Study the market. Watch the market trends, and take time to review the top performing stocks.

Check out the ones with the biggest percentage gain and find out why. The more you know about the market, the more you will be able to make informed decisions.

Create the rules you will follow, and stick to them.

Set rules for maximum profit percentage gain, maximum loss percentage, and rules for determining whether a stock is worth investing in or not.

Once you make your rules, stick to them. Hasty judgments can cost you your investment

The increase in volumes of penny stocks traded indicate the increasing attention of traders within the specific stock. Cost increase in stock prices is feasible only following a substantial change in volumes. So, this technique will assist you to recognize and know how you can buy and sell penny stocks

You will never be a successful trader, EVER, until you learn how to take a loss
Make sure you have a plan and execute it flawlessly every time. 

3 simple techniques that will having you making good stock trades more often than not.

Create an entry point – Where is a good spot to buy the stock? Based on your strategy, this could be after a breakout, after a pullback, and so on. Once you choose an entry style stick to it and use it every time. 

Create a failure point – This is also know as creating stop losses. Basically determine the eject button before entering the stock. Based on your analysis, this should be the price where the trade is considered a bust when it falls below that price.

Create a price target – It is easy to say a stock will go up, but when do you know when to sell? Are you necessarily tying up your capital in a stock that already saw its boost? By creating a price target before entering a stock, you better utilize your capital as you collect gains and move on to the next stock.

 the hardest part of stock trading should be deciding how to spend all that money you made.

Penny trading is for people who want to make money and have the ability to control the mind and emotions.

If you find  a stock  you like and did your DD  on the pick and then trade the stock.

 If it starts to go down, get out of it. Don’t have the mind set that it may go up. PROTECT YOUR INVESTMENT

Technical traders can utilize a huge number of signals they can pull up on their stock charts and trade from what the indicator tells them to do.

There are always new opportunities tomorrow

Don’t buy when the price is falling

when everybody says buy, you sell. When everybody says sell, you buy.

play carefully and cash out when you can with a reasonable profit

Act short term with a view to build long term.

Come to the party early, and leave well before it ends

A trader uses these historical chart patterns to  anticipate future price movement believing that basic human nature (fear  and greed) repeats itself over and over again and that a stock’s current  price is a reflection of these two emotional forces in action

 Buy the rumor – sell the news!

This represents the mindset  of professional traders as they anticipate events by recognizing key  signals that others don’t and take action and an early position

 You must have a trading plan to succeed. A trading plan should consist of a position, why you enter, stop loss point, profit taking level, plus a sound money management strategy. A good plan will remove all the emotions from your trades

 When you buy a stock, write down the reasons why you buy, and your feelings at that time. You do the same when you sell. Analyze and write down the mistakes you've made, as well as things that you've done right. By referring to your trading journal, you learn from your past mistakes. Improve on your mistakes, keep learning and keep improving.

Buy Strength, Sell Weakness.

Trade With The Trend.

Method to Select the Number of Shares to Trade

 Effective trading strategy: First it will be automatic:.Given a specific situation the trader with know what to do without second guessing himself

A good strategy will be congruent – it won’t create any internal confilict

 Spcecific Risk controls plans

 Sell the news: Penny stocks that have run up in anticipation of a news event do often drop after the news becomes official.

A spike in volume: Volume is heaviest during the run up, as traders buy and sell to take advantage of each small move with large trades. As volume declines, the price will fall slowly, but surely over several days. There may be brief moves up, as traders test for any opportunity.

Newbies rush in: Watch message boards for signs that inexperienced traders have bought because of the price increase, who have no idea of company behind the stock. These novices are usually the last in, and become the bag holders.

Hot penny stocks can become cold very quickly, and investors that are not nimble can be stuck with a stock that is dropping in price and does not have a reason to resume an upward move.

 Knowing when to sell a penny stock is just as important as knowing when to buy

You  have to have self control. You have to have practice constraint, discipline and self calm. You must remain unemotional during all times, especially during loss. When a trade doesn’t go your way, do not try to make the situation right, just look for your next trading opportunity and move on. This is what separates the successful and the unsuccessful traders

One of the top ways day traders lose money is by hanging on to a losing stock hoping their luck will turn around if they just wait a few more minutes. To avoid this, before you enter a trade, simply put dollar value limit on the loss you're willing to take

Setting your entry points and exit points before you make a trade and always having reasonable stop-loss and take-profit orders in place.

