Tag Archive for: learn to trade

how to create a trading journal thumbnail

Have you ever wondered why you keep making the same trading mistakes over and over again?

As you start your trading journey, one very important habit to cultivate is to have a good trading journal, which is why in this blog post, I’m going to share with you how you can start a trading journal and use it to effectively improve your trading results.

If you would like to learn all the essential elements to kickstart your trading journey, also check out: The Beginner’s Guide to Trading & Technical Analysis

 

How to Create a Trading Journal

 

Trading Journal #1 Plan New Trade

The first thing to record is the planning of your new trade.

You should already have a trading plan before you even start trading, but before you actually execute the trade, it is good to record down the trade in your trading journal.

  • Why are you taking this trade?
  • Why is this a good trade?
  • What is the strategy behind it?
  • What is the reason or the rationale for you wanting to take this trade?
  • What are the pro factors? The negative factors?

Everything should be recorded down, basically your whole thought process of your decision-making of how you come about to decide whether you want to take this trade or you want to pass on this trade.

So all that should be recorded down in your trading journal for future reference.

 

Trading Journal #2 Execute Your Trade

Next is the execution of the trade.

  • What was the reason and analysis of each decision point during the trade?
  • For example, when you’re making the entry, why are you entering at this price?
  • Why not wait a little bit later?
  • Why not enter at a better price or when you are going to exit the trade,
  • Why do you want to take profits?
  • Why not let the trade run further?

All these things should be recorded down in your trading journal.

Basically, why you make every decision along the way.

 

Trading Journal #3 Record Your Trade

Next, you’re going to record the trade itself in your journal, meaning all the trade parameters.

You’re going to record:

  • What type of trading style was it?
    Was it a long-term trade? A medium-term trade, a short-term trade?
    So that will correspond to whether it’s position trading, swing, trading, or day trading.
  • And what was the product that you traded?
    Was it forex, a stock, an option or a derivative?
  • Next, what was the timeframe?
    Was it on a 5-minute chart, a 1-hour chart, a daily chart, a monthly chart?

These are all the standard perimeters that should be recorded down in your trading journal.

Next up, you should also record down your entry price, stoploss price, and target price. These are the bare minimum parameters that you need to have for each trade.

  • The entry price (EP) is the price that you entered the trade.
  • The stoploss price (SL) is the price that you get stopped out.
    So if it’s a losing trade, and you got stopped out, then you record the price which you got out or if you didn’t get stopped out, you also record down the stoploss price, because that is the price that intended for it to be the stoploss.
  • And lastly, the target price (TP) will be the price that you choose to take profit at.
    If you actually stagger your trade, for example, you take half profits at certain price or decide to trail, and shift your stoploss or different variations of position management.

All this is useful information to see whether the position management strategy that you’re using is actually effective, or maybe it might be too complicated and decreasing the optimal returns that you should be getting.

Next, you should also attach a chart of your entry and exit in your trading journal.

Ideally the chart should be labeled with as many things as possible. Other than your entry and exit, you can label where you shift your stoploss or scale in or out of positions.

You can also choose to label your thought process directly on your chart.

So for example, if you choose to make your journal soft chart-based, then you could also record down most of the information directly on your chart, and then you’ll save a screenshot of it.

It might be easier for you to reference. All you have to do is just look through all the different charts, compilations. All the information is already on the chart.

However, it will not allow you to effectively analyze the data.

If you record it on a spreadsheet instead, then it’s easier if you want to do analytics to review the numbers and your profits.

This is a trade-off. Or you can do both if you have the time.

But the bare minimum you should have is to at least have an attached chart so that when you look at the chart, you can remember what this trade was about.

 

Trading Journal #4 Record Your Emotions

Lastly, the most important thing is to record down in your trading journal is your emotions throughout the trade.

Many traders tend to neglect this aspect because they think that they just want to record the hard data, so they don’t really record down how they were feeling or why they made this decision.

