SniperElite
The natural bias of price direction
This is about looking at candles or price and the mind noticing that price is going in a particular direction. So a trader comes to think naturally that ‘it’s going south’ or ‘it’s going north’. Taking a position on this sort of observation often turns out to be wrong. AllRead More
Extreme volatility
Whilst volatility is necessary in trading there are issues with extreme volatility that traders need to consider. The clickable chart below shows one example of extreme volatility with Copper (CUUUSD). The size of a reasonable stop-loss which is related strongly to account size, is a limiting factor. If your accountRead More
Disentangling currency pairs
Many a new trader will find listen to the news about which currency is doing well or badly. For example the news might say that the US Dollar strengthened, or something like that. Most of these news reports do not say how they know what they are reporting. Traders wouldRead More
The nature of expectation in financial trading
On several occasions I’ve referred to ‘expectation‘ as against ‘prediction‘. I can expect a delivery of a package at my home this morning (for example) but that does not mean I know it is going to arrive for certain ‘this morning’ or that I predict that it will. ‘Expectation’ meansRead More
Stalking the microstructure of chaos
On occasions a trader may need to turn up the microscope and look deeply into the chaos. For what? A micro-fracture, a microtrend or a small bubble movement that is like the flap of a butterfly’s wings – from which evolves a hurricane. This is the nature of chaos. TheRead More
Microtrends and risk aversion
Many a trader will have looked at the same chart (say AUDUSD) at different times (let’s say 4 hours apart), and had doubts or an urge to change their minds on what to do. This situation occurred recently with BTCUSD. On one day it appeared that there was as strongRead More
So did you get it right?
Did you get it right? This is an important question for new and seasoned traders to think about – but there is a problem with it. So you made your best risk assessment, decided your entry point and stop-loss and you entered the trade. What happens next? Many a newRead More
Better than a million minds
Are you better than a million minds? The chart below shows the recent extreme volatility on Wall Street. Millions of minds are into this ‘game’ of stocks/shares. They all want one important thing: profit on their positions. We don’t know these people (obviously); how can we. Yes – their interestsRead More
New traders conned
This morning I receive yet another email from somebody selling a system for beating the markets, subject to terms and conditions. It’s some software that runs on their server, that gives off signals when to enter long or short. Cost? USD $x9x down from $xx9x – and one is offeredRead More
The limitations of rules in trading
Why there are no rules
Many new traders are brainwashed by various experts out there into believing that there are certain rules in trading. For example some say, “Never margin to more than 10% of your account size.” Others go, “Ignore the RSI totally.” Traders can sometimes become confused about what they refer to asRead More