101-years ago a Trader Showed His Greatness

The best stocks and commodities trader of all-time was without a doubt Mr. W.D. Gann, who certainly had the most interesting and mystical trading method too. This was reported about Mr Gann by the Ticker Magazine more than 100-years ago in the year 1909. During the summer of 1909 Willima D. Gann predicted the September Wheat contract trading on the Chicago Board of Trade would sell at a price of $1.20. This meant t it must touch $1.20 price before the end of the month of September. At 12:00 Chicago time, on September 30th (the last day) Sept Wheat futures was selling under $1.08, and it looked as though Gann;s prediction would not be fulfilled.

Mr. Gann said, ‘If it does not touch $1.20 by the close of the market it will prove that there is something wrong with my whole method of calculation. I do not care what the price is now, it must go there.’ It’s now history September Wheat surprised the whole country by selling at exactly $1.20 and no higher in the very last hour of trading, with its closing price being exactly $1.20”

So much for what Mr. Gann has said and done as evidenced by himself and others. Now as to what demonstrations have taken place before our representative: During the month of October, 1909, in 25 trading days, W.D. Gann made in the presence of our representative 286 trades in various stocks, on both the long and short side of the market. 264 of these transactions resulted in profits, with just 22 losses.

The capital with which he operated was doubled ten times, so that at the end of the month he had one thousand percent of his original margin. In our presence Mr. Gann sold US Steel common short at 94-7/8, saying it would not go to 95. It did not. On a drive which occurred during the week ending October 29, Mr. Gann bought Steel common at 86-1/4, saying it would not go to 86. The lowest it sold was 86-1/3.

We have seen him give in one day sixteen successive orders in the same stock, eight of which turned out to be at either the top or the bottom eighth of that particular swing. The above we can positively verify. Such performances as these, coupled with the foregoing, are probably unparalleled in the history of the Street.

James R. Koene said, “The man who is right six times out of ten will make a fortune.” He is a trader who, without any attempt to make a showing, for he did not know the results were to be published, established a record of over ninety-two percent profitable trades. Mr. Gann has refused to disclose his method at any price, but to those scientifically inclined he has unquestionably added to the stock of Wall Street knowledge and pointed out infinite trading and investment possibilities.

The complete William D. Gann article and other Gann articles are located here

Time Duration Secrets to Profitable Day Trading

According to our extensive hands-on futures market research, most successful day-trades last about 7-minutes. That assumes the trader is using a reasonable profit objective and exiting the trade as his profit target is hit.

Most losing day trades last approximately 45-minutes on average, when the trader finally exits out of the losing trade. That’s because the trader relies on hope once he sees the trade losing money. The trader hangs-on to the losing trade position relying on hope the market will change trend and turn in his favor. However, eventually the equity loss becomes too large which finally forces the trader to exit the trade and take a big loss rather than possibly lose even more money by hanging on even longer.

Are you wondering how this little known information can help you trade the markets profitably? The short answer is at the end of 7-minutes in the trade you might consider getting out regardless of the fact your profit target was not hit or you have a loss at that time, keeping in mind the more past 7-minutes it goes the less likely the trade will be a winner.

Trading Method for Trading Stocks & Commodities

If there is one single trading technique which can best lead to profitable trading of stocks and commodities it would probably be the concept of using swing highs and swing lows, which is based on relatively simple chart patterns.

The swing high and swing low trading method is based on the observation if you look at a chart of any market you can easily see a down-market consists more of a series of lower swing highs and an up-market is mostly a series of higher swing lows (which swings are also known by the trading term pivot-points).

A swing-high is a high day (or price bar) with lower bars both in front and behind the high bar, thus forming a swing-high. This swing-high must also be under the prior swing-high which results in a lower swing high.

A swing-low is low day (or price bar) with higher bars both in front and behind the low bar), thus forming a swing-low. This swing-low must also be above the previous swing-low, which becomes a higher swing-low.

