tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-338784302024-03-07T01:14:39.638-06:00The Market SpeculatorThe trading diary of Paul J. Singh. I trade full-time and empower traders by making the complex simple. I can be contacted at <a href="mailto:SinghJD1@aol.com">SinghJD1@aol.com</a>The Market Speculatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15108816250543774083noreply@blogger.comBlogger1338125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33878430.post-43139044034761106842016-11-14T18:47:00.000-06:002016-11-14T18:47:06.284-06:00IMPORTANT: Market Speculator Moving To PaulJSinghThe time has come to head to the the 21st century and move my site off blogger: www.PaulJSingh.com. That's right, it's a .com now!
I would have loved to keep "themarketspeculator" handle, but unfortunately some imitator has it. Ugh! First world problems I guess . . .
So now we go by my full name: Paul J Singh (www.pauljsingh.com).
Make sure to change how you follow me. At the site there Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17740562928448160218noreply@blogger.com143tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33878430.post-2607348230424231542016-11-12T01:36:00.001-06:002016-11-12T01:47:12.798-06:00Inaugural #AskPaulAnything Episode 1: Exits, Risk Management, Intraday and Deliberate PracticeIn my inaugural episode of #AskPaulAnything, I talk about the the difficulty of stock trading exit strategy and how to simply the process, risk management, a fantastic intraday trade, deliberate trading practice for both newbie and experienced traders, how I use VWAP and more.
If you honestly don't learn at least one thing in this 14 minute episode, I will do 100 pushups!
Join me live for Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17740562928448160218noreply@blogger.com18tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33878430.post-24939872916046681372016-11-07T18:35:00.000-06:002016-11-07T18:35:26.105-06:00Bad Information Leads To Bad Trades
Most of the trading content you read on social media is garbage. Sure some blogs are good, but most are bad. Yes some tweets are mind-bending, but most are worthless.
You know this and have an inkling of what is good and what is garbage. The problem is it all goes in your head, stays there and mucks with your emotions.
Pretty soon you are no longer patiently waiting for setups. All that Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17740562928448160218noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33878430.post-88065135703264879592016-11-01T09:19:00.002-05:002016-11-01T10:01:38.073-05:00I Will Pass Out If Donald Trump Is Elected President
Donald Trump is bad for Wall Street.
He can't be controlled, he's a loose cannon, he has ties to the evil Russian empire, he bankrupted his own companies, he hates women, minorities and anybody else making money.
Yet I love him.
Well not him, but the idea of him winning the election. Now before you get ready to let me have a piece of your mind, take a step back and . . .
R-E-L-A-X.
It's Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17740562928448160218noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33878430.post-21532718481816990862016-10-26T09:09:00.003-05:002016-12-26T13:19:56.036-06:00When You Have Inside Information And Still Lose Trading Apple
I wish I had a best friend named Billy that worked at Apple.
I'd call him up and discreetly ask him in hushed tones:
"Yo Billy, what's going on with Apple's earnings?"
He'd hang up on me because everybody knows Apple taps employee phones. So I drive over to his house, we turn the speakers on full blast just like in any good conspiracy movie and he says:
"It's going to be big. I'm talking Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17740562928448160218noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33878430.post-9742006627545422982016-10-10T00:46:00.001-05:002016-10-10T00:47:19.622-05:00Secret Trading Leak: Your Winning Trades Will Crush You
What if I told you that your wins are your biggest trading problem?
That's right, wins are what hold average traders from moving past break even to profitability. Most traders focus on their losses, completely ignoring the real problem.
The hardest trading leaks to identify and correct are the one that masquerade as wins.
You see that 65% win rate and feel good about yourself, then wonder Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17740562928448160218noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33878430.post-65054781176469046812016-08-10T21:11:00.001-05:002016-08-10T21:12:06.663-05:00The Shocking Way That Winning Trades Blow Up Trading AccountsYou may have just crushed it with your biggest winning trade of the year, but you still do not know how to trade.
That rush your feeling means it was a bad trade. Good trades are not exciting. If this trade was your biggest win of the year, you probably committed a cardinal trading sin.
A few big wins doesn't make you a big elephant
Common big win trading mistakes (and their mental Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17740562928448160218noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33878430.post-78997313734636749712016-07-31T04:28:00.000-05:002016-07-31T23:27:46.459-05:00Market Speculator Weekend ReviewMe, Myself and BullsonWallStreet
While the market consolidated for the 12th straight day by week's end, I took profits in 3 swing trade positions (LABU, AMBA, EXAS) and entered EXAS, FCX and UGLD. That's active for such a tight ranging week. Holdovers ERX and TWLO continue to churn. See Full Results (2016 +45%)
Over on the BOW blog, a review of the $LABU trade and the $4800 Gold trade.
