Introduction
Trading the stock market with its infinite possibilities requires a trading plan and trading rules to reduce the noise. It is extremely important to have trading rules for your entry, holding time of a stock, call, or put option and exit. Trading rules create order and direction in a chaotic trading environment. The most successful stock and option traders are those having trading rules they live by, and act on those rules without hesitation.
The most successful traders know how to keep their stock and option losses small. It is not the size of your gains, but the size of your losses that really counts! They know how to use their trading past as a guidepost and not as a whipping post. The most successful traders know how to take a loss. They accept loss as part of the trading arena. They regularly keep a trading journal for all their trades, whether it was a live trade or a practice trade. It is okay to have a loss, but learn the lesson from the trade, and vow to never repeat that mistake again. Your first loss is the best loss!
Trading rules act like a filter and filter out the noise that is not applicable in the trading world for that day or for that moment. If you are trading the stock market and have several losses, it is because you have no trading plan, and you have no trading rules within that plan. In trading, I take full responsibility for my gains and losses, while using trading rules as guidance. When I am in a live trade, I always keep an emotional balance. Confidence is gained through memorization of trading rules and tons of practice in the Paper Money account on Think or Swim.
Think or Swim, by TD Ameritrade, https://www.tdameritrade.com/ is a free trading platform to use, but you will have to pay for commissions when buying and selling stock, calls, and put options. Think or Swim has a Paper Money account that you can do everything as in a real trade, but with fake money.
Think or Swim also has a trading app for your cell phone too. All my professional stock and option settings and indicators I use to trade with for Think or Swim are in the Appendix. Also, the Think or Swim settings for my cell phone app are in the Appendix of this book too. The settings are there for you to copy and are there for you to install and use on your own Think or Swim trading accounts and cell phone app. I have over two hundred pictures to help you with the fat pitch settings and other important things concerning the US Stock Market. My settings are critical for a person’s trading success!
It is highly recommended that you practice stock and option trading in the Paper Money account for 1 year, before using real money in the trading leg on Think or Swim. By regular practice, you will be able to reduce the emotional part, produced by fear and greed, which can be stirred up in a live trade. You must learn how to eliminate fear and greed, or it will kill you in the stock market! Great confidence and low emotions are key to success! Good luck and Godspeed!
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