Buying or selling swing-lows and swing highs are used by many successful traders. This concept has been used by them for a very long time. Simply buying higher lows and selling lower highs by themselves can improve your overall trading results, especially when combined with other sound trading principles, including use of powerful drawdown minimizer logic stop-loss techniques.

Time Duration Trading Secrets & Statistical Validity

Secrets of time durations of profitable & losing day-trades

Most successful daytrades last approximately 7-minutes. That typial trade duration assumes the trader is using a reasonable profit objective and exiting the trade as his profit objectivegets hit.

Most losing day trades last about 45-minutes. That’s because the trader relies on hope once he sees the trade looking like a failure. So he hangs on to the losing trade hoping it will turn, finally the loss becomes too big forcing him to exit the trade after being in the trade for a much longer time than originally anticipated, mostly due to relying on hope.

How many trades are needed for good statistical validity?

Lots of stocks and commodities traders ask how reliable their track-record may be as far as statistical validity goes. They may see some statistics on seasonal trades showing a market was mostly uptrending from April to June during 12 of the last 14 years, for example. The same traders may have experience with their own trading system showing 8 of 9 winners following say a 5-unit moving average crossing over a 9-unit moving average.

None of those scenarios are valid from a statistical validity standpoint. That’s because according to mathematical experts and statisticians a minimum of 30 occurrences are needed for good statistical validity. Please keep this in mind when evaluating a trading system or trader metholodology. Anything less than 30 samples will not be statistically accurate.

Predicting Monday Prices Based on Friday Price

Does Friday’s Stock, Options or Futures Price Action Predict Monday’s Price Movement?

Is it possible a market trading methodology or trading system can be profitable based on a simple trading method involving Friday’s prices to successfuly predict the opening price on the following Monday?

This trading pattern does not appear every single week but it’s often reflected in the financial markets. And when it does appear, the following Monday’s prices tend to perform in a predictable manner, possibly leading to trading profits got you.

The trade setup uses the opening and closing prices on Friday to trend in the same direction. Interim price movements and trend directions are not relevant for this trading method.

Stocks and commodity price openings don’t need to go too far past the first several ticks, as a price-gap which quickly reverses is sufficient for the purposes of this trade method, but that’s the direction the closing price needs to trend.

Monday’s opening price is likely to first start trending in the same direction at the opening of tradding vs the pattern of the two prices Friday moving in the same direction as each other, then Monday’s open is likely to start trending in the same direction imediately after the opening occurs.

Do your own technical narket analysis of old market price action based in one-minute bar-charts or real-time tick-charts to view the price action and weekly market trading patterns. You will see it sometimes does not work all weeks but does appear to be better than 50% reliable.

This simple but interesting trading method may work particularly well involving commodity futures trading in addition to stock market and foreign exchange market trading of the Forex Futures markets. Iy has not been tested in the futures optiosn maret but there is a good chance it will work there too.

Simple but Excellent Commodity Trading Method

It involves buying so called higher swing-lows and selling so-named lower swing-highs. Also known as pivot-points. A definition of these swing-highs and swing-lows is appropriate here: A swing-high is a high bar with lower bars on both sides the bar. Whereas, a swing-low is a low bar with higher bars on both sides.

The more lower bars to the left of a swing-high the better. The more higher bars to the left of the swing-low the better. That makes them more significant and presumably more powerful swing points. However, only one bar on either side is still acceptable (but two or more to the left are usually stronger trade signals).

My trading methodology requires two (or more) consecutive swings, with the second one being a higher swing-low vs the preceding one for a buy. Alternately, the second swing-high needs to be to be a lower swing-high than the preceding swing for a sell signal.

The actual going long trade entry takes place on a buy-stop 2 ticks above the high price of the last bar (the bar following the swing-low pivot bar), for a buy. The short trade signal takes place on a sell-stop at 2-ticks under the lowest price of the last bar (the bar following the swing-high pivot bar), with a sell.

