concept called volatility compression. From a theoretical perspective, markets tend to operate in one of two modes: in mean reversion mode extremes are quickly reversed. Traders buy dips and sell
General Comments
Anatomy of a Trade: Nested Pullback in ANR
[dc]I[/dc] want to share with today an example of an actual trade I made in September. Two points before we begin: this is, perhaps, a slightly complex example. If you are unfamiliar with the patterns of trading pullbacks, come back to this post in a few weeks when
Individual Traders
The Art and Science: A Deeper Look (2/2)
This is the second post in a two-part series, taking a deeper look at the contents of my new book, The Art and Science of Technical Analysis, to be published early 2012. The first post can be found here. PART IV: THE INDIVIDUAL, SELF-DIRECTED TRADER CHAPTER 12: THE TRADER’S
Individual Traders
The Art and Science: A Deeper Look (1/2)
PART I: THE FOUNDATION OF TECHNICAL TRADING CHAPTER 1: THE TRADER’S EDGE Most losing traders lose because they do not truly understand the nature of the challenge before them. They do not understand the market, how it works, or the task of creating a profitable trading system. Sadly, much
Individual Traders
So You Want To Be a Trader? (reading list 3/3)
This is the third post in a series. Please read part 1 and part 2 first. So if you've gotten this far you see the title of this series maybe should have been So You Really Want to be a Trader? I don't mean to be
General Comments
Proposal for a Training Course
Adam asks what the community would like to see in an Introduction to Technical Analysis training course.
Failure Test
Domestic Stock Index Analysis (10/6/11)
A look at the technical position of the S&P Index 10/6/11. Illustrates use of simple technical patterns and relationships to derive an edge.
Failure Test
Market Pattern: The Failure Test
There is a theory of market behavior that essentially says that markets exist to create trading activity and volume; whether this is precisely true, or whether it completely explains all market activity, is not important. The concept is valid: markets move to levels where orders are clustered. Markets run stops.
Individual Traders
So You Want to be a Trader? (Reading list 2/3)
This post is a continuation from the first post in this series, and the last post can be found here. In that first post, I suggested a set of books to build a good foundation for market knowledge. Most of those topics were foundational, somewhat abstract, and removed from actual
General Comments
My Approach to Markets and Trading
A summary of my core beliefs about markets.