0Posted by Michael Glass on October 14, 2012 at 10:08 pm
Learn how to Trade
with Market Profile
Market Profile is a technique that is used by future and forex traders to help technicians understand the internal structure of the markets. Market Profile was a intraday trading strategies devised by J. Peter Steidlmayer. It is a way to structure market activity by using time and price. The development of time and price opportunities is then distributed within a bell shape curved chart which can then be studied. There are 3 key components to Market Profile: Value Area, Point of Control and Value Area High and Low.
Value Area is a primary component derived from the Market Profile. Value Area is intended to show the range of prices that reflect the most interest on the part of buyers and sellers. The Value Area represents the range of prices that contain 70% of a day’s trading activity.
The price that recorded the most trading activity is the Point of Control. The prices that saw the most activity.
Market Profile is defined as the study of price and volume over a period of time. Market profile on a charts shows the price action volume horizontally (on the side of a chart), as opposed to vertically (on the bottom of the chart). This technical analysis strategy shows price development, how price is moving, and the amount of volume trading at a particular price in real-time.
0Posted by Michael Glass on September 15, 2012 at 10:39 am
How to Trade the
Opening Range Breakout
The Opening Range Breakout Strategy is a very popular concept that was first introduced by Toby Crabel in his book “Day trading with short term price patterns and opening range breakout” (Crabel). Many view the opening range as the discovery period for traders. The opening range can be defined in two ways. The first way to look at the opening range is by time. We look at a specified period of time from market open. The second way to look at the opening range is by price. We want to denote the high and low price levels of the opening range.
If price action is above the opening range, we want to have a bullish bias for our trades. If price action is below the opening range, we want to have a bearish bias for our trade. In other words, we use the Opening Range as a filter for the sentiment of the market. We only look for trading setups that work in conjunction with the relationship of price action to the opening range.
There are several factors that play into the success of trading the Opening Range Breakout Strategy
We want to see some momentum in the price action bias. We identify this by understanding the type of trading day is present: Trending, Trend Expansion or Consolidation
We want to see volume increase as price action breaks out of the opening range
0Posted by Michael Glass on August 11, 2012 at 10:43 am
Understanding Forex Series
What is a Standard Lot
The Foreign Exchange Market (Forex) is market where currencies are actively bought and sold by banks, funds and investors. The Forex Market facilitates the conversion of one currency for another. It is the relative value of the base currency vs the value of the quote currency.
Today we are going to talk about what is a standard lot. A Standard Lot is the standard unit size of a forex transaction. Typically, one standard lot is equal to 100,000 units of the base currency. In other words, 1 standard lot controls $100,000 of the base currency. Many brokers allow you to break your transaction into smaller sized lots. For example, you might consider a Mini Lot which represents $10,000 or even a Micro Lot which represents $1,000.
100 Micro Lots = 10 Mini Lots = 1 Standard Lot
The lot size you choose primarily deals with position sizing. It also is one major advantage of Forex. When you attend to example a stock position, you cannot sell 1/2 a share. The same can be said for a futures contract; however, you can sell 1/2 a position in forex. Which makes your position size decisions very important. Watch the video above fore more information about the importance of understanding what is a standard lot in Forex.
0Posted by Michael Glass on June 2, 2012 at 3:21 pm
Why Hire an
Investing Coach
Investing coach, money coaches, financial coaches, etc; there are so many words to describe an expert who will help you make sensible financial and investment choices. Sure, you may think “Why should anyone tell me what I can do with my money?” This is what most people think of each time they are offered investing or financial help. Others may even say” I am doing fine, why do I need help with my finances?” It is common to feel secure when you are having a great time spending your hard earned cash but what about tomorrow, what about your family or how about the economy?
An investing coach will not just be there when you have money to spend on investments and businesses; he is an expert who will help you live your dream. Just think about this, the money you spend today may double or even triple when you make efficient financial choices and this is only through the help of an expert investment professional. Here are more reasons why an investment coach is the best investment opportunity you will ever make:
If you have recently acquired a large sum of money and you would like to spend it wisely, then an investment or financial coach can help plan for the right steps to reach financial freedom. Do not waste time spending, start investing to reap larger profits in the future!
If you want to formulate an action plan to take care of all your finances or to generate more income, then a financial coach can help develop a concrete plan for you and your family. You can be sure that you are not following a simple generic plan but a plan that is formulated according to your needs.
If you would like to retire early and not work until you are dead as a doornail then you must hire a financial coach to help you make appropriate plans today to be ready for a great retirement in the future.
If you have tried to make financial decisions in the past but was not as successful as you want to be then you may hire an investing coach to help you find the best possible solution to your progress. Together, you can assess what’s hindering your financial progress and start doing something about it as early as you can.
If you want to learn strategies to focus on your goals in investing and financial planning then an investment coach or financial adviser can help you out. Let’s face it, distractions are everywhere and not everyone is resistant to financial distractions; you may learn techniques on how to seriously manage your wealth and learn to fight financial distractions along the way.
