Last week we discussed a common problem with new and developing traders – difficulty accepting losses as a normal part of the game. And we discussed a simple idea for moving beyond this problem, through seeking profits over a larger series of trades rather than any individual trade. You can see last week's article…
I love this comment in response to last week's article (see the article here if you missed it). This was the trade Steve is referring to: Too many traders take the loss personally. As Steve says, they're stuck in the mindset of "Aaargh, I did it again." Their focus is on themselves and their…
Here's a little post-session exercise which may help stretch your performance to "never-before-reached" profit levels. Pick a target just above your all-time-high for a trading session. Whatever that is – $100, $500, $1000, $5000 or more. And ask yourself the following. Looking at the chart for today's session, with the benefit of hindsight, how…
I sent out the following post via social media earlier this week. It's a theme I've pushed quite a bit over the last few years because I feel it's incredibly important. No matter what markets you trade. No matter what timeframe you trade. No matter what strategy you trade. There will be price sequences…
Context: The trade idea: The entry: Out: How I think on trade exit: All exits are temporary. Pause and reassess. Consider re-entry if the premise remains valid. Sometimes it takes two entries. Sometimes it takes three. There are no ways around this. In the uncertainty of market action it's unreasonable to expect that we…
The open can be a time of great opportunity. But you need to be prepared. My default option is to always wait for the Trading Timeframe (TTF) to develop some structure. To wait until the initial trend is clear and obvious. But there are some times when I'll trade earlier, before the TTF settles…
You've learnt the pattern or setup. Great. But that's not trading. Now work on the real-time contextual decision making around that pattern or setup. Look beyond the pattern itself to the wider context. Where is the pattern occurring within the larger timeframe market structure? What structure will suggest avoiding this particular setup? What structure…
I had no plans to continue this recent topic on use of the opening range to provide a quick and simple assessment of "bigger picture" session bias. But I had a few traders ask how it should be applied to the forex markets. You can see the two prior articles here, if you missed…
A few weeks back we discussed a quick and simple method for identifying a "bigger picture" directional bias. See here if you missed it and want to review the idea – Part 1, Part 2. The second article generated quite a bit of good email conversation, with several traders now adding this to their current…
I'm always fascinated to hear from traders who have trouble exiting a trade at the stop loss. The ones who move the stop loss further away to avoid the exit. And then move it further. And further. Until eventually, they can't take the pain any more, so they get out of the trade and…