Look at the chart, it's important to see where a stock has been and support and resistance levels

 They can go up fast, and they can go down fast. In most cases I am looking for big gains to come in 90 days or less

Do not feel as if you need to be involved in a trade at all times. Sometimes it is best to sit on the sidelines and wait for the next opportunity to buy penny stocks. Penny stock investors who feel the need to trade will force a trade quite often. Some of them might work out but most of them will not and those will most likely cost you quite a bit of money. Do not force a trade when one is not there

Never hesitate, and never chase a stock up. The more you take your time, the more you lose

If the trade moves in your favor, carry it overnight–the odds favor follow-through. Expect to exit the next day around the objective point. An overnight gap presents an excellent opportunity to take profits. Concentrating on only one entry or one exit per day relieves the pressure.

If your entry is correct, the market should move favorably almost immediately. It may come back to test and/or exceed your entry point a little, but that’s OK.

Do not carry a losing position overnight. Exit and play for better position the next day.

A strong close indicates a strong opening the following day.

If the market doesn’t perform as expected, exit on the first reaction.

 If the market offers you a windfall of big profits, take them to the bank on the close.

 If you are long and the market closes flat, indicating a lower opening the following day, scratch or exit the trade. Play for better position the next day.

 It is always OK to scratch a trade!

Use tight stops when swing trading (wider stops when trading trend).

The goal always is to minimize risk and create “Freebies.

When in doubt–get out! You have lost your road map and your game plan!

 When the trade isn’t working, exit on the first reaction.

 When you are winning and making money you feel like you are the smartest person on the planet.

 When you are losing money you feel like you want to crawl in a hole and not come out until you have made it back. Somewhere in the middle is a line you have to stay within.

 A trader is never done learning. There are going to be many ups and downs, but sticking with it and learning is how you succeed at anything in life.

What really makes a trader a trader is their ability to follow their rules and keep at it, even when times get tough. Believing in your trading approach is critical to your success

Simple and easy to follow, right? You will need to be discipline.

 Your plan is what will make you a successful day trader, and no plan can exist without doing the legwork  It’s difficult to create a good workable plan if you let sloth take over.

Learn to recognize the line, so that you can push away from the table before you’re stuffed to misery.

a stock trader means taking the downs with the ups, and being a good trader means executing your heavily researched plan without the emotion of anger. You can’t control the weather, and you can’t control the market. You can only control how you react to the weather and the market, and it makes zero sense to be angry at either.

 You are going to lose money on a stock trade. It happens because the stock market is a lot like a living breathing creature that can take on a life of its own. You can plan, you can conduct research, and still hit a run of bad luck that can decimate your nut. You cannot get mad at the market, at your fellow traders who may be making money.

You cannot know or control everything. Once you accept that secret, and take it to heart, you will open yourself up to a whole world of information. Pride prevents you from learning new things about stock trading, or to listening to information and knowing how to apply it to your trading plan.

 You may lose money, but you will learn what not to do next time, which turns your loss of profit into an educational opportunity. So instead of losing money on the stock trade, you invested in your education. Pride can prevent you from learning, and lack of learning can make your nut disappear. Remember how you learned to ride a bike? You fell down a lot, until you learned to pedal and balance, and steer all at once.

Even as you were learning, you knew you were going to fall, and the wobbly struggle was trying to put it off for as long a possible. But still, you fell, and you kept trying, until know, riding a bike is second nature for most of us. Learning in the stock market is like that, except you need to keep researching and keep gathering information every day so that you wobble your way to profit time and time again. Don’t let pride keep you from making money. But don’t be so humble that you don’t celebrate your accomplishments either. Being a successful day trader and controlling your own financial destiny is something to be proud of.

Winning is the science of being totally prepared.”

 Stage 1 - Accumulation. Stock is quiet, trading sideways and without a lot of volatility. Most everyone ignores the stock because it has no sizzle. Insiders hold large blocks of stock and quietly gear up for the distribution.

