gflorko

If you're having trouble with individual stocks, try trading the equity index ETF's (DIA for dow, SPY for S&P and QQQ for NASDAQ). Watch the indicators I've mentioned previously in this thread. That may help simplify things.

What do you trade? Do you check weekly charts going into each day? Try to get a feel for where you think the market you're trading is going at the start of each trading day. Draw trend lines on the weekly chart. Use MACD and RSI. They are pretty useful indicators.

What do you trade? What indicators do you use? I would recommend starting out each day with a look at the one day trend. Take note of the trend lines, candlesticks, volume, etc. If you're not already using MACD and RSI, look into those. They can be quite useful, especially, when used in conjunction with each other. Try to get a sense of where you think this particular market is headed today. Keep a journal and log your accuracy percentage. Write down your trading plan. Try not to classify your trades as "swing" or "scalp", or as "day trades" or "position trades". Try to determine your profit target and stop losses and stick to your plan whether a trade takes five minutes or five days to hit either the target or stop. As for taking profits short of your target, that's a judgement call. If you fear that there may be some news coming out soon that could wipe out the profit you do have, get out of the position. It's kind of a "gut" call because you can't trade around news if you don't know what to expect or when.

If you mean strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats, that system could certainly apply to sports betting. Suppose you're betting on a football game. The visiting team's starting QB is out and they haven't won a game on the hosting team's field in five years. Would that not be a strength for the home team and a weakness for the visiting team?

This is an old debate. The definition of gambling is "speculating on the uncertain outcome of future events while risking monetary loss". So, trading IS a "form" of gambling. However, there are many differences. For example, if you bet $500 on the Super Bowl and your team is losing late in the game, there's no way to bail out of that bet or reduce your exposure. If you lose, you are out $500 period. If you go into a trade in the financial markets risking $500 to try to make $500 and the trade is not going your way, you can bail out of that position BEFORE you've lost the full $500. That is one of the major differences and there are several others. Bottom line, you have to risk money to make money no matter what you do for a living. If you have a 30 mile commute to and from your job and you arrive at work one morning and are told that you no longer have a job there for whatever reason (fired, laid off, etc) you are out the money you spent in gas to get there. If you pay for a college eduction or other specialized training and fail to secure work in your chosen field, all you have is the knowledge gained through the education, NOT the job which was supposed to give you a return on your investment. So, next time people tell you that trading is "gambling", point out some of my examples to show them that they are already gambling whether they realize it or not.