Day as a trader

Good Question..whats the usual day of a trader...is it a 10 to 6 job..at times yes at times no..all about finding the right balance..point is if I was a trader self employed or working with a desk or a treasury or a Investment Bank..things would be different..frankly to tell you ..yet don't know whats it to be at a treasury or a IB..but yes for now as a self employed Day Trader I manage my money and that of my investors. Its a entrepreneurial setup. This means I am answerable to myself. I follow my discipline my set of rules, rules the market sets for me..in short "market is the king". I know everyone says that..at times I would feel I have mastered the market but that feeling stays till I start loosing after a series of profitable streaks.

One has to learn learn and learn...simple mantra..thats how you gain experience at the markets..every second teaches you....coming back to the point... I would start my day the moment I leave home watching CNBC to assess whats happening today hows the Asian Session coming along..the stock markets, currencies, gold, oil etc etc. its all connected undoubtedly...one's bullish others bearish..somethings confused and moving sideways.. can say the learning for the next day starts at the finish of the previous day too..say end of the European and beginning of the American session. I would see my charts look at the Fibonacci Levels, look at RSI's, day charts, try to assess where the markets would be moving the next day. 

"Price has history" this is true....prices reoccur in a bullish or bearish phase...as a trader you buy a price or you sell it to make profits. Once I have my price levels in mind..I study my charts for the Resistance and Support levels. "Resistance" is the upper most price of a trading range. "Support" is the base price of a trading  range. The market trades/fluctuates in a trading range for different price periods; seconds, minutes, hours, day, weeks etc. Once the Resistance level is broken that is price surpasses a higher price level..it moves into a new trading range and the resistance changes into a support level and you discover a new resistance. This is the phenomena of a bullish market. In case of a bearish market, market breaks the support level and moves into a new trading range to find a new support or base and your previous support becomes the resistance.

Once we understand this concept life doesn't become simple, we have to face our dear "stop hunters" or "squeezers", "pirates" people with might and power of volumes who "push" / "drive" the market against its natural momentum..majority traders would trade in a certain direction after the resistance or support but our dear hunters will trigger your stop losses to stop you out till the last penny. Its a different world..I understand there is a clout of traders who derive their bread and butter on stopping out other traders. A clear site of these stops is the "vic" seen on "candlestick" charts. Its the trading discipline that saves me from these hunters..I have learnt the art of staying away from these hunters..I can't boast that I stay away from them..at times they are lucky to catch me on the wrong foot. But yes I have figured a way to try and get the right entry points during my trades.

So..resistances, supports, stops...where's my profit and loss...simple I Sell at Resistance and Buy at Supports or I Buy at Supports and Sell at Resistances to generate profits....buy low sell high and sell high and buy low. Wrong entry points, misjudging, getting stopped out will force me to book losses. What's important is try increase the statistics, probabilities of trading rightly, doing it right no of times with max iterations to end a day in "Green". Having the consistency of trading with right entry and exit points assures you a "Green" Profitable day. Aaaah...I forget an important element.."Emotions", "Anger", "Greed", "Impatience". "Frustrations", "Confusion", "Unnecessary Baggage from the previous trading sessions". etc etc..stay strictly clear of these..have stay clear of them..have to trade with a clear concentrated light mind to be in the market be green. Again..difficult to finesse but all about self control fighting the enemy within. Yes we could be our best gurus, friends or worst enemies. After all its a best job but difficult job...we are with ourselves ..its us versus the markets. Its the intelligence of buying and selling right..again have to be a part of the market we are not smarter then the market..since end of the day what ever we trade...bonds, equities, currencies, metals, oil etc all have to be priced rightly..markets do not accept wrong prices.

Well enough of story telling have to get to the bottom line soon..just working on the script have things to share..from trading outrights to trading spreads, to hedging, technical analysis, the bond markets, indices, commodities and much more....till then...lets trade well.

Knowledge is Money

I grew up studying the funda (popular short form for fundamentals) that "Knowledge is Power" it was also the embedded as the main spirit of my school and lodged onto the school badge too. As I grew through school to college and through my MBA the spirit has transformed itself to be that Knowledge is surely Power but that power is measured in terms of money one makes. Application of Knowledge with the right ingredients makes you rich thats the mantra.

Since I would like to call myself a  trader and moreover since I have evolved as one by fate, interest, work, professional contacts  I would relate and discuss this in the world of money markets, world of investments, day trading, stock markets, bond, forex, commodities, futures etc etc... to put in the simplest form.

Question is why am I talking about knowledge as the key ingredient, answer to this is that as we hear about derivatives from the real instances, markets..I understand that knowledge is a derivative of "Awareness" once we understand a subject we enlighten ourselves or are aware of the subject in focus we tend to gain more knowledge. As a trader if one were to succeed I would stand by the fact that awareness is the key to money making. Since I have to be aware of the market, its forces, my peers their reactions, the markets reaction, the price movements and much more. I am in the process of improving my knowledge over every second, minute, day, week, month and years and this is that adds to my experience as a trader another key ingredient.

Coming back to the bottom line knowledge sums up to money if applied in the right way with the right experience. How do I still justify this..so lets speak in the lingo of a trader. What are we looking at ..below are the answers in brief...

• Instrument to be traded - Stocks, Index, Currency, Oil, Gold, Metals, Grains
• Forces affecting the price - Supply, Demand, Economic & Non Economic Events
• Trading System - OTC, ECN, through a broker, others.
• Market & Personal Sentiment - Opinion of peers, colleagues, media, yourself.
• Technical Analysis & Indicators

Being aware of the above is a key to building your knowledge base. Once these ingredients are in place we are game to the idea of money making. I know this still sounds bookish and lame we are in a fast world but the truth is direct or indirect we are exposed to information which builds our knowledge base and interest. The intention of my blog is to share and learn too, the knowledge I have gained over a period of time in this amazing field of trading.

Theres more to come..till then cheers !