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How to build a Trading Strategy?Hey, fam, welcome on another educational post! The topic is the following: step-by-step guide to building a working trading strategy The process of building a trading strategy that will lead one to the doors of consistent and profitable trading is a pretty difficult one and it takes quite some time and effort. 1) Firstly, it is crucial to identify what kind of trader you are. If you have plenty of time in your hands to to sit in front of the monitor and go through the charts 24/7, then scalping or intraday trading would be suitable for you. If you enjoy clicking “Buy” and “Sell” buttons and opening 10-15 or even more transactions per day, then two of the above listed styles would be suitable for you. On the other hand, if your timetable is packed with different activities all the time and you do not have enough time to sit in front of the charts, swing or position trading would work the best for you. If you are aiming for making big gains instead of small “quick profits”, then both swing trading and position trading can fill your needs. 2) Moving on to the next step, it is crucial to have a watchlist, or in other word, a "favourites" list. It is better to have a batch of 5-10 favourite tradeable securities, than trading random things all the time. Let’s bring a real-life example: Would you prefer having 5 pets and take care of them individually, or 40 pets? What we are trying to emphasise, it is better to make yourself familiar with a pair and be able to read it like a book. Moreover, it is much easier to monitor 10 familiar setups rather than 50 random pairs. Thus, take some time skimming through various setups, and add them into your watchlist upon “falling in love with them”. 3) Always have a clear entry and exit strategy, and always ask yourself the following questions before entering a trade: “Why am I buying/selling this security?”, “Where are my Target Profit and Stop Loss set?”, “What portion of my trading capital am I risking on this trade?”. Every trader has his or her own entry and exit plan. Try to thoroughly examine all possibilities and see what works best for you. For example: enter when a nice wick candle has been formed around the area of demand/supply that aligns with 61.8% Fibonacci retracement level, set a fixed Target Profit of 1:3 Risk-to-reward, set the Stop Loss below the formed Double Bottom . 4) Execute, journal, optimize! If a trade goes wrong, ask yourself a question: “What went wrong and could I have prevented it?”. Make some modifications in your plan if necessary. 5) Never underestimate fundamentals and heavy economic or real-life news. Some examples are NFP, Markit Manifacturing PMI, quarter/annual GDP growth news. Moreover, wars/conflicts between two countries are crucial to be aware of as well. These heavy news have it all to mess the market around. Therefore, always consider these events, make your fundamental analysis and trade accordingly. Move your Stop Loss to the Breakeven point, or even exit a trade earlier in loss if needed, in order to stay safe before the news hit. 6) Last but not least, and most importantly, always stay patient, disciplined, free of emotions, cold-blooded, and remain loyal to your trading plan! “But my plan is not working. I endured 3 losses in a row. Should I immediately change my plan?”. The answer is a big fat “NO”. Instead of changing your strategy that took you so long to put together, think of identifying the week points and optimizing the plan.
BITSTAMP:BTCUSDEducation
by Investroy
7
Pyramid of Trading: a step-by-step guide to successHey, fam! Happy Saint Valentine's Day and welcome on another educational post. The topic is the following: a step-by-step guide to success in trading. We all start somewhere, right? Something grabs our attention and builds instant interest that makes us persuade a specific thing. If you decide to interview a number of traders and ask them reasons why they had decided to become a trader, they will all give you various answers. One will tell you that his motivational driver was a random guy on Instagram that drives a Lamborghini Urus and claims that he is a day-trader. Another one will state that he has always been aiming towards building a great career and becoming financially independent and so forth. Regardless of the background, all of them had started their trading journeys having the same drive, enthusiasm, passion, hunger, and motivation. One cannot simply succeed in this sector without being ambitious and eager enough. While the above stated characteristics serve as basis of motivation, the next tier is one of the most important ones, as it sets the ground for all upcoming success and profitability. It is crucial to keep constantly learning, brainstorming, making yourself familiar with new stuff, applying the learned in practice, and adapting to the changes that take place both in your life and in the market. After the fundament has been set, it is time to move to the main part: Planning, Executing, Journaling. First of all, if we have reached this particular tier, it means that we already have e strategy that we stick to and refrain from changing every week/month. We use this strategy to plan our trades and execute them once all criteria have been met. We journal all of the taken trades, both winners and losers. Journaling helps us optimize our strategy and make some chages in it if neccessary. As market conditions change quite rapidly, our strategy and business plan should be modified as well in order to account for those changes. In addition, regardless of anything, we remain patient, cold-blooded, and trust the process. After climbing all those tiers and reaching the very top of it, we can finally say that we are profitable and consistent, and we can enjoy the fruits of our own labour. Of course, it is never as easy as it may sound, but long-term vision, patience, and ambition can take him or her to the doors of profitability. Thus, we encourage all fellow traders to keep grinding and strive for prosperity! With love, Investroy Family
BITSTAMP:BTCUSDEducation
by Investroy
27
Demystifying a Fakeout ; Fake Breakout ; Wyckoff Theory / EURCADIn this Analysis I break-down what everyone knows and hates most. The Fakeout. The fakeout is simple. I hope this conveyed in the Chart. 1. We are in a Range 2. We closed outside the Range, we get candle closure confirmation. The 3 C's. 3. Shortly after we print candles back inside the range, closing strongly 4. At this stage you can wait for a retest of the bottom of the range (like me) or you can just place an entry right then .. because the Fakeout structure has initiated at this point Thoughts on where we are going form here anyone? I'm Looking to 148 for swing trading. We must stay above 146 now since we closed above this zone on Friday's NFP day.
Long
by ShrewdCatfx
Traders vs Gamblers: Know the main differences!Hey, fam! Happy Friday and welcome on another educational post. The topic is the following: differences between a trader and a gambler. We are gonna go through 6 crucial points and elaborate how traders are different from gamblers. 1) As a trader, one’s aim is to focus on the next 100 trades instead of the next 10. Long-term success, profitability, and consistency are two of the main things traders should target. However, a gambler’s wish and desire is to make quick money. 2) A successful trader/investor has a backtested trading plan that he sticks to and optimizes along the way, adapting to changing market conditions. On the other hand, gamblers like to trade based off what other people think and tweet, or by simply opening a random Buy/Sell position and hoping it plays out successfully. 3) Profitable traders always diversify their portfolio and risk no more than 1-2% per trade. On the contrary, gamblers go “full margin mode” on a single trade without setting a Stop Loss and end up blowing their accounts and blaming the markets. 4) Chasing markets and rushing the process is not what real traders do. Instead, they follow their plan and wait for the price to play out and match their entry criteria before executing. Nonetheless, gamblers like to overtrade, open positions based on nothing, make biased decisions. 5) When enduring a loss or two (or three), traders neither get emotional nor try to revenge the markets. They know that if they obey risk management principles and open high risk-to-reward positions, they will cover all their previous losses and get back to making profits. Gamblers, on the other hand, get angry and start attempting to revenge the market by making foolish decisions and entering many illogical trades. 6) Last but not least, if you want to be successful and profitable in this field, you have to treat trading as a business and take things seriously. Those that think markets are a playground or a casino machine will never succeed in this space.
