Free E-mini Futures, Forex, and Trading Psychology and Discipline Articles:

When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.
Jul 24, 2007
The same can be applied to trading.

When all you have is the "OPPORTUNITY" to trade, sometimes traders find themselves clicking into trades just to be involved with the markets.

Even Barry Bonds could have seen this winner!
Jul 24, 2007
GBP London session shows a pattern completion on the 5 minute chart. +37 pips and now long with 2 contracts based on the pattern completion...

New Highs, and Time for Some Perspective
Jul 15, 2007
On the occasion of new highs on the $INDU and $COMPX, I began to receive some chatter from these folks, anticipating a major market top and possible reversal coming in mid-summer.

Putting An End to Self-Sabotage
Jul 12, 2007
Every time Jack gets ahead as a trader, he sabotages his efforts. It comes about in many ways. He may feel guilty for getting ahead, and so distraught over his success that he doesn't pay attention to market conditions. This leads to a few bad trades, wiping out a month's worth of profits in a day.

Russell Traders prepare for the change
Jul 6, 2007
AB / ER2 Russell2000 will be moving to a new exchange in September. This will cause a shift in volume as traders make the move and will require traders to subscribe to the new exchange in order to get the data.

Mental Testing: Making Sure Your Mind Is Engaged
Jun 7, 2007
Profitable traders rely on their intuition. Your sense of the market action is critical. Your perceptions must be accurate. But your perceptions and thoughts are not merely mental; they are influenced by physical factors as well.

Motivating Quotations
May 16, 2007
Success can often be a matter of sticking to the principles of basic human nature. Humans are often eternal optimists, but they can get dragged down occasionally.

Education of A Trader
May 4, 2007
Throughout your personal trading journey I submit that you will find there are two distinct types of education

SwingTraders go 2-1 for nice week in theTradingAuthority.com LIVE Teaching room.
Apr 20, 2007
Proof is in the pudding. Index Swing trades are 2-1 for the week with the AB producing well over $3000 per unit.

Self-Esteem: A Prerequisite to Winning
Apr 12, 2007

You can't trade the markets with the proper mental edge if you don't have self-esteem. Trading the markets requires a person to be persistent and resilient. People with self-esteem don't question their ability. Despite the number of setbacks they experience, they fully believe that if they work hard enough, success is guaranteed.

How Independent Minded Are You?
Apr 4, 2007

Winning traders go their own way. They don't follow the crowd. They are independent minded. How independent minded are you? Here's a short 10-item quiz to help you determine your tendency to think independently.

Extreme Patience
Mar 30, 2007
Did you invest in stocks during the rally earlier this year and now regret your decision? If you are a short-term trader, you may want to just accept the loss and close the position, but longer-term investors may want to wait to see if their original hunches about their positions were right.

How To Survive as a Skeptic
Mar 28, 2007
When it comes to trading, I don't fully trust everything I hear or read. You can't. For example, I love to re-read Jack Schwager's "Market Wizards" books, but it is still useful to take everything with a grain of salt.

Controlling Your impulses
Mar 27, 2007
When your money is on the line, it's difficult to remain calm, rational, and in complete control. What happens if you lose? How will you recover? It's natural to become consumed with self-doubt and abandon your trading plan, or act irrationally in the midst of the chaotic market action. But winning traders control their impulses.

Action Oriented and Winning
Mar 14, 2007
Trading isn't easy. Indeed, the odds are against you. But if you succumb to hopelessness, you'll never become a winning trader. You have two choices: You can wallow in self-pity or you can take action and do whatever it takes to win.

The Reticular Activating System
Feb 23, 2007
The Reticular Activating System is a mechanism in the brain which determines what we pay attention to.
In any moment, your brain is receiving millions of pieces of information. From the temperature of each area of your skin, the way your clothes feel, to the many unique sounds entering your ears.