Stage 2 - Breakout. Volume jumps up, psychological barriers are broken. Insiders begin to tell their friends of upcoming significant fundamental change. Pros take notice and buy the stock on the coat tails of the well informed. The public ignores it because they have not read about the company in the paper yet. It must be a scam.

Stage 3 - Uptrend. As a larger audience learns of the company and its promise, more buying comes in to the stock and it begins to climb. Pros begin to sell, but slowly. Average investor begins to buy.

Stage 4 - Pullback. The stock has gone up too fast, and some profit taking arrives. The jumpy investor who got the entry timing right but lacks confidence in his or her decision sells the stock with a small profit, and smiles in the mirror. The Pro holds on, Average Investor looks through the newspaper to find justification for ownership of the shares.

Stage 5 - Resumption of the Uptrend. The pull back is short lived, and the stock bounces and continues higher. The wannabe regrets the sell, but provides self counsel on the merit of making a profit, albeit a small one. The Pro might sell a little bit more, but still holds the majority of the original position. The Average Investor is getting excited now, and thinks about what could have been if only he had bought when he first noticed the stock.

Stage 6 - Exhaustion of the Uptrend. The media takes notice, and communicates the company's merits to the masses. The masses buy the stock, and it goes up sharply with strong volume. The Pros sell with enthusiasm. The Average Investor owns it now, and is telling everyone who will listen. The wannabe Pro jumps back on, after all, he was smart enough to buy it when the trend started, so he knows the stock well. Will hope make it go higher?

Stage 7 - Gravity Works. Pro selling begins to weigh on the uptrend, and the stock fails to go higher despite high volumes. The stock starts to go down instead of up, and the Pro is almost sold out. The Average Investor continues to cheer lead, hoping to rally support. The wannabe ignores what the market is telling him, taking a loss is too painful to consider. The company is featured on the cover of a magazine.

Stage 8 - The Second Guess. The stock bounces and starts to go back up. The wannabe Pro averages down while the Average Investor gets back to advising friends of his stock picking acumen. Pros sell their remaining holdings and begin to look for another deal to play, or perhaps start short selling the stock.

Stage 9 - Out of Gas. The bounce is a fake out, and the stock moves lower again. The public own this stock, and they have no more power to buy. The Pro are making money on the short sales now, but are despised by the masses. Calls for short selling to be made illegal are made by the Average Investor, after all, the short sellers are the demons causing the sell off.

Stage 10 - Dead Cat Bounce. The Average Investor and the wannabe Pro have no pain tolerance left, and finally sell for a big loss. The short selling Pros are the only buyers to take the share off their hands, and provide the needed liquidity. The stock bounces, and some short term traders make a quick profit. The Average Investor either swears to never buy a stock again, or tells lively stories over drinks about the one that could have been.

Stage 11 - Post Mortem. Pros have forgot about the stock and are considering carpet samples for their new home in Florida. Average Investor continues to follow the company and buys loads of cheap stock to try and overcome the regrettable loss.

The stock market is mean. You can be a good analyst, but if you can't overcome the psychological traps of trading, you will do what the crowd does. To be successful, you have be one step ahead of the crowd, and trade with unemotional discipline. There are strategies to take advantage of each stage of the market cycle that can be applied just by looking at a stock chart. They just require a bit of knowledge.

When a particular stock is in your mind, before making a move further, take a look at the latest and long-term history of the stock and the company. If the company's history is composed of reverse splits and reverse mergers, its future is quite precarious. Find a company that has a long and successful history. A company with a long time line can be considered to provide you fruitful returns

 Anything under 50 million shares is a sign that the company is on the right track

 Filings. Does the company have a history of reverse splits? Go with your gut on this – if it doesn’t feel right, than stay away.

 stay away from otcbb/pink sheet stocks with headquarters or owners in Canada, Las Vegas, San Diego, New Orleans, Florida, or Mexico. An oil company headquarted in Las Vegas? Yeah, right. These stocks are junk, imho.