Your stop-loss order is placed 6-ticks under the lowest price of the last swing-low bar on a long trade. The short trade stop goes 6-ticks above the highest price of the last swing-high bar.

It’s possible for you to make excellent commodity futures profits from using this simple, but very effective trading methodology. Authored and Copyrights by David Green. All Rights Reserved.

Amazing Method for Reducing Trading Risk of Loss

This Special Report reveals an amazing method we can teach you to reduce risk of loss when trading the financial markets by staying in good trades, but trading with small stop-loss orders to avoid large trade losses.

Always using a stop-loss order is normally critical to commodity futures trading success. The most famous stocks and commodities trader of all time, Mr. William D. Gann, said repeatedly in his books and commodity course that it’s always critically important to place a stop-loss order on each trade you make. That way bad signals and losing trades will not likely wipe out your trading capital, thanks to your stop-loss order giving you some protection.

Most trading systems and trading methods require fairly large stop-loss orders. That is because stops are frequently based on one or more of the following logical (but frequently ineffective) trading methodologies:

Place a stop-loss order at a pre-determined percentage of the true daily trading range. For example, if the true daily range or average of recent true ranges (High minus Low, plus any gap between prior close and today’s low or high) is say 83 points, then the stop may be set at perhaps 120% of that range or about 100 points. In the Deutsche Mark that equals $1,250.00 stop, plus any price slippage..

Another method is by placing a stop-loss just under the last swing-low or pivot-low. Note: A swing-low is a low point with higher prices on each side. For example, if last swing-low was at 7650 and price moves up for a few days to say 7750, then triggers a buy signal, stop may be placed just under the low price of the low day, perhaps at 7649. Unfortunately, that example means a potential risk of over 100 points ($1,250.00+). Of course, the reverse is also applicable on a sell position, with the stop being just above swing-high.

Using a moving average penetration as a stop, i.e., place a stop on a long trade at just under a simple moving average, possibly based on a 9-day average. The trouble here is that if we entered long at about 77.50, by the time the moving average is penetrated by the price, the moving average may be well below the market (due to its inherent lag-time), at 7600 or so. That results in a stop-loss at 7599 stop, and a risk of about $1,900.00.

One more stop-loss trading approach is to place a stop order under last week’s lowest price. This method may be even riskier because last week’s low may be 7550. That requires a stop of 7549 or lower, and a risk in excess of 200 points or over $2,500.00.

Another simple and a completely unscientific trading approach is known as a "money stop." It involves setting an usually arbitrary stop based on either the maximum money you wish to lose, or stop based on a reasonable sounding number of points or dollars.

As an example, psychologically you may not want to lose more than $1,000 so you set your stop at a price equaling $1,000 loss potential. That number is arbitrary, so it may turn out to be either too small or too large, depending on the volatility and the market involved. For example, perhaps it’s too small a stop for T-Bonds when they’re volatile or too large when they are dull. If using the $1,000 stop-loss in the Corn market or another low-risk low volatility market, it may be too large a stop to use.

By now you may be asking if there’s a better way to set market stop orders more scientifically and with better reliability and accurately, thus enabling me to keep risk low and still avoid getting "stopped-out" needlessly and stay in the potential winning trade?

The good news is a big YES, there is a way to do much better. By using Webtrading’s "Drawdown Minimizer Logic." Drawdown Minimizer Logic is an amazing and proven way to set stop-loss levels very tightly to guard against large losses, yet keep the stop scientifically and strategically placed just far enough away to prevent premature hitting of the stop-loss; thus keeping you in most trades instead of being stopped-out at a loss. Don’t worry if this methodology seems too technical, because it’s basically simpler than it appears.

You may be wondering if our confidential “drawdown Minimizer logic” stop-loss methodology will be disclosed? Yes, we are willing to reveal this secret ingredient to commodity futures trading success to traders who sign-up to our news feed. That is how you can soon learn about our incredibly valuable information which can lead to making-money trading the financial markets…

In the upper right area of this web-page you will see a signup area which says “Sign up to receive breaking news as well as receive other site updates!” Simply add your email address and click go. We plan to reveal the details about how you can access the information in the near future, so please be patient as you wait. And by the way, I promise your email address will be kept confidential, never shared with anyone, or published anywhere and you will not receive too many emails.

