1.) Do this test: All your stops are hit tomorrow, what cash is left? Figure out how much your capital will be compromised, if it is uncomfortable, change something.
2.) Get rid of moldy positions. Anything that isn’t making money, be gone! Check for a very simple thing; is price above the 50 moving average, is +DMI above –DMI, if either of those two conditions are not met for your time frame, you have more cleaning up to do.
3.) Choose only good positions and avoid the bad ones. There is an idea! What does it mean? Make sure that price has direction before you lay your money down. Trading with price direction makes more money.
4.) Get a tune up. Make sure your computer is in good working order. Defrag and clear cache. Maintenance of the computer is part of a trading plan.
5.) Do an ‘Is this necessary’ test to all the items that have accumulated in your trading area. If the answer is no, it goes. Who knows, you might even find the cordless phone you lost months ago!
6.) Review and organize. Make a certain time whether it is once a week or once a month, to review all of your finances. Keep paper work organized. What we pay attention to succeeds.
7.) Delete what you aren’t using. The brain can process only so much information. Delete the 500 articles and watch lists that you thought you might ‘get to’ next week. While you are at it – delete old emails. Start fresh.
8.) Take aim. Know what you are in the trade for, whether it is the dividend or capital growth. If you don’t know what the target is, you can’t get there.
9.) Practice, Regular practice improves results. When you're experiencing a ‘missing’ streak (getting stopped out a lot), change something. Better to find out on paper first that your plan is not right.
10.) Make a clean sweep. Go over your financial and trade plan, make sure your positions fit the plan. Is some money allocated to savings? Some for IRA? Some for trading capital? Each goal may have a different time frame, make a clean sweep by coordinating your entire financial picture.
-- Candy Schaap email stockmarketstore@yahoo.com
©All Rights Reserved 2007 May be reprinted with acknowledgement.