But trading is an emotional activity.

It’s largely psychological, but your emotions still do play a big role.

A large part of trading is how well you can effectively manage this emotion.

So the first step to understanding or managing the emotions, is to be able to record it down.

For example, when you were taking this trade,

  • Were you feeling fear?
  • Were you afraid that you might miss out the trade or feeling greedy?
  • Or were you feeling hopeful or hesitant because maybe you were previously been burned in your last trade?

All these emotions are very important because subconsciously, they may affect your decision-making.

 

Trading Journal #5 Review Your Trades

The next segment is how to use these data that you have collected from your trading journal to improve your trading results.

The frequency at which you do your review will depend on your trading style.

If you are doing swing trading, then maybe you can do a review at the end of every week; if you are day trading, then you could do it at the end of every day.

The main point of this review is to look for areas of improvement.

What are some of the things that you should be looking out for?

  • Did you follow your trading plan?
    You should have a trading plan before you even start trading, so you can compare the before and after, (your trading plan versus your trading journal), how closely do they match up?
  • If you deviated from your trading plan, why did it happen?
    Was it because of certain emotions or was it some impulse?
  • So with that, then you need to decide whether it is the plan needs to be improved or whether it is you who needs to improve so that you can be more disciplined to follow the trading plan.

The next level is to go down to each individual trade, for example, for every trade:

  • Why was it a winning trade?
  • Why was it a losing trade?

Just because a trade is a winning trade doesn’t necessarily mean that it was a perfect trade or you did everything correctly because there’s an element of chance.

Even if you broke all your trading rules and you traded horribly, there’s still a chance that you might end up with a winning trade, but that doesn’t necessarily reflect your ability to trade.

And it definitely doesn’t mean that you should replicate this behavior in the future.

It’s important to not just see the trade as winning trade equals good trade and losing trade equals bad trade, but to understand the underlying reasons for why it was a winning trade and why it was a losing trade.

For losing trades, was it due to poor execution or was it due to market conditions?

So similar to the idea put forth earlier, just because a trade was a losing trade doesn’t necessarily mean that it was a bad trade because you can do everything perfectly and executed everything according to plan and it could still turn out to be a losing trade simply because no trading strategy is 100%.

Even if your trading strategy is 70%, there is still a 30% chance that the trade will be a losing trade, even if you did everything correctly.

The key thing is to see how closely you follow your plan, whether you execute everything according to your plan.

As I said earlier, it’s a matter of reviewing everything and seeing whether the plan needs to be improved and changed, or whether it is you who needs to improve your discipline, such that you can be less emotional and be able to execute the plan which you have come up with.

And that is the key to being a good trader.

 

Summary of Trading Journal

So to sum up, I’ve shared with you 2 main segments of the trading journal.

The first was all the things that you need to record in your trading journal. (Parts 1 to 4).

That’s how you can create a good trading journal.

The second part is how you actually use this information to improve your trading results. (Part 5).

So remember that all successful traders, even professionals, they keep a trading journal.

And in fact, this is quite a standard practice for many of the funds and financial institutions, especially for some that I used to work at.

It was common practice that they want all the traders to have a trading journal so that when you are reviewing it with your manager or your bosses, there’s a record and it actually helps them understand your trading style and your trading decisions on a day-to-day basis.

Even if you are trading on your own, it’s actually very important to have this trading journal because you will be able to better understand yourself as well.

Only you will be able to figure out your strengths and your weaknesses.

So having this trading journal gives you a window into your own trading psyche and allow you to fine tune your trading strategies and thus, improve your trading results.

For all new traders out there, do you currently have a trading journal and for seasoned traders, how useful is a trading journal when you were starting your trading journey?

Let me know in the comments below!

how to trade price patterns

This article is going to be a little longer than usual, as I endeavor to make a balanced view about exactly why price action is preferred in the marketplace.

