One of the great lies that all traders tell themselves, is that we need to make a lot of money in order to consider ourselves successful. That there's a dollar value on "success." That is absolutely false. The goal isn't to double your account or trade for a living. The goal is to be profitable. At Trading Educators, we hear from many successful traders — traders we ourselves helped in their train...

Hey Joe! Which indicators work for real trading tactics? Have you ever noticed that my entries and exits are based on price levels—actual price bars? I use actual price data to determine most of my entries and exits. There is no better technical indicator than price itself. Think about it for a minute. You are making a mistake if you use indicators for entries and exits because every indicator is ...

Have you ever felt as if the more you know, the less you know, and the more you become confused? Why is this? People have the tendency to believe that the accuracy of their forecasts increases with more information. This is the illusion of knowledge - that more information increases your knowledge about something and improves your decisions. However, this is not always the case - increased levels ...

Hey Joe! Which is more profitable day trading or swing trading? Wow! What a loaded question. Many traders who are just starting out, want to know which type of trading they should focus on. Some traders prefer day trading while other traders prefer swing trading, and quite often traders like to mix it up a bit and trade both styles simultaneously. The most important thing to keep in mind before ma...

Have you ever wondered how to get your ego out of your trading? Have you wanted to be market-centered, but find yourself consistently being self-centered? One thing I know for sure: your self-concept has to be separate from your trading. You began as an individual long before you ever thought of trading. And you exist as an individual beyond the time you spend trading. When personal self-worth get...

How does the ATR indicator work? The ATR indicator stands for Average True Range, it was one of the handful of indicators that were developed by J. Welles Wilder, and featured in his 1978 book, New Concepts in Technical Trading Systems. Although the book was written and published before the computer age, surprisingly it has withstood the test of time and several indicators that were featured in th...

Why is it with futures that we see the Close at one price, and then a half-hour later it has moved to another price? Why isn't the Close the same as "Last," and what is the "Consolidated Price?" "Last" is the last price at which an underlying stock or futures is traded. It could also be the "Close." The Close that you see within minutes or seconds after trading has ceased may not be the final pric...

Yes! Seasonal transitions create workable Spread strategies. I'll let my Andy Jordan, an expert in seasonal fundamentals, answer. Andy! You have the floor: "Change gives birth to risk – but also creates opportunity. Seasonal transitions create workable spread strategies because markets have to struggle to maintain equilibrium between supply and demand as conditions undergo dynamic change through t...

Here are two ways to know when prices are getting ready to break out from a trading range.  When prices are in a trading range, count the number of closes above or below a specific price near the vertical mid-level of the trading range. If 70% of the closes are above the mid-level price, and the market cannot rally and close above reaction highs, a severe correction may be imminent. If a mark...

Many traders are aware that trading psychology is the most crucial piece of the puzzle in learning how to become a profitable trader. However, most traders avoid taking the steps that are necessary to correct or improve their response to market behavior and end up paying a hefty price in the end. There are some specific steps you can take to improve your reaction to market action and strengthen yo...

A reader asks: "Hey Joe! I'm pretty new at this. Can you tell me the rules for buy and sell stops?" When the market trades above a buy stop price order, it becomes a market order. The first down tick after the market order price is activated determines the highest price at which the buy stop order may be filled. The rule to remember placing stops is this, "Buy above and sell below." Buy stops are ...

A reader asks: How do you handle fear? I seem to have plenty of it. Let's get one thing straight. Fear, for the majority of traders, is a very real thing. You have it, I have it. Others have it as well. What is it that traders fear? The top three, in order, are: Fear of missing a trade. Fear of losing money. Fear of being wrong and losing face. In order to become a professional trader, you must le...

"Do you think that what this guy wrote below is true? 'You can get ahead of yourself in this game, and it's dangerous to get cocky. But I've had times where for an hour I could do no wrong. I'm trading and 99 percent of the trades are good, they're all for 30 or 50 contracts, and I'll make 10 grand. Then I'll overextend myself and maybe buy 10 or 15 contracts, fighting the trend just because I kno...

One short time ago I received a couple of emails questioning whether or not I believe in support and resistance. In fact, one subscriber said if I didn't believe in support and resistance, then I couldn't possibly believe in trend! Why? Because in all cases the situation ends. Here's what I believe: The trend is your friend until the end. The swing is the thing until it goes "ding." What is suppor...

How does money supply affect trading in the markets? There are two important components of federal market activity which affect long- term economic activity and stock and commodity values; these are interest rates and money supply. A contracting money supply was one of the factors that caused the Great Depression of the 1930's. In the early 1980's most traders focused almost totally on the money s...

You must be disciplined in following the plan of your trade. Once you have closed your position, you should record everything about the trade. Write down where you wanted to enter the trade, what you expected out of the trade, and what you actually did get out of the trade. Make sure to include notes that will help you learn from the trade, reasoning what actually took place once you entered the t...

Success has many faces: peace of mind, high levels of health and energy, loving relationships, financial security, meaningful goals and aspirations, and the feeling that you are growing into all that you are capable of becoming. Becoming all that you can be is called "self-actualization."It is important to recognize that success is not only financial, but exists on many levels. A person may find s...

​There is an old saying that when day trading positions have had negative open equity most of the day, and an opportunity arises to exit the market at break even with less than 30 minutes of trading rises, go ahead and exit the market.  Unless the market is moving rapidly in your direction with expanding-in-length bars, and no more than 5 minutes left, exit immediately and consider the opport...

​When you get an easy winner do you feel guilty?  Do you ask yourself, "Do I deserve to win?"Do I? The world's most successful traders believe in themselves and their ability to win. In fact, many of them feel that they "own" the market. They are not necessarily being arrogant, but they are sure of themselves and sure that they are able to take profits out of the market. Most important i...

​The gut actually has its own self-contained nervous system, known as the enteric nervous system. It can operate in the complete absence of input from the brain or even the spinal cord. It is vast, with more than one-hundred million nerve cells in the small intestine alone. Add to that the nerve cells of the esophagus, stomach, and large intestine…the result is that the gut contains more nerve cel...