 Plan an entry and exit strategy before you trade. Pick your entry and stick with it, don’t let your emotions take over because that is when you make a mistake. Let the stock come to you, if it doesn’t … forget about it. Rushed money is lost money.

Stick with your exit strategy. When the stock gets to your exit strategy, sell. Don’t fool yourself into thinking that “it’s going to a buck”. Because it isn’t. You have to sell to make money

Don’t go against the market. You can’t change the direction of the indicators, so just go with the flow. Otherwise, it is like trying to bail out a sinking ship with a teacup.

Don’t hold a dog. Every 50% loss started as a 5% loss.

Don’t try and make up the previous loss on the next trade.

“Bulls and Bears make money, pigs get slaughtered.” aka. Don’t be too greedy.

I buy a stock just above the support levels. If the stock is not performing, I can dump it into the support. I do not let my losses exceed 10%

I sell a stock after gaining 11%. This allows for 30% gains every week, which really is pretty good. The only time I break this rule is if a stock is moving with a lot of momentum and strength. This being the case, sell when you see momentum slowing. Often, this will come as a “pop”. A pop comes when a stock runs itself into a big bid/ask gap. You have to be on top of the action to see this, but this is a big sell sign. The top comes at the pop.

Buy when things are looking most dismal. Natural gas and oil stocks getting pounded? Are the naysayers forecasting $30 oil? Huge oversupplies of nat. gas? Sounds like a time to buy.

Okay, so I hope this helps a little. I will keep posting my picks for everyone. If you have any questions or concerns, about anything, ask them here! no question is too ridiculous. It is better to know, than trade blind

When we’re trading, if our minds have been conditioned by years of observations and experiences during different phases of market behavior they can reach better conclusions than if they’re less experienced. The sort of gut feel that can sweep across stocks, commodity and FX markets and pick up more than its fair share of good trades doesn’t come quick and it doesn’t come cheap. It takes years of experience with plenty of costly mistakes along the way

In our day-to-day lives, our minds are conditioned and tuned – just as Christy’s was – on the basis of our previous experiences. When we use these accumulated experiences sub-consciously we call it gut feel.

successful traders need to minimize mistakes. It’s the same in war, or in sports contests. Most battles and sports games are not won by moments of genius – these are few and far between. The contestants who make fewest errors win most contests.

The “lucky” trader is one who minimizes mistakes AND, if they do make a mistake, acts to minimize the damage by exiting from the situation quickly. In practice this means having a written plan for each trade

 The better the mind has been conditioned, the better the prospects of gut feel actions having a successful outcome.

When you’re trading, or investing, it’s more important to be accurate than precise. If you have a big idea that’s wrong, you can analyze it to the nth degree, but it’s still not going to make money. Since the first rule of trading and investing is to avoid losing money, you’ve got to be accurate with your big ideas. If your big idea is right, you’ll have to work hard at it not to make money

Successful traders never try to predict the market, they only learn how to manage risk.

the wealthy understand the principles of accumlating and live them

Make no mistake about it. A trader's self concept has to be separate from the trading. Who you are as a person began before you ever thought of trading and who you will be as a person will extend beyond your trading. When personal self-worth entwines with trading, it not only damages self esteem, it sabotages the trading.

You hear about it. You read about it. Don't be misled.traders tell stories. They write stories. They tell how great they are. Big trades. Big numbers. Big egos. Hubris. And sooner or later, big downfalls. It goes with the territory.

Consider the outsized egos of certain traders who brought themselves and those associated with them to ruin. Nicholas Leeson brought down the Barings Bank. Victor Niederhoffer ran his fund into deficit. John Merriweather threatened the health of our banking system by betting more than fifty times his capital that his strategies were certain to work, that he could forecast with impunity the direction of various bond markets. There's a pattern here of seeming or real success for a while and then collapse for themselves and for those caught up in blindly following them.

As Wayne Dyer said, Authentic freedom cannot be experienced until one learns to tame the ego and move out of self-absorption.

