Starting out as a day trader

After finishing college, I scored a great marketing job but kept living in a share house with my college friends, so I was paying barely anything on rent. I was managing to save a fair bit of money, so I decided to invest some of my savings and began to look into day trading.

I knew very little about trading, so I read a few books on market psychology. Pretty soon, I signed up for a course on how to trade because I knew how important it was to be educated – this was not something I was going to go into lightly. I started to learn strategies on how to analyze the stock market and look for patterns in what was happening. The stock market was not a guessing game, I learned, and it was important to be disciplined at all times. Trading involves making a lot of split decisions – whether to buy, whether to sell, whether to do it now, or wait for the stock to rise or fall a little.

I was fascinated by everything I learned through the course, and finally I bought some shares I was comfortable with, and treated it as a hobby. I really enjoy watching the fluctuation of the stocks, and I’m constantly learning more about the market.

Greed is harmful to any Day Trader

Perhaps the word “greed” is not officially considered an onomatopoeia. Somehow though, to me, it definitely seems like one. And so, I deemed it just that! The sound of it is just so greedy, if you know what I mean. When I look at the word, the “e’s” seem to be a pair of green, greedy eyes narrowed into thin slits. Then, my artistic mind draws droplets hanging down from the “g” and “d”, so that I actually see greediness dripping down from the letters themselves. Taking into account the greedy look and sound of it, I am not fond of the word “greed” at all.

You may not share my sentiments on the word “greed” but, undoubtedly, you agree that the emotion itself is by far not a pretty one. On target, am I not? Greediness is not a trait one would feel proud to display (though, by virtue of its ugly nature, it has a tendency to flaunt itself…). Nevertheless, being that greediness is a human emotion, and considering the fact that we (well, a significant percentage of us at least!) fall under the category of “human beings”, we are all prone to having, can we call it “bouts”?, of greediness once in a while. Not commendable, but understandable! Still, it would do us well to keep our eyes open for signs of impending greed, to be wary of being ensnared in greed’s greedy clutches.

Fear of the Market: Part III

For the third and final kind of fear that are found by Day Traders: when a trader is afraid to take additional entries once he has made a successful trade for the day.

This is kind of the opposite of the previous Fear of the Market, the fear of losing money in additional trades. There, a trader is afraid to enter once he has already lost money. Here, a trader is afraid to enter once he has already gained money.

In his mind, he assumes that once he has cashed out, he would be better off not testing his luck. Once he’s made the money, he doesn’t want to take a chance of losing it.

Fear of the Market: Part II

Now let’s talk about the second type of fear that a trader may experience in the market. It’s one that’s familiar to many of us, whether we trade in the market or not. This is the fear of losing money. No one likes to lose money, whether or not you have it to begin with. It’s not too hard to believe that this is one of the most common fears out there today.

Think about it: this universe revolves around money. Everyone is trying to make some, save some, and not lose any of it. Yet, that’s what happens in the world; it’s a cycle, with people gaining and losing constantly. And it’s totally normal for a person to be nervous and tense, and perhaps even scared at times, lest he lose his hard-earned money.

Yet, what’s unhealthy is when a trader loses money in the market and allows this fear to paralyze him. And it happens.

Fear of the Market: Part I

Moving on to our next lesson in Day Trading - Fear of the Market.

Let me introduce you to one of a few reasons why traders lose money in the market: Fear of the Market. Sounds familiar? There are people out there, perhaps yourself included, who are afraid of the market. Afraid of what might happen if they make the wrong move. Afraid of how much money they may lose. Fear of the market.

So you may be thinking, “Yeah, I’m afraid because I don’t trade in the market. I’ve never even seen the market during live trading! But those guys that sit there trading all day, how can they be afraid? They’re experienced and they know what’s involved. They’re not scared.”

Yet, you couldn’t be more wrong! There are three different types of fear that even an experienced day trader may have.

Let’s talk about the first type of fear; there are traders that are scared to take risks. But what a trader’s got to realize is that this is what the market is all about. Without taking any risks, no one would ever be able to make money in the market! But as long as you know that you’re doing the right thing, there’s no reason to be afraid.

Yesterday's Market Close - Day Trading

Now, let’s move on to our third lesson for you as a Day Trader.

There are a lot of psychological aspects that play a big part in the market. After all, the market is played by real people, actual human beings like you and me. And just like we have emotions, so these market players have feelings and emotions too. And they come to the fore as these traders make their moves each day.

