Successful futures traders have learned that there are times with NOT trading is the most successful strategy. Achieving success as a futures trader is 90% mental preparation. If you are not mentally prepared, do NOT trade. It can be dangerous and financially disastrous to trade if you are distracted, angry, worried, scared or emotionally distraught. Just as physical illness, tiredness or pain prevent you from focusing on your trading, so does emotional distress. You must have your head in the game every second to succeed as a futures trader. [Read more…]
Archives for 2007
How to Build a Solid Futures Trading System
September 10, 2007 By
Last time we talked about how to evaluate the effectiveness of a futures trading system. But how do you build a solid trading system? Just like anything else:
- Start with your goal. What do you want to accomplish or achieve? What end result are you aiming for? This is your goal.
- Develop a plan to achieve your goal. You’ll need to factor in the risks, rewards, terms and conditions necessary to achieve that goal.
- Execute the plan and closely monitor the results.
- Make incremental changes to your plan until it reliably produces the results you want to achieve.
- Take your internal temperature. Gauge your emotions. Can you trade these signals and play the probabilities for gain vs loss laid out in your system. You must have confidence in your system and the mental fortitude to play it.
Show Me The Money! What Charts Show Futures Traders
September 4, 2007 By
Show me the money! In a nutshell that’s the goal of futures trading: to make money. Charts track money. They peel away the rumors and the news reports, the CEO’s prognostications and your neighbor’s hot tip. They show us what master day trader Oliver Velez terms the footprints of money (ref. Tools and Tactics for the Master Day Trader by Oliver Velez and Greg Capra).
The Education Of A Successful Futures Trader
August 26, 2007 By
Becoming a successful futures trader doesn’t happen overnight. You don’t read a book and Voila! another successful futures trader dazzles Wall Street. It would be nice, but it’s just not going to happen. Once you decide to become a futures trader there’s a lot of hard work ahead.