If you’re keen to expand your mind, deepen your knowledge, or simply learn something new about the financial markets, then please read on.

Throughout the centuries, traders around the world have tried to find every method possible to exploit the market for profits. The search for a trading edge has led to countless hours of research, hard work, and dedication. More recently, programming has become the rage as hedge funds, institutions, and large traders seek to find the optimal way to extract profits from the market.

While the internet is rife with methods, formulas, and patterns that claim to bring in profits, through my years of trading, I’ve found that trading plan or strategies fall into these 3 simple categories.

Most Trading Strategies Fall into 3 Categories

 

1. Trend-following

Many beginners make the mistake of asking these 2 questions: “When should I buy? When should I sell?”

Beneath these two questions, are actually several important questions to ask before deciding when to buy and sell. You see, trend-following is the act of buying in an uptrend, and selling in a downtrend. It sounds simple, but several questions come to mind when a trader attempts to follow a trend:

  • Has the trend started? When did it start?
  • When will the trend end?
  • Where should I get in on the trend?
  • Is it a volatile trend, or a gentle trend?
  • Is it a strong trend, or a weak trend?

All of this has to be taken into account as the market unfolds before a trader’s eyes. The confluence of answers to these questions would allow a price action trader to buy or to sell. While it is impossible to predict what would happen, the better a trader can answer the above questions, the better he or she is positioned to make some money.

Why is price action preferred by professional traders?

Price action involves reading clean price charts, and understanding the motivation of buyers and sellers when taking trades. With proper training, a trader can answer all the above questions, and make the most efficient trade during a trending market situation.

Top 3 Reasons Why Price Action is Chosen by Professional Traders

Traders have to process large quantities of information at a go. Making the price chart as clean as possible allows the trader to clearly see what is happening, and simplifies his analysis. For example, in the above chart, buyers are committed during the most recent 10 bars, and a reasonable trade would be to buy on a pullback to the EMA or trendline.

 

2. Mean-reversion

Mean-reversion is simply doing the opposite of a trend-follower. In essence, a mean-reversion trader would be asking the following questions:

  • Has the trend ended?
  • Where might the trend end?
  • Are the traders taking profits, or are they initiating new positions?
  • What price levels are mean-reversion traders looking at?

Based on my experience, beginners should not look to be mean-reversion traders until they are profitable trend-followers. It is much harder than it looks when taking a trade in the opposite direction of the trend.

In my trading foundation workshops, I emphasize time and again that a trade setup must occur in the opposite direction before taking a reversal trade. In fact, instead of going against the trend, I would much prefer that the trend has already changed direction, and then I hop on to that new trend for a lower-risk trade.

Price action traders consider many more options and ask more questions than indicator-based or value-based traders.

The financial marketplace is filled with professional traders seeking to make a quick buck out of unsuspecting, ill-disciplined, or even lazy traders. It is just like in the Olympics; at the highest level of sporting excellence, sportsmen that miscalculate their aim or fail to squeeze out that last ounce of energy could miss finishing in the top 3.

Top 3 Reasons Why Price Action is Chosen by Professional Traders 2

In a bull market, going against the trend is much harder than you think. That is why price action is so important; it helps you decipher when the trend is going to end, and whether it is wise to enter or not.

 

3. Spread-Betting (Betting during volatility)

Spread-betting is used by institutional traders and proprietary funds to make short-term bets during times of volatility. The software and execution technology required is often expensive, and is not suitable for a retail trader. The strategy is complex, because bets are placed on both sides during a volatile event, and it requires strict discipline when trading. I won’t go into great detail on how this is done, but you can read up about it.

 

Why Then, is Price Action Preferred by Professional Traders?

 

1. CLARITY

Price action trading is trading with clean charts. The only information you need is the current price, and these are displayed using candlestick charts. In the charts below, we see that the blank chart is far clearer and easier to read than the complicated one with many indicators.