In his wonderful book, Pit Bull , Marty Schwartz tells several stories of the times he lost money because his ego got in the way. In the end he has this to say about ego:

I've said it before, and I'm going to say it again, because it cannot be overemphasized: the most important change in my trading career occurred when I learned to DIVORCE MY EGO FROM THE TRADE. Trading is a psychological game. Most people think that they're playing against the market, but the market doesn't care. You're really playing against yourself. You have to stop trying to will things to happen in order to prove that you're right. Listen only to what the market is telling you now. Forget what you thought it was telling you five minutes ago. The sole objective of trading is not to prove you're right, but to hear the cash register ring.

Because trading is an uncertain game of probabilities filled with uncertain vagaries, an overly inflated ego or a fragile ego can easily get smashed. Defending the ego uses up unnecessary energy, distorts perception, and sooner or later, will destroy the trading. If your self esteem rises and falls with your trading results, you and your trading are in trouble. Self concept has to be strong and durable and not at the mercy of the current, last, or next trade.

We need to check our egos at the door when we start to trade. Uncertainty is central to trading. If we add the uncertainty of our own self image into the mix of the unknowable endemic to trading, we're in for certain trouble sooner or later.

Some typical symptoms of egotizing trading would be the following:


· Not putting in stops. The ego doesn't want to be proven wrong.
· Hesitating before putting on a trade. The ego wants reassurance before it begins.
· Overtrading. The ego wants to prove itself big time.
· Getting stuck in a trade. The ego has intertwined itself with a trade and is holding on for dear life. It cannot cut out. The ego doesn't want to be wrong.
· Adding to a losing trade. The ego digs its hole deeper in a massive effort to crawl out.
· Grabbing a profit too soon. The ego wants a pat on the back.

How do we separate our ego from our trading? How do we keep from personalizing a trade? How do we avoid personalizing all of our trading?

One way to separate your ego from your trading is to build healthy boundaries between yourself and your trading. Not only do good fences make good neighbors, good boundaries make good traders.

A boundary sets limits, makes distinctions, informs you as to what is you and what is not you, makes clear the distinction between you and others, tells you where one thing ends and another begins. It distinguishes between past, present, and future. It lets you know that another's ideas, values, and feelings are not necessarily yours. A boundary is flexible and permeable. It lets information flow back and forth. It allows you to listen actively without having to take on someone else's opinions and without having to force your opinions on another person. In trading it draws a distinction between yourself and your trading, between one trade and another, between one trade and all of your trading.

One trader would see the signal to take a trade and before she could put the trade on, she'd hear a voice saying, "What if I'm wrong?" Immediately she'd feel small and diminished. The next step was simply to let the trade go by as she sat there stalled by her vulnerable ego. She needed a boundary between her self-esteem and the outcome of a trade. She needed a boundary between self worth and being wrong. With such a boundary she could give herself permission to not always have to be right.

Another trader had had nineteen winning trades in a row. The tension was building and he was strung tighter than a drum when he came to see me. I congratulated him on his recent success and asked him what would be so awful if the next trade was a loser. He said, "I'd lose my self-esteem, and without self-esteem you're nothing. What an untenable state of affairs! His self concept was riding on the results of the next trade. John needed a boundary between himself and his trading. He needed to know that his ego would be intact regardless of what happened to his trading.

A healthy boundary lets you know the difference between your business and yourself, between your trading and yourself. You are more than your business. You are more than your trading. A boundary also informs you that the results of one trade are not to be confused with the results of all of your trading. Boundaries guide you as to the difference between the past, the present, and the future.

Another way to get some distance between yourself and your trading is to look at it from different perspectives. This is also true in your relationships with other people. In most interactions with another person there are three different and separate perceptual positions.

The self position is looking through your own eyes, hearing what you hear, feeling your own feelings, holding your own beliefs, and making your own interpretations. Most of us live our lives in this position. This is the position that gives you passion. It's where the juice is. From this position we have access to some information, but not all of it.

The observer position is that of a neutral observer, a fair witness. This is a dissociated position. Here you watch yourself and the other person. Here you are in the role of a spectator as you listen to yourself and the other person. As an observer you'll have a third party's commentary. This gives you an impartial view, but if you stay here too long, you could end up playing the role of the cold fish.

