Assuming you haven’t discarded your New Year’s resolution in favor of leftover candy canes, then you might be trying to shed some holiday pounds. If you’re like me, you’re still working on some Independence Day, Halloween, and Thanksgiving pounds, too. This task is even harder because the grocery store’s “seasonal” aisle is already full of […]

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Warren Buffett once famously said: “Be fearful when others are greedy and greedy when others are fearful.” For most traders, fear and uncertainty are two primary factors that drive market volatility higher and lower. “Volatility is just another colloquialism for uncertainty,” says JJ Kinahan, chief market strategist at TD Ameritrade. “We don’t ‘crash’ up, for instance, so […]

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Once you have your core position established, it’s time to decide what criteria you’ll use to potentially trade around it. There is no right or wrong way to approach this, but most of the trade triggers you’ll use will be based on time or events. All in How You Frame It When trading around a […]

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It’s been a long, mostly steady trend higher in the stock market since the lows of the financial crisis all the way back in 2009. But the market stopped trending higher last year. And earlier this year, traders were reminded that stocks can, in fact, go down. We’ve been covering the reasons for the rough […]

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Most investors understand that the old saying “sell in May and go away” has to do with seasonality. But seasonality refers to the internal trends of the market, not warmer or colder weather. What you may not know is that “seasons” occur in both micro and macro time frames. Intraday seasonality is one of the […]

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History is full of examples of great men and women who credit their daily success to a morning ritual. So it should be no surprise that applying this principle to your trading makes perfect sense. Creating a daily trading routine for your market preparation, and associated tasks, allows you to run through these steps quickly […]

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If you’re new to the stock market and want to learn how to trade, or even if you’re a seasoned trader who’s simply stuck in a rut, finding a trading mentor can be the answer. In the seminal investing book Market Wizards, legendary trader Paul Tudor Jones recounts how he learned his craft by standing […]

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Despite the interconnected world we live in today, trading can often be an isolating endeavor. A trader’s need to process the nonstop streams of data and information that the markets generate can create a type of inner echo chamber, in which thoughts and ideas lose objectivity and bad habits are reinforced. A simple way for […]

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What exactly is market volatility and why do some traders love it? The term volatility is used in a few different contexts by traders and the financial media. It seems the usage of the term increases when the broader market has been trending lower for a while and the financial media is flashing “Breaking News” […]

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As Benjamin Franklin wisely said in the 1700s, “By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.” Fast-forward to 2016 and apply this to your trading or investing approach. How much have you prepared? Any small business owner knows a business plan is essential. No bank would ever give you a loan without a business […]

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