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BITSTAMP:BTCUSDEducation
by Investroy
255
What To Focus On As A BeginnerFocusing on winning trades is your setback as a beginner Every individual begins their trading journey with the idea that trading is all about winning trades and making money. Soon after their dreams are shattered when they realise it was not as easy as they had thought it would be. Now as we all know, the road to success to many is long and difficult, and that’s exactly what makes them successful. So why should the road to success in trading be any different? Look at top performing athletes, they trained for years before reaching any kind of success that definitely did not occur overnight. This bring me to my main point where many traders could be failing due to focusing on winning trades rather than the process it takes to become a good trader. Every trader beginning their journey needs to understand that trading the financial markets is no different than a top performing athlete. In order to achieve success, one needs to develop their skills over years. Instead of focusing on winning every single trade, one should be focusing on the process and the experience they are gaining over this time. Studying your mistakes, your losses, your psychological weaknesses, your analysis, and your understanding of the charts, are far more important at this stage than focusing on winning trades. Look at your trading journey like a student attending university, a student will learn over years different topics, where some will seem worthless at the time, but will however develop their skills in the necessary fields to succeed in the future. Every beginner should deeply focus on the process. Winning trades are a by-product of a developed successful strategy which also requires a developed individual. The trader needs to be developed in their psychology above all in order to trust their strategy and apply it correctly without deviating from the plan. Take the time to focus on all aspects of your trading, and let the winning trades come as a result of that in the future. Trading is a marathon, not a sprint, always remember that.
COINBASE:BTCUSDEducation
by opes_trading_group
6
Success is a one big IcebergJust like real life, trading life is full of ups and downs. You know those days when you wake up with an absolutely awful mood and you can't figure out possible reasons? Well, there could be several factors influencing it: negative energy of the outside world, bad weather, personal problems and so forth. It is very similar to checking the markets and noticing that everything is so choppy that there is nothing to trade. Several determinants here as well, such as heavy economic news, holidays, or just a bay day with no opportunities (after all, not every day is a trading day). One thing that gets us through these challenges faced is patience, because, after all, time heals all pain wounds and fixes most of our problems. I quote Shakespeare: “The evil that men do lives after them; The good is oft interred with their bones". To reverse-engineer and interpret it into the trading language: "People only see the end goal, the glory, the monumental win. They don’t see the dedication, hard work, persistence, discipline, disappointment, sacrifices, and many failures it takes to reach success". In more simple terms, people only see the tip of the Iceberg (success, amazing profits, consistency), and not the bottom of it (sleepless nights, hard work, dedication, failure, pain). Not a single skill is learnt over the course of a night. Just like it takes several years of practice, hard work and expertise to become a successful lawyer, a famous actor, and an exceptional doctor, it takes years of hard work, passion, and dedication to become a consistently profitable trader/investor.
Editors' picks
BITSTAMP:BTCUSDEducation
by Investroy
107
DREAMS QUEST Wedge Breakout 1043% potential (Desktop Version)Hello traders, DISSECTING A FALLING WEDGE TRADE THE STRUCTURE Todays technical analysis is on DREAMS QUEST. This coin seems to be consolidating in a falling wedge pattern which I have seen many times play out very well for the Kucoin bangers that get listed. What you want to look for on a falling wedge pattern is 3 touches on both the bottom support trend and 3 touches on the top resistance trend. This will be the formation of the bullish consolidation falling wedge pattern as saw in the chart. The key indicators of a bullish falling wedge pattern are a wide mouth at the beginning of the pattern and bullish price heading up to the top of the pattern. Then an ABC corrective wave during a bearish down trend that consolidates tightly at the end of the pattern. A lot of times you will be able to use a fib tool from the bottom of the recent to the top of the beginning of the wedge and see that the bottom of the wedge generally bounces off of the 50% Fibonacci level indicating the price action may have exhausted the bearish market participants. THE STOP LOSS There is nothing more important in trading than risk management and protecting your capital. No matter how good of a pattern you see or how promising a trade set up is, the market could always have some bearish news that completely destroys your position. Thus, if you’re going to trade, USE A STOP LOSS!! Ok, for this particular pattern, placing your stop loss is pretty simple, I have a general rule of thumb to place my stop loss 3% below the last swing low of the falling wedge prior to the breakout. Which this will be placed after your entry which we will go over next but, I have listed it in this tutorial first as it is more important than your entry! Your initial stop loss is at .06295¢ THE ENTRY Your entry will be upon the breakout of the top of the wedge located in area #1 or upon retest of the breakout areas in box #2 shown on the chart. Upon breakout of the top of the falling wedge pattern, in the box labeled #1 this being your initial breakout area, you’re going to want to see a CLEAR bullish candle on the daily come above the trend line and be in the #1 buy box before entry to confirm that breakout. KEY NOTE and always a rule of thumb here is patience, your entry will come. Make sure you have a clear closed candle outside of the pattern before you think about opening a trade as there are very often false breakouts and it’s better to have a slightly less favorable entry than to have an entry that will end up getting you stopped out before the trade even starts. Last but not least, another KEY NOTE to look for when placing your entry is to make sure you watch for a spike or increase in volume upon breakout. This is a solid indication that the selling pressure has been exhausted and the market participants are turning bullish, adding more quality to your trade. ALWAYS LOOK FOR THIS INDICATOR FOR OPTIMAL TRADE RESULTS. The entry for this trade should be between .08718¢ and .09880¢ THE ALLOCATION I generally enter with 25%-50% of my allocation I have set aside for this trade at this point. When you’re actively trading it is important to keep your allocation low as when you have a large amount of your capital in a specific trade the hardest parts about trading start affecting you and coming into play. That is the psychology of the trade. The more money you have in any given trade will draw bigger fear and bigger ego if you have a loss or a win. Both are equally bad in trading and will cause you to lose money. So when I say I allocate 25%-50% of the funds I have for this specific trade you have to keep in mind that you should not be using more than 3% of your total account in any particular trade this, my 25%-50% is actually .75%-1.5% of my total account. This makes it easier