5. Day Trading Lesson 5: Support and Resistance
Produced By:
InformedTrades on 28 Nov 2007
Category: Creating Wealth
Description: http://www.informedtrades.com/
The (more...) fifth lesson in a series on technical analysis for active traders of the forex, futures, and stock markets.
Just as anything where market forces are at play, the price of a financial instrument in the stock, futures or forex markets is ultimately determined by supply and demand. Very simply, if demand is increasing in relation to supply then price will rise, and if demand is decreasing in relation to supply then price will fall.
As we have learned in previous lessons, what you are basically looking at when you see an uptrend on a chart is an extended period of time where demand has continued to increase in relation to supply. Similarly when looking at a downtrend you are seeing an extended period of time where demand has decreased in relation to supply for an extended period of time, causing price to fall. Similarly, in a downtrend, demand is continuously falling in relation to supply which causes the price of an instrument in the stock, futures or forex market to fall.
In this lesson we are going to look at something known as support and resistance which are price levels where the supply demand equation is expected to change, and price is then expected to stop moving in the direction it was moving previously, or reverse direction. (less)
40. Money Management: How To Determine Initial Stop Levels
Produced By:
InformedTrades on 10 Jan 2008
Category: Creating Wealth
Description: http://www.informedtrades.com/
A less (more...) on how traders determine their initial stop levels when trading the stock, futures, and forex markets.
In our last lesson we looked at the difficulty of overcoming a loss in the market to further emphasize the importance of protecting your trading capital as a critical component of any successful trading strategy. In today's lesson we are going to start to look at the first and one of the best ways of protecting one's trading capital, setting your initial stop.
As we learned about in our lesson on the effects of trading losses, 50% or more of the trades made by many successful trading strategies are losers. These trading strategies and traders are successful not because they are highly accurate on a trade by trade basis, but because when they are wrong they cut their losses quickly and when they are right they let their profits run. While the trading strategy that you eventually end up trading for yourself may have a higher success rate than what I mention above, any strategy is going to have loosing trades, so the first key to staying in the game is to have a plan for managing those losses so they do not get out of control and wipe out your chances for success.
With this in mind, what most traders will start with when designing a plan for setting their initial stop loss is the amount they can afford to loose on a per trade basis without having a detrimental affect on their account. While this varies from trader to trader and from strategy to strategy, as Dr. Alexander Elder mentions in his book Trading for a Living, many studies have shown that strategies and traders who risk more than 2% of their overall trading capital on any one trade are rarely successful over the long term. From what I have seen most traders risk way more than this on an individual trade basis, another large contributor to the high failure rate among traders.
Traders who set their per trade risk level at 2% of their trading capital or less, not only put themselves in a situation where a fairly lengthy string of losses will not knock them out of the game, but also put themselves in a situation where any one trade is not going to make or break their account. This is important not only from a money management standpoint but also from a psychological standpoint in that they are not attached to any one trade and are therefore more likely to stick to their strategy.
In order to have a true understanding of what this number should be for a specific strategy you will need to know what the expected accuracy rate is for the strategy, something which will cover in later lessons. For now however it is sufficient to simply understand that you need to have a feel for how much you plan to risk on a per trade basis as a first step in designing a successful money management strategy, and that you should be very wary of any strategy which risks more than 2% of your trading capital on any one trade.
Now that we understand that determining how much to risk per trade is the first step in any successful money management strategy, we can move on to other methods of setting your initial stop which fit within the limit set by the amount a trader is willing to risk on a per trade basis.
