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Jul
07

Trading is not scientific

I say that because trading is not an exact science. You can't do X and get Y every time. Trading does not fit the definition of science. It is not totally objective. It is as much an art as it is anything else. There is no magic formula. Trading is all about probability. It is the art of correctly applying a set of carefully thought out rules and allocating the probability of that event to result ...

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  3181 Hits
Jul
07

How did Ambush make it through the BREXIT?

FYI: Get 20% off Ambush through July 13th. Simply enter the coupon code ambush20 when you check out. No doubt, the decision if or if not one should trade through the BREXIT-event and on which days was not an easy one for traders. But like most of the time, the answer at least in hindsight for Ambush traders was a clear "Yes". I personally didn't have any positions on going into the BREXIT...

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  2994 Hits
Jul
04

Trade What You See

 It is critical that you trade what you see, not what you think. What you "think" is your opinion, and trading your opinion, or that of anyone else, generally results in more losses than wins. Being flexible, and being able to adapt to what you see in the markets, is the only tradable reality we have.  You have to learn to adapt your trading style to what is happening in the markets in w...

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  2235 Hits
Jul
04

Why so many traders "don’t make it".

Recent figures show that 90% of traders who ever trade lose their account and that 10% actually go bankrupt. Those are scary numbers, I’m sure you’d agree. Traders are not stupid people; most traders have an above average IQ and are above average in most categories such as education and income. I think they don’t make a success out of trading because they lack proper education and mentoring. By ed...

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  2836 Hits
Jun
29

POST BREXIT, ALGOSTRATS:FX LAUNCH AND NEW VIDEOS

And a few days after the surprise from UK (sorry to see you guys leave!) the markets seem to calm down a bit already which is nice. But I expect to see a few more crazy days and regarding the FX markets it’s all one big Risk ON/OFF scheme right now, driving up correlations between the pairs. Now I keep on getting emails asking when the Free Trial for AlgoStrats:FX will start but I won’t rush it as...

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  2698 Hits
Jun
28

Over-Trading

Over-trading fits in under the topic of risk management. We are talking “risk control.” First, I would say that risk management is one of the most important things that you really need to understand. Second, you must begin to under-trade, under-trade, under-trade. Whatever you think your position ought to be, cut it at least in half. My experience with novice traders is that they trade 3 to 5 time...

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  3148 Hits
Jun
23

Trading the BREXIT

Actually I didn't want to jump on the BREXIT bandwagon but since a few of you asked me if I trade the Brexit and if so how, I'll let you know and give you a bit of a warning along the way. There's tons of traders out there on social media, blogs, trading sites and forum talking about how they'll trade the Brexit event, stay up over night and so on. Now I'm not one of them. Actually the Brexit is o...

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  2814 Hits
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Jun
17

On 23 June 2016, the UK will vote on a referendum (i.e., BrExit) to decide

 On 23 June 2016, the UK will vote on a referendum (i.e., BrExit) to decide whether to remain a part of the European Union. This vote is expected to create substantial market volatility in the days leading up to the vote and perhaps even greater volatility should the final vote be for the UK to separate from the EU.  The market consensus suggests that separation would lead to a weaker GB...

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  2035 Hits
Jun
16

Manual Backtesting Pitfalls

If you don’t want to learn how to backtest automatically right now but still want to profit from backtesting, you got to do it manually. That’s how I started too many years ago. I still remember sitting there with printed charts and writing down trade results on a separate sheet of paper. Now there are some pitfalls you better know about when doing manual backtests and that’s what this weeks video...

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  3233 Hits
Jun
15

Ego-less Trading

The majority of traders might think it would be impossible to trade in an "ego-less state", but this is not the case. To trade in an ego-less state means simply to not let the ego and emotions get involved. While trading in an ego-less state, winning or losing on a single trade become almost meaningless when the focus lies only on the whole picture. This is the soul of ego-less trading. Trading wi...