to just let the trade ride and to follow my plan regardless if I am correct or wrong about my trade, it’s is a calculated loss with a small amount of capital allowing me to have a higher chance of having a smaller drawdown on my overall capital if the market gets bearish on me while I’m in a few longs. So, getting to the other half of my allocation. Generally a consolidation like this will have a very bullish breakout that will pop a hot few candles out of the pattern and generally head to the .618-.5 fib measured from the top to the bottom of the full falling wedge pattern. At this point I take a small amount of profit. About 50% of my current position. This will leave me with .375%- .75% of my capital still in the trade and a small amount of profit that I made from the initial breakout on the side. Now here comes the most important attribute you need to be a good trader, PATIENCE !!! After my small win, I am looking to enter back into this trade at the official retest of the breakout of the pattern. This generally comes shortly after the first target is hit. Again, patience is imperative to your success as a trader. Wait it out until you have a clear candle back at the entry point before you add your second half of your position. PATIENCE IS KEY BUT, ALARMS HELP! Have I mentioned that patience is an important attribute you must have to be a successful trader? Not enough? Ok, we’ll it is! I do know that all of our time is very precious and dear so, I have a small remedy to help with allocations your time so you’re not just starting at your charts… USE ALARMS!! TradingView had everything that you need to be successful, it is your responsibility to learn it so you can earn it! I generally first set an alarm at the entry point of my trade set up that I have identified as well as where I’d expect the stop loss to be. #1, so I can be reminded that the trade has either entered my first entry zone, or to let me know that the trade I have identified may not be what I thought it was and to re assess the situation or find a new trade. Again, patience! So, after my entry alarm goes off and I start my initial position, I then set my stop loss and assure my alarm is set a few pips above my stop loss so I can be alerted before it hits as well as well as an alarm at my first target and one more at my entry point. This way I can be alerted that my first take profit was hit and if the price action comes back down to retest I have an alarm there as well to place my second position along with my profit from the first target TP allocated to the whole trade. At this time I double check that my stop loss is a market stop for my total position and that I have an alarm set up for it that sends a text to my phone just in case! After this I gage my take profit targets and place alarms on all of them as well. SETTING YOUR TAKE PROFIT TARGETS This is what we are here for, the profit right? So it’s important that you have take profit targets (TP TARGETS) on your chart as you need to plan the points you’d like to exit your trade. The first target I find is the total and final take profit of the pattern, which can be determined by measuring the distance between point A and point B which can be found at the beginning of the mouth of the falling wedge as shown in the diagram above on the top of the chart. Once you have the distance measured between points A and B you can then ad this measurement on top of the first area of the breakout candle on the bottom of the falling wedge pattern as soon as the price action shows you where it is breaking out. KEY NOTE is to always make sure you’re being conservative and by this I mean, when placing the distance from A to B on C to D, it is important that you don’t try and get it perfectly to the full measure meant on C To D. What I do is shave off a few % from the total measurement so I can allow for margin of error with my target. Minimum of 3%. Now that I have my final target set up at .99704¢ I then take a Fibonacci tool and run it from the top of the pattern to the bottom of the pattern and place TP targets at both the .5 Fib and the .618 Fib lines. I find that this is the easiest way to get quick targets on a falling wedge pattern that the price action generally will react to while heading to the final target. The .5 Fib is at .34509¢ TP target #2 and the .618 Fib TP target #1 is at .23311¢. Congrats, you’re almost done with your trading plan! Now to the best part! GETTING PAID!! Everyone’s favorite part about trading! Ok, now that you have entered the quality trade, have your risk management set up and are ready to get into some profits here we can set a plan for taking some of those beautiful profits. Now being that we have 3 target areas here I generally have 3 separate take profit %’s that I set up along the way by lieu of limit sell orders for the first two TP targets. My take profit target allocation strategy is generally the 33.3% take profit strategy at every target. So for the first two targets, I will set limit sell orders for 33.3% and a 33.4% of my allocation adding up to 66.7% after the first two targets are hit. This way I am already in profit just in case something goes wrong along the way. KEY NOTE it is always smart to take profit, as if you don’t you’re just an investor without a plan and you’re never profitable until you take profit, so congrats, at this point you’re a profitable trader! Yaaayy!! Ok, so for the final take profit I set a market order as a lot of times when the final take profit comes about the price action can quickly get up to this area and we don’t want to be stuck looking for someone to take the coins off of our hands, we want to get them sold and go celebrate our win by looking for our next trade so we can compound these gains amirite?? So awesome, we have a W on the board so we’re done right? No, there’s another tip you should know in trading to assure profits and apply better risk management strategies. What is this you ask? KEEPING AS MUCH PROFIT AS YOU CAN How do we do this? Simple, after your first two take profits hit, which you will be reminded on your cell phone via text message because you, ya sly devil, you set up alarms on your TP targets and now are going to head over to your exchange and move your stop loss up aren’t ya? Of course you are! Where are you moving it to? Why not make that right at your entry point so not only are we assuring we don’t lose any money on this trade at all, but, we are in fact in profit from 3 separate TP targets that we cashed in on!! NOOOOYCE!! So now that we are deciding on what color Lambo we want, we can assure we still have some bank roll by tossing that stop loss up from .06295¢ to the entry of the trade between .08718¢ and .09880¢ Ok, you have it all set up, I wish you the best and make sure you’re doing your own research as I am not a financial advisor nor is this financial advice. Before we end, here is some key note reviews and the signal targets for the original trade below. KEY NOTE AND TAKEAWAYS #1: Patience is key to any successful trader success. #2: Allocation should always be a fraction of your total account #3: Be sure to identify the structure based on the rules above. #4: Wait for a CLEAR breakout by looking for a daily candle close above the resistance trend line on the top of the falling wedge #5:The retest happens after the breakout #6: Not the 6th most important but, ALWAYS USE A STOP LOSS!! #7: ALARMS make life easy! #8: You have to take profit to be profitable! SO TAKE SOME OFTEN! Entry: .08718¢ and .09880¢ Stop loss: .06295¢ TP1: .23311¢ TP2: .34509¢ Final TP3: .99704¢ P.S. it’s always important to know the fundamentals on a coin, so with that said, below are some stats, coin info and a link to the coins website so you can further research it during your DD. FUNDAMENTALS Dreams Quest Coin Price & Market Data Dreams Quest price today is $0.090157396598 with a 24-hour trading volume of $8,589,048. DREAMS price is up 31.4% in the last 24 hours. It has a circulating supply of 0 DREAMS coins and a total supply of 186 Million. If you are looking to buy or sell Dreams Quest, KuCoin is currently the most active exchange. Dreams Quest is building the first-ever metaverse-based economy, a self-sustaining Dreams Verse where people will be able to participate in the decentralized play-to-earn RPG game using dynamic NFTs. Unknown factors will affect character attributes in-game, and post-game outcomes will dynamically change the NFT card attributes and write them on the blockchain (the ethereal scribes) to show game history for each card. Website: dreams.quest