CLARITY CLARITY 2

 

2. SPEED

When trading intra-day, traders need to quickly make a decision when the price action unfolds before them. While checklists and criteria do help, having a solid price action foundation would allow the trader to make a decision quickly. How would you make a trading decision, if you had to look at 12 screens at once?

SPEED

Image Source: LifeHacker.com

In contrast, I can make my trades on a single laptop computer, or even on my mobile devices. Something like this is more than sufficient:

SPEED 2

Image Source: MyCompas.com

 

3. UNIVERSALITY

Perhaps the biggest reason why price action is preferred, is that price action is universal. You can trade commodities, currencies, stocks, bonds, ETFs, REITs, futures on just about anything, and even options, because every product has a price chart. You can be just as sure that Coffee Futures have the same price action mechanics as Apple stock, and you wouldn’t have a problem transiting between products.

Trading is very much like selecting from a diverse menu in a fancy restaurant; while there are many products to trade, many traders settle on trading a few products and get proficient at them.

UNIVERSALITY

Price action works on just about anything with a price chart and a liquid secondary marketplace.
Image Source: TheActuary.com

 

How Can I Get Started On Price Action Trading?

For a start, I recommend using the old-school way by getting your hands on a few solid price action books. Many of these are available in public libraries, and if you have some spare cash, you can consider buying them on amazon.

Next, is to practice! While reading books and watching others trade is a great way to learn, nothing beats learning to trade by actually making trades yourself.

If you currently use many indicators and are not profitable, perhaps the question to ask yourself is whether you would like to understand what is behind the price chart and the indicators. It is not enough to use a formula, because market conditions change over time.

Here’s to wishing you all the best on your trading journey, and I hope this article has expanded your mind just a little more!

beginners guide to trading

For many who are new to trading or want to get started, it can be overwhelming to start your trading journey, due to the large amount of information out there on this topic.

As such, I have compiled this short guide to cover the key concepts and principles about trading and technical analysis, so that you will have a clear roadmap on how to get started on trading, and how to learn and progress in trading to become a better trader.

 

1. INTRODUCTION TO TRADING

 

1.1 What is Trading?

On a day to day basis, the price of every financial product moves up and down, for example you hear about stock prices moving up, or oil prices crashing, for different currencies appreciating or deprecating against one another.

At its core, trading is simply being able to make a profit from capturing these price moves.

If you buy a stock and it moves up, and you sell it at a higher price, you would have captured that price move and made a profit. Do this multiple times successfully, and you would be able to make a full-time living off it.

Of course, not every trade is going to be profitable, because sometimes you might get it wrong. But after making say 50-100 trades, if you are able to consistently make money, then it means you might have a winning trading system.

If you have ever been to a casino, you will know that over the long run you will lose money because the odds are against you. Although the casino’s edge is very small, over the long run and over a large number of transactions, it adds up to huge profits.

Trading is somewhat similar. If you can find an edge (through your analysis), exploit it over a large number of trades (money management), and can do it consistently without letting your emotions get in the way (mindset), then you will have a chance to become very successful in trading.

 

1.2 Trading vs. Investing

The first problem many people face is not knowing whether to use their money for investing or trading. Since they usually start off with a fixed sum of money, they have to decide on one or the other to start off.

trading-vs-investing

Many people will small sums of money then make the common mistake of “playing it safe”, perhaps after hearing stories of Warren Buffett or about how “risky” trading is, and then decide to just put their money in things like bonds or ETFs, with a low return of 1-5% a year.

The problem with this approach is that unless you have a large amount of money to start with, you will take a whole lifetime just to build a decent-sized portfolio. For example, if you consistently grow your portfolio at a compounded rate of 3% every year with no losses, it would take you 24 years just to double your portfolio. And what happens if you get caught in a market crash?

 

[Video: Should I Start off with Trading or Investing?]

 

So if you are starting with a small sum of money, it definitely makes more sense to focus on trading at the start, which can give you 3-5% monthly cashflow, which you can then use to grow your long-term investment portfolio faster.

