Category: Trading Tips

Articles and comments intended to help teach trading and investing to new and novice market participants.

Ten of the leading trader mistakes

Jim Wyckoff has a good article out which looks at the causes of trader failure. Failure to …

From the data: One reason traders struggle

Over the last couple of weeks I’ve been working with the forex trader data I’m going to …

Tips to keep the trading fires burning

Mike Bellafiore at SMB offered up a quintet of suggestions for traders the other day. They were …

No Secret is the Real Secret

A recent post on the Winner’s Trading Edge blog tackles the subject of The Secret to Trading …

Trader Psychology is NOT the most important thing

I came across a post on the FXStreet site with the following statement: “The majority of trading …

EUR/USD falling or more Fed QE?

A post went up on Zero Hedge yesterday showing the chart below as proof that the Fed …

More practice means faster trader development

There’s a post on the Kirk Report blog in which a new trader asks about how he …

Optimize trading performance by time of day selection

Yesterday I shared a link via Facebook and Twitter to an article on the DailyFX site which …

Has trading ever made you physically ill?

If you’ve been in the markets as long as I’ve been you’re bound to have a collection …

Gauging trading performance

There’s a recent post from the SMB blog that brings up an issue a lot of traders …

Traders can do what athletes can’t

There’s a post on one of the BabyPips blogs which discusses the comparisons between elite athletes and …

Falling market on falling volume

I was taking a look at the monthly chart for the Shanghai Composite Index this morning and …

The new trader system loop

A poster at Trade2win started a discussion recently which I think is very worth addressing here. It …

Relaxing, not blowing up, and always learning

In this post I’m going to continue addressing points made by a new trader posting on the …

Getting sucked in by easy, automated trading

A poster on the BabyPips forum decided to share some of their experience as a developing trader. …

Questions answered by a behavioral Nobel laureate

Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky are largely considered the forerunners of the field of Behavior Finance. They …

Learning from life, learning from trading

The emotional issues which impact traders are the same as those which crop up in our life beyond the markets.

Not being a bored trader

Active traders can face boredom when the markets aren’t moving, but should that really be the case?

One trading forum post, numerous trader mistakes

Here’s a trading forum post which highlights several of the common new trader mistakes.

Maintaining a Position Mindset in a Portfolio

I met with the head of a PhD program yesterday. We had a good discussion of markets …

Rogue trading isn’t just an institutional issue

A recent discussion of rogue traders looks to address the reasons why they do what they do. …

Drawbacks to packaged trading systems

Here are some of the major issues with purchasing a trading system from someone else.

It’s only a paper loss if you don’t sell

Here’s the sort of attitude about taking losses that ruins traders and investors on a regular basis, advised by a financial planner no less.

Some Steps Toward Emotional Control

While surfing the BabyPips forum recently I came upon a thread linked to a discussion of emotional …

Looking for the one good shot, or just firing away

There was a post the other day at Alpha Global Investors which compared traders to photographers. The …

Lessons for traders from neurofinance research

Neurofinance is one of the sub-fields in the area of Behavioral Finance research. It’s the area which …

Stocks aren’t the only thing in a weak seasonal pattern

There’s been a lot of talk on CNBC and other outlets about how September is a bad …

Testing Trading Exits vs. Reversals

I’ve been reading a book of late that I will shortly be reviewing. There was a comment …

Ideas on trading risk management

I’ve just started reading a book titled . This has actually been on my reading list for …

Volatility and Volume in the Stock Market

The chart below is a weekly one for the S&P 500 going back to 2001. I present …

Comparing Dividend Rates and Yields Across Markets

I received the following set of charts from one of my colleagues the other day. Thought it …

Looking at 15 Trading Rules

The following 15 trading rules were posted by zentrader.ca having been taking from Trend TV. While I …

Bernanke’s view on inflation, I think

Fed Chief Ben Bernanke did his first post-FOMC press conference yesterday. Predictably, he got a question about …

Looking at 97 Trading Mistakes

There’s a post up on the Winner’s Trading Edge site that purports to list the 97 top …

Volatility Changes Across Markets

A recent blog post got me thinking about where volatility stands now compared to where it’s been. …

Some Numbers on Stock Market Earnings Reactions

I’m reading a book on trading based on company earnings announcements at the moment. I’ll post a …

My Amazing Recent Trading System Results

I was just taking a look at my Currensee profile to see how my forex seasonals trading strategies …

A Trader’s Epiphany

A regular poster on Baby Pips recently went through a financial advisory training course. My initial reaction …

Be Sure to Diversify Your Life

The Financial Blogger posted Wednesday that he doesn’t believe in burnout. Ironically, even though he claims burnout doesn’t …

Using Secondary Indications in Your Market Analysis

Yesterday Adam at Forex Blog put up a blog post looking at the British Pound, specifically in …

Looking at Stocks vs. Currencies

In doing some research for a short work on investing in the foreign exchange market I was …

Non-Arguments Against Fundamental Analysis

I’m going to join Adam from Forex Blog in taking on a post at Counting Pips titled …

Quick and Dirty Position Sizing Rule for Traders

There’s all kinds of discussion and advice about how much risk should be taken on a trade-by-trade …

A Few Bits of Trading and Market Wisdom

At the beginning of the year, Barry Ritholtz published a list of Market Truisms and Axioms from Arthur …

Comparing Your Trading to the Alternatives

I wrote the original version of this for the Currensee blog, but it has a broad based focus, …

Research into Technical Analysis in Forex

Thanks to Adam at Forex Blog, I had the opportunity to read a working paper by a …

Top 10 Ways New Traders Lose Money

If you frequent trading oriented websites you’ll probably have notice ads from the forex broker Oanda. Those familiar with Oanda …

Trading Binary Options

Recently I’ve seen a couple of other bloggers post about www.startoptions.com in such a similar fashion that I …

Oops! I Did It Again

Sorry to all you Britney Spears fans, but I’m not quite talking about the same sort of …

An All Too Common Trading Tale

There was a new thread started on the BabyPips forum under the title I blew it again. …