Technical Analysis Chart Pattern Trading Tips

Technical Tips from Dan Gramza. Hello everyone, this is Dan Gramza and welcome to Gramza Market Studies Technical Tip.

Well today we’re going to be talking about selling market rallies. Now what does it mean when people say “sell the rally” when you want to get into a commodity, stocks or options trade? Or they sell a pull-back? Or you hear things like, “The Trend Is Your Friend?”

We’re going to explore this here in just a minute. I want to show you the trading technique and I want to show you some examples of how these trading markets behave in those settings.

 I want to show you an example, but before I can talk to you too much about this example I need to define a few things for you.

First candlesticks technical analysis… the approach I use with Japanese candle charts, and that is what you’re looking at here, is not the standard approach. So from my perspective, I don’t focus on patterns, I focus on chart behavior. If we see a green candle that represents buying it means the closing price is higher vs the opening price.

If you see a red box which represents selling it means the closing price is below the opening price. If you see a white line on top that’s called a shadow, I think it represents selling. If you see a white line on the bottom that pattern represents buying. Now with that in mind, the sizes of the bodies and the shadows tell us about the degree of market buying or selling.

Now let’s talk about this trade set-up here… To get the rest of these trading-tips, please visit the link below and WATCH me here: http://www.ino.com/info/36/CD159/&dp=0&l=0&campaignid=9

Amazing trading 100-yrs ago by William D Gann

It has been asked in phone calls and emails if there is a method to predict futures markets turning points based strictly on
numbers and charts. The only way we know how to do this is to Square Price & Time and to draw Geometric Gann Angles using “Square Charts”, as outlined in our W D Gann Trading Course.

We also have some great reprints of old articles about W. D. Gann, the most famous stocks & commodities trader of all time. Here is part of a fascinating article about Gann written in 1909 by a newspaper which later became known as The Wall Street Journal.
“It is very difficult for me to remember all the predictions and operations of Mr. Gann which may be classed as phenomenal, but the
following are a few. “In 1908 when the Union Pacific was 168-1/8, he told me it would not touch 169 before it had a good break. We sold it short all the way down to 152-5/8, covering on the weak spots and putting it out again on the rallies, securing 23-points profit out of an 18-point wave.”

“He came to me when United States Steel was selling around 50, and said, “This Steel will run up to 58 but it will not sell at 59. From there it should break 16 points.” We sold it short around 58 with a stop at 59. The highest it went was 58. From there it declined to 41-17 points.”

“At another time, wheat was selling at about .89¢. He predicted the May option would sell at $1.35. We bought it and made large profits on the way up. It actually touched $1.35.” “When Union Pacific was 172, he said it would go to 184-7/8 but not an
eighth higher until it had a good break. It went to 184-7/8 and came back from there eight or nine times. We sold it short repeatedly, with a stop-loss at 185, and were never caught. It eventually came back to 17.”

“Mr. Gann’s calculations are based on Natural Law. I have followed his work closely for years. I know that he has a firm grasp of the basic principles which govern stock market movements, and I do not believe any other man can duplicate the idea or his method at the present time.”

Early this year, he figured that the top of the advance would fall on a certain day in August and calculated the prices at which the Dow Jones Averages would then stand. The market culminated on the exact day and within four-tenths of one percent of the figures predicted.” “You and Mr. Gann must have cleaned up considerable money on all these operations,” was suggested. “Yes, we have made a great deal of money. He has taken half a million dollars out of the market in the past few years. I once saw him take $130, and in less than one month run it up to over $12,000. He can compound money faster than any man I have ever met.” (Editor’s Note: these figures are based on 1909 Numbers)

“One of the most astonishing calculations made by Mr. Gann was during last summer [1909] when he predicted that September Wheat would sell at $1.20. This meant that it must touch that figure before the end of the month of September. At twelve o’clock, Chicago time, on September 30th (the last day) the option was selling below $1.08, and it looked as though his
prediction would not be fulfilled.

