You know, there’s a fine line between trading and gambling. One way has you flying by the seat of your pants. The other has you operating with cool calculated professionalism. But to all intents and purposes the exact same actions are taken either way. So how on...
Sometimes, traders come to me with a glaring gap in their strategy. One common oversight can be the thing getting in the way of good results. It’s this… Many traders think of their trade results ONLY in terms of pips won or lost. Nothing wrong with that...
Do you ever feel you’re not quite in control of your trading actions? Is greed and fear driving your decisions? Let me tell you exactly what signs to look for, and then what to do about it if you do self-diagnose one of these nasty afflictions. 5 ways reckless trading...
I detect a whiff of panic… All these emails I’ve been receiving about the new ESMA regulations. Honestly, you’d think the world was coming to an end or something. And I don’t mean emails I’ve been receiving from TN readers – most of...
Remember that English guy who carried out the ‘biggest military hack of all time’ a few years ago? Gary McKinnon hacked straight into NASA’s systems from his house in Scotland! Luckily he was only on the hunt for photos of flying saucers, but imagine...
Common sense can be a rare and peculiar beast in today’s digital age. I’m sure you’ve seen those stories of people driving into canals and lakes because the sat-nav in their car told them to ‘turn right!’ Well, it can be a similar case when less...
Reader ‘KN’ asks: “What’s the difference between trading ‘Forex’ and ‘Forex futures’ and when would you use one but not the other?” It’s a good question. What we’re looking at here is ‘Spot Forex’...
There’s no doubt about it, good trade management is a skill that can only develop through conscious practice. There’s no real short cut other than to expose yourself to the feelings and emotions you’ll go through as you put real money on the line....
We’re pretty lucky as home-based traders. Almost all the tools we need are free. But, there are small investments you can make in certain ‘performance-enhancing tools’ that can really pay-off. The trick is to know where the point of diminishing...
There’s a ‘not-so-secret’ trick to achieving smooth growth to your trading account that I’d like to tell you about. Let’s start at the very beginning… Imagine a typical ‘advanced beginner’ trader. He’s been out and about in...
I was watching a good Bruce Parry documentary at the weekend. He goes and lives with the Penan people. They are one of the last pre-agricultural hunter gatherer societies that live nomadically. Now their society may not be ‘advanced’ – at least...
A heart-warming message arrives from Rob S: ‘Major Personal Milestone!’ he declares. He goes on to say how he’d achieved a 7% profit on account for the week. And this all coming on the back of a very fast learning curve – Rob started trading from...
An email arrives from a worried reader… He’s been watching an online trading video where it was announced – shock! – that the financial markets were being manipulated. That sometimes, when the price went up, it shouldn’t really be going up. And when...
You might know I’m not a massive fan of technical indicators… I’m talking about things like Stochastic Indicators, MACD, RSI and all those other exotic sounding tools. If you’ve been following my stuff for a while you’ve probably noticed...
I can tell when I’ve hit a proverbial hole-in-one (when it comes to educating on trading psychology). The emails come flying in and opinions are FIERCELY divided. Take last week’s missive on ‘winning through losing’… If you didn’t...
I’ve often thought how much time, money, and emotional despair would have been spared in my early years of trading… …if only someone had sat me down and given me a step-by-step plan to toughen me up a bit and expose my fragile ego to the realities of...
With Easter almost upon us it’s time for a gentle reminder: What to do when coming back to trading after a break. It’s only natural to feel a little bit off-kilter after you’ve been pulled from your normal routine, even for a short spell. The processes you use...
Today, I’d like to tell you about two pivotal lessons in my own trading education… Lesson 1: Reading Richard Dennis’ famous quote: “I always say you could publish trading rules in a newspaper and no one would follow them. The key is consistency and...
When you put a lot of work into your chart analysis you run the risk of ‘marrying’ your opinion. It’s easy to become blinkered to any other possibility but the one you envisage. You may analyse the markets yourself, or you might invest in the picture...
Over in the FX Flow forum we’ve been talking exit strategies… Rob posted up his musings on trading with ‘hard’ Profit Targets V’s Simply Exiting with a trailing stop. Here’s what was on his mind: “I’m thinking of Bitcoin...
Here’s what happens when I talk to traders who struggle… I ask them to tell me about their experience: the systems or strategies they’re using, and the results they’ve recorded so far. And what they tell me usually suggests something like this: 1)...
Imagine an artist scrutinising his almost-complete masterpiece… Holding hand to chin and with narrowed eyes the artist steps away from the easel and gives his canvas a good check-over from a few paces back. He steps to the left and dips his head for an...
Lots of new traders coming into the markets this month… And some of those already here are trying new things. It’s just that time of year isn’t it? We all want to get the New Year off to a flying start so who can blame people for turning to trading,...