Tag: discipline

Is The Market Doing Push-Ups?

Posted on by The INO.com Team

It sure seems that way, doesn't? We are up one day and down the next. I'm not surprised with the market's action, it is what I expected after such a big drop.

It's Thursday and while this is an important day, I think Friday is going to be a more important day. Last Friday we saw the Dow Jones close at 16,643.10, the S&P closed at 1,988.87 and the NASDAQ closed at 4,828.54. As I write this, all three major indices are lower than last Friday's close and are down for the week. However, they are not lower than the recent Friday low close we witnessed just a few weeks ago when the Dow closed at 16,459.75, the S&P 500 at 1970.89 and the NASDAQ at 4717.16. Those closes in my mind are all crucial, if they are broken we could see a continuation to the downside. If they hold, it gives hope to the bulls that this was just a short-term correction and the markets will start going back up. Continue reading "Is The Market Doing Push-Ups?" →

The NASDAQ Hits 5,000, What's Next?

Posted on by The INO.com Team

It's already March, the first two months of the year have flown by! The NASDAQ traded over 5,000 today for the first time in 16 years and is within striking distance of its all time high of 5,048. The move has been largely fueled by Apple Inc.(NASDAQ:AAPL), which now commands an astounding valuation of 750 BILLION Dollars making it the biggest company in the world.

You may remember last Friday, I told you about one of my little rituals. At the end of the month, I look at the monthly charts to see the big trends and percentage changes for the month. I find it helps me see the big picture and the future.

That's what I do with the end of the month, here is what I do at the beginning of the month. I always say to myself "it's going to be a good month." You see, I believe in positive reinforcement and believing you can win in the markets - that is half the game in my mind, the other half is timing.

Last month, I showed you several ways on how to make money and use the Trade Triangles successfully. One way was to use the Trade Triangles to get the company earnings right and earn short-term overnight profits. This strategy has already been successfully used by quite a few members. The other strategy I showed you was the "52-week high on a Friday" rules. I hope that both of these trading strategies will serve you well in the months and years ahead. Continue reading "The NASDAQ Hits 5,000, What's Next?" →

Do You Have Discipline In Your Corner?

Posted on by The INO.com Team

Congratulations go to the New England Patriots for winning this year's Super Bowl. It is perhaps a mixed blessing for investors, as any time a team from the American Football Conference (AFC) wins the Super Bowl, the stock market closes lower for the year. Although, I think investing on the outcome of a football game is not going to get you to where you want to be financially.

Of all the tools available to the trader, none is more important than his or her own mind! Lack of mental discipline has to be a significant cause of losses in the marketplace. Why else would traders with years of experience and reliable systems fail to be consistent winners? Show a 6-year-old child a chart and he will tell you if a market is going up or down by simple observation. Yet, 80% or 90% of all traders end up as losers. The market doesn't beat you, you beat yourself! You are your own worst enemy!

Challenges To Your Mental Discipline

Challenges of a trader's mental discipline exist in many areas of the marketplace and appear in many different forms. Virtually every trader who has spent any amount of time in the commodity business has experienced one or more of the following upsets to his mentality: Continue reading "Do You Have Discipline In Your Corner?" →

3 Ways To Improve Your Trading This Summer

Posted on by The INO.com Team

As traders, we are always looking for a trading edge, but sometimes we can overlook the big picture and miss how we can change some fundamental ways in which we approach and make trades.

For myself, one of the key elements is to be disciplined in one's trading. I must say that it’s easy to say, but, it did take me quite some time to master this skill.

Often you want to justify your position, and you listen to someone else who thinks the same way you're thinking, even though you both could be wrong on the trade. When you follow that line of thinking you are doomed, as you tend to keep pointing to the other person and use them as a crutch for a trade that has gone bad. This can create bigger and bigger losses for your account so, much so that it freezes your brain to the point you can’t see other market opportunities. It also gets to the point where you say to yourself, "I’ve lost so much money I can't get out now." This is not the attitude to have if you want to be successful. The good news is there is an easy cure for that, and you must follow it if you are going to be successful.

The one easy cure for this is using stops in the market.

I used to listen to Ron Popeil pitching the Ronco 4000 Showtime Standard Rotisserie on TV and the keywords he always used to say after you put the chicken is was “Set It And Forget It."

I'm not sure if Ron Popeil ever traded in the markets, but his concept of “Set It And Forget It” can be applied to stops. Simply enter your stops and leave them there until either you are stopped out, or you have taken a profit on the position.

You can still take a profit on a position even if you get stopped out… You simply keep moving your stops up as the market moves higher. Doing so helps you lock in a profit when the market reverses. So use Ron Popeil’s “Set It And Forget It” philosophy for your stops. It could be the difference between eating chicken and having nothing to eat.

The other key thing to trading is to trade Continue reading "3 Ways To Improve Your Trading This Summer" →

Five Ways to Stay Focused In Scary Markets

Posted on by The INO.com Team

If you follow our blog, then you are definitely familiar with trader Larry Levin, President of Trading Advantage LLC. We have gotten such a great response from some of his past posts that he has agreed to share one more of his favorite trading tips as a special treat to our viewers. Determining the direction of the market can be tricky and just plain confusing at times, but Larry’s expert opinion keeps it simple. If you like this article, Larry's also agreed to give you free access to his favorite technique.
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Five Ways to Stay Focused In Scary Markets

In the fallout from the 2008 global financial crisis, there have been moments that have been driven by pure fear. These are the moments when it can be hard to maintain your composure and trade your plan. Unfortunately, these big days are the times when you need that composure the most. Here is a quick lesson in why it is important to keep focused in a scary market and how to achieve that focus.

Market Basics

First let us understand some market basics. Markets exist to facilitate trade. From moment to moment the market offers traders the opportunity to profit from price movement. It's an environment where every trader has the freedom to create his own results, i.e. all the choices and the power to exercise those choices reside with the trader.

'Scary' implies fear, anxiety, or insecurity. Continue reading "Five Ways to Stay Focused In Scary Markets" →