​ Someone asked, "What in the world is 'covalent bonding of futures pairs?'" Covalent bonding of futures pairs is said to create the best trading system portfolio structure. After the most stable individual futures parameters have been selected, the optimal portfolio should be created. Atoms share electrons to form molecules of a substance. This same covalent bonding process finds the trading syst...

Someone asked, "What in the world is 'covalent bonding of futures pairs?'" Covalent bonding of futures pairs is said to create the best trading system portfolio structure. After the most stable individual futures parameters have been selected, the optimal portfolio should be created. Atoms share electrons to form molecules of a substance. This same covalent bonding process finds the trading system...

​ Have you ever spent the day making trade after trade and gotten nowhere? You may have wondered why you woke up that morning, or even bothered trading that day. Perhaps there have been a few days where you've felt this way this week. It's been a hard week so far. If you aren't doing very well, it is understandable. Uncertainty abounds. On days when you are feeling unproductive, it's important to ...

​ Some have asked for more information about Point and Figure charts. Here's a message from our friend Braam: P&F as I do it is a whole different method of short term trading than you will find in any book. As I always want to improve myself, I have bought all books on P&F. Most of them were a waste of money. But the best I have ever read is "The Definitive Guide to Point and Figure" by Je...

Recently, I was asked the following question: Do you trade strictly by technical analysis or do you still try to watch the fundamentals as well ? For years I have differentiated between chart and technical analysis. Please allow me the courtesy of calling what I use as primarily 'chart' analysis, secondarily at times, technical analysis and when I think it is appropriate I throw in a bit of fundam...

​ The answer is yes. Such an event happened at the Comex a number of years ago! It was called the "Great Silver Fiasco," which was associated with the Hunt brothers. Silver made 19 consecutive moves to the downside, and destroyed several individual commodity traders, when the Comex Board of Directors changed the exchange rules to allow silver prices to fall and not rise. A "liquidation only" restr...

From time to time we get this very important question: Is trading a sin? Often this question comes from people in ministry who want to become traders in order to fund various church activities. The answer is: No, trading is not a sin, but trading without knowing what you are doing can lead to a lot of problems. Trading in and of itself is not considered to be gambling. The futures markets exist as...

​ Have you ever made a dumb mistake? Perhaps you knew you should have used a protective stop before leaving for two days to take your children on a road trip. You may have thought, "I'll stop off at an Internet café and monitor the trade." But it didn't happen. You got wrapped up taking care of your children or worrying about traffic, and you didn't get around to looking at the market. It fell har...

  There are three foes you must overcome in order to become an adequate trader. The first foe is fear. If a trader runs away out of fear and avoids trading, nothing will happen except that he will never learn. Fear causes your logic to become fuzzy and unclear. Lack of clarity becomes the second foe you have to overcome. Clearness of mind about the trading process removes fears. If you yield ...

​ Reality is subjective. There are different states of reality in the same way that there are different states of mind, or different states of emotion. After a series of setbacks, for example, the world can look bleak. Yet after a series of big wins, in contrast, you can feel euphoric, even omnipotent. So which is the true reality? This is a hard question to answer. Perhaps it is best to consider ...

​ Learning to master the markets can sometimes seem like climbing a tall mountain: You know it can be done, but you don't know how to do it, or whether you could do it if you had to. The task may seem insurmountable, and as you think about it, daunting. Fully mastering the markets takes time; time is needed to gain the vast experience required to trade in a variety of market conditions, and the ad...

Trading is a challenging profession. Many seek out success, but few make it. The markets don't always cooperate with your plans. You can trade all day, and work hard at it, but you can still end up losing money. Thinking of the big picture helps ease the pressure. You can calmly think, "What's there to worry about? It's just one trade among many. It's just one day. There are many more days to trad...

Although I haven't the faintest idea of how to play chess, it certainly seems like a great idea. I imagine you can improve stock and futures trading by learning how to play chess.It might also help to develop an interest in physics. Every trader should learn to develop his problem-solving and pattern recognition abilities. I've been told that nothing does this better than learning how to play ches...

​Although I haven't the faintest idea of how to play chess, it certainly seems like a great idea. I imagine you can improve stock and futures trading by learning how to play chess. It might also help to develop an interest in physics. Every trader should learn to develop his problem-solving and pattern recognition abilities. I've been told that nothing does this better than learning how to play ch...

​ Yesterday, Jack went over to his best friend Tom's house to look at his new Porsche Turbo. Jack has wanted a Porsche since he was a teenager but could never afford one. Four years ago he taught Tom how to trade. Tom's been doing great ever since. Each year he has made greater and greater profits, even during bear markets. Jack can't help but envy Tom's success, yet at the same time, he berates h...

Throughout the day you make everyday decisions that mean little to you. You drive your kids to school and along the way, you make a host of decisions about which route to take, where to turn, or when to stop off for gas. Each decision is made with little thought. Later in the day, you may decide to stop off at the supermarket. You decide what to buy for dinner and how much you will spend. Do you o...

​ After reading the financial page on Wednesday night, Jim thought, "How could anyone invest in the markets and get a sound night's sleep?" After you saw the major indexes drop on Wednesday, you might have thought the same thing. But as a seasoned investor or trader, you realize that such corrections are commonplace and you've learned to take them in stride. You don't worry about it and know that ...

​ Charles is on edge. He isn't extremely uptight but he isn't completely calm either. He is just a little fidgety and it's getting to him. He is having a little trouble concentrating. He's reading charts incorrectly and he is having trouble outlining a trading plan. He can't figure out where to place his stops, where to enter or where to exit. Can you relate to Charles' plight? There are times whe...

​ Every time Dino gets ahead as a trader, he sabotages his efforts. It comes about in many ways. He may feel guilty for getting ahead, and so distraught over his success that he doesn't pay attention to market conditions. This leads to a few bad trades, wiping out a month's worth of profits in a day. Other times he may seemingly forget to stick with his trading plan, which results in a significant...

When trading the markets, it's vital to stay grounded in reality. You can't get caught up in dreams. For instance, it may sound "easy" to people outside the profession to make money by trading Google, but there are a couple of real obstacles to taking home huge profits. First, risk should always be considered when making a trade, and while trying to manage risk, some traders would not want to take...