As a simple rule, I would suggest for you to focus on trading until you have at least $100,000 capital before you start looking to do investing.

And once you have hit that milestone, you can continue to do both trading and investing, because trading can provide monthly cashflow, while investing can provide long-term passive income, so they both complement each other.

retirement-investment-portfolio

If you are new to trading & investing, you can also check out this full list of common trading & investing terms, and consider bookmarking it so that you can use it for reference if you come across a new term or jargon which you are unfamiliar with.

 

1.3 What Products Should I Trade?

The next major decision you have to make as a trade is to decide what markets and what financial products to trade, since there are many options available.

The major financial markets are stocks, bonds, real estate, foreign exchange (forex), and more recently, cryptocurrencies.

Stocks, or shares, are basically ownership in a business/company, so when you buy a stock, you essentially own a small percentage of the company.

Bonds are loans that are made to businesses (corporate bonds) or to the government (government bonds), on which the lender is obliged to pay back the capital plus interest. As interest rates fluctuate, the prices of the bonds will also change.

Real estate, or property, can refer to the land or building, and it can generate revenue by collecting rent or by appreciating in value over time.

Forex, or currencies, refers to the exchange rate between 2 different currencies. If you think that one currency (eg. EUR) is going to appreciate against another currency (eg. USD), you can buy a contract of EUR/USD, which is essentially the same as selling USD to buy EUR. This is no different from what you do when you go to the money changer before you embark on your vacation overseas, albeit in much larger quantities.

Cryptocurrencies, or crypto for short, is a relatively new asset class which is meant to be a sort of global currency, but adoption is still not widespread, although it is growing steadily. From a market perspective, it is pretty much the same as foreign exchange, meaning you can trade it against normal currencies.

Financial products allow you to invest in the financial markets (those that we mentioned above), so you can directly take a position in those markets.

In addition to taking a direct position, there are also financial products that allow you to take an indirect position in the market. These products are pegged to prices of particular markets, and their prices are derived indirectly from these markets. Hence, they are known as derivatives, and some examples include forward contracts, futures contracts, CFDs, options.

Forwards (or forward contracts) are agreements between a buyer and seller to trade an asset at a future date. The price of the asset is set when the contract is drawn up. Forward contracts have one settlement date—they all settle at the end of the contract.

Futures (or futures contracts) are similar to forward contracts, except that they are traded on an exchange and are settled on a daily basis until the end of the contract. Forward contracts are used primarily by hedgers who want to cut down the volatility of an asset’s price, while futures are preferred by speculators who bet on where the price will move.

CFDs (or contract for difference) are a way to profit from price movements without owning the underlying asset.

Options grant you the right, but not the obligation to buy or sell an underlying asset at a set price on or before a certain date.

While it might seem confusing because there are too many choices, most new traders will start off with the easiest products like forex, stocks, or CFDs.

 

2. UNDERSTANDING THE MARKETS

 

2.1 The Only Two Things that Move Prices 

Despite all you read in the news, there are really only 2 things that move prices – supply & demand.

Supply refers to the sellers (bears) who are looking to sell (which pushes prices down), whereas demand refers to the buyers (bulls) who are looking to buy (which pushes prices up).

The constant battle between the buyers and sellers creates fluctuations in prices, which can be as short as a few seconds, or create trends which can last for years.

who-controls-market-bulls-bears

As a trader, finding the sweet spot where there is an imbalance in the forces (such a a huge build-up of buyers or sellers on either side) can give you an edge in the market, so that you can enter the market just as a big move is about to occur.

 

2.2 Basics of Technical Analysis 

Technical analysis is the studying of charts (price, volume, etc) to understand the current supply and demand, which allows you to predict the future probabilities of whether prices will head up or down, thus giving you an edge to take calculated risks.

what-is-technical-analysis

There are 2 main schools of thought – the classical approach vs. the statistical approach.

