Unconscious Trading Bias?

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Do You Have an Unconscious Trading Bias?  

Have you ever given any thought to how you behave and react when in front of your Trading Platform screen?

Perhaps you are hesitant to commit to trades - to actually be able to pull the trigger at the right time.  Or perhaps you are trigger happy and a bit impetuous, when it comes to taking trades, seeing opportunities everywhere and having multiple trades open at the same time.  How big are your position sizes, how many positions per trade and what % of your trading account do you risk on each trade and what % do you risk in open trades, which are not yet at Break Even or better?

Most traders are either driven by Fear or Greed, which camp do you feel you fall into?  

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Passing a Prop Firm’s Evaluation – Some Suggestions

Following on from my previous Blog Post: ‘Typical Stages of Trader Development’,  the next natural topic would be ‘How do you actually pass a Prop Firm Evaluation?’  Here are some trading tips which might be of some use.

Firstly you have to find a Prop Firm that matches your style of trading.  Are you a Position Trader, a Swing Trader or an Intraday Trader?  

Do you need to have the ability to keep your trades open over weekends and for several weeks or even months?  Some firms will accommodate this and others won’t.  

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Typical Stages of Trader Development

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Typical Stages of Trader Development - For some time now I have been acutely aware of the unrealistic expectations of people who come into trading, thinking that they are going to be able to pick it up quickly and make a rapid fortune!  The reality is vastly different.  Here are my thoughts on what that reality is.  

The typical starting points are:

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London Traders Forum Q4 – 2019 Summary & Take Aways

I thought I would highlight some of the Take Aways from the London Traders Forum which met on Saturday.  The feedback was very positive and all the presentations were well received with great interaction and debate with the attendees, in a packed room, plus a great social afterwards.

Refreshments and light breakfast on arrival available to all. Teas/coffees/snacks etc available throughout the day.

Firstly we had a market roundup and strategic view from Kevin Barry (Traders & Investors Club|), where we learnt where to go to find excellent economic indicators and how to read them and what leading indicators highlight if an economy is going into recession or not and how to act on that in trading terms.  We were given his strategic view of the markets and current correlations and where the money is flowing and the impact of that in Trading terms.

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Why Swing Trading?

I’m often asked ‘What is Swing Trading and why do it, rather than Intra-Day trading?  This post is an attempt at answering that question and also to highlight my view on the Pros and Cons of Swing Trading. Continue reading

The London Traders Forum

The London Traders Forum

The Traders Forum is a ‘Mastermind’ group formed with the aim of raising the bar from the usual so-called Trading Events, free Seminars and low-cost workshops. It is aimed at both active and aspiring traders with some trading knowledge.  Plus it is also designed to be a sociable inter-active occasion for net working with like-minded people and for seeking knowledge from seasoned traders without the usual attempts at a hard up sell at the end.

The next London Traders Forum is on Saturday the 6th of October 2018, a one day seminar/mastermind/forum with Q&A interaction and discussion.  Speakers and topics so far include: Continue reading

Ask Yourself ‘What’s Next?’

You may be thinking, ‘what has this blog post title got to do with trading?’.  Well, if you do some research you will find that the greatest volume of trades in the Forex markets are actually SPECULATIVE.

If so, then perhaps you need to think like a speculator.  Speculators are always on the look out for the next big idea, trend or thing and want to get in early in order to maximise their returns. Continue reading

Do The Prep – Get The Pay Back

One of the key elements to being a successful discretionary swing trader is ‘Preparation’.  I’ve written about this to some extent before and covered the 5 or 6Ps.  The best trades I have had, have all been pre-planned.  Thorough preparation before taking any trade, particularly swing trades, tends to pay off handsomely.  This entails the following: Continue reading

The 4 Cs..

In previous posts on my Blog I have written about the the 4 Ms and the 5 or 6 Ps.  I thought it about time I added the 4 Cs!  The 4 Cs came about through Swing Trading.  When I am looking for Swing Trades I use Multi-Time Frame Analysis (MTFA) in my trade planning. People have asked me in the past why I ‘laboriously’ look at all the different time frame charts when looking for and planning a trade, rather than stick to a single time frame.  Here is why.. Continue reading

How Good Is Your Risk Management?

As the Brexit Referendum looms, it seems an apt moment to write something about Risk and Risk Management.

BrexitThe UK Brexit Referendum is clearly a High Risk news event and probably far to close to call at the moment, whatever your view.  Other High Risk news events include General Elections, the monthly Non-Farm Payroll (normally the first Friday of every month) and also other events such as the minutes from the Federal Open Market Committee and BOE Minutes and Interest Rate Decisons by Central Banks various.

As a trader you need to be aware of such High Risk events and conduct your trading accordingly.  The last thing you need to do is expose your trading account to too much risk in the run up to such often highly volatile events.  Better to scale back or not trade than to essentially toss a coin and become in effect a gambler.

There are many ways you can control your risk when trading: Continue reading