Success simplified.

Not being one to want to work in a complicated way, I make it a point in any endeavour to simplify things down to their easiest workable form that I am capable of.

I have found that the simplest way is the easiest way to see through to the finish when time vs. effort vs. cost is on the line.

My system for momentum day trading is very simple. I trade with the momentum when a stock is in sync with the markets. I go long on green candles and sell or short on red candles. I frequently trade the new highs or lows of the day. I don’t gather news or information on a company. That is a waste of time for me as it’s pointless to engage in conjecture about the reason a stock is moving. The reason why it’s moving higher or lower is ultimately because more people are buying or selling it. Who cares why.

I’m not hung up on playing various chart patterns aside from dojis. After all they usually tell a story about shifting momentum. And momentum is really the most important aspect of my style of trading. Everything else stems from it. Buys, sells, stops.

When you can trade with a simple mechanical edge, it frees up your mind to be able to focus on the complexities of the markets and order management, acknowledge and act on what is happening in front of you at the moment to the benefit of your account balance.

You can train yourself to process vast amounts of information and it’s much easier to do so when you execute a simple trading system. This will take a lot of work and continual effort on a daily basis to keep your efforts in top operating condition.

Aside from your actual trading edge, what I feel is vital to your trading success is developing your psychological edge. The singleness of purpose that drives you to believe in yourself via your method under any circumstance. To know that you will be successful in the end.

Perseverance is the first element of success. In order to persevere you must be ceaseless in your application. It requires you to concentrate your thoughts upon your undertaking and bring every energy to bear upon it, keeping focused until you have accomplished your aim. Absolute faith in your ability to be successful, to learn, develop, practice and carry out your trading plan so that finally you are in control. To quit short of this is to weaken all future efforts.

Consistently successful people in any venture don’t have any secret that keeps them going except that they have learned to use their will power to get what they want. From will power comes perseverance, the doggedness to use your mind in any way to achieve your goals and not give up. Never give up. The same thing that got you back on your bike again after you fell down and hurt yourself when you were a kid is the same thing that is still available to you now. It’s the determination to get to that place which will make you happy. Your goal. That must be your focus. That must be the point where all your thoughts return to. Like an arrow to a bullseye.

You must attack the problems areas as would an engineer. Analyze the process and results with a dispassionate mind. Develop a solution(s) to overcome the problem. Test the solutions under real conditions on a small scale. Analyze the results. Modify as necessary. Implement the solution with no deviations. Monitor the results on a continual basis.

Always be striving to achieve progress in your methods. Be forever in a state of mind that lets you learn, never think you know it all.

Don’t be afraid of the application bit. Even wrong steps along the way point you again to the correct track. In this business we are fortunate to have unlimited opportunities in which to try out what works and find out what doesn’t in an immediate way. We can control the risk to a level that is acceptable to us. We don’t need to ask anyones permission. There are no gatekeepers in your way. It’s only you and your plan. Your decisions.

You will find that once you get the glimmer of knowledge that you are on the right track and are developing a trading edge and plan that fits your world, it quickly becomes the first step on your way to your ultimate goal. It becomes something that you can build on and also fall back to and collect your wits.

Simplicity in my mechanical trading edge was the starting point for me. I didn’t want to be bogged down with indicators because where would it stop? More and more and more to try and predict the unpredictable. That seemed to me to be a losing proposition. Who would I blame when things went wrong? The 5 or 10 indicators that said it was a sure thing? No, don’t go down that route.

Success comes from following your trading system. If it has been tested thoroughly and produced good results, then it is up to you to put in into play. You will then get paid accordingly.

Your mind and unbroken concentration in the application of your plan will get the you the results you desire.