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17740562928448160218noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33878430.post-20436157796464982032016-07-08T23:30:00.000-05:002016-07-08T23:34:31.386-05:00How to trade the news with this top secret foolproof planLooking 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 Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17740562928448160218noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33878430.post-55373236821420985262016-07-06T23:26:00.000-05:002016-07-06T23:41:10.413-05:00The 7 Words You Must Tell Yourself Every Morning
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 Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17740562928448160218noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33878430.post-86701238199566551232016-06-21T09:40:00.002-05:002016-06-21T09:43:22.702-05:00How most traders trade without an edge and don't even know it
There are two mistakes most traders make when building a basket of trading setups.
1. They trade setups without and edge.
2. They trade the setup in the wrong market.
Your trading "edge" gives you a reliable idea of how much you can expect to win with your setup over time. A well tested setup gives you a a predictable probability rate.
This seems counter to my article titled "the fallacy Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17740562928448160218noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33878430.post-61894012693561055412016-06-03T00:11:00.003-05:002016-06-03T08:09:18.872-05:00Smart traders profit from the wisdom and delusions of the crowd
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 Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17740562928448160218noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33878430.post-24978994559304375312016-05-11T18:24:00.000-05:002016-05-11T18:24:03.496-05:00Only a fool accepts widely held trading maximsTrading maxims that are treated as gospel, but nobody actually investigates their accuracy.
Why do we implement them into our trading plans without investigating?
It is because we are sheep, and it's easier to be a follower.
Successful traders think like wolves and never follow the herd. In fact, they avoid the herd like it's the plague.
Last summer I realized I had spent my Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17740562928448160218noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33878430.post-65968256885186888332016-04-28T00:31:00.001-05:002016-04-28T20:43:45.978-05:00It's the small wins that hurtThis 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 whatAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17740562928448160218noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33878430.post-74102395879781293262016-04-16T13:59:00.001-05:002016-04-16T13:59:31.788-05:00Don't choose unhappiness over uncertaintyIt'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 Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17740562928448160218noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33878430.post-87617009181794748742016-04-04T23:05:00.002-05:002016-04-04T23:10:43.023-05:00Subtract Your Way To Trading Success
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. Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17740562928448160218noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33878430.post-41256822332411426692016-03-31T00:23:00.003-05:002016-03-31T00:23:56.288-05:00Define yourself as a traderWe can choose to define ourselves as traders by the trades we take.
This is not about the money we make.
Rather it's the place within the setup that we enter.
Do you require more confirmation, content to give up some gain in exchange for safety?
Or do you jump in early, aggressively jumping in pre-breakout in order to maximize every inch of the trade?
One is not better than the other.
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17740562928448160218noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33878430.post-63208549815644165952016-03-23T18:38:00.002-05:002016-03-23T18:38:43.460-05:00Prepare for the worst and the worst Martin Shkeli joke you ever heard
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 Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17740562928448160218noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33878430.post-62203303619849311902016-03-19T02:05:00.003-05:002016-03-19T02:21:17.946-05:00It starts with one: habits, excellence and 112 push-upsAristotle said excellence is not an act, but a habit.
What he was telling us is that excellence does not begin fully formed, but builds over time through habit. Excellence does not start excellent.
Dream big, but start small.
With one.
At the beginning of the year I told a skeptical friend that by year end I would do 300 pushups without stopping.
He shook his head and said "nope", so I Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17740562928448160218noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33878430.post-4947808674489533952016-03-16T00:54:00.000-05:002016-03-16T00:54:24.767-05:00The Emotional Dreams of a Small Account Trader and Paul's Time MachineYesterday I asked for blog post ideas for an epic post I plan to write on Bulls on Wall Street. There were a lot of great ideas, but two emails received from small account holders sealed the deal for me. One was a time machine, taking me back to a white Twin Cities winter in 2005.
Here is the time machine:
I love trading and I know I have what it takes. Like you said in the past, I want to useAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17740562928448160218noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33878430.post-70804295484802442612016-03-14T11:15:00.002-05:002016-03-14T11:15:44.027-05:00The Fallacy of Backtesting and Adapting to Current Market Conditions
I recently engaged in an interesting chat with a novice trader this weekend. It got me thinking about the fallacy of backtesting and why I don't rely on past statistics.
You heard me correctly. My take on backtesting is controversial and puts me in the minority. Some have called me an idiot for this view and I don't mind at all. The majority is often wrong, and I've made a career Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17740562928448160218noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33878430.post-50386555036722796412016-03-13T00:26:00.001-06:002016-03-13T00:26:20.525-06:00Trading Meditation: Is It Your Head or Your Trading?
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 Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17740562928448160218noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33878430.post-59849122838217299752016-03-10T22:52:00.000-06:002016-03-10T22:52:00.278-06:00Trading Meditation: Perception Is Nothing But Fiction
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 Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17740562928448160218noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33878430.post-55671186737892110152016-03-09T11:28:00.004-06:002016-03-09T11:36:29.284-06:00Trading Meditation: Uncertainty Is The WayCertainty 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 Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17740562928448160218noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33878430.post-53695685618446143922016-03-06T01:17:00.000-06:002016-03-06T01:17:06.908-06:00Trading Meditation: Taking Small Losses Is Not So Bad
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 Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17740562928448160218noreply@blogger.com0