Trading Without Gambling Develop a Game Plan for Ultimate Trading Success

by Link, Marcel

• ISBN13: 9780470118740
• ISBN10: 0470118741
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2008-12-10
• Publisher: Wiley

Summary

Many people perceive trading as nothing more than a gamble. But there are still people who consistently make money trading. How do they do it? They've learned to separate gambling from trading. And the way they do this, says author Marcel Link, is by developing a proper plan. In Trading Without Gambling, Link shows how to create and use a sound game plan to improve every aspect of trading-including finding trades, timing, knowing how much to trade, where to exit, and how to adjust risk-while leaving very little to gambling.

Author Biography

Marcel Link has been involved in trading for more than twenty years and, for the last several years, has been a successful independent trader of futures and stocks. Previously, he founded LinkFutures.com, which was a discount, online brokerage firm. Link is a former member of the New York Financial Exchange. For more information, visit www.MarcelLink.com.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	p. xiii
Introduction	p. 1
Everyone Needs a Plan	p. 7
The Hanging Curveball	p. 7
A Typical Bad Trader	p. 9
A Typical Good Trader Prepared with a Plan	p. 9
The Trading Plan and the Game Plan	p. 11
A Disclosure or Two before We Continue	p. 13
The Trading Plan	p. 15
What Is a Trading Plan?	p. 15
A Simple Trading Plan	p. 16
Why a Trading Plan?	p. 17
A Business Plan for Traders	p. 18
Making a Trading Plan	p. 19
Breaking Down the Trading Plan	p. 20
Closing Thoughts	p. 23
The Game Plan	p. 25
Always Be Prepared	p. 25
Why a Game Plan	p. 26
The Basics of the Game Plan	p. 27
Know Yourself	p. 27
Drawing up Scenarios	p. 27
Making Your Plan Work	p. 29
Closing Thoughts	p. 32
Get to Know Yourself	p. 33
Different Types of Traders	p. 34
Figuring Out Who You Are	p. 35
The Importance of Knowing Your Style	p. 36
Two Sides to Every Story	p. 38
Closing Thoughts	p. 39
Trading Strategies	p. 41
Trading Strategies	p. 41
Your Strategy Needs to Fit Your Style	p. 42
Technical Strategies	p. 42
Building Systems	p. 45
Don't Be Stubborn	p. 50
Why Should You Have a Strategy?	p. 51
What Goes into a Strategy?	p. 51
The Entry	p. 52
Exits	p. 52
Times Frames and Holding Times	p. 54
Stick to Your Trading Strategy	p. 55
Closing Thoughts	p. 55
Know Your Markets	p. 57
Markets Differ	p. 57
Know What You Are Trading	p. 60
What's the Real Risk?	p. 62
Time Frames and Charting	p. 63
Who Moves the Markets?	p. 68
Know Any Correlations	p. 69
Getting the Big Picture	p. 75
Closing Thoughts	p. 75
After the Close	p. 77
Let's Review	p. 78
The Open Trades	p. 79
Thinking about Tomorrow	p. 88
The Closed Trades	p. 89
Getting Ready for Tomorrow	p. 91
Review Your Plans and Strategy	p. 92
Closing Thoughts	p. 93
Before the Market Opens	p. 95
To Each His Own	p. 95
Getting the News	p. 96
Know Your Markets	p. 97
Look at Overseas Markets	p. 98
How Are the Markets Opening?	p. 98
Making Adjustments	p. 99
Were There Any Big Moves Overnight?	p. 100
Look for Possible Trading Situations	p. 101
Draw Up Scenarios	p. 103
Adjusting Size	p. 103
Make Your Daily Game Plan	p. 104
Closing Thoughts	p. 105
Drawing Up Scenarios	p. 107
Know Your Markets-Revisited	p. 107
Getting the Big Picture	p. 108
Getting a Better Picture	p. 109
End of the Day	p. 113
Back to Monitoring Open Positions	p. 114
