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Long-term investors are generally not concerned with short-term trading principles. We are not concerned with short-term price swings or what the Stochastic Oscillator is telling us as we are investing with at least a 10 year timeframe in mind. However, I am going to suggest that there are some common trading principles that long-term buy-and-hold’ers should consider using when placing their trades. They can help avoid mistakes and overpaying for a stock due to regular market action. In the end, they may not mean too much to your portfolio performance, however every point can count and why not give yourself a little bit of extra help to secure a better return.
Use a Limit Order When Entering Your Buy Order
In a limit order, the investor enters a specific price limit that they will buy the stock for. The alternative is the market order, where an investor enters the trade and lets the market determine what price they will pay for the stock. Limit orders are beneficial because you will get the shares at the price you want (hopefully). In markets with very high volatility, then limit orders can help you to not overpay for the stock because the market is acting crazy. Most brokers nowadays do not charge more for a limit order.
Pay the Lowest Commissions Possible
For short-term traders, commissions are crucial simply because the volume of trades can add up and with it the costs to trade. If you are a long-term investor costs are just as important. Every extra dollar you pay in commissions to your broker is money that will not got to work for you. Think of it like lost money, never to be found again.
Always Get A Stock Quote Before Sending the Order
Prior to entering your order into your online broker’s system, ensure you get a quick stock quote before entering that order. This is especially important in volatile days like we have seen in the past few weeks. Stock prices can swing quite dramatically and you don’t want to pay more than you need to. Also, running a quote will verify the ticker you are using is the correct one!
Review Your Trade
Along the same lines as the principle above, always review the trade you entered to ensure it is exactly what you want to do. If you entered a limit order make sure the limit price is what you meant to enter. If you did something other than an all-or-none order, make sure it is reflected properly. This is just one final check before sending the order.
Review Order Confirmations to Make Sure You Were Charged Correctly
Once your trade is entered and filled you will receive some form of trade confirmation. Review this confirmation to make sure it was filled as per your requests. Check that the company bought is correct, the number of shares bought is right, and that the commissions you have been charged are exactly what they should be. If anything is wrong, call your broker immediately to get it fixed.
Keep Detailed Records of Your Trades
Most investors, long or short-term keep trading records whether is be through something like Microsoft Money or an Excel spreadsheet. This is crucial for the short-term trader to keep a record of what was done and to review performance. It is just as important for long-term investors. You can learn a lot by reviewing your portfolio and looking where mistakes were made.
I am sure there are a lot of other tips that people can give out there. Perhaps you use charts to help with your long-term investing? Let me know by using the comments section below.
(Photo Credit: Neil Gould)
Things I have learned about trading the past thirty years:
You cannot trade without Kwikpop (www.kwikpop.com) or a very similar service. The charts are the eyes of the market. To trade without the charts is like getting in a car blindfolded and trying to drive across the country.
If you have an opinion on the direction of the market – DO NOT TRADE!!! Take your money and give it to someone who can use it. The market is always going to fool most of the people most of the time. If you think like the average small trader then you are done. Most traders lose their money to the big boys who take a profit out of the market everyday. Your charts are the eyes of the market. Just open your eyes and do as the market tells you to do.
GREED is the biggest downfall of the small trader. We dream of making a big trade with a lot of contracts and being able to go to our love ones and tell them you just made life changing money. The chances are small that you will be in the trade you dream of. The only way to trade is to start out small as small as you can. One contract on the S & P Mini is all you need to learn to trade. Once you have twenty winning trades over your losing trades then you can go to two contracts.
There are three successful trades that I take everyday and they are winners more often than they lose.
1. Kwikpop’s 2-UP & 2-DOWN trades. You can find them free on the Kwikpop site on their training videos.
2. Kwikpop’s W and lazy W trade, along with Kwikpop’s M and lazy M trade. You can find them free on the Kwikpop site on their training videos. They are all the same trade just different directions.
3. On a standard five minuet chart at the opening of the market look for two green bars or two red bars in a row. Add 1.25 to the highest green bar or subtract 1.25 from the lowest red bar and put in a buy or sell order at that price in the same direction the market is going.
Stop losses are the name of the game along with profit preset points. The people at Kwikpop will tell you your stop loss has to be two points or more. I agree but I say it has to be three points. Today’s market is fast and if you put a small stop loss in your orders you will be stopped out more often. I use a three point profit or loss for every trade. On the trades listed above you will have a lot more winners than losers, and you will lock up your profit. If you have one winning trade for three point’s everyday it will be all you need to be wealthy. As you develop your trading skills and your bank account you can simply trade more contracts.
Never move your preset stop loss. This one factor will break you because the more money you loss on a trade the harder it is to exit the trade and take your loss. Instead you will stay in the trade until your account is wiped out. If you lose on a trade take the loss, get a cup of coffee and calm down. Once you are calm look for the next setup and take the trade. My winning trade is more than eighty percent of my trades. Every once in a while they market will back up and run over you. Just let it happen and move onto the next trade.
Money management is the most important part of trading. You must not risk more than three percent of your account on any trade. With the S & P Mini each point is fifty dollars, therefore one contract with a three point loss is one-hundred and fifty dollars. According you need to have a bank roll of five thousand. You can start with less but your risk of losing your money goes up.
Work with your trading broker to get you commissions down. I pay $3.25 round trip with the exchange fees included in the $3.25. You will not get that price in the beginning but as you trade more contracts keep after your broker to get you commissions down.
Trading after hours is tough. The big boys earn their money through the night moving the market in any direction they want to take your money. If you are going to trade at night wait until 3:00 AM when the Europe boys are starting to trade.
On a gap opening; look for a reverse of the over night session after 9:45 AM ET. Just try to get three points on your trade, it worked for me one time twenty three times in a row. I wish I would have let it ride on all the trades.
The 2- UP / 2 DOWN trade will not get you in going down at the top or going up at the bottom. Once you understand the setup you can take a reverse trade at the high or low if the 3350V chart bar is below TSKP E BANDS, TSKP BOLLONGER BAND AND TSKPMEANSWINGLINE. The bar must print below or above all three indicators. The TSKPMEANSWINGLINE will not appear until the market has exhausted its move and is ready to go in the other direction.
What I like to say is don’t trade with a company you don’t know anything about. If possible, look into their investment history, so you know you’re trading reputable stock.