1. Study.

• Learn how financial markets work. Years ago I took Khan Academy’s free courses on the financial markets. It really helped reinforce what I already knew, taught me new stuff and solidified my confidence in understanding how the financial markets work.

Learn the basics of Technical Analysis. For this part I read “Technical Analysis of the Financial Markets” by John Murphy. I read the whole book not once, but twice, and I constantly refer to it to refresh my memory.

2. Develop a trading plan.

• Write out your trading plan step-by-step and follow it every time. If you don’t do this, you won’t be consistently profitable in the long term. Never trade on a whim, even if you fear missing out on a big move. I would rather miss out on a big move up because I took the time to develop a plan than jump in without a plan and experience a big move down.

3. Find a trading mentor.

• Find someone who is more experienced than you and learn from them. I was able to connect with a very experienced trader here on Trading View with whom I share watchlists and get trade ideas from. We chat regularly and confirm or critique each other’s ideas. Having a trading mentor has been invaluable to my trading. It’s important to find someone who is trustworthy and competent, and willing to critique your trading ideas. Often we as traders only see what we want to see in the chart and miss or ignore obvious clues that go against our theory. For example, what one person sees as a triple bottom (bullish) another person may see as a bear flag (bearish).
• Another way to learn from other traders is to subscribe to traders who post high-quality content on Youtube. I subscribe to a few great trading Youtubers who give me all kinds of insights. My trading has definitely improved because of learning from other traders. With this said, don’t go overboard.

4. Manage risk.

• Preserving your capital is necessary to stay in the game, so you need to manage risk. No matter how good your charting may be, some of your trades will go against you and will need to get out. That’s why I always use stop losses and get out of a trade at a certain predetermined level. Stop losses always limit loss, but do not necessary limit profit. This in turn allows you to only be right half of the time (or in some cases even less) and still be profitable. The topic of stop losses actually warrants it own discussion. In the future, I will be writing a post on how to place your stop losses.
• Other risk management strategies include: limiting the amount of margin you use, only risking a certain percentage of your portfolio on any given trade, and diversifying your portfolio. A key difference between trading and investing is that investing does not (typically) employ stop losses. Long-term investors typically manage risk by using diversification.

5. Be humble.

• Check your ego at the door. It does not matter if you’re right. The only thing that matters is your money. Never stay in a trade because you don’t want to admit that you were wrong. I’ve seen plenty of charts that looked amazing and then a black swan event happens. Perhaps one of the best ways to think about it is to consider this paraphrased statement from the legendary trader Larry Williams: “Regardless of past performance, never forget that every new trade you make only has a 50% chance of success.” I have seen some Trading View users who are completely consumed by pride and post their win rates and super high-profit percentages. I steer clear of these traders because they fail one major rule of good trading: staying humble. Past performance is not a guarantee of future performance.

6. Keep a journal.

• This one is very important. Whenever I learn something new about trading, I write it down in a trading notebook. Whenever I make a mistake, I write down what went wrong and what I learned from the mistake. My trading notebook contains my strategies both for bear markets and bull markets, contains the steps for my daily routine, contains my screener criteria, and contains a listing of all the important things I’ve picked up over the years of trading.

7. Track your assets.

• Employ some kind of a method for tracking your performance. Even though it’s time-consuming, I use a spreadsheet.

8. Avoid speculation.

• Never trade based on speculation or emotion. Never buy or sell an asset because of fear (whether fear of a market crash or fear of missing out on a huge rally). Never enter into a position simply because you like the company, and similarly do not avoid selling your position because you love the company too much. The most successful traders are rigorously unemotional and unattached. In my opinion, I define anything that does not involve an analysis of data as speculation.
• I have also come to learn that by the time everyone is talking about something, it is usually at peak mania and will not go up further. For example, when your co-worker or close friend is talking about how much they made from Bitcoin, it’s probably time to sell. Similarly, if you see everyone on social media posting photos of how much it costs to fill up their car with gas, it probably means we’re at the peak of gas prices.

9. Learn how to use your charting platform.

• One of the best things I ever did to master my charting was to spend a few weeks doing nothing but just learning all the features on Trading View. When I first signed up for Trading View I was overwhelmed by all the tools, indicators, strategies, and ideas on here. So I knew I had to take a timeout from trading and just learn the tools first. For several weeks rather than focus on trading, I focused on learning Trading View. I favorited indicators that work best for my strategy, I created layouts and explored every nook and cranny on the platform. Trading View is incredibly powerful because it provides access to so much data. Having access to data is power. By taking the time to learn how to use all of its tools, I was able master the financial markets to a degree that I can now make predictions just good as those high-paid Wall Street analysts. Your subscription will pay for itself through the profits you make.

10. “Look first. Then leap.”

• Always chart out your entry point, stop loss, and profit target before entering a trade. Ask yourself: How much risk am I willing to take for how much profit?