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  3293 Hits
Jun
09

The Best Trader in the World

If you had to describe the best trader in the world, who would that person be? What qualities would he have? Take a moment to envision him. This is important, because this is the person you want to be, so you need to have an exact picture of him and what his qualities are. The answer is that he is someone whose trading is somehow “complete”. Someone who is controlling his trading at al...

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  3017 Hits
Jun
08

Letter from Joe Ross

  Dear Traders, It has been quite a while since I wrote one of these letters to all who are on our list. It is being emailed to you, and will also be posted on my blog. I’ve been trading, but am also involved in erecting affordable housing in Uruguay. I haven’t had a lot of time to write, other than keeping up with the regular free weekly Chart Scan teaching letter. I’ve had...

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  2218 Hits
Jun
08

FOREX VS. FUTURES

What’s better to trade the currency markets? Trading Futures or Forex? This is the question I try to answer in my new video, where I briefly discuss the major differences between trading Futures and Forex from my perspective. At the end though there’s no “right” answer to that question, as it really depends on your needs.

  3295 Hits
Jun
06

AlgoStrats.com is online!

I'm happy to tell you that AlgoStrats.com, my new website focused on Systematic Trading is now online! Initially I wanted to launch the website together with my new product AlgoStrats:FX, but due to the UK's EU referendum on June 23rd I decided to delay the launch into July.Still I wanted to bring the new site online as planned, so go ahead, check it out and send me some feedba...

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  2627 Hits
Jun
02

Controlling Emotions

Winning traders cannot afford to be influenced by their emotions. The nature of trading demands an objective, logical approach. If you experience extreme excitement after a win and extreme disappointment after a loss, you will be living on an emotional roller coaster: up and down, up and down. Many beginning traders have head knowledge of what it means to control their emotions. They can imagine a...

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  3210 Hits
Jun
02

Don't Trade Your P&L, Trade The Market!

I just posted another video on our YouTube channel about another very common trading mistake, and that's trading your P&L instead of the actual market. While there are many variations of this, I guess I covered some of the most common ones that I've done myself again and again when I started trading. Go check it out and let me know if you have any questions or comments!

  2743 Hits
Jun
01

Fear of missing “the big one”

The best way to handle that kind of fear is walk away from the situation. Get up, and walk away from the computer and any news you may be watching. Remove yourself from whatever it is that triggered the fear. Do anything that will take you out of the fear/panic mode. Don’t sit down to trade again, and don’t return to the markets until you have managed to achieve some emotional control over your fe...

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  2782 Hits
May
29

Important Alert

  Dear Investor,   On 23 June 2016, the United Kingdom EU Referendum (“Brexit” vote) will take place, creating potential for heightened market movements, including the real possibility of significant price gaps and periods of exaggerated illiquidity. It is important that you be aware of the potential risk of this upcoming event, so that you can be both prepared and positioned properly as...

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  2245 Hits
May
26

Becoming a Perfect Trader

As traders we have a strong need to want complete control over the outcome of a trade. We want to believe that if we analyze the markets long enough, we'll have perfect knowledge and we can trade to perfection. But such desire leads to wrong assumptions that can do us more harm than good. Assuming we must have control restricts our actions and reactions, and the result can be unnecessary stress. W...

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  3184 Hits
May
23

Walk-Forward Testing

Walk-forward testing is the first real step in testing any system on live data. A trader should be somewhat confident that the system or method can produce results in line with the hypothetical results received from back testing. At this stage of testing, it’s important to watch a trading system or method run over live data for a period of weeks or months until a large, statistically valid u...

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  2960 Hits

Derivative transactions, including futures, are complex and carry a high degree of risk. They are intended for sophisticated investors and are not suitable for everyone. There are numerous other factors related to the markets in general or to the implementation of any specific trading program which cannot be fully accounted for in the preparation of hypothetical performance results, and all of which can adversely affect actual trading results. For more information, see the Risk Disclosure Statement for Futures and Options.