trading Archives | Bulls on Wall Street

The Best Free Resource for New Traders

Nick P — Sun, 07 Jul 2019 14:15:20 +0000

What is the first thing new traders need to do before getting started trading?

Get an education. In some ways, trading is no different than any other profession. It takes 8 years to become a surgeon. They go through rigorous education and training before they ever even touch a scalpel. In trading, you will lose all of your money if you start buying and selling stocks before learning about the market and developing a system.

What most trading services fail to address (and traditional educational systems in general) is that people learn in different ways. Some people learn best through video courses. Some learn best through written material. And some people need a more interactive method of learning and need their questions answered by a real person.

Our free trading kit does all of this. Our BOWS trading kit will teach you all the fundamentals of trading for all styles of learners. It will offer more value than most trading services paid courses. Here is what our trading kit includes:

New and Improved Trader Handbook

Get a complete introduction to day trading and swing trading, trading terminology, basic strategies. Here is a peak of the contents of the trader handbook:

The 6 Steps to Become a Profitable Trader
Basic Trading Terminology
Overview of Different Investing Styles
Intro to Technical Analysis
Intro to Charting
Risk Management Guide
Trading Psychology Guide
How to Grow A Small Trading Account
How to Use A Trade Journal
Links to Our Best Blogs and Youtube videos

Intro to Trading Course

Our Intro to Trading course (taught by me!) will give you a complete breakdown of the stock market, and the basics of trading stocks. Here’s what the course will cover:

Stock Market Essentials and the Basics
Technical Analysis and Charting Walkthrough
How to Read Stock Trades
Flag Breakout Strategy Walkthrough

Free Trading Consultation

Some people just need to get their questions answered by a real person. We got you covered! You can book a free trading consultation with one of our educational specialists, and get every single one of your trading questions answered. We will help you figure out what style of trading is best suited for you, and layout a path for you to become a consistently profitable trader.

Download the Bulls Trading Kit Here

The post The Best Free Resource for New Traders appeared first on Bulls on Wall Street.

Morning Routine For Success In Trading

Kunal Desai — Wed, 21 Mar 2018 19:26:21 +0000

Trading is one of the hardest games in the world. At the same time, there is no other profession that can offer such a source of scalable income and personal freedom. You are your own boss, the CEO of your small business. However, this means that you have no one else to structure your day. You have to develop routines that bring you the results you want in trading and other areas of your life. Here are some things that you can do that will greatly enhance the probability of you having a successful and productive day.

Get Up Early

The last thing you want is to start your trading day off in a rush. You want your mornings to be as stress-free and relaxed as possible. Waking up at 9:15 am and rushing all your pre-market preparation is a recipe for disaster. You will have no conviction in your trading that day because you did not prepare.

Use the time before the market opens to make a plan of attack for every stock on your watchlist. By the time the market opens, you are just executing, not planning. You have to be fully awake by the time the market opens, so you need to do things that will wake your brain up so you will achieve high performance in your trading day.

Get Outside

Getting some fresh air before the market opens is a great way to start the day. You are about to be sitting in front of your monitors inside for 3 hours+ so get outside while you can. The sunlight will help you wake up, and walking around will get your blood moving. You will have to make a bunch of quick decisions under pressure once the market opens, so you need to be fully awake and alert. Getting outside and going for a walk is the perfect way to wake yourself up.

Plan Your Day

Planning is an essential part of your day. You need to be methodical how you plan your day, and the early morning is the best time to figure what needs to get done and when. You don’t necessarily have to be planning out every hour of the day. But you should make a list of things that need to get done over the next 12-16 hours. A lot of people spend too much time executing and not enough time planning.

At the end of the day, every person has a different personality and strengths and weaknesses. You have to experiment a ton with your daily routines in order to find what routine brings you results. The things we mentioned are a good start, but it is up to you to optimize and refine your routine. Your only constant in your routine should be that you are always optimizing. In trading and any other entrepreneurial adventure, if you are not adapting and refining, you will be broke in no time.

Free Trader Assessment

If you want some direct feedback on where you are as a trader and your trading goals, you should take our free trader assessment for advice on how to take your trading to the level. We will also direct you to our free webinar “How to make $200 a Day Trading” to give you even more free insight on how to achieve consistency in trading.

The post Morning Routine For Success In Trading appeared first on Bulls on Wall Street.