Long
by Savvythe1
5
Power of multiple confluences in tradingThe rule is pretty simple: if you have many technical confluences backing your setup, the probability of your trade succeeding is really high. On the illustrated BTC chart, a number of confluences is listed. To be precise, there are 4 confluences examined, and they will be all scrutinized below: 1) The current direction of the market is bearish, meaning we are in a downtrend. As a rule of thumb, in a bearish market we look for SELL positions rather than going long (fading the short-term trade against the long-term trend). 2) A nice descending triangle pattern has been formed, indicating that a bearish breakout is highly possible, and that the price may keep dropping deeper down. 3) 60 EMA perfectly lines up with the upper boundary of the descending triangle, which is a crucial zone of resistance that the price can’t seem to penetrate. 4) A nice bearish engulfing candlestick pattern was formed before the massive drop happened, which serves as another indicator of bearish pressure. After having all confluences ready in hand, it is time to execute. The Stop Loss is place a few pips above the zone of resistance, and the Target Profit is set at 3% gains, as the risk-to-reward based method is utilised. NOTE: Even though having multiple confluences backs up your technical setup, gives you confidence, and provides your graphical setup with a higher chance of succeeding, risk-to-reward principles should be strictly followed in all cases! We cannot control the market, but we can control our capital, risk, and emotions. Have a great upcoming weekend, everyone!
BITSTAMP:BTCUSDEducation
by Investroy
17
Basics of Trading PsychologyPsychology is perhaps the single most important aspect of trading. Without the proper psychology, you are almost guaranteed to fail. First things first, you have to understand that trading is just as much of a profession as any other, and just like top performing athletes, trading reflects your performance, you are responsible for your results. In life your beliefs shape your reality, and you have to believe without a doubt that you could become a trader. Only once you completely trust yourself, you will be able to go ahead and become a trader. Every aspect of trading is psychological including everything we have spoken about pretty much. And since you trade your beliefs, that makes the biggest impact on the results you will receive. People make decisions based on fear or greed, it is that simple. And since the market is designed to take advantage of individuals psychological weakness, if you do not have control over yours then you will be a part of the 90% who lost that day. Since all trading is psychological, it is most important to always be working on yourself as a person, because that will greatly impact your mindset and attitude while trading. You cannot finish fighting with a friend, partner, or spouse, and sit on your computer expecting to make great analytical decisions while there is anger and indecisions going on in your head. Trading has to be treated just as much of a business as any other. A lot of people think that trading mistakes and trading losses are the same thing. However, a trading loss is simply a trade that hit your stop loss and did not go your way. Until the day you learn to accept that losses are just as much a part of trading as winners, you will not become successful. A trading mistake on the other hand is you simply not following your own rules. You have to understand the importance of being disciplined and how it is possibly the single most important aspect of lasting in the markets. Never break your own rules just to be right, because as said earlier, you need to learn that losses are completely normal and expected. By following your rules, you will focus less on being right and have less emotional attachment to trades. If emotions are attached to every single trade then what can happen is that you could have a great week and make a certain amount of money that week. Now by attaching an emotion to that trade, you are programming your mind to believe that the following week even if half that amount was made, it is not good enough as you do not have the same intensity of positive emotions. In trading you have to be emotionless towards both wins and losses and strictly follow your rules. According to Dr Van K. Tharp, there are 12 tasks of trading which include: 1. Self-analysis to determine if you are in a state of mind to trade 2. Mental rehearsal to avoid mistakes 3. Daily focus to lead you towards your goal 4. Developing your own style of a low risk idea 5. Stalking the charts starting from high to low time frames 6. Action requiring commitment and not thought 7. Monitoring the trade to keep the risk low 8. Aborting if the trade is not going well 9. Taking profits when the reason for the trade has ended 10. A daily review to monitor and prevent future mistakes 11. Being grateful for what went well 12. A periodic review to make sure everything is still working well   One of the biggest parts of a good trading psychology is believing in yourself. This can sound very straight forward until you deposit real money and place a trade. You will see parts of yourself being tested that you didn't know existed. You might find yourself checking the trade every few minutes or even seconds, you might look at your drawdown and doubt everything that you have done, you might lose a trade and think that you will never analyse another right. Let me give you some common examples, you analyse a trade and all the confluence is there, you then monitor your trade and after several hours you find yourself in drawdown leading you to close the trade, hours later you see that the price went to exactly where you had your take profit. Another might be after losing a trade you see a great opportunity, but your previous loss makes you doubt everything about the trade, only to see it reaching where you had in mind also. Of all the things learnt, if your psychology is not your main focus of work, you will not be able to succeed as a trader, not because you do not have the right knowledge and analysis to trade, but because you are your own enemy. Over trading is another reason why many people do not last long in the markets. Over trading is extremely negative as placing too many trades and adding on to your losses, you are not managing your risk correctly and only exposing your account and capital to more risk. The psychology going from demo to a real account is great also and individuals need to be careful as emotions will come into play. If there is one thing that cannot be stressed enough, it is that the aim of trading is to gain pips and not money. Chasing money, especially fast money, is gambling and you will never have control as long as you remain with that attitude.
