Best Thread Featured Quick reference for real trading profit. Tips that work

[jpwone]

The rule I try to remember each time I have to take a stop.

'Every big loss starts as a small stop.'

 

[BlueChip Trader]

MOTION BEGETS EMOTION BUT DICIPLINE OFFSETS EMOTION.

 

[madasafish]

automate evrything so trading follows rules and emotion is removed.

 

[bansir]

One that Chartman made me aware of:

Be sure to have a target number of points worked out for your exit.

I've always tended to jump out of winning positions too soon,
setting target exit points helps me handle this emotional response.

Regards,
Neil

 

[Uncle]

Overcome GREED and FEAR - the root cause of losses!!

 

[kramer]

Plan the trade;Trade the plan

 

[nobrainer]

Its hard to put into one sentence what's really important so I'll have to bore you with a few more things which I think are the most important for me whilst daytrading....I've been doing so for 4 years btw.
Don't run any losing trades thereby eliminating emotion from your trading.Always try to trade in the direction of the underlying market ie.on up days, buy the dips rather than short risers for eg.
Try to be flat ahead of important data or at the day's end.
Keep it simple, in my case, 1 screen and charts in my head for the stocks I follow.
Trading successfully imo is about judging human emotion ie. make the first move before the average investor/trader does.Be brave intially.
Naturally, other successful traders will disagree with some of my points but as they work for me I'm unlikely to change!!
If pushed , the control of emotion, is likely the most important parameter but that in itself encompasses most of the other points.

 

[china white]

bansir,

completely agree. always have a target in mind. if thez a follow-thru after the target has been reached - bingo, look for a new target. If not - well u get what u expected. If a target fails - exit mercilessly, thez something bigger in play than your particular TA pattern.

 

[JJL3142]

My tip

"You'll never go poor taking a profit"

 

[Zenda]

The Longer the Time frame the wider the stop!

 

[cassiopeia]

"You'll never go poor taking a profit"

Not on any single trade, but within a strategy taking profits too early without good reason is a sure road to ruin.

It is easy to have plenty of profits relative to losses, just take any liquid security and trade at random, define a stop to take a profit, say Price + X and a stop to take a loss say Price - (3 times X). Keep on repeating.

You will gets lots of profitable trades this way, far more than the losing ones, but overall you will lose money. So one must define how the profits relate to the losses. Many profitable strategies have less profitable trades than losing trades but the average magnitude of the profitable trades are far larger than the average losing trade (the opposite of above) a variation on the run profits cut losses theme. This is psychologically more difficult to do than snapping at profits.

 

[Newtron Bomb]

Its better to be out the markets wishing you were in than in the markets wishing you were out

 

[RogerM]

A quote from Linda Bradford-Raschke, a brilliant US Trader :-

" Deciding to stand aside is taking a position"

Whenever I get impatient, I try to remember this one.

 

[PurplePerson]

If you await expiry you relinquish control.

 

[RedE]

Find an Edge. Use your Edge. Stick to your Edge.
Preserve your Capital.

 

[bonsai]

only exist in the present. Not the future or the past.

 

[PurplePerson]

If your system ain't working, change no more than one variable factor at a time. Otherwise you'll never know which was to blame.

 

[PurplePerson]

It's a game of snakes and ladders, in which some of the rungs are weak and some of the snakes are invisible. Allow for that.

 

[PurplePerson]

Don't fight the market; it's miles bigger than you.

Which I guess is much the same as the familiar "The markets can stay irrational longer than you can stay solvent."

There's no shame in backing out. It's what reverse gear is for.


Don't go bust trying to prove you are right.

 

[warm_machine]

If there's any doubt...then there is no doubt

ie. don't make the trade