As always if you have any questions or comments please leave them in the comments section below so we can all learn to trade together, and good luck with your trading! (less)
Views: 45
Comments: 0
Duration: 03:16
Russ Whitney Ripoff? (1/2)
Produced By:
moneytalks on 24 Oct 2007
Category: Real Estate
Description: It's always a good idea to expand (more...) your
knowledge, especially when it comes to making money. But before you sign up for classes, it pays to make sure you've got the right teacher. Part 1 of 2. (less)
Views: 45
Comments: 0
Duration: 01:39
Market Technical Analysis - Watch The Pattern Formation Here 03/31/2009
Produced By:
inthemoneystocks on 31 Mar 2009
Category: Investing
Description: InTheMoneyStocks.com breaks out the key (more...) technical analysis techniques they have become famous for. They analysis the charts on the market to showcase their technical trend line analysis, price, pattern and time values. By utilizing these methods and not using the common technical tools which almost never work anymore, they are able to call every major and minor market move avoiding Wall Street hype. InTheMoneyStocks.com looks at major support and resistance levels on the charts telling their viewers where the market will rise and fall. They talk about major rules that must be learned. In addition, they talk about a possible M-A pattern developing on the 60 minute chart. Enjoy and come get their premium daily, month, weekly and intra day expert guidance on the markets, gold, oil, us$ and stocks in their premium nightly videos, daily market reports, pro trader watch list, hidden gems and technical tactics. All included in the Research Center for just $49.99/month. Best value and guidance on Wall Street by those that avoid the Wall Street hype! (less)
Views: 44
Comments: 0
Duration: 09:35
Forex Trade of the Week - AUD/USD - September 10, 2008
Produced By:
TradingPost on 16 Sep 2008
Category: Small Business
Description: http://www.tradingpostfinancial.com/edge (more...) Mick Lewis, Trading Coach and EDGE Trading Advisor, looks at the AUD / USD pair for September 10, 2008. In this video, Mick uses a combination of Elliott Wave, Moving Averages and Fibonacci retracements to finalize his trade setup. For more information on Elliott Wave, visit http://www.tradingpostfinancial.com/elliottwave (less)
Views: 44
Comments: 0
Duration: 04:21
How to Write a Grant Proposal that Works - Part 2
Produced By:
Relativity on 20 May 2008
Category: Small Business
Description: In the first part of this article, I (more...) explained how to write the opening sections of your grant application. In part two of the article, I explain how to complete the process.
Now that you have identified the goals of your project, it is time to give details about how you are going to achieve these goals. Basically, you need to answer any questions a funder might have about the project so think about all the basic questions - Who, Where, When, What and Why. (less)
Winning with Index Funds
Produced By:
moneytalks on 03 Dec 2007
Category: Investing
Description: If you play or watch sports, you know (more...) that a good coach can be worth their weight in gold. But if you play the stock market with mutual funds, can you say the same for a fund manager? These investment coaches are certainly highly paid. But in this report, money reporter Stacy Johnson asks if they're worth the money. (less)
Views: 44
Comments: 0
Duration: 01:32
6. Day Trading Lesson 6: Multi Time Frame Analysis
Produced By:
InformedTrades on 29 Nov 2007
Category: Creating Wealth
Description: http://www.informedtrades.com/
The (more...) sixth lesson in a series on technical analysis for active traders of the forex market, futures market, and stock market.
We should now have a good understanding of how to spot trends in the forex market, stock market, and futures market. Now lets tie everything together we have learned thus far with the final concept of this series, Multi Time frame analysis.
No matter what time frame you end up using as a trader or what time frame a particular strategy calls for, it is important always to have a big picture overview of what is happening in the market. Although there are exceptions, in general most traders will tell you that if your trade setup or analysis lines up on multiple time frames, then the odds of being correct are greatly increased. (less)
Views: 44
Comments: 0
Duration: 03:42
How to Make A ReDirect Page
Produced By:
ocollier on 27 Mar 2008
Category: Creating Wealth
Description: http://www.otisteaches.com
This is a (more...) video on how to redirect a link, so that it looks like its not being redirected, its with HTML.
I will show you how create your own HTML redirect script. Next you will learn how to redirect with the free hosting account I introduced you to a few weeks ago. (less)
Pricing Crafts to Make and Sell
Produced By:
goldjemz on 05 Nov 2008
Category: Small Business
Description: http://www.craftmarketer.com/how-to-price-your-crafts.htm (more...) Pricing crafts to sell for profit. Learn how to make and sell crafts while you work from home with this free video series on how to start a craft business (less)
Views: 42
Comments: 0
Duration: 02:04
46. How To Protect Your Trading Profits with Trailing Stops
Produced By:
InformedTrades on 18 Jan 2008
Category: Creating Wealth
Description: http://www.informedtrades.com/
A lesson (more...) on how to traders use trailing stops when trading the stock, futures, and forex markets.
In yesterday's lesson we talked about some of the psychological difficulties people have with letting their profits run and introduced the concept of the trailing stop as one way traders can overcome these difficulties that are the downfall of so many traders.