BITSTAMP:BTCUSDEducation
by opes_trading_group
How to use EMA's as a beginnerIf you are getting started in trading, identifying a trend may not be the easiest thing to do. So here we can see a little example of how using EMA's such as the 20 and the 50 can help. By placing your EMA's on the chart, you can use them on any TF, however just like every other indicator, the higher the TF the more value it holds. EMA's can help us identify trends and we can spot what is known as dynamic support and resistance, where just like traditional support and resistance, the moving averages can now act as areas where the price can bounce or reject from as its trending. The further our EMAS move apart, the stronger the momentum is getting for that trend. When the EMAS are moving very closely together it can help us to identify a ranging or sideways market that is not trending. A crossover can help us to identify the beginning of a trend that is about to start. Always remember, these indicators should be used as confluences, and not to be relied on solely.
Education
by opes_trading_group
1
Criteria that need to be met before entering a tradeHey, wizards! Happy Wednesday and welcome on another Educational Post for the week. Today, we are gonna be talking about trade entry criteria and checklist. In other words, what we should look for before opening a position. First and foremost, we should analyse multiple timeframes and identify the direction of a specific market. As identified on the table, different types of traders examine different timeframes. The most common timeframes used by scalpers are M15, M5 and M1. H1 and H30 are popular among intraday type of investors, D1 and H4/H3 are commonly used by swing traders. After analysing different timeframes and getting the overall picture of a chart, we start identifying various key zones. This could be support and resistance areas, supply and demand zones, Fibonacci retracement levels, descending/ascending trendlines and so forth. After having identified crucial key levels, we start looking for more confirmations to backup our bias. Candlestick patterns (doji, hammer, engulfing), Top/Bottom/H&S figures, Indicators (EMA, RSI, MACD etc.) can be utilised as valid instruments to confirm our ideas. All in all, going through the steps identified above are important before opening a transaction. In addition, remaining patient, keeping it simple, and following risk-to-reward principles are as equally important.
BITSTAMP:BTCUSDEducation
by Investroy
38
The Art of setting a Target ProfitHey, wizards! Happy 2022 and welcome on the first Educational Post by Investroy for the new year. Today we are gonna be talking about different ways of setting a Target Profit (TP), and scrutinizing the benefits and drawbacks of each. Though there are many ways to set targets, as it varies depending on ones trading plan and strategy, here are 3 of the most popular ways of placing a TP. 1)Confluence based Reading the chart and analyzing different timeframes of a certain security, we can use different confluences to spot potential zones of price reversals. On the graphical illustration demonstrated on the chart, we can observe that a rectangular range has been formed and the price is sitting at the lower boundary, in other words at the crucial zone of support. It is highly likely that traders will start going long on this setup and anticipate for the price to keep rising and reach the area of resistance. On the other hand, it is never 100% sure that the price will be able to bounce off the local zone of demand, and therefore risk management should be strictly followed. 2)Risk-to-Reward based (Fixed) The other name of this method is “set and forget”. One group of traders prefers to follow same risk-to-reward ratios for all positions opened (For ex. 1:2 or 1:3 fixed). Another group favors setting different RR ratios for different trades and let the positions run until they hit TP. All in all, the technique implies setting a certain RR Target Profit and letting trades run. On the figure displayed on the screen, it can be inferred that the sentiment of the market is clearly bullish and the price is expected to keep rising. One of the disadvantages would be the following: sometimes due to greed, traders set their targets too high and the price results in not reaching the intended TP. 3)Intuition/Logic based As strange as it may sound, there is actually a number of traders implementing this approach when setting a Target Profit. Moreover, it requires experience to sense where the market is about to move. As illustrated and interpreted on the graph, the market repeats historical actions from time to time. Experienced investors tend to notice some specific patterns and make decisions out of it.
BITSTAMP:BTCUSDEducation
by Investroy
35
Risk Management: the Beauty and the Main Principles of itHey, magicians, hope you are all doing great and enjoying the holiday season! After receiving multiple requests from you, we are back with another Educational Post and the topic is the following: Risk Management and its Principles. As we have already discussed in some of the previous educational posts, Risk Management, alongside with other componenets, is one of the most important elements that need to be followed in the world of Trading. If one wants to be successful and profitable in this journey, obeying the fundamentals of Risk Management is a MUST. We have created a visual illustration which will explain how Risk Management really functions, and how one can be successful by implementing it in a correct way. In order to better understand the table, let us make the following assumptions: -We are journaling our last 28 trades -We have risked 1% on each transaction (trade) -Our win rate is only 50% -We do not have any BREAKEVEN trades, meaning we have left all our positions run open till TP/SL As we can notice from the graphical illustration, most of the trades have different Risk-To-Reward ratios (for example: 1:3, 1:2, 1:1.8 etc.). With only 50% win rate, our Winning Trades will make us a nice +35.2% return, while the losing trades will set us back by -14%. If we do quick maths, we will see that the total return from our last 28 trades will constitute 21.2%! There is no "Holy Grail" in trading, but following the principles of Risk Management can lead one to the door of consistency and profitability. Of course, Risk Management is not the only element, as psychology, patience, mindset, and some other factors should be considered and mastered as well. We will be looking forward to covering other psychological aspects of trading in the next few educational posts! Until then, stay safe and happy, and if you have any requests or proposals, feel free to let us know in the comment section below! Investroy would like to wish you all a Merry Christmas and a happy upcoming New Year!
BITSTAMP:BTCUSDEducation
by Investroy
26
Trading Myths vs Reality. Beginners, this one is for you!Hey, wizards! Happy Thursday and welcome on another Educational Post. The topic is the following: Myths and Reality of Trading. As you may already know, there are so many false statements that beginners run into before starting their trading journey. Those statements are illustrated on the layout and interpreted below: 1) Most people think that trading is easy and they can quit their job or whatever they do and start making a living off trading straight away. In fact, in order to be profitable, consistent, and be a full-time trader in general, he or she MUST have a backtested strategy and be experienced enough in this sector. Remember that it takes a while to be successful, but it is fully worth it! 2) “Trading is like a casino”- we hear this one quite often. Only two types of people use this expression a lot: those who have never been able to become successful in this industry, and those that have no plan or idea about what they are doing. One should never open a positions based on a coin flip or what others are saying. Ideas and analyses of other can be used as a confluence and inspiration for a trader to open a positions on a specific security. 3) Whether it is trading or any other industry, one can never be rich over the course of a night. It takes 10-14 for someone to become a licensed surgeon, at least 6 years to become a professional lawyer. What makes you think that you will become a professional trader in just a few weeks or months? 4) No matter what the situation is, always use a Stop Loss to avoid deep losses. Whether liquidity hunt exists or it does not, it is always important to stay safe and sound. 5) Risk management is always more important than the win rate. Imagine having a 1:3 Risk-to-Reward ratio on your next 10 trades and the win rate is only 50%. That means you will win 5 and you lose 5. Now, let’s say that we decide to risk 1% of our total capital per trade. If we do quick maths, we will see that with only 50% win rate and 1:3 RR, we will result in making a juicy 10% return from the total of our next 10 trades. Of course, this is not always the case, as there are some factors that should be considered, such as spreads, fees, pip value etc. However, this is a perfect example to help you get the overall idea. 6) There is a big number of traders who do not like the “Retail Way” and would rather trade the “Smart Money” concept, which is apparently the closest thing that we have to the Institutional Trading. The bottom line is this: choose a strategy that suits you the best, and go with it while optimizing along the way. Changing strategies every week/month will not make one consistent. It is crucial that you stick with one trading plan and be loyal to it. 7) Many beginning traders tend to increase their risk in attempts to make more profits. This approach is so risky and totally wrong. If one is willing to make more money trading, it is important that he or she increases the input, and not the risk.