Risk Management: The Importance of Sizing Your Trading Positions Correctly

Kunal Desai — Sat, 23 Sep 2017 14:35:17 +0000

Risk management is an essential component of any successful trading strategy. Small losers are just as important as the big winners on the path to becoming a consistently profitable trader. Effective risk management cannot happen unless you are comfortable losing the money you plan to risk.

Newer, under capitalized traders are especially prone to inappropriate sizing. This causes them to trade emotionally, make poor decisions, and prevent them from letting their trades play out to their full potential.

Set Realistic Expectations: You Cannot Avoid Losing Trades

Losing money is apart of trading. No strategy wins 100% of the time. Therefore, to become a successful trader, you must become comfortable and familiar with losing. A big part of this process is sizing your trades appropriately based on your account size and risk tolerance. You cannot get $1000 winners by risking $5 on a trade.

Most successful trading systems will consistently give 2:1 and 3:1 on your risk, so adjust your expectations accordingly. To make that $1000, you will probably have to risk around $500. Don’t let any random twitter guru fool you into thinking that you can make $500 a day with a $2000 account when you are inexperienced.

Be Comfortable With What You’re Risking

If you have a $5000 account you don’t want to be risking $500 on a trade. If you’re risking 10% of your account, you will not be able to manage risk correctly because you will be far more emotional than if you were risking $100. You will most likely stop out too early because it went a few ticks against you and you got scared, or you might freeze and not do anything when you are supposed to be stopping out for the loss. Nothing should change in your life if you lost the money you decide to risk on a trade.

If you risking $100 instead on a trade, you will not be devastated if you take the loss, and your buying power won’t be crushed. If you feel like you can’t leave the position you have on for a few seconds, you’re trading with too much size. Everyone has different risk tolerance, and building size takes time. You cannot go from risking $100 per trade to risking $1000 per trade over night. You want to gradually increase your risk as your account grows and you become more consistent.

Use Hard Stops and Hide Your Unrealized PnL

Using hard stops (especially if new) will help you learn to accept the risk you’re putting on. This will help you micromanage your trade less and let your trades play out to their full potential. Once you enter your trade, immediately set your stop, set a limit order for your first profit target, and let the trade play out. The trade either works or it doesn’t.

Hiding your unrealized PnL will also help you embrace your risk and let you let your trades play out with less emotional attachment to the money on the line. These things will not just help you become a more profitable trader, but will make trading a more relaxing and less stressful experience as well.

Join Our Free Chatroom Day 2/6: Watch Professional Traders Day Trade Live

Our free chat days allow you to watch Kunal day trade live on screen share. You will also get to see a swing trading market recap with Paul Singh. Watch all the day trading setups and trades we take in real-time, and see all the scans, charting layouts, and other gimmicks of our trading style!

Click Here to Sign Up For Our Free Chat Day

The post Risk Management: The Importance of Sizing Your Trading Positions Correctly appeared first on Bulls on Wall Street.

How This Mentorship Student Had His Best Trading Week

Kunal Desai — Wed, 10 May 2017 17:07:15 +0000

Mentorship Student Has His Best Trading Week Yet

Recently we had our mentorship group at my house in Florida to trade in person and refine everyone’s plan. One of my most promising students is a man from Finland named Henrik. Henrik spent two weeks at my house since he came all the way from Finland which was an 18 hour journey for him. During this two weeks he was up and down which gave us an opportunity to identify his strengths and weaknesses even further then we already had.

One of his main problems was trading setups that weren’t working for him due to FOMO (fear of missing out). We implemented some things that would deter him from doing that and it resulted in him having his best week yet when he returned to Finland.

This is what Henrik had to say:

“I really think it comes down to one thing which is focus on what works previous weeks and do that. Couple of weeks back I wrote down what worked but then I didn’t do those things, I did exactly the opposite.
My Go-To setups are the Earning/PR plays and I played only those this week. Opening range Breakdowns/ Breakups, bear flags, flags, R/G, G/R moves. I also added one more setup to my arsenal which is the gap fill play and I succeeded very well on that setup.”

His overall P/L for the week was $1196! Nice job Henrik!

Here is Henrik’s P/L by the trade and some examples of trades he took for the week of May 1-5:

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

Do you want to become our next success story? Fill out our Trader Assessment Form and we will be in contact with you to explain our courses and how they can help you reach your trading goals.

