Disciplined Trading Strategies

On the Disciplined Trading Strategies resource page, near the bottom, there is a section called 21 Trading Quick Tips. These tips have slowly accumulated over recent years, without any particular schedule. I believe these tips have incredible value, even though most of them are only one-line snippets with powerful trading lessons. So, I am taking them seven at a time over three podcast episodes an...

On the Disciplined Trading Strategies resource page, down at the bottom, I have what are called 21 Trading Quick Tips. These have slowly accumulated over recent years, with no particular schedule. I feel these have incredible value in them, even though they are mostly only one-line snippets with powerful trading lessons. So what I am doing is taking them seven at a time over the next three podcast...

Most podcasts are on specific individual topics. I know a lot of you have listened to many or all of them, but even if you have, it is sometimes difficult to pull the topics together in a meaningful way. So, occasionally, I like to do some podcasts that tie a few topics together. This is one of those. Is this everything that can hold a trader back? Of course not. But it's a quick, off-the-top-of-m...

This is a much bigger deal than the quiet title may be indicating to you. And I imagine the title brought about a little curiosity, and you probably have some idea what I’m going to talk about. It’s not meant to be a cute title, it is actually a term I use virtually every day. It does apply to both day trading and longer-term trading or swing trading, at least most aspects of this conversation do....

This episode is a practical look at two topics that are not directly related, but are often misunderstood: diversification and leverage. Diversification is often misused. There are different goals when diversifying, and different methods for doing it. Leverage is also frequently misunderstood and, for the most part, is a much simpler topic. This episode will be fairly short and will focus on answe...

This episode is a brief common-sense reminder about staying aware, thinking clearly, and not getting too comfortable IF or when conditions may be changing. It is about preparation, perspective, and avoiding the kind of complacency that can quietly create bigger problems later. Sometimes the biggest risk is not what you see coming, but what you stop paying attention to. This has great information a...

If you’re new to trading, this is where you start. Before you ever place a trade, there are a few things you must understand, from choosing the right broker and charts to learning how to read price and manage risk. In this episode, we break down the true foundation of trading, including time frames, account structure, and why education and planning come before anything else. Trading doesn’t start...

If you’re new, scanning is the process of taking a large number of symbols and narrowing them down to a smaller group by identifying the characteristics you want for a possible trade setup. It applies to long-term trading, swing trading, and day trading. The main focus of this podcast is the balance and trade-off between quality and focus when scanning. There can be a real cost to watching too man...

The term averaging can be confusing for newer traders. In simple terms, it means entering a stock at one price and then adding more shares later, which creates an average cost basis based on how many shares were purchased at each price. Buying at higher prices is known as averaging up, while buying at lower prices is averaging down. In this episode, we take a deeper look at the pros and cons of th...

Due to the holidays, it's been an extra couple of weeks since my last podcast. This one actually came as an offshoot from the last DTS educational event I did in mid-December. That event was called A Fireside Chat at DTS and highlighted some of my favorite topics from the year. One of those topics had to do with the role of strategies and the misunderstanding of that role as it comes to traders. T...

This one was inspired by many questions I received. In this episode, I break down one of the biggest trading demons we all face — FOMO. I talk about how fear, impatience, and the pressure to “catch the move” can quietly push us into overtrading and stepping outside our plan. I’ll show you how these emotions connect, how they trick even experienced traders, and what I personally do to stay discipli...

In this episode, I dive into the trap of judging trades by their results. Sometimes we get rewarded for doing something sloppy, and other times we take a clean, disciplined trade that just doesn’t work out. I talk about why a “good trade” might not be as good as it looks — and why a “bad result” might still be one of your best trades of the week. It’s a simple idea, but once you really understand...

Two podcasts ago, I talked about trading plans for the first time in this series. Now, it’s not because trading plans aren’t important — they’re actually critical — but they’re not always the easiest topic to break down in a podcast format. That said, I got a lot of great feedback and a few interesting questions, so in this episode I want to take a little time to follow up and dig deeper. If you h...

The Pattern Day Trader Rule essentially prevents people from day trading stocks unless they have a $25,000 balance. This rule was enacted in 2001 and was intended to protect traders. In my view, it has hurt those it has tried to help. This video explains why, and also what an opportunity it may open up for the average person. Set up a free coaching session with Paul: https://calendly.com/dts-paul/...

In all this time, this is Podcast 68, I have not had a full presentation on trading plans. The answer is partly because I just haven’t gotten around to it yet, partly because the detailed topic of trading plans may not be best for a podcast, and partly because many people feel this to be a boring topic. However, it is among the most important topics. So listen a little even if you don’t want to. I...

A while back I did a podcast that was simply titled “Time frames” which discussed some of the basics and what you may choose to focus on as a trader. This podcast is a little more advanced and based on constant questions I receive, so I will try to clear up some misconceptions about the differences in time frames and how we make money from the different time frames. If you are very new, by time fr...

While on one hand this may seem like a fairly basic topic, I get a lot of questions that let me know that a lot of traders are confused about risk management versus trade management. I have talked specifically about the “risk unit” back in Podcast #35, and a lot of comments in general about trading management back on podcast #25. However, this podcast is devoted to discussing how they tie together...

Sorry about using one of those “top-five” titles. But that’s what this one is. It’s a new topic to discuss these as a group, but naturally each one of these may have had some partial discussion in prior podcasts. Here is the redacted list: Over xxx-ing… Dxxxxxxing Inappropriately… Risking amounts that xxxxxxxxxx… Listening to xxxx xxxx… Trading with xxxxxxx which leads to xxxxxxxx. Set up a free c...

There is an entire category of comments you’re not likely to ever hear when you’re learning to trade. That is because they are unsavory and not things a lot of people like to talk about. That’s exactly why they can be the most helpful comments. I discuss these all the time. I have a fairly long list I will discuss in this podcast. It includes things like, as one example, dealing with losing trades...

Some recent events and a new DTS Question of the Week email sparked several comments and questions that generated this podcast topic. I don’t want to describe it too much or I may ruin the effect of this podcast. I do want to add that perhaps I didn’t and with the correct concluding line. If it isn’t obvious, the conclusion is simply this. If you follow these misperceptions, it is a factual certai...

While it is not normally the case, this podcast is a takeoff from an hour-long live DTS Educational Event I did last week. The reason I’m doing that is because this is what seems to be a very hot topic. Everyone has tons of questions about how these technologies may or may not affect traders, whether they are long-term or short-term, and whether there’s any way to benefit from them. Also this topi...

This episode touches on the importance of understanding market pullbacks/corrections/all-out crashes even though the market is up the majority of time both pricewise and timewise. It discusses the truth about why markets crash and there can be no argument about what the truth is about market crashes. There’s also a fun discussion about the relationship between the market and Ponzi schemes although...

Most traders are wired to trade a certain way. Everything is a “breakout” to them whether it occurs on a weekly chart or a one minute chart. That poor wiring for most people is why so many people lose trading or investing in the market. Understanding that the price action that occurs is usually the reverse of how people are wired is important. This podcast goes into several broad general topics ab...

While I have done an awful lot of podcasts, none are directly titled about psychology. This one says “More on Trading Psychology” because it has been mentioned in many prior podcasts as it is obviously a large topic, and rightfully should be, for many traders. However, for many traders, they don’t have the right to even claim psychology because they are not at a level where psychological issues ca...

This is a very timely discussion I think most of you will appreciate. It discusses several things including the different ways that traders can handle an extended bull market or when it transitions to pull back or a bear market. It discusses the psychological problems traders often have that can end up causing huge losses, and how to potentially deal with them. Set up a free coaching session with...