As we spoke about briefly in yesterday's lesson, once a position has begun to move in a traders favor many successful trader's will manage that position through the use of what is known as a trailing stop. The simplest type of trailing stop is what is known as a fixed trailing stop which simply moves along behind a position as that position begins to move in the traders favor. The beauty of the fixed trailing stop, is that while it will move up behind a long position or down behind a short position as the position moves in the traders favor, if at any time the position begins to move against the trader, the stop does not move, essentially locking in a large portion of the gains the trader has made up to that point.
Let's say for example that you had been following the trend in the EUR/USD chart below which started back in August and were looking for an opportunity to get into a trade. Based on your analysis you decided that if the market broke out above the little resistance point that I have highlighted on the chart below and the ADX was in a good position that you were going to enter long at 1.4360 to try and ride the trend. To manage the trade if it moved in your favor you placed a 100 Point trailing stop on the position at 1.4260. Now in this example if the market moved against you from the start 100 points your stop at 1.4260 would not have moved and you would have been executed on that order when the market touched 1.4260. As you can see from the chart below however, in this example the market did not pull back but went higher. As our stop is a 100 point trailing stop once the market moved up from 1.4360 the stop is going to continue to move up remaining 100 points behind the current price. If the market moves down however the stop does not move. So in this example once the market stoped moving higher at 1.4752 so did our stop and since the market pulled back 100 points from that level we were stopped out in this example at 1.4652.
Chart Example
Most trading platforms will allow you to set a fixed trailing stop on the platform so you do not have to manually manage the order.
As we have touched on briefly in previous lessons, indicators can also be used as trailing stops. One of the more popular indicators which was designed specifically for this purpose is the Parabolic SAR which we covered several lessons ago and you should review if you have not done so already.
As we discussed in our lesson on the Average True Range (ATR), this and other methods for measuring volatility in the market are often used to set hard stops by traders when entering the market so they do not get stopped out by market noise. In addition to using the ATR as a hard stop, this and other volatility based indicators can also be used as a trailing stop, moving your hard stop along behind the position a set number of ATR's for instance as it moves in your favor. As with a hard stop this protects your position from market noise, while allowing you to look in profits should the market begin to move against you.
Many if not all of the other indicators could also be used as trailing stops with the Moving Average probably one of the more popular here as well.
Aside from fixed and indicator based trailing stops another strategy that many traders implement is a fixed percentage of profits trailing stop. Using this method a trader will set his hard stop his profit target, and then once the market hits his profit target will then begin trailing a stop which could be any combination of the methods above. This method gives the trader a greater chance that the trade will hit his profit target but provides less protection should the market reverse and begin to move against him. (less)
Views: 42
Comments: 0
Duration: 08:00
39. How to Join the Minority of Traders Who Are Successful
Produced By:
InformedTrades on 09 Jan 2008
Category: Creating Wealth
Description: http://www.informedtrades.com/
A (more...) lesson on the importance of the preservation of capital as part of a trading strategy for traders of the stock, futures an forex markets.
In our last lesson we looked at what one can reasonably expect to earn from their trading over the long term, and how one can avoid the common misconceptions of most traders which ultimately cause them to fail. In today's lesson we are going to look at the next step in developing a successful money management strategy which is how to manage your losses.
One of the main key's to successful trading is the preservation of capital. Beyond the obvious point here that if you loose your trading capital then you will be out of the game, is the fact that it takes much more to come back from a loss than it does to take the loss you are trying to come back from.
As an example here lets say you start with $10,000 and loose $5000 from a string of bad trades. That $5000 loss represents a 50% loss on your account which now has $5000 left in it. Now ask yourself this question. What percentage gain will you need to make on the $5000 left in your account in order just to be back to breakeven (the $10,000 level) on your account? If you have done the math correctly you will see that in order to make back the 50% loss you took on your account you will need to make a 100% return or basically be twice as successful in your comeback as you were unsuccessful in your drawdown.
It is this concept that is one of the most important to understand in trading, as it underscores the importance of protecting one's trading capital, as it shows the difficulty of coming back from a loss in relation to the ease of taking a loss. It is also most traders lack of understanding of this concept that causes them to take risks which are way to large and is a major contributor to the high failure rate among traders.
That's our lesson for today, in tomorrow's lesson we are going to talk about how to design a plan before entering a trade or managing the position in case it starts to move against you so we hope to see you in that lesson.