The other position gives you the other person's point of view. Here you look at things through the eyes of the other, hold the other's feelings, walk and stand in the other's shoes. This position gives you the ability to identify with and through another person. Here you see the world through another person's eyes and get a sense of what they're feeling. If you live too much in this position, you could be in danger of living in the doormat position.

By going to the observer position, you can gain perspective and neutrality. Some successful traders move to the observer position when they put on a trade. If you're getting too involved in a trade, move to the observer position and look at it from that perspective. At the end of a given trade or at the end of a trading day, take a look at your trading from the fair witness position.

You can also look at your trading through the eyes of another person, for example, a trading buddy, a trading coach, or a trader you admire. What would this person say? What would they think? What, if any, advice would they give you?

Ego involves a separateness from all else. Let me recommend an exercise that will help you experience your oneness with the universe and release egocentricity. Go for a walk, or you can even do it inside. I prefer to do it walking down by the New York harbor. Look carefully at a tree, a plant, a cloud, a wave, or a flower or any other object such as a rock, a sidewalk, or a bench. Notice it's shape and the space it occupies. Become the object and experience yourself as filling that space. Keep doing this with different forms. After a while you'll experience wonderful freedom and energy.

 A stock trading plan is a strict set of rules and actions which formulate your stock trading strategy. A stock trading plan defines when to buy and sell stocks and at what prices. Every trade you make should be governed by your trading plan.

A stock trading plan is very similar to a company Business Plan. A Business Plan is a device for the owner which sets out how the company intends to operate the business. A business plan is also a road map to tell investors and others how you expect to get there. A business plan covers all aspects of the company, from overall strategy and marketing to finances and the company’s goals. In the same fashion, a trading plan lays out how the trader will make trades – the time, price, volume, and news are all essential components of the trade. While your trading plan may not necessarily be for others, it is still your own road map to tell yourself, and reaffirm to yourself, how you expect to get there. Include goals in your business plan: 3 month, 6 month, 1 year, 2 year, 5 year, 10 year, and even 20+ year goals you would like to reach through your trades and investments.

Trading Criteria to Consider

There are many things you need to consider and think about when creating your trading plan. Here are a short few your trading plan should cover. Any additional criteria you can think of should be included.

• When to enter a trade (buy a stock) – timing.
• Price when buying a stock.
• Current news about the stock.
• Liquidity of the stock. Liquidity is the ability to buy and sell stocks at the volume you want, when you want, at the price you would like.
• How long to hold the stock.
• When to sell if the stock price goes up.
• When to sell if the stock price goes down.
• What to do if the price does not move. Hold the stock longer? Sell the stock?

Trading Plan Essentials

There are many essentials you should include in your business plan. These essentials lay the foundation of your plan and will help you reach your goals. Here are some essentials you should include. Again, if you have other essentials please leave a comment so others can build on your information