The post How This Mentorship Student Had His Best Trading Week appeared first on Bulls on Wall Street.

Great People Do Great Things – Summer Bootcamp With Mentorship Students

Kunal Desai — Tue, 09 May 2017 17:24:21 +0000

What happens when 11 traders gather in one house on the beach and trade together?

If you didn’t know, in addition to our live trading bootcamp, we also have a more exclusive mentorship program. This program is a very small group of dedicated traders. I work with them one on one to perfect their own trading style. We also meet every morning as a group to go over watchlists and stay in contact through the trading day.

Last week I had the honor of meeting them as they came down to my place in Florida for the week. The best part was they came from all over. Henrik from Finland, Simon from Sweden, Vince from New Jersey, Mrs. Jolley from Dallas, Cody from Venice, The Larkin sisters from Utah, Charles from Austin, Chris from Colorado, Billy from South Carolina, and Todd from New York.

It was great getting to know them on a more personal level and learning about all the interesting things they have done.

Henrik travelled through Asia after finishing school and competed in the World Fencing Championships.

Simon travelled through the USA going coast to coast on a Harley Davidson.

Vince was a top hairstylist on Madison Ave as a go to hairdresser for the rich and famous.

Mrs. Jolley built and sold her own business.

Cody works in the entertainment business and frequently travels through Europe and attended the Cannes Film Festival.

The Larkin sisters own a clothing store and have recently sold it.

Charles works for IBM and travels all around the world, selling servers to large businesses.

Chris owns his own software company.

Billy is a real estate developer and experienced the highs before the crash and lows after it and got through it all.

Todd is a corporate attorney in New York City and owns his own firm.

Meeting everyone and learning more about them made me realize how fortunate we are to be in a group of this calibre. Also, it made me think of the type of person that joins a more exclusive group and commits to it. They’re all confident individuals that have achieved success outside of trading and have always looked for a new journey or adventure. Whether it was starting a business or traveling around the world, normality isn’t in the cards for them.

Now they have looked to trading as their next mission and are willing to do whatever it takes to achieve the success they want. Henrik and Simon travelled 18 hours to come to my place. Others left their families and jobs. Overall it was an amazing week filled with lots of trading, learning, great conversations, and plenty of fun. We will definitely be bonded for life through this experience.

Here is the schedule we all did together:

Sunday we started off with a class on building watchlists and we discussed each other’s lists. Henrik also showed us how he tracks his trades.

Monday to Friday we woke up bright and early (Billy was always the first one up) and went through the morning gappers, narrowed down our watchlists, and started to trade. My housekeeper Wanda would make us all breakfast whether it was bacon and eggs or shrimp and grits.

As each of one of us was done trading for the day we would begin to make our way to the beach. Usually Charles or Cody would pack the cooler with drinks and we would have some fun.

Every night we would have class and go over everyone’s trades for the day. As the week went on, as a group we identified specific weaknesses in everyone’s trading and established accountability partners to make sure each person stuck to their own trading plan.

On Wednesday night I set up a bonfire on the beach and hired a company to cater food for us. It was a beautiful night by the fire especially once the s’mores came out.

All in all, it was a fantastic week.

If this sounds like something you would like to participate in then go to our Trader Assessment form and fill it out. We will contact you to discuss the details further and see if you’re the right fit. We don’t take everyone since it is a small group so we like to have a discussion and make sure it is the right fit for both of us.

Here are some more pictures from the week.

The post Great People Do Great Things – Summer Bootcamp With Mentorship Students appeared first on Bulls on Wall Street.

Starting a Trading Business

Kunal Desai — Tue, 27 Oct 2015 14:41:31 +0000

Learning to trade stocks is no different than learning any other profession. You must develop the same level of skill and expertise as a doctor or lawyer, and apply a high degree of commitment and attention to detail for every aspect of the job. Starting a trading business is a similar process to launching any business.

If you want to trade on your own, with your own money, then you need to look at your trading business like any other business. So many traders come in looking at trading as a hobby or a side project, rather than looking at it as if they are the CEO of their own business.

Side projects & hobbies cost you money; the sole goal of trading as a business is TO MAKE MONEY! So many of the unsuccessful traders I have met over the years have treated their trading like a hobby.

