Learning to trade like a Pro

I am saving up to join Keystone Trading's program, which lets you trade their capital. They charge you about $5,000 for a very comprehensive program (equities,) and it teaches me to trade their way, which I am pretty sure that, in order to keep using their capital, you have to continue implementing.

I have researched their background and I think it's worth the risk, given what I will learn. Over the past nine months (when I started trading currencies), I have discovered that the connection between equities and Forex is stronger then I first realized. So, in order to continue being successful trading Forex, being taught the other side will be important.

Here is an interesting list of things that is the premise of their teachings (which, obviously, they expound on:)

Some questions you should be running through your head all day long:

Is there an obvious edge to the market?
Are the market internals telling a story?
Is there obvious insitutional order flow in my list of stocks?
If I have no edge what do I need to see for me to want to get involved? What levels would make me sit up in my seat?
What price makes the most sense based on risk reward?
What do I want to see on the tape AFTER I get filled?
What don’t I want to see after I get filled? What is my plan if it moves in my favor/against me?
Where will I add to the position? Where will I scale out?
Is today a trend day or range bound?
Am I trading the type of day unfolding or am I trading what I want to see happen?

Why buying and holding is dead

Buying and holding is dead...I talk to many people in a given week who have IRA's or other assorted accounts from the early 90's and most of them have those same accounts...but the balances are the same or lower here in 2009!

Now take a look at Market Club. If you have been following this blog since January, you'll know we are up close to 150% on all combined accounts...much of that is due to my Trusted Trade Triangles. Watch this short video for proof.

Gold Update

Obviously, it was a smart move to hold on to some of my October Gold Calls. The Dollar's weakness is good for American companies...but it's causing prices to go up in Gold and, more importantly, crude oil...and I am still short 1 Lot of Gold
(-$8,500)

So now, I still own the other half of my Gold position, 5 contracts of October 975 Calls (remember I sold the first 5 @33.90 for a $16,950 profit.)...which I bought @ $9.70 along with the first 5 contracts, are now worth $46.80.

I'm very wary of equities, but, just like Gold, it keeps going up. I am glad I went out two months on these calls because it gives me more time too figure out this insane. market

Now we have this from Keystone Trading (who I am saving up for)

Fascinating little blurb based on trading psychology, and along the same theme of what I just discussed in the last post.

http://keystonetrading.wordpress.com/2009/09/16/the-fear-is-gone/

(Be afraid, be very, very afraid.)

The markets are never going down again...EVER!

I have been calling for a reversal for a while now...

I wish I had the time to link you to the all the posts I wrote on negative divergences and Elliot Waves. Now, you have all the CNBC shills coming out and telling us not to get in the way. And then this (from Elliot Waves Int.):

It's unanimous: The bear market is over, and a new bull market is back!
At least that's the conventional wisdom of the top 55 U.S. economists, who predict that the economy will grow in the fourth quarter through the first half of 2010. (All but one of them expect growth this quarter.)

Rewind to February-March of this year ...
... When those same economists reported that the economy was in "the worst recession since the Great Depression."

That's also precisely when stocks and commodities rallied. Now, six months later, even the Fed chairman has declared the worst is over.

What's changed?

In a word: psychology.

The natural flow of investor psychology has traced out a recognizable pattern. As optimism builds, so does the perception of a recovery. It's to be expected -- even predictable. After all, the simple truth is that investors, advisors and analysts alike herd. Positive price action -- in their minds -- begets other positive action. It's all-too similar to the optimism we observed in late 2007, when various markets stood at or near their all-time highs.

But today not even the so-called fundamentals support the notion of a recovery:

Large pockets of the U.S. real estate market, including metro Atlanta, are still racking up record monthly foreclosures.

The global shipping industry has slowed to a crawl; thousands of ships around the world sit empty and idle.

Bank credit and the M3 money supply have been contracting at rates comparable to the onset of the Great Depression.

And believe it or not, reports are surfacing of lending institutions returning to their old tricks from two years ago.

It's time to debunk the recovery hype. Robert Prechter anticipated the bear-market rally and the shift toward optimism that drove it. He even offered recommendations that helped nimble traders take advantage of it. But now the rally is waning. A downside reversal is imminent.

Out of trade

Out of trade with a $312 profit.

Finally a trade...

I am short the USD/YEN. This has been floating in positive and negative territory...as of now, it is positive. In our seminar today, Bob Iaccino was telling us that this is a much stronger setup then many other setups because it is in a wedge, and they tend to work at a higher percentage. (Clicking on the chart gives you a clearer view):



















I shorted at 91.04, with a stop of 91.94.