Don't Feed The Beasts!

Faith is taking the first step, even when we don't see the whole staircase - MLK

Don't feed the Beasts!

There are two distinct personalities in the market; the trader and the gambler. Those who knows their risk, and the ones who don't. A gambler makes a trade and then tries to corrects his mistake. If a trader fails to identify which camp he's in, he will surely get mauled or trampled. It doesn't matter what you trade -stocks, futures, commodities or currencies.

They say if you find your comfort zone in trading, you've your "Nirvana". I believe that trading is the only profession which truly reveal a person hidden traits. It exposes the greedy side, or our frugality.

Some traders believe they have to be in every market, every moment of the day. Truly successful traders understand the pitfall of chasing a rabbit down the proverbial hole. So, why do ninety-five percent of individual investors lose money? Fear and greed.

If you spend time with someone who takes money from the market everyday, you'd recognize one common trait; they know when to enter, and where their exit is. But, why do successful traders only have to be right fifty percent of the time? Because their winners are much larger than their losers.

A few weeks ago a friend of mine lost some money in the market. He'd stalked the stock and made good trade, yet the final result was a loss. What went wrong? The risk was not right for the trade.But what is risk. Risk is an exposure to danger, harm or loss of your asset. The three most important risk factors in trading is assessment, tolerance and management.

A few years ago someone bought naked call options on Google before earnings. When Google reported their earnings they missed the estimate. Well, you know what happened. Greed had forced them to abandon the original "straddle" plan, and instead went with a directional trade. Where was their risk assessment? None.

Using proper risk assessment can mitigate many flaws in trading. After you assess your worst case scenario, you need to understand how it would affect your account. What percent of the portfolio you're willing to risk? And what's your risk tolerance? Professional traders recommend risking no more than one percent on any one trade. Novice traders don't follow this plan, they do the opposite.

Risk management is the final piece in the process. To identify and analyze every trade take patience. In order to mitigate financial loss you must have a stop loss. The message here is, don't feed fear and greed when you know a better way exist.

Cut your losers, and let your winners run.


Chao!





Trading stocks, options or futures are risky. Only trade with money you can afford to lose.
The views expressed here are solely my own, and I make no recommendation, or suggestions. I don't pretend to know what I'm talking about, but I did stay at a bedbug infested motel last night, close to the ice machine! 

Should I be Skeered Now!

Faith is taking the first step, even when we don't see the whole staircase - MLK

Where are heading Wednesday?

Not loving the stock market today. It seems like everyone is gone to the beach. Watched the ES do a good song and dance for the first two hours, then perform a swan dive into the close.
The chairman is due to speak tomorrow, and this could get ugly very quick. Chm. Bernanke could throw a wet blanket over the market with inflation rearing its ugly head here. So, I won't care much about how we open, but I will pay close attention to market gyrations later in the day. Last time he made a bold statement, traders took offence to it. And they punished stocks. We have since recovered from there, but there's still some jittery sentiment out there.


Seeing that we're at a top here, it would not surprise me to take off a cool 4 percent of the major indices, then wait for the fall to get a better gauge of where we're heading.
So, Forex traders are looking to the Chm. to give them some direction after last debacle which he cleared up later. But with his term coming to a close I don't think he really wants to make any surprising announcement. He might be thinking about legacy, here.

Need some money in a hurry? Don't ask your friend, or a family member. Just go to a perfect stranger. Money doesn't cozy up to you when you're broke. Let's face it, times are getting difficult to make a living in the market. Trend trading have run outta steam up here. We're just whipping around but no real movement
with conviction.

I was in a chat room today, and traders were talking about the All Stars game tonight. But the funny thing was, that the main attraction they were talking about was, get this - CitiField,.. Are you kidding me!

Well, eat my shorts if that's not boredom.

No recommendations.

Chao!



The views expressed here are solely my own, and I make no recommendation, or suggestions. I don't pretend to know what I'm talking about, but I did stay at a bedbug infested motel last night, close to the Ice machine! 

destined for success

         Faith is taking the first step even when we don’t see the whole staircase – MLK

Destined for Riches

Fear

Have you ever wondered why we suddenly feel afraid? Or why unsophisticated people succeed, while very smart ones fail? Why are we afraid to walk into a bank and ask for a loan? And why God-faring people live in poverty. Our circumstances are dictated by subtle changes in our environment. Scientist call this the ” butterfly effect theory”.  Never heard of it you say, then go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butterfly_effect. I believe that small changes in our daily lives can produce significant benefits financially.

Money 

Billionaire Sir Richard Branson recently said “money is the lubricant that gets things done, but it’s not the end game”. This has shaken my view about money. This, coming from a man who owns over three hundred companies, really set me thinking more about wealth. For one thing, it means that money is not to be hoarded, but used to improve the lives of those around us.

For too long people have been fed a boatload of lies about money. We were brainwashed into believing that having money is evil. All our lives we have been hearing that “rich people are going straight to hell”; or ” it’s easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter heaven ” Well, metaphorically or not, it have done profound damage to our psyche. This flawed thinking needs to be fundamentally extricated from our minds. We need a structural shift in our financial knowledge.

Structural Shift

So, how do we correct this. First, we need to understand how we got here. In 1910 there was a banking crisis, just like the one we just had. A few very powerful bankers got together on Jekyll Island and plotted to form the Federal Reserve bank. It was under the disguise of a “duck hunt”.Read  http://www.jekyllislandhistory.com/federalreserve.shtml

On Jekyll Island they formulated the plan to shift the wealth from the citizens to the banks. It worked so good, they created banking crisis every few decade to divert massive sums of wealth away from the people, in the form of government bailouts. It still continues today.

Debt

When you go to college, you are bombarded with credit card applications. Your friends will all sign up and so will you. Banks know there’s a high probability you will graduate. You will strive to meet your obligations, and they get a new source of debtors. Banks need debtors.

So, you graduate from college. Then comes marriage, children, a mortgage, and stuff.Lots of Stuff!! Americans buy more stuff than anybody else. We have half a percentage point saving record,  yet we consume the most merchandise on the planet. From two hundred dollars sneakers, to six hundred dollar smart phones. Apple brings out a new model every year and there’s a line camped outside their stores for days. Just for bragging rights. We’re jaded into believing that these things make a difference. There are six billion people on this planet, do they really care that we own an new Iphone.  No! absolutely not.

The solution

The flawed thinking is “hard coded” into our brains. How do we change it? We must rewire our thought process. Force ourselves to think differently. See money as a means to an end, and not the other way around. Get our mind around having a lot of money. Talk about money with people who are more knowledgeable than us. Remove fear and doubt from our mind. And formulate practical methods. Try these for a start.

1. Make purchases out of necessity, not want.
2. Make larger credit payments than the minimum balance. Banks don’t necessarily like that. Ask bank to lower our interest rate, they can only deny us.
3. Become a giver not a taker. Rich people do donate to charity, more than we would like to believe. And not because of taxes.
4. Open a brokerage account even if we don’t know anything about stock, or bonds, or commodities. Go online and read about them, its all there - free.
5. Think about buying a piece of real estate, even if you have to do it with someone else. But first seek legal advice.
6. Save for the rainy day, and when it don't come, save for someone’s else rainy day.
7. Buy saving bonds for your children, not another expensive sneaker.
8. Invest in someone else’s life if we can afford it.
9. Use the time here wisely, don’t waste it on Netflix, Facebook, twitter, or any social media.
10. Get a part time job, and use that money to invest; or pay off credit cards. And best of all, use debit cards to pay for everything.

Make small changes financially; see huge rewards in your life, emotionally.