Yesterday’s Close is a very important factor in the market. In other words, the price that a stock closed at the day before is very significant. After all is said and done, everyone ends up at the same place. So, whether some traders are happy and others aren’t, the stock closes each day with everyone holding on the same page. After all uncertainties of the day, the closing price is the same for each and every trader. This is what the conversations revolve around, what price the market reached at the end of the day. And very obviously, this price affects where each trader will be starting at the next day too.

A new trading strategy!

“You win some, you lose some”, but with Trademark, you only have to win 30% of the time to be ahead of the game. A new trading strategy!

Let’s discuss trading strategies. After all, isn’t that what trading boils down to?

Okay, so most trading strategies expect their players to win more trades than they lose, in order to make profit. For example, a trader would be required to win at least 70% of the time, while losing only 30% of the time. And the amount of money that a trader gains from a winning trade is the same amount that a trader loses from a losing trade. So, in short - a trader better be careful to win trades most of his time trading. Otherwise, he’ll end up losing more money than he’s making. After all, he is not making enough profit from his wins to cover his losing trades.

Market Psychology: Part II

So, our first lesson in Day Trading was that the market is based on all the psychology that goes on behind it.

Now for our second lesson, at Trademark, we believe that everything that happens throughout each day is connected. Every move on the market is connected to the previous one. Now let’s explain this a little more.

Let’s take, for example, a stock that has been climbing the market throughout the day. As you continue through the day, you should keep the same mindset the whole time and expect the stock to continue climbing. We base our predictions on what has been happening until now. In other words, each day is one long story. This logical way of analyzing the market has proven successful many times over.

First Lesson: Market Psychology

Okay, now let’s begin with your first lesson as a Day Trader: The market is based on all the psychology that goes on behind it.

If you’re looking to become a successful trader, you should know that each move in the market is only a result of a psychological move amongst the market players. There is no such thing as “luck” in this business - there a reason for every move.

For example, (are you writing this down?) if a stock starts out at a certain price at the beginning of a day and rises throughout the day, there is a reason behind this. You see, for every trade, there is a buyer and a seller. So in our example, if the price of the stock is rising, this means that there is a rise in demand for the stock. In other words, the buyer is very interested in this particular stock.

Therefore, the seller will start making the price tag higher because he knows the buyer will agree to pay the higher price. The seller will continue increasing the price as long as he is sure the buyer is still totally interested in buying. This is how the worth of a stock can jump so much within a short amount of time. Pretty interesting, huh?

At Trademark Academy, we teach strategies that combine both the technical and psychological plays of the market. We do not base our decisions on the technical alone. We delve into the technical and analyze the psychological reasoning behind each move.

That concludes our first lesson. With each lesson, we will build on the one before. And as we continue, you will start to realize that we are, in a sense, putting together one very large puzzle. And when you step back at the end, it’s pretty neat when everything all of a sudden makes sense to you. It’s a great feeling! And we’re very excited to be the ones to help you get there.

For further questions and information, log on to www.trademarkacademy.com, or visit our newly renovated, state-of-the-art training facilities and learn more about how to make it on you own!

See our risk-disclaimer on our website: www.trademarkacademy.com.

Welcome to Trademark Academy Blog!

Hi and welcome to Trademark Academy. When you want to find out more about something new, there’s never a better place to start than the beginning. So, here goes. And if you have any questions or want to find out more detailed information about us, feel free to visit our website any time at: www.trademarkacademy.com.

Okay, so we are a stock market education academy. We teach people how to trade in the market. We educate on trading in general, with our focus on day trading in particular. So whether you don’t know the first thing about the stock market, or you have already been trading in the market, you can learn many valuable tips and tactics at Trademark Academy.
Trademark Academy is different from other stock market education places. Here at Trademark, you can observe real, live, professional day traders in action. That means you can watch live trading as it happens! Sounds pretty cool, no?

And what’s more, Trademark Academy will teach you many fundamental skills that will better equip you to make it on your own in the market. You will learn to read patterns of a stock, discover the correct mindset, and find out how to determine the pressure of a stock. You will study when to use your strategies, and become skilled at setting a target. With all this knowledge, you can learn to trade, regardless of the state of the economy.

At Trademark, we focus on technical analysis of the market. Basically, this means that we don’t just look at the actual, physical moves that the market makes, we also look at what’s behind each move; the reason why the move happened in the first place. That’s called technical analysis. And by looking at the market this way, we can learn so much more to help us make the right trades.

For further questions and information, log-on to: www.trademarkacademy.com, or visit our newly renovated, state-of-the-art training facilities and learn more about how to make it on you own!

See our risk-disclaimer on our website: http://www.trademarkacademy.com/.