CPA JOSS

Looking back, Brexit was a big deal. Definitely the biggest deal since the banks collapsed in 2008. Think about it. The 5th largest economy in the world left the European Union. What the heck is Google, Amazon and Netflix going to do now? The stock market guru's over on CNBC told us to pull our money out of the market right now. It's going to be financial armageddon. Now that it is two weeks

I was once a gambler, but now a trader. I once blew up a 200k account within a matter of weeks. Up until that point, I thought I was a trader. I opened up a trading account during the last stages of the roaring 90s internet boom. For a while things were great. So great that I almost left graduate school at 23 and did move into a high rise penthouse apartment foolishly thinking that after a few

Crowds can be wise, but also manic and delusional. An astute trader learns to differentiate between these two extremes. When there is diversity of opinion, the crowd is a force. The parts think independently, but private judgements combine to join as one powerfully wise collective. Unfortunately this intellectual juggernaught will not last forever. At some point diversity gives way to

This is what holds many traders back. The small wins. Yet we love to take those small wins, and avoid small meaningless losses like the plague. We are afraid of losses. It doesn't matter it it is big or small, that L is scary. It's all about the fear of the loss. Here is the rub: the fear of the loss is always worse than the loss itself. Losses don't hurt as bad as you think. Remember what

It's a flaw in our brilliant minds and one that afflicts most traders. It's a big reason why 90 percent of traders fail. I'm watching one of my students trade a few weeks ago and he keeps taking these ridiculously small wins. Over and over again, he takes these small .3R gains only to watch the stock run without him. I don't say a word and just watch. He is in agony. I mean it looks like he

Swing Trading Master So you know about swing trading breakouts . . . fantastic. You can make a lot of money trading those. So you know about stochastics . . . that's great. Extreme conditions lead to extreme profits. So you trading using Fibonacci retracements . . . awesome. I know a guy who makes a killing off this mysterious phenomena. So you know about trading options . . . brilliant.

Martin: I have a horrible migraine. Prison guard: A bottle of Advil is $750,000 It's easy to lose sight of the dangers of trading when things are going well. A few good trades and you are invincible. But it only takes one bad trade to wipe all the profit away. Anybody remember KBIO? A novice trader shorted the $2 stock. The next day it gapped up eight hundred percent. His account

There is is nothing wrong with your mental game. Your head is fine and there is no need to go to a trading psychologist. You have got it all wrong. It's not that you don't know how to control your emotions, it's just that you don't know how to - how should I put this - you do not know how to trade. I know, the truth hurts. It's a lot easier to blame your head because that does not

Fact: Perception is fictional. You never see full reality, only what your brain wants you to see. Basically, your brain is lying to you every second of every minute of every day. Are you a contrarian? Then that opening gap looks like a slam dunk parabolic short. Do you like to go with the flow? Then that same breakout is a trend following set up. Perception is not necessarily a bad

Certainty is a problem for traders. They want the answer to the question, "What will the market do". I do not know. Does that make me an idiot?  No, it makes me smart. I know that I do not know, and I accept it. I know that I am not in control, only the market is. Because I know this, I trade the right way. Certainty causes traders to hold on to bad positions, because they

It hurt bad, yet it wasn't so bad. Once when I was 9 years old my dad hit me with 10 straight pitches in a row. This was after I kept jumping out of the batters box while Pablo fired off 3 strikes right down the middle of the plate. Pablo was a giant of a nine year old and threw pitches that had to be shot out of a cannon. I was scared every time he looked at me and wound up, so I'd

Hesitation gets you nowhere. It is linked to fear and fear guides traders to the poor house. But Paul, I want confirmation. No, you are just afraid. So you wait. For the safety of the move. Seeing the stock move feels safe. So you act. And now you lose. That is because once the move comes, once you feel safe, the trade is almost over. You enter at the worst time. You are in "no man's land

If every trader is doing the same thing, how does anybody make money? Trading is a zero sum game. Somebody wins, somebody loses. And the split is not 50/50. It is more like 10/90. For those who are making significant percentage gains, it's more like 5/95. To the few victors goes most of the spoils. You do not want to be the "ninety-five". You want to be the "five". Do not follow the

Intuition is a swing trader's best friend. When we intuit it seems as though there is no conscious reasoning. To the outsider it seems like guessing. In reality it is a function of the mind that glimpses greater knowledge through experience and pattern recognition. Traders often confuse intuition with guessing. Some call a guess that results in a successful trade intuition. This type of results

This has been an incredible year for both me and this blog. Personally, I hit a major level in my trading accounts, moved my family to San Diego, mentored 14 new students, continued to run the part-time swing trading program over at my former student's industry leading website and started a new significant income stream through day trading. Specifically with this blog, I made a

Most trader's and coaches think of emotion as if it is trading kryptonite. The worst of these emotions is thought to be fear. If you Google "fear" and "trading" you will see a host of "how to overcome fear in trading" articles. No disrespect to those authors, but they are worthless. Don't read them. Every one of these articles misses the point. Please retweet if you liked this article! 

Focus on your trading strengths We are almost at the half way point of the trading year. As usual I am ready to review my trades and goals. A cursory scan leaves me with the feeling that I have done a good job, but as always have plenty of room to improve. When doing a performance review, most people focus on what they have done wrong. It's natural to want to improve where you are lacking.

Only Trade High Quality Stock Setups The most critical decision a trader makes on a daily basis is selecting a stock to trade. Yeah, I know I have said that stock picking is only 33 percent of trading, while the other 66 percent is risk and trade management. That is true, but risk and trade management start after stock picking (though you should have a plan of action before entering the

Do everything you can to stay happy. This could be a life lesson post, but I am talking specifically about my trading philosophy. Too many traders are in pain. I used to be, constantly. Over time I realized that when you are in pain, you make bad decisions. You chase trades because you fear the pain of missing out on a trade. You micromanage your positions because you fear the pain of giving

Limit pain for smarter swing trades The trading game is a painful experience for most traders. Base emotions like fear, greed and panic are amplified the second we put on a trade.  Please retweet if you liked this article! Tweet This is a major problem because trading is a decision makers game. Everything we do requires a well thought out decision. We are not mindless 9-5 cubicle drones.