Mr. Gann said, ‘If it does not touch $1.20 by the close of the market it will prove that there is something wrong with my whole method of calculation. I do not care what the price is now, it must go there.’ It’s common history that September Wheat surprised the whole country by selling at $1.20 and no higher in the very last hour of trading, closing at that figure.”

So much for what Mr. Gann has said and done as evidenced by himself and others. Now as to what demonstrations have taken place before our representative: During the month of October, 1909, in twenty-five market days, Mr. Gann made, in the presence of our representative, made 286 transactions in various stocks, on both the long and short side of the market. 264 of these transactions resulted in profits – twenty-two in losses.

The capital with which he operated was doubled ten times, so that at the end of the month he had one thousand percent of his original margin. In our presence Mr. Gann sold US Steel common short at 94-7/8, saying it would not go to 95. It did not. On a drive which occurred during the week ending October 29, Mr. Gann bought Steel common at 86-1/4, saying it would not go to 86. The lowest it sold was 86-1/3.

We have seen him give in one day sixteen successive orders in the same stock, eight of which turned out to be at either the top or the bottom eighth of that particular swing. The above we can positively verify. Such performances as these, coupled with the foregoing, are probably unparalleled in the history of the Street.

James R. Koene said, “The man who is right six times out of ten will make a fortune.” He is a trader who, without any attempt to make a showing, for he did not know the results were to be published, established a record of over ninety-two percent profitable trades. Mr. Gann has refused to disclose his method at any price, but to those scientifically inclined he has unquestionably added to the stock of Wall Street knowledge and pointed out infinite trading and investment possibilities.

The complete William D. Gann article and others are located here

How to Obtain the “House Advantage” in Trading

How to Obtain the “House Advantage” by Dave Reiter.

I have received phone calls from several CTCN members who were interested in receiving additional information on my various trading methods and techniques. Therefore, I will try to expand on my previous article.

As I mentioned in my previous article, most of my trading is based on repetitive price patterns. My goal is to locate trades which will offer me a slight advantage over the markets. In other words, I want to “tilt the odds” in my favor on each trade that I initiate.

During the past four years, I have developed two trading methods based on the principle of repetitive price patterns. One method is based on long-term price patterns and the other method is based on short-term price patterns. Please allow me to briefly explain each method.

I’ve been trading my long-term method every day since 1992. As you know, from reading my previous article, this method generates about 8 -10 trades per month. On average, each trade is held 4 to 5 weeks.

The reason this method has produced consistent trading profits for the past 36-mos is because it’s extremely diversified. It trades many markets (currencies, energy, financial, grains, meats, metals and softs). Whenever I’m losing money in one sector, there usually is another sector that will “pick up the slack.” About two months out of each year, all of the sectors are making money at the same time. Obviously, that’s when I accumulate most of my yearly profits. Unfortunately, I’ll also experience a 2-mo period when each sector is losing money simultaneously.

It’s no “big secret, that a large number of commodities will move in a very predictable pattern during certain times of the year. However, I’m convinced that most traders are not completely aware of these trading patterns. For instance, most traders (particularly novice traders) probably think that grain prices rise during the summer (June thru August). However, this is simply not the case most of the time.

If you go back over the past 15 years and examine the price patterns for Corn (for instance), you will find that corn prices will have a definite bias to the downside over 70% of the time throughout the summer months. Therefore, l always look to short the Grains from June thru August because the “odds” are on my side. This is the underlying basis of my entire trading method.

This is just one example. I have dozens of other trading patterns that I use each year throughout all of the commodity complexes. The “secret” to success of this trading method is the fact that all of my trades have a greater than 50% chance of making money. Once again, the “odds” are on my side.