Editors' picks
BITSTAMP:BTCUSDEducation
by Investroy
151
THE ART OF MULTI-TIMEFRAME ANALYSIS AND MULTIPLE CONFLUENCESHey, wizards, hope you are all having a great week so far! We would like to welcome all of you on another educational post, the topic of which is Multi-Timeframe analysis and multiple confluneces involved. As it can be inferred, the Monthly and Weekly timeframes are used to determine the direction of the market, the Daily timeframe is used to identify key areas and important zones, and finally, the 4-hourly timeframe is utilized for entering trades. Now, let’s dig deeper into it and analyze the situation that we have on EUR/USD. MONTHLY: Observing the weekly timeframe graph, we can say that the price has been printing bearish candles for a few consecutive weeks. As one of the main trading principles says, after a strong impulsive move, a correction is needed. We can witness some bearish weakening signs and therefore we are looking for a short-term long position. Our possible target would be set at a previous level of support turned resistance, which aligns with the golden Fibonacci zone. WEEKLY: Leveling down to the weekly timeframe chart, we can see that the price is consolidating, as it is unable to push lower. Technically, after long lasting consolidations, it is believed that the price will either fly like a rocket or drop like a needle. This gives us another confluence and backs up our plan. DAILY: Moving down to the daily timeframe graphic, we can notice that the previous candle was super bullish and some kind of an ascending triangle is being formed. If the price breaks and retests the upper boundary of the formed triangle, we can see some nice bullish moves. 4H: Last but not least, the 4-hourly timeframe a.k.a. the timeframe of entries. After a massive bullish push to the upside yesterday, the price has started correcting before further bullish moves happen. Here, we are using two entry confluences: the area of previously broken structure that nicely aligns with the 61.8% fibonacci retracement level. Before entering the trade, we will carefully monitor the price action and wait for the price to bounce off the local zone. We are hoping that this educational post will be of value for you and we are wishing you all a great day! Regards, Investroy Team
Education
by Investroy
28
Gold: 8 Factors You Must Know, If You Trade Gold8 Factors You Must Know If You Trade Gold Gold has been a favorite of many for centuries. It's used as an investment and holds sentimental value all over the world. Let's take a closer look into some factors that affect these changes: supply & demand dynamics between countries holding large amounts while wanting lower rates so they won't have trouble selling off inventories; economic stability decides whether there'll be. Wh at Moves the Gold Price? There are many reasons plays behind the gold price. Let's discuss some. Supply and Demand Demand and Supply are two forces that constantly affect the price of Gold. When demand for this precious metal increases, its value goes up too. When there's less interest in purchasing or holding onto it, prices will naturally decrease over time due to supply constraints. That means you can buy more at any given moment without worrying about getting stuck paying the total retail cost later. Inflation Gold has been a good hedge against inflation for many years. When prices go up in an economy, people tend to invest their money into Gold and not a currency. Because it's considered stable over time while maintaining its value even when currencies change significantly from one day or year-to-year ranking/rating changes due to economic factors. Such as high unemployment rates, which increase demand by consumers looking for safe-haven assets. Central Banks Decision Gold is typically bought in large amounts by governments and institutions who view it as an essential store for wealth preservation. But this can also mean traders take notice. Central banks worldwide have recently been buying substantial quantities because they want to diversify their reserves away from US dollars which currently make up most international finance markets valued at close to $200 trillion (€170 T). The result has already shown itself, with spot prices rising 6 percent higher than last year despite economic uncertainty following recent hikes on interest rates over America's quantitative easing program. Interest Rates Interest rates are the driving force behind Gold's price movements. When interest rates increase, people sell their assets to earn higher returns on existing investments. At the same time, at other times, they might buy back in if prices have fallen too far for them not to make up that loss with purchasing power today - this increases demand for precious metals like never before. The relationship between these two economic indicators means different things depending upon one another. For example, when there is inflation (worst-case scenario), investors seek out safe-haven currencies such as Gold, which protect wealth against devaluation or hyperinflationary policies imposed by countries worldwide seeking currency stability through international agreements like SDRs. Central Banks Reserve The government holds a large number of gold reserves. Therefore, when most of the Reserve Banks worldwide start to buy Gold more than they sell. The gold prices increase because there will be insufficient supply in the future and vice versa when central banks sell greater quantity than it buys; therefore, these transactions result in currency rates against other currencies. Currency Fluctuations Gold is traded on the international market in US dollars. When you convert your currency from USD to any other currencies during import, it becomes more expensive as the price fluctuates concerning both currencies. Let's compare prices between countries like the United States and Saudi Arabia, where one has a more robust economy than others do. There can be a hike of up to 30 – 50% extra cost for purchasing an item because these economies have been performing better over recent years, meaning they provide higher rates of return that give them power over minting new coins. In contrast, some country's revenue may only last one year before another recession strikes, making importing items not profitable anymore. A co-relation with other asset class Gold is a highly effective portfolio diversification because of its low negative correlation to major asset classes. In addition, when shares fall in companies, there's an inverse relationship shown between Gold and equities. This makes it easy for investors looking at their investments from either side to have peace of mind when they know that one goes down. Then others will likely recover - especially considering how much more stable stocks tend towards being over time than fluctuating prices do. Geopolitical Factors Gold has often been seen as a haven during times of political and geopolitical turmoil. During such periods, Gold does well compared to other asset classes due to an increase in demand from investors who won't keep their money away from unstable markets or currency values that could change at any moment.
