It frequently comes as a surprise to people, but I’m not a gambler. In Vegas, I’m not going to hang out at the Blackjack tables or the slot machines. In fact, you probably won’t see me in the casinos of the hotels at all.

I’m an entrepreneur so I’m certainly no stranger to taking big risks on a frequent basis. It’s part of the job description and I’ve not only learned to tolerate it but embrace it. (more…)

Now this is a story of missed opportunity. And I know we all hate when that happens. If you could save 40% on your food bill would you be interested? How about paying 40% less for your next holiday? Ok let’s not make it about saving money.

Suppose you could improve your golf driving accuracy by 40% or well you get my point. What if you could do anything at all with a 40% advantage to you?

In this case it is about money, and an opportunity to do just that, to make a 40% profit legally, in a single day. A profit I didn’t take advantage of! (more…)

Trading for a living is probably the number one reason that makes many people enter the day trading arena. Trading also offers many benefits that can never be matched by traditional nine to five jobs. But, it is also a trap that many want to be traders fall into if they come totally unprepared. Many traders make mistakes and learn from them, and then there are other traders who make the same mistakes and never learn from them. Below, we take a look at the five most common mistakes made by the novice day trader.

(1) Not Having a proper Trading Plan in place : Most people start trading without any kind of plan in place. That is a very serious mistake to make. Every business is built on and thrives on proper planning. A trader should know in advance how much risk capital they are willing to trade with. Traders must stop looking for the Holy Grail and try to get good at one or two setups and execute them religiously. Traders must plan to cut losers off quickly and hang on to winners as long as possible. By not planning their trading, traders set themselves up for failure. (more…)

No discussion about day trade margin would be complete without taking the time to quickly define margin as it applies to trading accounts – be it stock, treasuries, or leverage forex accounts. To those new to trading with a leverage forex account or other amplified trading account: trading with leverage is extremely risky and can provide very high returns if executed well. Two things to consider before beginning are having enough capital to satisfy your broker’s account requirements, and how to setup your account to avoid a call on the account or worse: a default situation on a trade – resulting in liquidation of the collateral assets of the trader.

Day trade margin really is too broad a term – as there are several layers of account protection for both the trader and the broker. The broker establishes the rules for the day trade margin account and the trader funds it with cash, securities and or other collateral to ensure the ultimate liquidity of the trader’s positions should things go horribly wrong on his or her trades. (more…)

Swing stock trading is one option that works well for investors that want to grow their portfolio quickly with low risk stock trades. Unlike day trading where the investor is in and out of a stock in less than a day, swing trading allows the investor to locate a stock near the bottom of a swing trend, buy the stock and let it ride to near the top of the swing point. In the majority of trades, this is between 2 and 5 days.

One big advantage of swing stock trading over day trading is that you do not have to stay glued to your stock-screener awaiting the right time to sell. Another is that you will pay fewer commissions when swing trading stocks. (more…)

Learning about the currency trading basics can be like pulling teeth, right when you think its about to get better it gets worse, much worse. Just remember all you’re really doing is trading money in one currency for money in another. You are just hoping that when you change it back its worth more than when you started.

We all know the value of the dollar is constantly changing. We hear this on the news that the value of the dollar is going up or going down. Currency trading can be a great part of a diversified portfolio for investing. Most people already know, or believe they know how the stock market works. However there are some distinctions between forex and stock or option trading. (more…)

For many people, day trading for a living seems like an impossible dream that they simply cannot achieve. I feel very sorry for these people because not only is day trading for a living very achievable, it is not that hard to do at all. Making enough money to replace your day job is much easier than many people would expect. I am going to share with you the steps I took to earning my financial freedom.

Learning the Trade Before Jumping in

This is a very important step. You see, the reason most people quit trying to day trade before they see real success is because they jump in too soon and lose money. This would not have happened if they would have taken the time to slow down and absorb some information on it first.

There are tons of stock trading books out there that will explain any strategy you can imagine to you in incredible detail. Think about it this way, a book will cost you $20, but the information you get from it will make you $1000’s if used correctly! (more…)

ETF Trend Trading & Investing can be an intimidating process. Many of us would prefer to leave the “heavy lifting” to someone we perceive as a professional and check in occasionally to see how we are doing. This approach can be profitable depending on the personalities involved.

More likely, though, we are missing opportunities in the market on a daily basis. (more…)

Two widely followed market experts have fundamentally conflicting outlooks on the current market. One says bull, the other bear. Who should be believed? This is a question that runs right to the heart of trading psychology.

The Bullish View

Abby Joseph Cohen, the Goldman Sachs senior market strategist, said yesterday that “We do think the new bull market has begun.” The Wall Street Journal says she is calling for the S&P 500 to reach 1050 to 1100, based on an improving economy and corporate profits. (more…)

Their claims are backed up by credentials, history, and client testimonials. They explain that they’re almost near the cutoff, as they don’t want the information getting out to too many investors, and offer you a $1 trial for two weeks.

Yet once you actually sign up for the newsletter, all you get is half-baked information and uneducated picks. You try to cancel your “trial,” and you find getting your subscription cancelled is nearly impossible. As unscrupulous as this sounds, this type of day trading newsletter story is all too common in the day trading world. (more…)