The classical approach came about before there were computers, when people manually plotted charts on graph paper, and drew lines (support, resistance, trendlines, channels) to identify behavioral patterns and price chart patterns. Even now, it is still widely popular.

The statistical approach uses data and mathematical formulas (indicators, algorithms) to find mathematical patterns and predict probabilities.

Personally, I find the current best approach is to use a combination of both. Just like in driving, you can rely on the autopilot to help you do calculations and provide useful input, but in certain scenarios it is better to manually take over.

 

2.3 Technical Analysis vs Fundamental Analysis

[Video: Technical Analysis vs. Fundamental Analysis]

For many new traders, one of the most common question I get is regarding the method of analysis to use, and it usually boils down to technical analysis vs fundamental analysis.

Technical Analysis (TA) gives you a fast and simple way to scan through data, find good opportunities, and make a trading decision.

Fundamental Analysis (FA) helps you understand the big picture and why prices are moving in certain ways.

fundamental-analysis-for-forex

Personally, I find that the best approach is to combine them to get the best of both worlds.

technical-analysis-vs-fundamental-analysis

 

3. THE 3 Ms OF TRADING

money-method-mindset-1030x774

 

3.1 Methodology

The 3Ms of Trading are Methodology, Money Management, and Mindset, and they each play a crucial role in your success in trading.

Methodology refers to your method of analysis, your strategy, your setups, basically the basis on which you make your buying and selling decisions.

As we mentioned in the previous section, the most common tools used to make such decisions are technical analysis, fundamental analysis, or some combination of both.

 

3.2 Money Management

Money management, or risk management, refers to how well you use your trading capital, to maximize your returns, while at the same time minimizing your risk.

This includes your capital allocation per trade, such as the 2% money management rule, and also things like risk paramaters for each trade, such as maximum drawdown limits.

This means that for each trade, you will need to decide on the entry price (EP), stoploss price (SL), and target profit (TP) before you make each trade, so that you will be able to calculate the reward-to-risk (RR) ratio to decide whether it is worth taking the trade.

To be profitable in trading, all you need is a good balance between the win ratio (aka. hitrate) and the reward to risk ratio, to ensure that you have a net positive expectation on every trade.

For example, if you have a 40% win ratio, and your reward/risk ratio is 2, you will still end up net profitable in the long run.

mathematics-behind-trading

 

3.3 Mindset 

The mindset, or trading psychology, is definitely the most important aspect of trading, and it is also the hardest to master.

This will determine how well you can make good decisions under stress, and consistently execute your trading plan without getting swayed by emotions.

Thinking accurately requires a certain level of self-awareness, so that we can avoid any behavioral biases that skew our rational thinking and decision-making process.

 

4. HOW TO CREATE A TRADING PLAN

 

4.1 How Much Capital Do I Need to Start Trading?

[Video: How Much Capital Do I Need to Start Trading?]

For new traders looking to start out their journey, what is the minimum amount of capital you will need to start trading?

What is the optimal amount of capital you should use to ensure that you take your trading seriously?

how-much-capital-to-start-trading

The answer to this question is quite simple – you should find an amount which is not so large that you cannot afford to lose, yet is not so small that you do not have any “skin in the game”.

And lastly, does it make sense to start out with demo trading?

 

4.2 Key Ingredients of a Winning Trading Plan

If you have ever tried starting a business, you will know that the first thing you will need is a business plan, which states out from A to Z your business idea, how you will go about executing the plan, and the ways to measure the performance, etc.

The same goes for a trading plan.

Before you start trading, you will need a comprehensive plan that covers:

  • Your general strategy and approach
  • Markets and products to trade
  • Starting capital and allocation strategy
  • Specific rules for entering and exiting a trade
  • Trade parameters (entry price, stoploss, target profit)
  • Risk parameters (risk per trade, open risk, monthly risk)
  • Evaluation metrics (how to measure and improve performance)
  • Trading psychology rules to keep your emotions in check

 

5. GENERAL RULES & MISTAKES TO AVOID

 

5.1 Do Not Rely Too Much on Indicators

One of the most common mistakes for new traders is to rely too much on indicators, and to end up using too many indicators.