As always if you have any questions or comments please feel free to leave them in the comments section below so we can all learn to trade together, and good luck with your trading! (less)
Payday Loans Guaranteed No Fax
Produced By:
bestzonxq on 12 Apr 2009
Category: Personal Finance
Description: http://payday.dconlineweb.com Need a (more...) fast loan? Payday Loans Guaranteed No Fax offers the best way to go, because you can apply online with no credit checks. http://payday.dconlineweb.com (less)
Views: 40
Comments: 0
Duration: 01:03
Taxes: Paying With Plastic
Produced By:
moneytalks on 17 Mar 2008
Category: Taxes
Description: Are you filing your taxes electronically (more...) this year? If you are, and you happen to owe the IRS money... chances are you'll be among the those who'll pay with their credit cards... Money reporter Stacy Johnson has some advice on a less taxing option. (less)
Views: 40
Comments: 0
Duration: 01:38
Automatic Bill Pay: Good Idea?
Produced By:
moneytalks on 28 Jan 2008
Category: Personal Finance
Description: Paying your bills online not only saves (more...) money, but trees, water and all kinds of other resources as well. But making electronic payments...especially automatically...carries some unique problems as well. Should you or shouldn't you? (less)
Views: 40
Comments: 0
Duration: 01:31
48. Why Fixed Position Sizing Is Not the Best Way to Trade
Produced By:
InformedTrades on 23 Jan 2008
Category: Creating Wealth
Description: http://www.informedtrades.com/
A lesson (more...) on how using a standard amount per trade when trading the stock, futures, or forex markets is not the best way to go.
In yesterday's lesson we introduced another important yet often overlooked aspect of trading and money management which is position sizing. In today's lesson we are going to begin to look at some of the strategies that many successful traders use to determine their position sizes.
As we discussed briefly in the last lesson many traders make the mistake of choosing an arbitrary number such as 1 contract or 100 shares of stock to trade when they first enter the market. In addition to the fact that this does not consider the amount of capital a trader has at his disposal, it also does not take into account the fact that the Dollar value as well as the volatility characteristics of one contract or 100 shares of stock is going to very greatly. Like a poker player who bets the same amount on every hand, this also does not allow a trader the flexibility to trade bigger on trades with a higher probability of success and smaller on trades with a lower probability of success.
As you can see from the picture below, a trader trading 100 shares of a $20 stock which fluctuates 5% a day and a second position of 100 shares of a $30 stock which fluctuates 1% a day does not present the risk/reward picture that many traders would expect it would. In this example the smaller position actually has a greater potential risk and reward because of the greater volatility of the first stock in the example.
Chart Example
The next level of sophistication up from the above, is trading a standard trade size such as 1 contract or 100 shares of stock for every fixed amount of money. As Dr. Van K. Tharp points out however in his book Trade Your Way to Financial Freedom, there are several distinct disadvantages to using this method which are:
1. Not all Investments are Alike (100 shares of a $10 stock which moves 5% a day is not going to be the same as trading 100 Shares of a $10 stock that moves 1% a day)
2. It does not allow you to increase your exposure rapidly with small amounts of money
3. You will always take a position even when the risk is too high.
As you can hopefully see from the above information, while the fixed position size per dollar amount is better than simply picking a number of thin air, there are many disadvantages to this method. In tomorrow's lesson we will begin to look at some different ways of overcoming these disadvantages starting with a discussion of the martingale and anti martingale position sizing strategies so we hope to see you in that lesson.
As always if you have any questions or comments please feel free to leave them in the comments section below so we can all learn to trade together, and good luck with your trading. (less)
Views: 40
Comments: 0
Duration: 06:48
Where to Find Property Bargains
Produced By:
moneytalks on 13 Aug 2007
Category: Real Estate
Description: If you've ever dreamed of making money (more...) in real estate, you're in the right place. Because today money reporter Stacy Johnson completes his series on investing in distressed properties. (less)
Views: 40
Comments: 0
Duration: 01:40
Using Kids as Tax Deductions
Produced By:
moneytalks on 25 Feb 2008
Category: Taxes
Description: Raising children isn't easy...or cheap. (more...) But this time of year, those dependents can save you money on your taxes. And now the rules about who qualifies as your dependent have changed to better reflect our society. (less)