Be Patient – If you want to be an excellent golfer and constantly win competitive matches, it takes time, good training and tons of practice. The learning curve for becoming a successful trader is steep as well. We do an excellent job of painting the picture and helping you learn how to interpret the picture and appreciate the art. Eventually, you will “see” it and it will become a natural part of who you are.
What to Trade – It’s common for new traders to ask “What should I trade?”. There are many thousands of possibilities. We help you find rich sources of Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) and stocks that might work. The picture within the system will help you see the trade. A good fishing guide will do their best to “put” you on some fish and teach you how to fish. But it’s your job to catch the fish.
How Much to Trade – Risk is a personal preference. You must decide how much loss you will allow from one trade. If you trade $500 in a stock and don’t want to lose more than $50, then you have a 10% tolerance. If you have $5,000 in your account, a $50 loss is 1% of your total account. You will learn to adjust these numbers to where you are comfortable. Traders with larger accounts may only want to lose a maximum of 1/2% of their account on any single trade. This is part of Risk Management and Position Sizing. Assuming the previous example, if a stock is a fast mover (up and down), then you may only want to trade $250 to keep your loss to $50 and your gain target $100.
When to Buy and Sell – The SquiggleTrader system is not rocket science. We use a combination of a few things. When they are all working, we call this a 5-Star Trade. It becomes fairly easy to spot a good entry point after some training. You’ll learn where to get out if the trade isn’t working. Lots of your trades won’t work. If your trade is working, it becomes a personal preference as to how long you’ll let it run. Some traders will sell half when it reaches a 10% gain. Some traders will let it run until there is an official “sell” signal. We teach how to spot possible places where the trade might be finished. You could sell your position there. Buying is not that tough. Selling is and this comes with time and practice.
How to Lose Well – This is the hardest part of trading. The brain does not want to be wrong. It is designed to protect you. Many traders convince themselves that they are right and hold on until serious losses occur. This is called Confirmation Bias. You will convince yourself that you made the right decision to buy while it is going down. It’s easy to come up with reasons to keep it. For Heaven’s sake, don’t buy more. So, you hold a losing hand. We want you to be the best loser out there. Now that there are little to no commissions for trading… SELL THAT SUCKER. If its going against you, get rid of it. There are thousands of other choices. We like the 2X Rule. If you see that your loss could be 5%, then your gain potential should be at least 2X of that or 10%. If you trade 100 times and only win on half of your trades, your gains should be twice your losses. Do the math. Lose well and win 2X and you’ll be pleasantly surprised.
Manage Your Buckets – The Trading Bucket is different from The Investing Bucket. You’ll learn both. Trading can generate good gains. Some of those gains can be invested in longer term strategies. You might use your gains to help start a business or invest in real estate. You will also learn how to allocate your retirement plan at work as part of your Investing Bucket. For people just starting out, trading might help build the wealth that you imagined but never thought was possible.
Broad and Diverse Markets – We cover over 1,000 markets. This includes stocks, countries, indexes, commodities, interest rates, bonds and crypto. All of these work in our system and this gives us vast choices for wealth building. Don’t worry. It sounds like a lot but it’s not. Some traders pick 10 stocks to watch and only trade those. You’ll figure it out.
Important – We do not recommend, suggest or advise on trades. We teach, train and educate people to make these decisions for themselves.