Rules Make Money

Last week I told you how I have a tendency to get sloppy when I’m on a winning streak, which hurts my consistency as a trader.  I start to break my rules and lose discipline, which I need to work on if I want to be successful over the long term. To illustrate the importance of following trading rules at all times, here are a couple charts of what my trade performance would’ve been had I remained disciplined over time, versus the addition of the myriad of times where I’ve broken my trading rules. I use TradePerformance Lite to track ...Continue Reading...

Getting Sloppy When Winning

John Welsh has an excellent post here regarding the psychology of trading loss, and how people tend to increase their position sizes to try to make losses back…only to compound their losses. I tend to have a different problem…a problem that I need to work on if I’m going to be successful at this long term. When I’m losing, I’m usually pretty good at not increasing position sizes or trying to make back losses.  My problem is when I’m winning. When I’m winning, I find I have a tendency to get sloppy.  I know I have a cushion, so I ...Continue Reading...

Bye, bye, PDT!!!!!

If you have read my blog for a while, you know that I have not hidden my disdain for the pattern day trader rule. In fact, I have made past blog posts specifically about the rule, such as here and here.  The rule made trading an uphill battle.  First, if I made a mistake, it would cost me a day trade, and the 3 day trades per week that you are allowed is not very many.  Second, I found that it would mess with my head psychologically.  Sometimes I would take on too much risk and hold trades too long ...Continue Reading...

An Alleged Pump-and-Dump Company and Its Natural Sweetener

I’ve made a blog post over on Weightology regarding an alleged pump-and-dump company and a natural sweetener that they sell.  Check it out here. ...Continue Reading...