If you realize that you want to get off the financial roller coaster and to make steady plans to become financially stable as soon as possible, then an investing coach may help. Together you can plan ways to take care of your finances today and to make sound investments for you and your family’s future.
0Posted by Michael Glass on February 18, 2012 at 2:26 pm
How to use
Pivot Points for
Stock Market Trading
Pivot Points are technical indicators derived by calculating the average of a particular stock’s, forex pair or futures high, low and closing prices. Using pivot points as a trading strategy has been around for a long time and was originally used by floor traders. Pivot Points have become very popular with day traders because of their ability to identify support and resistance based off of the prior days price action. If price action falls below the pivot point, it may be used as a new resistance level. Conversely, if the price action rises above the pivot point, it may act as the new support level.
Currently, there are several different ways to calculate pivot points. Using some simple arithmetic and the previous days high, low and close, a series of points are plotted on a chart. These points can be used as support and resistance levels. The pivot level, support and resistance levels calculated from that are collectively known as pivot levels. You can find one of the popular sites used to help calculate pivot points by clicking here.
Some trading strategies used by traders utilizing Pivot Points are:
0Posted by Michael Glass on December 22, 2011 at 1:21 pm
What are the Advantages
of Futures versus Stocks?
When thinking about how to invest in the stock market, most people immediately think about finding a fast moving stock, Apple, Google, etc. However, it is important to know that the stock market provides investors a multitude of ways to invest their money. A Financially Literate investor takes the time to educate himself on those opportunities in order to find the right investment vehicle for his or her goals and objectives.
One alternative to investing in stocks is Futures Trading. Futures Trading is a form of investment which involves speculating on the price of a commodity going up or down in the future. Futures trading is mainly speculative ‘paper’ investing. In other words, it is rare for an investors to actually hold the physical commodity, just a piece of paper known as a futures contract. The most common commodities are:
gold
steel
cotton
corn
wheat
currency
Investing in futures has several advantages over other investment vehicles:
Leverage – To own a futures contract, the investor only has to have a portion of the value of the contract
Liquidity – It usually easy to get in and out of positions
Commissions – Commissions tend to be cheaper with futures contracts
Speculative – As we mentioned, you do not actually have to own the actual commodity
No Day Trading Rules – The Day Trading rules do not apply to futures contracts
Watch the video to learn more about what are the advantages of trading Futures versus stocks:
0Posted by Michael Glass on November 22, 2011 at 7:05 pm
How to Develop
Your Premarket
Routines for Trading
In our previous post, we discussed the importance of developing trading routines. A Trading Routine could be considered a checklists you create to help you become more productive and more organized. Trading routines can also help you maximize your Return On Investment on each trade. In the end, we hope the routines outcome will produce habits of success.
We also described the three important routines every trader should develop: PreMarket, Intraday and AfterMarket. Today, we are going to focus in on how to develop a PreMarket Routine for Trading. Your routine should help you accomplish the following tasks:
Getting yourself up to date on the market; • Assessing your portfolio;
Getting ideas as to what stocks might be ‘hot’ that day;
Knowing if your positions have any new news that could cause volatility;
Being ready to trade when the market opens at 9:30 AM EST
Developing your pre-market routine is crucial to your success as a trader. Pre-Market routines help you locate new trading opportunities and plan your day so that you are not spending market hours devising new strategies but rather using your resources properly and following through with trading plan. Watch the video below for more resources on how to develop your premarket trading routine.
0Posted by Michael Glass on November 17, 2011 at 8:50 pm
How to Develop Your
Own Trading Routines
Intraday Trading Routines
A trading routine help to search out potential trades and get the information that is critical and/or important to that potential trade. Developing a trading routine goes hand in hand with being a focused and disciplined trader. We use these checklists to help you become more productive and more organized. Trading routines can help you maximize your ROI on each trade. Their outcome is to produce habits of success.
There are three types of routines every trader should consider:
PreMarket Routine – Preparing for the current market day
Intraday Routine – Adjusting for the current market climate while looking for new trades
AfterMarket Routine – Summarizing the events of the day and begin to prepare for the next trading session
Here are somethings you should consider including in your intraday trading routine:
Be aware of daily Economic Releases
Be aware of daily Earning Releases
How are the sectors of the stocks you hold or are watching performing, any changes?
0Posted by Michael Glass on November 5, 2011 at 12:04 pm
Weekend Stock Market
Technical Analysis
Trading Plan
Here is our Weekend Stock Market Technical Analysis Trading Plan for Saturday, November 5th. In each video update, we attempt to identify high probability trading setups for the next week. We also look at the key market moving events of the past week including the Greece’s threat to opt out of the Eurozone’s bailout. We then pull up the charts to identify key technical analysis price levels for the S&P 500. We then look to see if some of the market leaders are pulling the market higher or lower (Apple, Amazon, Google, Goldman Sachs, Netflix and Priceline). We also try gain insight to the market’s future direction by looking at the charts for The Dollar, Gold and Crude Oil. Finally, in our education spotlight, we continue to look at what separates winning and losing traders. Today we look at the importance of developing a process for filtering your trades and using dual timeframe agreement for confirmation.
