Sam Seiden discusses how the people who do well over time in trading are the ones who understand that the path of learning and practicing takes time and is typically a bumpy road.
It was about a year ago now that I started on my trading journey.
I did what everyone does (for the most part.) I read websites, read books, and finally found a community I wanted to participate in. I traded Forex to start off with to get to get my feet wet and eventually moved on to futures. Thanks to TradingApples and Shoot I had my first AHA moment six months into my trading career. My second trade during futures was an easy $500 dollar profit. I was elated but of course lost more ever so slowly and surely. I saved up again and went after equities. I've been day trading stocks now for about two months and I know this is where I want to stay. Last week I had my second big AHA moment. It's these learning breakthroughs I believe help us create our own "Trading Reality." Within our own realities we have our rules, we have our limitations, and we know how to operate within those parameters.
The second AHA I had was coming to the realization that I'm exceptionally good at finding profitable reversals. Not only that but I finally latched on to what I used to believe was a rhetorical statement, "The longer you hold a trade, the riskier it becomes." I never really got behind that until recently. Here's an example of what I'm talking about. I watch AAPL every trading day. When it gets near a supply or resistance level I know there's a great possibility it's going to bounce at least 50 cents before it either continues/reverses/withers out. It does this so very often. All I really want nowadays is that 50 cents. I can put more shares on it if I want to make more than $50. I also have mental rules in place for keeping it longer but I won't go into all the details. I'm slowly becoming the master of my own trading reality. That's what your goal should be.
Looking back I haven't done anything crazy. I didn't wake up one day and just say, "OH MY GOD, I HAVE THE ANSWER!" It was a slow and methodical learning process. I was lucky that I found Shoot's Pro Course when I did. I had all the information I could ever need but I didn't know how to apply it. The course didn't tell me what to do. It didn't give me a rules set to follow. It gave me the tools to go off and make my own rules. No two traders trade alike and you shouldn't try to mimic, only learn. I wish you all the best in discovering your own trading reality. If you have any questions or concerns please don't hesitate to send me a personal message.
Sam Seiden goes back to the basics in discussing the proper uses of indicators and oscillators. He reminds you of what really makes a market move and an indicator work.
This week Sam Seiden shares why, as seen first-hand, that government and central bank interventions in free markets never work, and those that understand this and can quantify supply and demand in markets enjoy huge opportunity when intervention occurs.
USAF Colonel John Boyd coined the term OODA LOOP which is a process for tactical decision making in the heat of combat. It's been applied to different military training and business processes around the world.
OODA stands for: Observe, Orient, Decide, Act. The loop occurs because after every action or inaction you need to then repeat the process to decide what to do next. In combat or business you want to make the loop tighter and tighter so that as you become more experienced the decisions become instantaneous based on observable phenomena. The OODA LOOP can of course be applied to trading.
Observe - You're most likely looking at a chart of some type and a strategy in mind. This step involves acknowledging points in the market where your strategy or edge is at its most valuable. Improve this skill by watching the market as much as you can to build confidence in what your eyes tell your brain.
Orient - What is the edge telling you? Which way are you going to take the trade? Where are you stops? What is the risk/reward? Get your hotkeys and buttons all in order so that orienting your mouse or fingers doesn't become a problem when you're knee deep in adrenaline.
Decide - Now you're one index finger motion from entering the trade. Does everything match up?
Act - Take it or don't. That's all you can do at this point.
The loop continues. If you acted on the trade and took it now you must do the same process for how you're going to ride it out. "It's stalling at another key point." or "The trade reversed on me, is it time to get out?"
Most of us know where we want to get in but after that we either (1) Don't take the trade out of fear, (2) have the trade go against us and not know where to get out, (3) have the trade go in our favor but get out to early. Everyone is going to make those mistakes. The trick is to keep track of your trades with a journal and fix where you're screwing up. You want to tighten up the OODA LOOP so that taking advantage of a low risk/high reward trade becomes second nature.
Here is the FLOORED the movie in a series of episodes. I watched them last night and there are some really good insights in this movie. Let us know what you think. Enjoy!
Sam Seiden follows up last week's article answering some really good questions from readers. He demonstrates how the answers to some of the most difficult questions in life (and trading) are really not that complicated.
Sam Seiden discusses how the people who do well over time in trading are the ones who understand that the path of learning and practicing takes time and is typically a bumpy road.
It was about a year ago now that I started on my trading journey. 