• Statement of Purpose
  • Why do you want to trade and invest in the stock market?
  • What do you hope to gain from trading?
  • What are your trading goals?
  • How do you plan on becoming a better trader?
  • How are you going to use your trading plan?
  • Clearly define your purpose for trading and investing.
  • State your goals and what you hope to gain and achieve through trading.
• Strategy for Buying
  • How are you going to find stocks to trade? Examples: screener, news, research, technical analysis, fundamental analysis, etc.
  • How will you refine your “buy list” (stocks on your radar you are considering buying)? Examples: valuation, screening further, great news, great earnings, strongest technicals, strongest fundamentals etc.
  • What price are you willing to pay? Sometimes the current price may not be the best price for buying. Will you wait for a better price? Move to the next stock in your list?
  • Does the stock have good volume? Very low volume history means you may not be able to sell the stock at the price or time you want. Keep this in mind. High volume means high liquidity and are generally easier to sell and more actively traded.
  • Using Technical Analysis: make sure you absolutely understand how the technical analysis indicators you use work. Your favorite indicator may not be useful in many situations. You must know when to use technicals and when not to use them.
  • Using Fundamental Analysis: again, make absolutely certain you understand how fundamentals work. This means reading through past earnings reports and the company’s balance sheet, income statement, and cash flow statement. Sometimes a stock will have great fundamentals but will not move in the direction you expect due to other factors, such as news, or future outlook.
• Strategy for Selling
  • Set a desired minimum goal for each trade. You may be happy making $50 per trade. Or $500 per trade. Set a price goal you are happy with making from selling the stock. Don’t be angry if the price goes up after you sell. You can’t see the future and mentally it can be unhealthy for you to second-guess yourself. Set a minimum desired goal and stick to it.
  • Use Stop-Loss Orders to reduce risk by automatically selling at a pre-determined lowest price. Read more about stop loss orders: Using Stop Loss Orders to riduce
  • After you buy the stock, what is the lowest price you are willing to sell at?
  • How much are you willing to lose if this trade goes bad?
  • Most traders are willing to risk or lose 1% – 2% of their entire portfolio value per trade. Example: Your entire portfolio value is $10,000. On this trade you use $1,000 to buy. At 2% risk, you are willing to lose $200 of your $1,000. The stock price can fall 20% before this 2% loss dictates selling.
  • Will you sell the stock immediately, before your stop-loss price is met, if other factors arise? Such factors may include poor earnings, weak or declining market, market corrections, poor news, lost contracts, etc.
  • When will you sell the stock if the price rises and continues to rise?
  • Some traders set a specific goal, perhaps 10% gain or 25% gain, and then they will automatically sell.
  • Some traders continually raise their stop-loss prices as the stock price climbs. This is called trailing stops or raising stops and can be a very useful tool for locking in gains and reducing risk. I use trailing stops.
• Strategy for Holding
  • What will you do if the stock price does not move at all after you buy? Sell it and move on, or hold it and wait for action?
  • Some traders will hold on to the stock until more activity and volume pick up. They are comfortable waiting it out. This action may require more capital in your trading account, as you may have to hold on to more than one non-moving stock.
  • Some traders will sell a stock that does not move after a very short time period – perhaps minutes, hours, or a couple days. These traders like to move their money to move active or lucrative stocks on their list. They may not feel comfortable holding this stock for a length of days, weeks, or months.
• Money and Risk Management
  • How will you keep your risks to a minimum?
  • How will your keep your total account value at a maximum and grow it?
  • Research money management techniques – there are many. This can include how much money or what percent of your entire portfolio value to use in each trade.
  • Research trading risk management techniques – again there are many. This can include how much money or the percent of your entire portfolio you are willing to lose, and may lose, in each trade.
  • Keep extra cash available in your account. You will see many opportunities but you must be prepared to take advantage of them. If you have little or no available cash, you will not be able to execute this trade. You may want to have 10% – 20% of your entire account value available.
  • Margin: margin can be a very useful tool for many traders, but can be scary and risky if not used properly. You can get a margin call from your stock broker at any time, which means they want to collect their money now. Margin gives you extra buying power. Margin also gives you additional risk. Use margin cautiously and wisely. Some traders do not use margin at all.

Inspiration For Your Stock Trading Plan

Luck is When Preparation Meets

This is one of my favorite quotes which is very inspirational to me, not only in my trading and investing, but also in my everyday life. This is also one of Oprah’s favorite quotes. Look how successful she has been!

For a trader, the preparation means making your plan, developing your strategies, testing your techniques, and continually refining it all. The opportunities are there for us to take advantage of. We will only find success when our preparation intersects with our opportunities.

Your Trading Plan Means Success

A well thought out and detailed Stock Trading Plan is the solid foundation for building your wealth, keeping your wealth, and successfully growing it. You must be dedicated to your plan. Following your plan part-time will give you part-time success. Don’t second guess your plan, but make changes as necessary. A trading plan is one key that can unlock your trading potential and help you make more money while losing less money. Every Trading Winner must have a Stock Trading Plan.

