Individual Traders
I've been asked a few variations of the same interesting question recently. Here are a few examples: The one thing I keep struggling with is finding an edge I can use in a disciplined and consistent way. How do you define an edge? To me an edge can’
Individual Traders
I f you read much of my work, you will begin to see that applying technical tools takes work; it takes a lot of time and experience to know how to apply them correctly, even if we are using relatively simple tools with a statistical edge. (Beware: most technical tools
General Comments
This is an obvious issue, but one that is often ignored. The argument of many academics is that you can’t make money trading; your best bet is to put your money in a diversified fund and reap the baseline drift compounded over many years. (For most investors, this is
Individual Traders
The open, in many ways, is the most important price of the day; action off the open can often define the character of the entire session and even have implications for following days. Even if you are a longer-term trader, there are elements of short term price behavior you should
General Comments
There must be a thousand ways to lose money trading, and most of them are bad ways. Many traders, especially newer traders, are paralyzed by fear of loss. Many traders go "on tilt" due the frustration of losses, and throw good money after bad, sometimes wrecking trading accounts
General Comments
This post continues the discussion on finding the Art in technical analysis. Read that first, and also this post, on bringing broad intuition into your experience. For quantitatively-inclined traders (such as myself), discretion can be a problem. First, many system rules are slightly counter-intuitive (which may be why they work)
Chart of the Day
This is an important time in global markets. Equities are at a potentially important inflection, and short term noise may be misleading many players. Currencies have had some fantastic moves, but now there is the danger of snapbacks over the next few weeks. Precious metals, petroleum, grains? There is opportunity,
Individual Traders
A really interesting discussion developed in the comments to this post on pullbacks. Since you're capable of clicking the link and reading the comments, I won't copy the whole discussion here, but just some highlights: Markus asked: Adam, what I don't understand is how
General Comments
[dc]M[/dc]uch of my writing here has focused on quantitative tools and ways to look at data. I have called for higher standards and have questioned many of the established tools of technical analysis. I will continue to do that; we're actually going to dive deeper
Individual Traders
[dc]I[/dc]'ve seen a lot of charts floating around talking about the "big reversal" in grains, and specifically corn. I think there are a few important lessons here, so allow me to share a few thoughts. First, the reversal argument typically looks something like this:
Individual Traders
[dc]M[/dc]any years ago, a friend of mine shared an encounter he had with a successful investing club. This club was not like many of the others—they didn’t pool their money to trade stocks, do fundamental research, or, in fact, do any research of any kind.
General Comments
[dc]I[/dc]n a post last week, I talked a little bit about the kind of commitment and emotional charge that I believe it takes to truly excel in any field. Whether you are doing a martial art, studying music, learning to cook with excellence, or learning to trade,