It’s fun for them and gives them a rush of excitement so they keep doing it, but that’s not what leads to consistent profits. Here’s what you need to do to start your trading business.

1. Get Educated.

Just like in any other profession, you have to understand every piece of the job down to the microscopic details. Think about everything a doctor learns and goes through before their first surgery. Just because you watched a few videos and read some books doesn’t make you a trader.

Having a specific method that you know from A to Z and have practiced over and over is necessary before a dollar is ever risked. That’s why in our trading courses where I teach my students every single thing I know about trading, we put our students on trading simulators where they go out and practice what they learned. Our students only go live and trade with real money once they have shown that they can go out and make money every single day.

2. Build a Trading Business Plan.

Would you go into a bank and ask for a loan to start a restaurant with no business plan? Probably not! Your trading needs to be the same way. Before they start the simulator, my Bootcamp students all complete a business plan. I want them to really take what they learned in Bootcamp and start to think about how it applies to them.

What style of trading will you do? Day or swing?

What is your system for risk management?

What tools/software will you utilize?

What setups will you focus on?

Putting together a comprehensive plan will give you areas to focus on when you’re trading on the simulator, as simulating without focus is not real practice. When you practice, it needs to be deliberate and mimic real life conditions.

3. Test it Out!

After your have learned and focused your education on a specific business plan, you need to go test it all out. Either hop on a real time trading simulator like TC2000, ToS, etc., or put a small amount of capital to work! As you know, what looks good on paper often doesn’t make sense in real life conditions, so take meticulous notes on what needs to change in your business plan as you are simulating your strategy.

It will answer some questions for you: does your strategy mix well with your work schedule? Does it make money? Does it suit your personality, etc. What it will also do– this is important– is keep a log of your trades to give you an idea of your tendencies. What are your strengths and weaknesses? What are your best setups?

To be a consistently profitable trader, you will need a toolbox of go-to setups that are your own and that you can use every single day. Identifying what you’re good at and then practicing it over and over will help you build expertise in these setups. You need thousands of repetitions to really start to see all the angles as a trader and to build that expertise that starts here!

4. Structure your Trading Business.

Tax status. Will you trade in an LLC, INC? Will you pursue the trader tax status through the IRS? It is best to talk to an accountant about these things. This is a very small part of trading as you only pay taxes if you win! Making money should be your major focus, as the rest is easy if you can do that!

Brokers. Your broker will change depending on your style. If you’re day trading vs swing trading, the type of commission structure you need will vary. As a day trader, if you pay a flat rate like Ameritrade or Etrade charge, it’s nearly an impossibility to make money unless your account is 500k or more.

Day trading requires often scaling in and out of trades, so a flat fee of $9.99 will cost you hundreds of dollars a day in fees. This makes the cost of doing business so high that the probabilities of covering your fees as a new trader are small. Some brokers like Interactive Brokers charge per share vs per trade.

That means you just pay for the shares you trade, not a flat fee. 100 shares is 27 cents. 200 shares 54 cents etc. You can take hundreds of trades, but you still just pay for the shares you trade! For a swing trader, this means much less as you may only make 5-10 trades a week, so the fees make less of an impact. My swing trades and IRA’s are through Ameritrade .

Tools. Often traders need a supplement to the tools their brokers offer. Additional charting or scanning capabilities are needed in some cases. Also, once you have the Go-to setups that you are going to be trading, being able to find them is key! Developing scans to find and alert yourself to opportunities is very important!

I use Trade-Ideas and TC2000 for my scanning and charting. Now when I’m trading intraday, I do very little scanning as the homework I do at night gives me more than enough ideas, my goal is to now just execute my plan vs sit there sifting through data during the day, which just throws my focus off.

5. GO TRADE!

All it will take is everything you got! Your passion and energy for this will help determine your success. Trading is a lifelong pursuit, so focus on the process each day and learn how to eliminate mistakes and accentuate your strengths. This means keeping a journal of your trades, but also your emotions, so you can see where the screw ups happen and pinpoint them.

PROCESS PROCESS PROCESS. Don’t focus on results or dollars – if you do, it will end you. Think about all the things you need to do leading up to that! It’s the little things that lead to a great day! And keep hammering at it! Reducing and finding ways to minimize slumps are key, as 1 slump can end you. Remember, your number 1 job is to manage risk at all times. You’re a professional risk manager.

