Many that come across the AMS site are day traders looking for the “holy grail” . . . in my fifty years of trading I learned long ago; there is no holy grail.  There is however something more powerful; being able to identify “symbols” in logically recurring patterns.  That’s it, that’s all you need . . . have a good trading day.

These symbols aren’t fancy, they are not the ones from calculus, engineering or physical chemistry, they are made up of capital and small letters, numbers and more; shaded colours.  There you go, hope that little extra tidbit helps and  . . . have a good trading day.

There are a few things we do review each day before we decide whether to trade or not.  Here’s the list:

1. Life – Trading requires clarity of mind.  If you have “problems” in your life that take away from this clarity don’t trade.  You know if something is bothering you, an issue you cannot get off your mind that takes your attention away from the task at hand.  Regardless of what that is, if there is something out there that is bothering you, don’t trade.  We do not trade every day and this is the primary reason behind making that decision.
2. World – Most either have some type of “news” feed and others simply watch the right channels to gain an understanding of what is “traveling” around the globe.  We hear of the Asian and European markets but they are just a reflection of what happened in those specific regions.  Keep both ears open to worldwide events that will effect whatever instrument you are trading.
3. Majors – It is a big world out there but most often the “major” exchanges are the ones that are watched.  In essence the majors reflect what is transpiring in the “minor” markets within their region and give an indication of what will transpire with respect to your trading instrument.
4. History – While not used by most day traders we have historical analysis that looks for similarly occurring historical situations and patterns that are “identical” to what exists today.  For the last several years, when interest rates were “removed” from the calculations, historical comparisons held little value as negative interest rates seldom occur.  With a bit of normalcy returning to the macroeconomic theatre this tool is extremely value to how we trade.  If it happened before and the situation today, patterns and symbols, are identical to a past occurrence chances are it will repeat.
5. News – Not as much as to what is being reported rather we look at the news as to what its effect will be on the markets going forward.  Again, we are not day traders and often hold positions from overnight to longer.  The reasons revolve around the “news” that is disseminated and what effect this will have on the longer term.
6. Trump – Not just the tweets but more so what the “fair and balanced” information providers report.  Now this is one that day traders use more frequently than we do and it makes sense.  Knowing what Trump’s next moves are is as good as any inside information one could ever hope to uncover.
7. Out of Nowhere – Is exactly what it sounds like.  We use this type of information expectation more so to set exit strategies for positions currently held so as to establish “stops” and related exit strategies.

Remember, those are just the list of seven we review before deciding to trade or not.  It may seem a bit lengthy but we’re talking about taking risk in the commodity futures market. On the actual trading side we follow a few extra steps which we will cover in a future blog:

1. Think
2. Peace
3. Survey
4. Review
5. AMS Signal
6. Trade

At AMS we are just as interested in your learning how to use our tools as we are with your buying them.  Usually we have a couple minutes to help you get started and are working on a series of “how to videos” that will compliment our regular tutorial services.  Speaking for myself, it took me more than three months to totally grasp how to best employ these tools.  Remember, I am almost 64 years old but with tools like AMS DeltaPrint available I am standing proof that you can teach an “old dog” new tricks.  Add those tricks to my more than 50 years of hands on experience and there is something to learn.

If you are interested in getting on board to learn a few of my tricks send me an email at thewizard@amstradinggroup.com and join in with many others who just like you are interested in using the AMS DeltaPrint tools but need a little help to understand its power.