When a trader finds a new strategy using a new indicator, what does he do with it? Does he just observe it for a few weeks and see if he can get a feel for it? Or just straight out trade it in real time and see how verify its profitability by seeing if the equity is better than it was before trading it?

In automated trading, a programmer can code and give straight forward signals based on the indicator where to enter and exit and have it tested against historical data.

Every morning just before the opening bell ring, every trader get their buy or sell button ready to make that first pretty penny before someone else gets there. The day is especially important because good economic news had just been released so everyone is anticipating a big profit day. This is a typical scenario in a day where either corporate or economic news comes out.

Most of us are quite comfortable with investing in cash deposits, government bonds, and stocks for conservative risk-averse investors. We hear these products discussed widely in the financial media. But rarely do we hear commodities discussed as an investment alternative. After all, what do commodities have to offer that stocks haven't already provided?
Here are reasons why commodities can be a good investment:

- By diversifying your portfolio, the risk can be reduced, especially during recessionary periods such as bear markets where stocks tend to decline and lose value.

Most traders go day to day trading on the fly, take a position when it feels right, especially in the heat of the moment when prices are just moving without them. Not preparing for what lies ahead for the day, week or month can be a costly endeavor. Many don't come with a plan, much less a checklist to prepare for the day. Many professionals are preparing two to three hours even before the market opens.

When Stan Weinstein was first featured in the famous book, Market Wizards: Interviews with Top Traders, by Jack Schwager, he stood out as a trader with the highest win/loss ratio. He finally revealed his method in his only book, Secrets For Profiting in Bull and Bear Markets, for the long-term investors. This informative book covers many aspects of trading, including rules of do's and don'ts as well as a single methodology in finding the right stocks with setups to enter and exit.

We all have it and go through it one time or another and will continue to go through it. For others, drawdowns are more common than profit run-ups. Or worse, each drawdown is worse than the last. Its a never-ending cycle where these holes appear in our equity charts or account statement. How does a trader go about understanding and coping with them?

The main problem with drawdowns is that the majority of the traders dont know they exist and have ignored them.

Gaps are a common occurance in the markets. Everyday there is always at least one stock that has gapped up or down when the market opens. Why? As long there is some event happening somewhere between the market close of the previous day to the opening of today, there will be gaps. Even if the markets eventually move little by little toward the inevitable 24-hour format, there will always be gaps.

Day traders are a special breed of animals from the investors and swing or position traders. To them, there is a routine throughout the day they notice and take advantage of them. Each segment of the trading hours has special meaning. When it comes trading, these traders know when they are at their best and when they will not make a dime.

Floor traders are the best at knowing the routine of the market.

When a trader start his new venture into trading or investing, he finds out many things that need to be learned, understood and used as part of his tools to become successful. One of the useful tools in many trading software is the use of stop loss orders. Although this a standard tool, not many use them. Some use them in different ways to try to achieve one goal: profitability.

There are lots of signal services, newsletters, and trading rooms offering predictions for the coming days, weeks and months ahead on what the market is going to do. It's a very tempting proposition to give subscribers a peace of mind on what the market is about to happen. Some believe it is possible to see what the market will do and subscribers do follow these services.

All traders have gone through a period they wished they never placed the trades. It could be impulsive and emotional factor that drove the trader to commit these trades. These are trades that he wished he can forget forever and hope to never repeat them sagain.

What is opportunity cost in trading?

Opportunity costs happen when we lose unnecessarily while we pass up the higher probability trades with higher reward-to-risk ratio.