Traders need to keep in mind that indicators are just mathematical formulas which help to calculate the probability of which way prices are heading, and they do provide a useful INDICATION, hence the name INDICATOR, but I find them less useful in providing absolute buying/selling rules.

Personally, I prefer to focus on price action analysis and classical analysis, while using indicators as an additional indication to aid in the core analysis.

In addition, while using indicators, it is important to know the formula and calculation of the indicator which you are using, so that you know the raw data inputs which go into the calculation.

This will help you avoid using multiple similar indicators which use the same data input (and thus end up providing false confirmation), and will allow you to know which situations your chosen indicators will work well or will not work well.

For example, lagging indicators are more useful for defining long-term trends, but are hopeless for tracking short-term momentum and reversals.

 

5.2 The Quest for the Holy Grail

Another big danger to new traders is the idea of the holy grail of trading.

The holy grail can appear in many forms – a “sure-win” indicators, a “100% win rate” trading system, a “legendary” guru, or a “unique proprietary” software guaranteed to make you rich overnight.

They all hold the same promise – to make you rich quickly with little effort.

Unfortunately, there is no shortcut to success, no magic bullet that will make you a super trader overnight.

It takes hard work and dedication if you want to enjoy the bountiful financial rewards. For me, it took about 7 years before I managed to make my first million from trading, and it took a lot of hard work.

So, my advice to new traders is to stop jumping from system to system, hoping to find the holy grail (which does not exist).

Instead, start learning as much as you can, then find a good system and work with it until you find success.

 

5.3 Dangerous Myths About Trading

If you listen frequently to the mainstream media, or take advice from friends and family who are not traders themselves, they might give some good-intentioned but ill-informed advice, which could harm your trading results.

Such dangerous myths about trading might seem to be “common knowledge” because they keep getting repeated frequently, but have you stopped to consider whether they are really true?

Here are some common myths:

  • Trading is very risky because you can lose all your capital
  • Forex is more risky than stocks
  • Leverage increases your risk
  • You need a lot of capital to start trading
  • You need to trade very often if you want to make more money
  • You need to monitor prices and charts 24/7
  • Brokers are out to hunt your stoploss

Do these sound familiar?

 

5.4 Essential Trading Rules

To help you avoid the common pitfalls of trading, one of the best ways is to learn from the experience of professional traders, and set up some rules for yourself so that you do not make any blunders in the heat of the moment.

Based on my prior fund trading experience, I have compiled some of the best trading rules of professional traders which you can adapt for your own use.

These rules will help you control your emotions, manage your risk, manage your losing trades as well as your winning trades, avoid blowing up your account, etc.

 

In summary, trading might seem like a complex skill to learn, but if you break it down into its components, it is not a hard skill to master with some dedication and hard work, and the financial rewards are definitely worth it!

Good luck on your journey!

2017 11 19 12.42.15

Last week, we concluded another exciting run of our “Trading Mastery Program”, where we imparted our proprietary “behavioral analysis” trading strategies to empower another batch of traders to create a 2nd source of income from any market (stocks, forex, crypto-currencies) by spending 15 minutes a day.

Day 2 of the “Trading Mastery Program” – excited to train the next batch of Superstar traders! ???

A post shared by Spencer Li ?? Synapse Trading (@iamrecneps) on

 

Training Feedback from Attendees:

“Spencer’s course is very informative, would be a good place to kickstart a trading journey. He is open to sharing his trading experiences and tips. The games are fun and teaches very relevant trading lessons! – Charles Chia

“Happy with the course as it gives a good intro and holistic approach. A unique TA approach to market. Also comes with many tools to help us kickstart the process.”