TVC:GOLDEducation
by Gold_Trading_Expert
Want To Improve Your Trading Game? Play Poker!In virtually any field of athletics it is advised that you should cross-train in order to both avoid injury and increase performance . For example, Football players are encouraged to take up pilates, yoga, and swimming. Runners can reduce injury and increase performance by incorporating Rollerblading, Barre, and Zumba into their routines.  So what should traders do in order to "cross-train" that will make them better traders, to help them "avoid injury" (as in lose money ) and "increase performance" (as in make money )? My answer: Play Poker! Yes, Poker and Trading are both "sedentary" activities where you are sitting at a desk or table. It is the brain that needs to be toned, limbered up, and made flexible, not the body. (Though you need to make sure your body is healthy too!) So it is safe to say that the peak performance trader needs a mental cross-training routine, not necessarily a physical one. So why is Poker the ideal cross-training exercise for traders? 1: Poker Teaches Risk Management Unless you're a novice or not seriously playing in a virtual poker App, there's little chance you will go "All In" at the poker table. I can count on one hand the number of times I went "all in" and I won every time. Such opportunities rarely happen. When I did move my pile of chips to the center of the table it was because I knew what was in my hand. I "managed my risk". Likewise, the trader or investor should almost never go "all-in", putting their entire account into asset X, Y, or Z because "the market will market" on you and you will lose it all. In trading terms, you can very easily "blow up your account."  As Kenny Rogers says, "You've got to know when to hold'em... and know when to fold'em." Good risk management requires that even if you lose say, 5 times in a row, you will live to trade another day. I frequently talk about never risking more than 1% of your account on any single trade . A 5% loss is easy to recover from with two 3-R wins, or one 7-R win. Likewise in poker, with a $100 buy-in, you usually have $1 antes, allowing you to play up to 100 hands (even if you were the worst poker player in the world) risking only 1% per hand. In poker, only if the "odds are in your favor", that is, you have two-pair, or you have three or four-of-a-kind, or a straight, would you consider raising the stakes to 2, 5, or even 10% of your bankroll. If you can make 20R from a 4R "risk" with the odds in your favor, you are now thinking like a professional trader where Risk Management is "Job One". 2: Poker Teaches Emotional Management I like to teach that our goal as a trader is to be totally mechanical - totally rules-based. Our goal is to "Trade like a Vulcan" or "Trade like Spock: Trade long and prosper!" What's the poker analogy? Having a " Poker Face ". Or as the old antiperspirant commercial said, "Never let'em see you sweat."  We may have an awesome hand, but we can't display a "woo-hoo" face because no one will bet against us. We may have a terrible hand, but we can't put up a "oh, good grief!" face and let others know that they have even the slightest chance of beating us. We have to play every hand waiting for the last card drawn (the river) because that last card can make or break what we are holding in our hand. And very often it is that last card dealt, "the river", that can make or break a poker hand. 3: Poker Teaches You to Play the Probabilities Growing up in Brooklyn, New York, I remember the famous slogan from the New York Lottery: "You gotta be in it to win it!" They threatened (coerced?) every New Yorker with "fear of loss" if they didn't play the lotto... "Well, yeah, we all know the odds of you winning are are actually close to zero, but of you don't play then they really are zero so you better play or you will feel more like the loser than you already are!" Thankfully, the odds in winning at Poker are much higher than winning a set of numbers printed on ping-pong balls, which teaches you that when you have an "edge"... when you have a "system" that has the odds in your favor (a winning trading system) you can't try to outsmart the system – you need to play every hand that meets the criteria of your system.  As hockey great Wayne Gretzky said, "You miss 100% of the shots you don't take." So as Poker players and as traders, we have to play every hand, or every trade that appears that meets our trading plan's criteria, otherwise if we try to "outsmart the market" we will lose every time. And more often than not, even with a terrible hand, say a 2 and 4 of spades, you might find that if you don't fold, every once in a while three spades will appear on the table giving you one of the high-probability hands: the flush . So play every hand . And in trading, take every trade opportunity that appears that qualifies under your rules-based trading system. 4: Poker Teaches You To Stay Humble My poker buddies and I play every month or so. Early in my tenure when I learned to play poker I realized "Hey, I'm pretty good at this.... I'm gauging the probabilities, I'm keeping my risk-per-hand low, I'm taking small profit after small profit and leaving with twice the money I bought in for or more. Drinks are on me!" Then I got cocky... Walking into game four I thought to myself "I'm the Vulcan, emotionless, rules-based, odds-calculating poker player, right?" And that night my proverbial hat was handed to me. It was one of the worst games I'd played to that point. I over-bid, I bluffed (something I had never done before and my opponents knew it!), and I raised bets on hands I know I should have folded. I re-bought in after losing my original buy-in and lost all of that! And I went home with a valuable lesson: Don't think you can out-smart the probabilities.  The reason we win at poker is the same reason we win at trading. We must always play the odds, we must never play the low probability hands, we must always keep our emotions get the best of us, and when it's time to fold, it's time to fold!" Last week our poker group met again. I bought in for $50 and left with $135. In trading parlance, that was a 170% return. I was grateful. I learned my lesson. I've got to stay humble and let the hand come to me, let the trade come to me, and never think I can out-smart the table or the market. 5: Poker Teaches You To Set a Financial Target One of the reasons that casinos give their players free drinks, free upgrades to already expensive suites, and free food is they know that "the more you play, the more you'll pay." You can be up $5,000 for the night, then go get yourself some free lobster tails paired with filet mignon, a bottle of wine, and a decadent dessert. Then you return to the tables all fat, happy, and lubricated and proceed to hand all your winnings back to the House.  I know more than one poker player who has a rule: "When I double my money, I'm done . I may walk in with $500, and when I'm $500 to the positive, I quit and go on to enjoy the rest of my night, otherwise I'll just give it all back." Similarly, I know many a trader (yours truly included) who may have been up a sizable amount wonderfully early in the trading session, then proceed to give all those winnings back to the market an hour or so later. Setting a daily "win" will prevent you from getting mentally "fat and sassy" where you will become overconfident and then hand your winnings back to the market.  As a Poker player, you may want to make a certain amount of money per game. As a trader, you might want a daily amount of "R" or dollar amount to the positive. In either case, when you hit your goal, even if it's in the first 20 minutes of the trading session you need to close all open trades and enjoy the fact that you did what 90% likely did not do that day: end the day in the green! On other words, "Quit while you're ahead!" 6: Poker Player Are Part of a Vibrant Community Full of Fun People! Like traders, the number of people who are committed to improving their poker game are few. We need to belong to a strong community of passionate poker players to perfect our craft just as we need to belong to a strong community of passionate (and profitable) traders in order to continually perfect our skill at taking money from the markets each and every day. There are online poker communities you can join (think: Simulated Trading) and there are global in-person Poker communities that can link you up with other players once you're ready to "go live". These communities are generally free to join and will help you build up the skill to become a proficient and profitable Poker player which, more importantly, will help you become an even more proficient and profitable trader.  Is there anything else about Poker that you think needs to be added to the list? Leave a comment below.  As always, Trade well! (And maybe I'll see you at the table!)