Trading System / Model development…
Feb 16, 2007
Trading System / Model development…

KEY PHASES of development include…

Logic of the model…

Must read for serious traders - common mistakes
Feb 12, 2007
A survey of more than 500 experienced futures brokers asked what, in their experience, caused most futures traders to lose money. These account executives represent the trading experience of more than 10,000 futures traders. In addition, most of these Account Executives (AEs) have also traded or are currently trading for themselves. Their answers are not summarized because different traders make (and lose) money for different reasons. Perhaps you may recognize some of your strengths and weaknesses. Yet many of the reasons given are very similar from broker to broker. The repetitions stand to demonstrate that alas, many futures traders lose money for many of the same reasons. Perhaps these statements from experienced brokers can make a contribution to you, and make this sometimes fickle, often intricate, always interesting market place of futures trading possible.

A Market Driven by Emotion
Jan 30, 2007
The marketplace can reveal a lot about the value of an item, but it can also create a social dynamic that overvalues an object. People are human and may allow their perceptions and emotions to bias their decisions.

The Pain is Unjustified
Jan 24, 2007
Think about this clearly. Breaking your rules or being impulsive in trading causes loss. Loss causes PAIN. REAL PAIN. We are responsible for the pain we create for ourselves.

theTradingAuthority.com Pattern Trade of the week: SPY S P Spiders
Jan 17, 2007
The SPY is moving to complete a PATTERN BUY signal at a FIB confluence area where the 1.27 projection meets the .618 retracement (140.05 area). Stops have to be $138.75 with Target on 1/2 at 142 then 143.85 or trail stops.

Sample Trading Plan - Everything but the system
Jan 14, 2007
This is a sample trading plan that covers every condition that commands emphasis on importance. Notice the conditioning of the trading state or trading discipline or psychology. Less importance of a trading system and more on investing in yourself always pays with dividends.

Why I am not as universally bullish as I was....$SPX Frogger
Jan 10, 2007
We are once again running into some stiff price resistance and indeed we are also showing bearish divergence in terms of RSI and momentum at highly oversold levels. You can begin to see the SOS indications that some headwinds are starting to show up from a longer-term perspective.

The Power of Patterns: A Look at the Trader's Syntax and Visual Price Patterns
Jan 9, 2007
Add strength to your trades and trading ideas by adhering to a mechanical, systematic approach. Define your specific setup criteria followed by the SIGNAL to enter the market. Using lagging and predictive indicators and market structure can help tip the scales in your favor and move you closer to the consistent profitability you seek.

SPY Pattern Buy at 140 with stops, targets
Jan 8, 2007
The SPY is moving to complete a PATTERN BUY signal at a FIB confluence area where the 1.27 projection meets the .618 retracement (140.05 area). Stops have to be $138.75 with Target on 1/2 at 142 then 143.85 or trail stops.

The Power of Patterns and Using the Neural Net Selections in Trading: SCVL - Shoe Carnival Part I
Jan 3, 2007
The nets are basically looking for Bullish Gartley (long trade) patterns that have a high probability of repeating, as has been demonstrated in the past price history of the stock.

Think your way past "The Monkey"
Jan 2, 2007
Several studies have been done on the psychological effects of random rewards on monkeys. For example, if you teach a monkey to do a task and consistently reward it every time the task is done, the monkey quickly learns to associate a specific outcome with the efforts.

The Greatest Obstacle to Happiness, and How to Overcome It
Dec 19, 2006
Those of you who have participated in any of my life sessions or trainings over the last several years know that I believe in the link between 'State Management' and trading profits. Focusing on how to control your state and then acting on that will help you become more consistent and profitable.

When Price, Time and Momentum Fail and Why - Dec14
Dec 14, 2006
Take a look at Cooper Industries (COO) on 11/10/2006, even though the nets were not quite all that impressed with it. It showed up again today on another screen.

The Power of Patterns , Dec 12th
Dec 12, 2006
YM Setting up for a FALL. The last measured move correction prior to the huge up move could duplicate itself here moving the Dow back to the .618 retracement of the last leg up. The .618 retracement held the last pullback at Dow 10772 prior to this march into 12476 area.