Okay, I'll have a go. I won't include a lot of the good dope in all the how-to-trade books. Super basic stuff, a beginning trader should already know. ANY trader should already know. So if I leave off some basics it is because I ALREADY KNEW THEM BEFORE I made my first trade, same as everyone else. 1. The charts are more important than the news. It doesn't matter why the market is reacting, only that it is. 2. Don't hold cash. Put that money to work, even if you aren't actively trading it. 3. The trend is my friend. (until it isn't, at least, and that can be a surprisingly long time.) 4. Index ETFs and Futures are reliable and literally follow the market and overall sentiment. Bull or bear trend, either way, they are good for nice steady earnings. Individual stocks often are contrary. That can be good. More often that is bad. 5. I am still learning. Darn. A few more for extra credit. 6. Indicators only indicate. Traders predict, usually based on indicators. Other traders base their trades on their predictions, which they form based on their indicators. When other traders trade, it moves the price. So, timely trading based on indicators, even though it is fundamentally flawed, will result in wins much, much higher than statistically probable. 7. Pick a good entry and everything else is easy. Pick a bad entry and you may as well bail as soon as you see it was bad. 8. Don't chase a rising, or falling, stock. If anything, catch it at a dip vs the Bollingers or a Moving Average. 9. Two small wins or one monster win are enough. Call it a day unless you are committed to spending all day in front of the computer. 10. Don't argue about trading. Just trade.
So if the market isn't trending what do you do with your cash? Again wouldn't you be better off in cash?
Good question, but if it is trending DOWN, the answer is obvious, you just have to be ready to reverse your short position if it starts going bullish. Overall in the long term markets go UP. So, in the short term, there is a better chance it will go up than down. I REALLY try to keep my cash working for me or at least not depreciating. If nothing else, my inactive money gets stuck into QQQ or gold. Occasionally bonds, if that is looking good. There is always something. I don't like cash. It never buys more and more. It always buys less and less.
I like to be able to put my cash to work only when I believe the odds are in my favor. If I can't find any set-ups or see any trends I sit in cash until something meets my criteria. This prevents trading against the trend, picking bad entrys and chasing. I tend to stick with what works for me. I'd rather lose spending power than make bad decisions that lose money. Bad decisions also eat away at your mental capital.
Some great points raised here, I definitely got caught out by influencers on Instagram teaching their "strategies" on JP Markets no less lol. It's quite crazy looking back on my short journey and seeing how far I've come with trading.
Hello Leob, I agree Leob. In day trading, I trade the whatever price tell me to do. Price is the master, I am the slave. I will say this with every molecule in my body, FUCK trading the Trend in day trading.