Learn How to Day Trade and Swing Trade Through Live Classes

Spots are filling up in our trading boot camp FAST.

Click here to apply for our next trading boot camp!

The post Starting a Trading Business appeared first on Bulls on Wall Street.

8 Things About Trading You'll Never Learn On Your Own

Kunal Desai — Sat, 17 May 2014 09:00:12 +0000

Photo Credit: SalFalko via Compfight cc

Most newcomers have preconceived ideas about the typical day in the life of a day trader. While you may envision a glam but gritty environment steeped in living-on-the-edge excitement, veteran traders know that the reality can be very different. Here are 8 things you’d never learn on your own…or that might take you an awfully long time to figure out.

1. Trader, Know Thyself

While day trading may seem formulaic, it can actually be the opposite of cut and dry; in fact, the different styles of day trading are heavily dependent on the personality of the trader. From scalping to intraday trading and everything in between, there are many options for trading styles, and nothing binds a trader to a single one. Bulls of Wall Street offers comprehensive training for everyone from total beginners to those who have mastered skills and are ready to make trades.

2. But Also Know When to Quit

Prematurely abandoning your trading style at the first indication of poor performance is a huge mistake; one of the most critical tasks of a day trader is to commit to a single style and stick to it. When you find a style that works for you, it’s important to give it time to do its thing. The sooner you commit to a strategy, the sooner you can set aside ambiguity and focus on the end game: making money.

However, there’s a little known flip side to this equation. The best day traders also recognize when a style or type of trade isn’t working and make the necessary adjustments. You need to learn to recognize when to stay the course and when to jump ship.

3. Think Outside the Stocks

While even the most novice traders have some basic understanding of stock markets, the vast majority of newbies are unaware of the multitude of other markets accessible to day traders—from currencies to options to futures. It’s critical to keep in mind that not all of these markets are created equally. Choosing the right market is as important as making the right trades.

4. To Market, To Market

So how do you choose? Several considerations influence which markets offer the most profitability. These include concrete aspects, such as your initial trading deposit and your location, as well as more variable factors, including the trader’s personality and location. Futures markets are a good starting point for novice day traders as there are many types to choose between. Keep in mind that some markets will not be available depending on the tick value and initial margin.

5. Location, Location, Location

While night owls may have more options, day traders are inherently limited by location because of varying market trading times. On the flip side, accessibility is at a premium when it comes to online trading. Ultimately, traders require little more than Internet access and a computer to begin turning a profit. From a beachfront penthouse in Costa Rica to a balcony overlooking Bourbon Street, trading can and does happen anytime and anywhere.

6. Bring On Da Noise

Day trading is a science and art. One of the greatest challenges faced by day traders of all levels is “noise.” The phenomenon of non-stop back-and-forth information exchange can lead to “whipsaw” losses for traders who are unable to distinguish between meaningful and meaningless information. You’re best bet is to develop a strategic trading system—along with the discipline to see it through—to prevent noise-induced overtrading and instead capitalize on real opportunities.

7. The Calm Before, During, and After the Storm

While your Hollywood-influenced vision of traders may involve a trading pit, brightly hued jackets, and frenetic gesturing, the reality is completely different. Because trading involves many monotonous hours in front of the computer, patience is essential. Those who respond to boredom by “making up a trade,” are setting themselves up for disaster. Unchecked emotions—including boredom and panic—can lead to losing trades. The truth is that some traders don’t make a single trade on any given day; this can be preferable to making a rash or desperate move just to do something.

8. Fake It ‘Til You Make It

Many novice traders get their feet wet by trading in simulation—also called paper trading—to practice dealing with the unpredictable emotional responses. Simulated trading offers the identical experience to trading live, except orders are simulated by trading software instead of sent to the exchange. Simulation lets you experiment with markets and trading systems until you find your own trading system. It’s also a useful way to familiarize yourself with your trading software. Bulls on Wall Street’s Trading Bootcamp offers critical live simulation so that when your own real money enters the equation, your emotional response will be mitigated by experience gained in simulation.

It’s possible to earn a full-time living through day trading, but the learning curve can be steep. These insiders’ tips and techniques can help you bypass the typical beginner’s challenges and begin your life as a profitable day trader today.

The post 8 Things About Trading You'll Never Learn On Your Own appeared first on Bulls on Wall Street.