My short-term trading method is based on the belief that most markets will “gap open” in the direction of the previous day’s closing trend. To profit from the gap opening, I must find a simple way to determine the market’s current trend and establish a position before the market closes. My goal is to liquidate the trade during the next day’s opening range; hopefully with a good profit.

Of the two trading methods, I like the short-term method better because the equity curve is much smoother than the long-term method. However, the long-term method has greater profit potential and is much less time-consuming to trade.

In February, I sent Mr. Green a copy of my account statements and 1099 forms to verity that I have made over $150,000 during the past-36 months as a result of using these trading methods. However, I did (as Mr. Green stated) “cover up” the individual trades from my account statements.

Editor’s Note: I have found out that some members were somewhat suspicious or doubted the profit claims because the specific trades were blocked-off. The fact Mr. Reiter chose to block-off or cover-up the details of his trades on his brokerage statements does not necessarily detract or cast suspicion on his profit claims.

I did that because my trading methods (as you know) are based on repetitive price patterns. Therefore, many of the trades that I took last year, I will also takenext year. In order to “protect” my trading method, I “deleted” all trades from my account statements and simply showed the net profit/loss for each month. I am in the process of writing a trading manual, which will explain all of my various trading methods and techniques. When the manual is completed, I intend to send a copy to Mr. Green for his review.

I’m always looking for new trading ideas and methods. As you know, the markets are constantly changing and we need to keep up with those changes. Good luck with your trading.

The Truth About Trading – Traders Article #2

Still one more common reason for a traders failure and trading losses, is you may be right on a trade, but don’t know when to exit the position and take your profits. More often than you would believe, a trader has excellent profits, but ends up giving back all or most of the open equity profits because of not knowing when to get out!

For example, a trader is long at 62.40 and the price moves to 63.90 for a huge open equity profit of say $1,800. He has held the position for a few bars, but after looking at the bar-chart and the powerful price up-move, he decides the market’should easily go to 64.40 within the next day or two. That way his profit will’be $2,500., much more than the current profits of $1,800.

Perhaps the next day the market goes to 64.30 (just slightly under his’objective) but ends up closing "weak" because it’s'"over-bought," and closes for the day at 63.92. The trader is mad’about giving up some open profits so hopes it goes back to at least 64.30 again’the next day. Unfortunately, some bad news comes out overnight and the market"gaps" down on the next opening and opens at much lower at 63.00.

The trader still hopes for an intra-day rally to get back some of his lost’open profits, instead it goes lower all day and the trader finally gives up’hope and gets out at a break-even price of 62.40. Because the market was "over-sold," over the next couple bars it eventually recovers back up’to the anticipated 64.40 price, but the trader is now out of the market with no profit! This type of scenario is all too common an occurrence. To varying degrees, this happens more often than you would believe!

One solution to this problem is for the trader to take small profits or not use specific targets and place very tight trailing stops just under the market. This is poor practice because you will end up getting stopped out with very small profits most of the time. That will result in your average winning trade being quite small compared to your average losing trade, resulting in poor results.

The best alternative is to use targets scientifically based on the market’s volatility. Unfortunately, not many trading systems do that. Ideally, a system should have each and every trade uses a specific and dynamic target price based on the market’s actual recent volatility. With a dynamic approach based on volatility and past bar size, the market itself will reveal how far a move should progress, based on actual movement and recent volatility.

Still another reason many traders lose, is because they are using a trade methodology or trading system which is NOT in actuality fully mechanical, but its trading track-record does not reveal it’s not mechanical. For example, a trading system’s advertising may claim 60%, 70%, 80%, or perhaps even 90% winning trades. However, these promotional claims are usually based on 20-20 hindsight and subjectivity, and not on real-time actual trades. Perhaps the system says buy or sell when there is divergence between the price and a Stochastics or RSI Study.

That divergence is very difficult to recognize in real-time trading, but easy to see with 20-20 hindsight looking at an old chart. Another popular but subjective approach is to watch for turning points at certain times, also known as time-windows.