NYSE:GEEducation
by ocaptain
3
The biggest “MYTH vs REALITY” in tradingDear traders, happy Friday and welcome on our Educational Post for this week. Today we will be talking about the most popular myths in the trading world and compare it to the reality. “99.99% win rate”, “50 trades winning streak”, “100% monthly return”. Do these phrases sound familiar? All of us have come across people and companies promising that they accomplish the above stated proclamations GUARANTEED. These individuals tend to deceive the beginners and sell them a fake dream. However, trading does not work like that. If we take a look at the chart, we can see the 4H timeframe graphic of GOLD. We decided to use this graph to illustrate the idea. On the left hand side of the chart, we can see an example of the strategy that the above stated type of individuals use to deceive a huge mass of people. Fake and unrealistic risk-to-reward ratios, impractical percentage returns and other tricks appeal the newcomers and lead them to the mousetrap set by the so-called “gurus”. On the other hand, on the right side of the screen, we can see the reality of trading. Not every trade will be a winning one. The most important thing is to follow the principles of risk management, have patience and discipline! We hope you enjoyed this educational post! If you have any proposals on what should our next educational post be about, please feel free to write down the topics of your interest in the comment section below. Investroy team is wishing you all a great upcoming weekend!
OANDA:XAUUSDEducation
by Investroy
6
How to Use Fibonacci Retracement ? hello traders , today i'll talk abouut my favourite tools the Fibonacci retracement tool is extremely useful and it help us to find the strong resistance and support area ( 0.618) . How to use it : Drawing Fibonacci retracement levels is a simple three-step process : In an uptrend: Step 1 – Identify the direction of the market: uptrend Step 2 – Attach the Fibonacci retracement tool on the bottom and drag it to the right, all the way to the top Step 3 – Monitor the three potential support levels: 0.236, 0.382 and 0.618 In a downtrend: Step 1 - Identify the direction of the market: downtrend Step 2 -Attach the Fibonacci retracement tool on the top and drag it to the right, all the way to the bottom Step 3 Monitor the three potential resistance levels: 0.236, 0.382 and 0.618 In the next post, I will explain more about The golden ratio and how to use it in entering and exit . for more educational ideas , signals and analysis follow us .
by Diamond_Chart
5
Trade like a casino! 🎰🎲💵Yep you heard me right you need trade like a casino 🎰 Key bit here is trade like the casino operates their business model. Don't trade like the clients that frequent the casinos. Why should you trade like a casino? Profitable traders understand how casinos are successful. Casinos are profitable and make money because they have an edge which they let play out. They know probability is in their favour. How many times have we all been at a roulette table thinking we have a 50% chance of winning betting on red or black. We all seem to forget about that green zero on the table and here in lies the casinos edge. With having an edge they let play out it's impossible for them not to make money. The casino is comfortable with every outcome on the bets placed knowing the edge will play out. Losses are seen as a cost of business, risk is controlled and emotions to are in check. This is why the house always wins! 🎰🤑 If you as a trader apply the same logic's to your trading strategies the end results will be the same as the casino. If you choose to trade like one of the clients in the casino with no fixed rules you essentially are gambling with you trading. Subjectivity and emotions will come in to play. Random winning and losing runs will occur which will impact trading psychology. This way of trading will only end in one way and that's by giving everything to the house or in this case your broker! Development of a strategies with proven mathematical edges ensures you will become the house 🏦💰 Once an edge is established trust your strategy and let that edge play out. ----------------------------------------- Please hit the 👍 LIKE button if you like my ideas🙏 Also follow my profile, then you will receive a notification whenever I post a trading idea - so you don't miss them. 🙌 No one likes missing out, do they? Also, see my 'related ideas' below to see more just like this. Thank you. Darren
Education
by pow_removetheguesswork
A lesson in Revenge Trading"Cut your losses short, but let your winners ride!" We have heard that quote, one and a million times, it's one of the first things you hear when you start trading, a quote almost as known as "Buy low, sell high" And why is it so important and so widespread?. The reason is pretty simple: You need to make more on your winning trades, to compensate all your losses and still make a profit. Sounds pretty simple right? Your win ratio and Risk to Reward are your most important stats, Well it's easier said than done, and today I learned something about that coupled with revenge trading. But what is revenge trading? It's as simple as looking to make quick profits in a quick and aggressive way, after suffering losses, revenge trading also involves forgetting your own trading rules and risk management. Anyone experienced trader can tell you the same, revenge trading is one of the worst things you can do and one of the fastest ways to losing your ENTIRE ACCOUNT You can wipe out, months and even years, of savings and trading profits in a manner of hours or even minutes. So when you take a loss, you should step away for a while, review what you are doing and get back in the game with a clear head. In this case, I didn't take losses, I actually did make some profits BUT I was angry that I didn't make all the profits from the top to the actual bottom. So I revenge traded, even though I was up quite well in the day. Instead of even following my own earlier analysis (linked below) I decided that the best way to make quick profits, was by trying to time the absolute bottom and get a high leverage long in there. Not only I was increasing the leverage I was also increasing the risk, by trading against the trend and trying to time the exact moment the market reversed. I didn't manage as you can see in the chart. The lesson is pretty simple: Don't ever revenge trade and don't let good trades that weren't perfect enough make you become irrational. I could have pretty good profits today, but I let myself become my own worst enemy. ALWAYS PRACTICE RISK MANAGEMENT, RISK MANAGEMENT IS VITAL TO TRADING
Education
by CryptoEstratega
4