KEEPING RISK SMALL


Keeping risk small and rewards big is what a good trader is always attempting to do.

How can we do that???

How can we gain that kind of advantage??????

One way I have discovered is by trading off of the 1 minute time frame.

Why is that an advantage??????
It keeps your risk small when you find yourself on the right side of the trade and within a matter of minutes, you will see that you can secure a very nice profit.

The advantage that it has over larger time frames is that you are able to get in on a move quicker, giving you access to more profit with a smaller risk. Many times when you are trading off of the larger time frames by the time you get your confirmation, the move is almost over, the reward is smaller and the risk bigger, especially if you day trade.

One of the problems that comes as a result is that you find yourself in a nice profit briefly before price reverses strongly on you again, then you find yourself hoping and waiting for price to come back in your favor, kicking yourself all of the time, thinking 'I should have got out when I had a profit.'

Now I do need to mention that while you get many more trading opportunities off of the 1 min time frame, You also get many more false trading signals.............

Let's put the odds in your favor a little more. I don't use a trend line on the 1 min chart, just on my longer time frames, so there is always a trend line available, but it comes off a larger time frame. On your 1 min chart, you may want to consider a moving average, right now I am experimenting with the 8, 10, 14/15, 20 and the 50 period SMA.

Though your SMA is a lagging indicator, it can still give you some clear trading advantages by showing you the times that the odds are the most in your favor.......



The real sweet spot.......

TIME, time is the magic ingredient to pulling off a successful and profitable trade. There are market sweet spots, times when your pair is the most active. Those are the times that give you the biggest opportunity for profit. You want to capitalize on these times. Two good trades at these sweet spots will make your trading day.

Here is a chart that will give you an idea when your pairs are the most active:
http://www.mataf.net/en/tools/02-01-volatility.

The most important thing to remember about the 1 min chart is to get in, get your profit and get out. You can not ride a 1 min trade all day.................On the 1 min chart it iS imperative that you cut your profits when things are no longer going in your favor, because price can soon engulf your profits if you don't.

So in closing the things you want to keep your risk small are:
The sweet spot in time:
A proper trade set-up
Speed of execution.

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WHY DO WE HOLD ON TO LOSSES ???

Why do we as traders hold on to our losses???????

Hope,
Fear,
Anger,
Apathy,
Confusion,

When we see ourselves on the wrong side of a trade, we hold on with the thought that the market will soon come back in our favor, because most of the time it does. Hope, one of the greatest gift's GOD has given us, can get you killed in the market.

The fear that when we let go of that loss, price is going to come back in our favor and we would have taken that hit for nothing.

The thought that we can't take this loss, because we don't want to give back some of our profits. Then the loss becomes so large that we really can't afford to take it, so we leave it in the hands on the market hoping for mercy. In that situation, believe me the market is going to run over You every chance it gets, and will wipe You out as many times as possible. As generous as it is on the right side of the trade, it is a ravenous beast with no mercy on the other.

You have done all of Your analysis right, You have waited for a proper trade set-up and everything says that You have the advantage, You get in the market and the trade goes against you, and You are madder than hell because You were right, so You refuse to cut the loss. Let me say that the market loves that, because Your anger is only giving them more of your hard earned money. Your analysis can be 100% perfect and the market can still go against You, because the market will do as it pleases. It leads and You follow, but make no mistake, the same market that lines your pockets so fully can also turn on you like a mad dog.

Another thing that happens when a loss becomes too large is that thought that "I should have cut it at $100.00, now it is $1,000.00". Then the apathy sets in and You just don't care what happens any more. 'If it comes around fine', or 'if I get wiped out so what', 'whatever', then You turn off your screen and You do something else, but You can't stop worrying about that loss that is looming over You larger than life. It is so much better for you to cut a loss than to have the market cut it for You.

The other thing is the confusion about when to cut a loss, it can get to be hard, but having a predefined stop before your entry or soon after or a physical SL, will make taking a hit much easier. I never like to try to define people's SL's because it is a matter of risk tolerance. You know how much You can afford to loss, and Zero is not an option, while none of us want to lose anything, it is just not realistic in this game. There are people who were prosperous for years in the market and got wiped out in single day or week because they could not stand to take a loss. As long as You have money, you have money to make more money, but when your money is gone, you have to get up from the table.

These things are easy to say in theory but hard to do practically, it is I think the hardest discipline that a trader learns, but we must learn to cut losses quickly. The heartache and money I could have saved by cutting my losses quickly and going in the direction that price was moving would be enough for that new Camaro that I love.

That is the great thing about the market, if You survive to play another day, You eventually get it.

CUT YOUR LOSSES QUICKLY (^_^)!!!!!!!!!!!

A failed long usually makes a good short, and a failed short usually means a good long (^_^). There is always good money to be made in the market, just don't be the one because of your false hope, or stubbornness, that the market is making money off of. Don't allow the market to feed on your families hard earned money cut losses quickly!!!!!!!!!!


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