 Trading

Positive expectancy strategy

The discipline to follow it doing what the strategy says when it says

Entering trade without hesitation

Exiting at the right time without hesitation

Whether for profit or loss

WHAT IS THAT DIFFICULT

People are always in one of two states

Being controlled by their emotions

In control of emotions

When trading we must be in control

We have to override our inner monologue

Fear and Greed

Fear says

If I enter this trade , it might lose money

May be I will wait a bit to see if it looks like a winner

If I am managing this trade , I might miss a better one

Greed

I should exit here but if I hang on I could make more

I should take this small loss, but if I wait , it could turn round and become a profit

This trade nearly meets the entry criteria I will take it because I don’t want to miss out on making all those potential dollars

We must control our emotions while  trading otherwise we are trading our emotions, not our strategy

Like everything else, this fake practice

Experience is the best teacher

 Conquering Fear

Fear can be overcome by having confidence in your strategy

This comes from paper trading , then trading Small Size and building up

Conquering Greed

Often More difficult

Can be overcome by placing artificial limits on trading: Maximum trade per day

Used by all top sports men and women  mediation and Visualisation

Calm the mind and entrains discipline

Visualisation and mental rehasal prepares the mind to take control of emotions

Ideal just before trading

Must be regular for maximum effect

Here is a list of some Great Traders...

Michael Marcus- $ 30,000 into 80 million

Tom baldwin-$25,000 into over 2 billion

Paul Tudor Jones -Triple digits 5 years in a row

Ed Saykota -$ 250,000 into $200 million

Richard Dennis-$ 2,000 into $ 200,000

Nicholas darvis -$10,000 into $ 2 million 18 months

Jesse livermore- $ 500 into $ 100,000,000

Michael lauer - 50 fold return over 7 years

Steve Cohen- manages billions and averages 90% yearly

Steve Lescarbear- 70% yearly

Mark Minivini -220% past 5 years

Dan Zanger World record holder now- $ 10,000 into 40 million 23 months

William O`neil- I.B.D. Investors Business daily - millions

Gary Smith started with $2,200 and turned it into an annual profits of $ 190,000

Gil Morales in 1999 had a one year return of 971 % then by 2004 in a bear market had returns of 2000 %, now he is chief portfolia manager for sierra capitol

Never express your negative emotions, in particular.... rather, communicate them

Rule your emotions, or your emotions will rule you.

The best trades are those entered and executed with a calm emotion and a quiet confidence.

Never enter a trade amid intense emotions, either negative or positive.... fear, worry, pride, or excitement, exuberant happiness.

pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall. two of the great pitfalls to great traders

TRADERS BUSINESS PLAN

01.  WHY  TRADING

02.  WHAT DO YOU HOPE TO GAIN

03.  WHAT SEPARATES YOU

04.  YOUR WEAKNESSES PLAN TO ADDRESS THOSE AREAS

05.  TIME TO DEVOTE TO TRADING

06.  YOUR STYLE OF TRADING

07.  MARKET YOU WILL TRADE

08.  TIME MANAGEMENT PLAN

09.  ENTRY CRITERIA AND EXIT CRITERIA

10.  MONEY MANAGEMENT CRITERIA

11.  STRATEGY MONITORING PLAN

12.  STRATEGY ADJUSTMENT PLAN

13.  TRADING SOFTWARE/BUDGET

14.  WHAT BROKER DO YOU USE

15.  WILL YOU ADD MONEY

16.  WILL YOU REINVEST PROFITS

17.  CAN YOU SUPPORT YOUR SELF

18.  STARTING BALANCE

DESIGINING TRADING PALAN

01.What is the purpose of trade: Income producing or wealth building or Long time or short time( Active style/super Active/ hours or minutes swing style overnight /days/ weeks

Risk per Trade: How many positions you have at time

When you double up on a position

Must define Entry and Exits:

Get in Reversal time/ Pivot Point/Trend Move

What plat fom trade with

Level II/Charting/What Scans/Demo Account

What products I will Trade: Stocks/Bonds and Time frame

What days of week Time Table: Only Monday to Thursday

Day Traders: Plan

Trades are developed  based on the data available after the close of session for the following day.

Trades are executed intraday as per plan. No revisions to my planed trades  other then those set forth in my rule book( Trailing stops)

Everything you need to succeed:

Symbol: xxx                                           Resistance:2

Position: 1000                                         Resistance:1                                       

Entry: .01                                               Pivot Point

Stop: .0089                                              Support:1

Target Ratio:01 50% target: 015           Support:II

 Target Exit: 02

Evaluating the trades