This approach may say to enter or liquidate the trade after an obvious pivot-low or pivot-high occurs, and providing it’s during the
projected time-window. It’s mostly subjective and easy to do by looking at the past, but hard to do in actual real trading. However, some system developers have in fact used hindsight or subjectivity to arrive at their ridiculous percentage of winning trade claims.

Another popular but well over-rated trade method is Elliott-Wave trading. Elliott Wave methodology is popular because there are obviously waves in the markets and the idea of using market-waves to predict market turning-points and also riding these waves, is naturally very appealing to traders. What I am about to say may upset some proponents of Elliott Waves, but the plain truth is Elliott-Waves used by themselves are allegedly of little value in actual trading.

If you want evidence to back-up that statement of their questionable value, just do the following: Show the SAME identical chart to 5 traders (make it a mystery chart – rather than a widely published chart the trader may recall).

Next, ask the 5 traders to specifically define the number of waves they see on the chart. You you will likely end up with 5 different (frequently widely diverse) wave-counts. The chances of even 2 of the traders seeing the same exact elliott-wave-counts are extremely unlikely.

Why is this so? There are in fact "waves" in the markets. However, defining what constitutes a "wave" is near impossible, because a wave is largely a matter of visual interpretation and judgment and is highly subjective. It’s difficult for a mostly subjective technical analysis method like Elliott-Wave Counts to be used successfully in trading?

Is there a way to overcome these basically of little, if any value subjective approaches?

Yes! Use a Trading System, which does not rely exclusively on Elliott Waves and other subjective approaches. However, using Elliott Waves as part of a trading plan in conjunction with another time-tested trading methodology may work for you.

The Truth About Trading – Traders Article #1

There are many reasons why successfull commodities futures trading is so tough. Unfortunately, the majority of futures traders lose money … there are a lot of reasons for it. That’s the Bad News. However, the Good News is providing you can get in the small Winner’s Circle you too can achieve profitable trading. Then you may reap the rewards with the money lost by the many losing traders flowing to you and richly rewarding you for being a winning trader!

Since there are far fewer winning traders than losing ones, by being in the winning minority, you will be in a position to receive much greater profits than normally possible! This is especially true what with the great leverage involved with commodities trading, options trading and trading stocks on margin.

Read all about the major reasons so many commodity futures, stock market and options traders lose money (so you can avoid these problems). After reading this Special Report "The Truth About Trading and Trading Systems" Special Report, you may visit other areas of CTCN’s website and our links trading related links for more specific trading knowledge covering all aspects of commodity futures, stocks and options trading for traders & investors.

This Special Report was originally written by the Editor of Commodity Traders Club News a number of years ago. These common trading problems are just as evident (perhaps more so) going into the New Millennium as they were in the early 1990′s when this Report was originally written. The main difference in the report after over a decade of time is the fact the prices used as examples may be different. Actually, the eal price levels themselves make little if any difference to the validity of the discussion.

Also, originally Daily Bars were used for time-frame examples, as applied to daily bar charts. Since then daytrading is much more popular with commodity futures, stock market and options traders. Therefore, we have changed the word "Days" to the term "Bars," as in Bar-Charts. The Time Frames can by identified as inter-day (daily) bars, or intra-day tick-bars, like 1-min., 5-min., 30-min bars (bar-charts), etc. It really makes little, if any difference, as the concepts and theories are basically the same.

One reason for losing in the markets is the commodity futures, stocks or options trader is not really sure which time-frame or trend he is trading, or he is not matching his target objective price level to the time frames’ expected movement. Perhaps the trader wants to capture a move which he expects to take about 4-bars (or 4-days).

However, the volatility increases so the 4-bar (day) trend is actually over in 2 bars and he does not realize it and stays with the trade 2-bars too long. Thus, he gives up all or most of his profit, because he expected the move to last longer.

