THE COMMON ELEMENTS OF SUCCESS:  A really good synopsis of Van Tharp’s latest book over at the Kirk Report. 

CONFIRMATION BIAS:  You better put it in your basket of mind games.  You are going to face it whether you recognize it or not.

TRADE WITH AN EMPTY MIND:  or just be stupid! 

TIGER WOODS AND LOSS AVERSION: Playing it safe could cost you more money than the risk.  Just ask Tiger?

IT IS NOT ABOUT THE SYSTEM:  It is more about learning and developing as a trader in order to use the system properly. 

And with the market playing tricks again, some quotes to leave you with:

“Nobody like change except a wet baby.” Mark Twain

“Success gives you the confidence to be patient with your failures.”  Eric Rohmann

“The only worse thing than waiting is

Overtrading is but one of the common attributes of unsuccessful traders but its importance is high on the list and for good reason.  Following are the signs that you may be a stockaholic, which is simply a person who is addicted to trading.

PLAYING TO WIN: THE MORE YOU TRADE THE MORE CHANCES YOU HAVE TO MAKE MONEY

Makes sense…on the surface.  But is it correct?  It is not like buying a lottery ticket where you can’t win if you do not play.  I have never heard of anyone winning the lottery without a winning ticket!  However, a lottery ticket will only cost you $1 and you are in the game.  In trading, it can cost much more than a dollar and you can lose your shirt if your number is not the right one. 

IS TRADING YOUR PASSION?  Leo Babauta does not have a trading blog but what he has to say can definitely apply to us traders.

CHEATERS BEWARE!  Longer term traders will always beat short termers.

ARE YOU REALLY MISSING ANYTHING?  Frustration is a sign that you are at least fighting patience.  Better than no patience at all.

MICHAEL JORDAN THE TRADER:  10 rules for maximizing your competitiveness.  There just may be something here for us traders whose main battle rages from within.  Focus and simplicity are but two of his rules.

WHAT WINNERS DO TO WIN:  My friend Charles Kirk has written an excellent article on coming back from defeat using pro golfer Phil Mickelson as an example.  Worth reading.

CAN YOU SEE YOUR SUCCESS?  “A relaxed mindset is one that will be able to reproduce results

How can I not appreciate all those who have served our country?  I would not be here today and have the opportunities I have if it were not for the men and women who sacrificed their lives so that I may live a safe and secure one, not to mention my children and my children’s children some day. 

There are absolutely no words worthy enough to express the appreciation I have for our veterans and the families who live with the fond memories of those who have died for us. Those who are serving right now deserve just as much praise and honor as each one faces an uncertain future with bravery, determination, courage, and the sacrifice of life, family, and the pursuit of happiness.    We are indeed humbled and can

The stock market is nothing if not a place of pure deception.  Just when you think you have the market figured out it changes course leaving you scratching your head in frustration.  Or even worse, just when the market seems to be making logical sense it makes no sense whatsoever, which seems to be the case most of the time anyway.

LOGICAL DECEPTION

Think about the following: all you hear in the news media is how the consumer is not spending any money; how the Christmas season will be dismal; how continued unemployment  will  stifle any improvement in consumer sentiment, etc. etc. yet have you taken a look at the retail sector in the last few months? The RTH (Retail Holders Trust) broke out yesterday to a high it has not seen since the

After introducing the MONTHLY STOCK MOVER (MSM) INDICATOR last week I have had many inquiries about the correct way to use this focused weapon.  The bottom line: there is no “correct” way, only a few suggestions, which I briefly touched on when I originally introduced this WEAPON.  Now, I will discuss in a little more detail how you can use this weapon when determining whether or not you should enter battle.

The MSM is no substitute for your own technical analysis.  It is not designed as a signal to enter or exit a trade.  If you have a good set of rules for entering and exiting the market, then a weapon such as MSM should only be used as further confirmation of your historically based research.  In other words, if I have a bullish CROSSHAIR on a particular stock at the beginning of November, I could then check

FINDING YOUR WAY:  No matter your trading methodology what is important is that it be YOUR methodology and what suits your temperament.  Dr. Brett shares a little of his journey with us.  One thing I did discover is his trading is much like mine when he describes it as “a very opportunistic activity where I will find one or two very high probability setups in a week and otherwise stand aside.”

HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE FOR YOU TO BECOME REALLY GOOD AT SOMETHING?  Depends on how focused you are and how passionate you are about the focus.  “It [doing something good] takes desire, it takes drive, it takes lots and lots of doing.  Sounds like the formula for successful trading too.

IT IS AS SIMPLE AS SUPPLY AND DEMAND IS IT NOT?“  The market

As most of you are now aware, I recently updated my website and added a few new pages along with the MONTHLY MOVER indicator (officially launched today).  One of these pages is entitled CROSSHAIRS TRAINING and gives many options for you to take advantage of, if you so wish.  I also included a document you could download wherein I shared my thoughts about trading systems and my approach to teaching.

After many inquiries I decided to revise the document by adding more details about my methodology.  It has been expanded by 10 additional pages.  It is free to download by going to the CROSSHAIRS TRAINING PAGE or you can do so right here.

As always, thank you for your interest.

The OCTOBER 2009 trading results of my computer generated RadarScreen follows.  I am not particularly fond of mechanical trading but who am I to judge how others choose to trade?  I prefer the discretionary approach based on other factors besides a signal generated by a computer program.  That is just me.  Most of these trades would have never made it to my discretionary screening.  And there are several discretionary trades that were never triggered in the RadarScreen.  Go figure!?!  With proper money management and discipline to enter and exit trades a disciplined trader can make money with a mechanical system, mine or otherwise.  It is all up to the individual.  This is really an experiment for me as I compete against the computer. My discretionary numbers are also listed below and are few in number.  I am very picky about my trades as you can tell. If you are a day trader

I am excited to provide a free to use indicator called the MONTHLY STOCK MOVER.  This is made possible via a QCharts plug-in, one of two trading platforms I utilize. 

This tool provides a color coded visual representation of a stock’s historical monthly price action based on three different time periods within the month: the FIRST five trading days of the month, the MIDDLE trading days of the month (which can vary), and the LAST 5 trading days of the month.  The historical numbers cover the year 2000 to the present. 

I encourage you to take a look under the heading WEAPONS on my home page and give it a try. 

STEP ONE

Once on the WEAPONS page you will be asked to enter a stock/ETF symbol.  The following STATS and CELLS box will appear as