Once the Trade Is On	p. 115
The Day Trader	p. 122
Making Scenarios for the News	p. 123
Generic Stuff to Look at with Open Positions	p. 125
Closing Thoughts	p. 130
Taking the Gamble Out of Trading	p. 131
Good Trades Can Be Losers	p. 132
Two Parts to a Trade	p. 135
Same Market, Two Views	p. 136
Going Long	p. 136
Going Short	p. 139
Waiting for the Right Opportunities	p. 143
Measure the Risk-to-Reward Ratio	p. 143
Ways to Get the Odds in Your Favor	p. 145
Closing Thoughts	p. 148
Getting In	p. 149
Spotting the Opportunity	p. 149
Planning the Trade	p. 150
Drawing Scenarios for Getting into the Trade	p. 152
Don't Chase the Market	p. 154
Timing the Trade	p. 154
Look For Patterns within the Long-Term Trade	p. 155
Knowing the Risk	p. 159
Deciding How Much to Trade	p. 159
Closing Thoughts	p. 160
Getting Out	p. 161
Preestablish Your Exit Strategies	p. 161
Cutting Losses and Letting Profits Ride	p. 162
Using Stops in Your Game Plan	p. 163
Planning Your Risk	p. 164
The Setup	p. 165
Trading the Gap	p. 167
Another Trade	p. 170
A Crazy Day	p. 171
Planning Your Target	p. 173
How Will You Exit?	p. 174
The In-Between Area	p. 175
Closing Thoughts	p. 175
Reviewing and Managing	p. 177
After the Trade Is on	p. 177
Looking Ahead	p. 182
Reviewing Your Trading	p. 184
Keeping a Journal	p. 188
Closing Thoughts	p. 189
How to Keep from Overtrading	p. 191
Why Have a Plan	p. 192
You Don't Always Need to Be in the Market	p. 192
Stop Being in Too Many Positions	p. 196
Using a Game Plan to Help if You Trade Too Many Positions	p. 198
Keeping to Risk Management Limits	p. 200
Closing Thoughts	p. 204
Money Management	p. 207
Don't Take Risk Lightly	p. 208
Another Gambling Analogy	p. 209
The Money Management Basics	p. 211
Incorporating Your Money Management Plan into Your Trading Plan	p. 220
Incorporating Your Money Management Plan into Your Game Plan	p. 221
Establishing Money Management Procedures for Open Positions	p. 223
Closing Thoughts	p. 223
Trading Rules	p. 225
Trading Rules	p. 225
Using Your Rules to Make a Trading Plan	p. 226
My Trading Rules	p. 227
Appling the Money Management Rules	p. 228
Applying the Entry Rules	p. 229
Applying Your Exit Rules	p. 231
Applying the Discipline Rules	p. 232
The Top 25 Rules	p. 233
Closing Thoughts	p. 240
Focus and Discipline	p. 241
Staying Focused	p. 242
Distractions	p. 242
Have a Routine to Help You Write a Game Plan	p. 244
Following Your Plan	p. 245
How to Stay Focused if You Have Trouble Staying Focused	p. 246
Mental Side of Discipline	p. 248
Keeping Tabs	p. 251
Unwinding after the Day	p. 253
Closing Thoughts	p. 254
Learning How to Win	p. 255
Clean Out Your Closet	p. 256
Don't Blame Others for Losses	p. 256
Think of It as an Expense and Not a Loss	p. 257
Self-Destructive Behavior	p. 257
Learn from Mistakes	p. 257
Trade, Trade, Trade	p. 258
Curb Your Emotions	p. 258
Losses Are in the Past	p. 258
Money Management Is More Important than Trade Selection	p. 259
Treat Yourself	p. 259
Preserve Precious Capital	p. 259
Have a Cutoff Point	p. 260
Jumping in Too Soon or Getting in Too Late	p. 260
Do Not Let Big Winners Turn to Losers	p. 260
Make a List of Rules	p. 261
Trade Your Style	p. 261
Use a Proven Strategy	p. 261
Tips Are for Bartenders	p. 261
Learn as Much as You Can about What You Are Trading	p. 262
Keep Learning	p. 262
Read and Learn	p. 262
Trade with a Plan	p. 264
Fill In Your Own	p. 264
Final Thoughts	p. 264
About the Author	p. 267
Index	p. 269
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