“The course is well-planned and thought-out. As an experienced trader, I feel it definitely helps me to have an edge over the markets in various ways. Beyond the 2-day course, the level of support that is available make the course highly valuable.” – Shi Min

“A comprehensive and insightful course that is useful for those looking to understand technical analysis better.” – Daniel Tan

Would recommend this course to others. I think, more focus on each type/setup will be good.” – Junnaidy

“Simple (but not easy) top-down analysis. Great resources and support to understand content. Spencer has condensed his market knowledge and experiences for new traders to understand and learn well.” – Minghan, MOE

“I am more confident to trade better with the setups I have learnt. I confident to meet my goals if I take action.” – Joseph Benjamin

“Really enjoyed the training by Spencer. He makes a complicated topic easy to understand and actionable.” – David Lee, Offset Pte Ltd

“Spencer has been a very good coach and is very equipped with skills that he can impart to us!” – Jun Hao

“All is GOOD! Class pace is good… even beginner like me will be able to catch it quick.” – Samantha

“The course provided good training in the setups as well as important fundamental knowledge to be a good trader. Spencer was also very willing to explain concepts and was a great teacher overall. The games and group activities were pretty fun.” – Aw Jian Yang

 

TMP

Register Early to Avoid Disappointment!

We will also be opening a few seats to the public for each session, on a first-come, first-serve basis. for those who are keen, you can reserve your slot via this link: http://wp.me/P1riws-31L

Good luck to all the new “future millionaires”, and see you all at the top! 😀

TMP Q3 2017 banner

Last week, we concluded another exciting run of our “Trading Mastery Program”, where we imparted our proprietary “behavioral analysis” trading strategies to empower another batch of traders to create a 2nd source of income from any market (stocks, forex, crypto-currencies) by spending 15 minutes a day.

 

Training Feedback from Attendees:

“Great course. I have studied about candlesticks and chart patterns before attending the course. However, not able to put them together to make consistent result. This course really stitch together and show me how to combine all the knowledge that I have learnt.” – Kyaw Zaw Than

Excellent and comprehensive course. Very systematic and clarity in the course.”

“Spencer Li is knowledgeable and able to articulate his points across.”

“I am new to this so I am very pleased with the step by step guide as to kickstart trading in the post-program resources.” – Jane

“Glad that I had attended the course. Spencer is a humble & friendly trainer/coach. He is able to explain/simplify the whole material in a very simple manner yet with a lot of meaning to it. Such as the behavior of price action, etc.” – Chi Wee

“Spencer is very knowledgeable and really knows his stuff. The techniques are explained clearly and simple for beginners like myself to understand.” – Eugene

“Spencer’s strategies are simple to understand. He is approachable and very helpful. I am happy with the post-programme support that is available to us.” – Juliana

“A great overview of what trading is about with strategies based on understanding which is delivered. I feel safe to start with trading now.” – Thomas

Strongly recommend this course for anyone that wants to do trading.” – Chua Swee Chin

“Course was comprehensive with clear explanation for each strategy taught. Good amount of case study to discuss for better understanding.” – Ethan

“This is my 1st resit, and will definitely come back for another if the need arises. This is because besides refreshing yourself, you get to learn new stuff and becomes more confident in trading.” – Johnson

“Spencer is extremely detailed and methodical in his explanation. Program is extremely comprehensive.” – Tessa Ong

“Before this I learnt a lot of strategies from books and friends – After this programme I learnt to stick to one and profit.” – Rahim, Freelance Artist

Trading made simple with only a few setup to master and focus on. Not too much information overload.” – Jude

 

Trading Mastery Program

Register Early to Avoid Disappointment!

We will also be opening a few seats to the public for each session, on a first-come, first-serve basis. for those who are keen, you can reserve your slot via this link: http://wp.me/P1riws-31L

Good luck to all the new “future millionaires”, and see you all at the top! 😀