The opposite can occur … this happens when the volatility is low and after just 4 bars he gets tired of waiting for the expected move and exits the trade early, perhaps at a loss or small profit. Suddenly, over the next 2 bars the trend and move he anticipated happens; too late, as he is already out of the trade.

Of course, the 4-bar example above also occurs with traders expecting 2-bar moves which may occur in 1-bar, or vice versa. Also, 6-bar moves which end-up occurring over perhaps 8 or 9 bars, or vice versa, etc., and various intra-day time periods.

Another common occurrence, is the trader not using a specific stop-loss order. Thus, a small loss ends up as a big loss. For example, a trader believes a stop (loss) of $400 is reasonable, based on either technical analysis or on money-management rules. However, perhaps due to discipline problems the trader has, it’s not actually used.

Once out $400.00, he relies on HOPE the market will go back in his direction, and he fails to execute the planned exit point. Frequently, the market fails to move back in a profitable position and the trader is finally forced out of market with perhaps a huge $2,000 loss, instead of the maximum $400 loss anticipated.

Note: More often than not, it seems once the trader who over-stayed the position finally decides to get out, the market frequently reverses the exact day (or next day) he got out! That seems to be an uncanny and almost unwritten law!

The stop-loss order is used, but the stop is not sufficiently precise. More frequently than you can imagine, the stop is hit by just a very small margin. For example, the market may be at 54.60 and a long position stop is placed to sell at 52.50. The market goes down to 52.47 and then reverses back to beyond 54.60 very quickly after stop was barely hit.

Sometimes the stop price of 52.50 may end up being the EXACT low price for that swing . . . very frustrating and upsetting when this occurs! Why does this happen so often? Because many times the stop-loss price level happens to be a support area based on a trend line, gann angle, old bottom or old top formation, fibonacci numbers, a chart price gap, or just simply an obvious natural stop-loss area, such as a whole or even number.

Thus many other traders use the same logic to place stops at or near the same level. The market gets drawn to that area because that’s where orders are sitting that the market (and Floor Traders) wants to get filled. Because of those orders resting in that obvious place, the market price actually moves to that area, almost like magic or magnetic attraction.

Failure to actually place a stop-loss order with your broker (unless you are always closely following the market using real-time intra-day data, when you are in an open trade) will result in the great likelihood of you losing all or most of your money (eventually) due to one or a couple huge losses caused by the price continuing to drop after going thru your stop-loss price. Sooner or later (probably sooner) it’s almost certain to happen, if you don’t use and place stop-loss orders to you.

There is an exception for daytraders who employ real time market quotes and are closely watching their real-time quotes and price charts continuously. Sometimes a daytrader may achieve better overall trading success by using so called mental stops vs. actually placing the stop-loss orders with his/her commodity broker. More on that later.

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Commodities Futures – Selecting A Broker

Commodities Futures can be a very rewarding investment and venture, but selecting the right broker is going to be a very critical aspect. You need to ensure that the broker you are working with is extremely knowledgeable and will be available when you need him/her. By default, the commodity broker more than likely will be working for a firm, so you should ensure that you do the necessary research on the brokerage firm in advance before making a selection of which firm to work with.  To do this you can review the National Futures Association to get some background information on the firm.

If you are finding too many complaints against the firm, then that should raise a red flag, and you should consider moving on to another company. Of course you will always find a few complaints from users who may not have been pleased with their results from trading, but if the complaints are too many when compared to other firms, then it is definitely time to move on to another company.

Your goal is to find a long term relationship with a company and broker that you can trust.  The integrity of your broker will be of utmost importance, since you will be trusting them with your account. Take the time to thoroughly ask questions when talking with the broker. You’ll need to establish a good rapport, and comfort with your broker. Do not be afraid to ask tough questions.

Of course one of the best ways to avoid using a firm that does not have a proven track record is to go with established companies and not start-ups. This is not to say a start-up brokerage company is bad, but for your own peace of mind, it is perhaps best to choose a company that has been in business at least five years and who have a proven track record of excellence.