I got my first look at a stock chart standing next to my dad after he got home from work. High school is when I started taking it seriously, and I started my own trading education company at 30. Twenty plus years later, there are three things I would go back and tell that version of me.
None of them are complicated. Run fewer indicators, because every one you add is another vote that can disagree with the rest. Pick a single style and get expert at it, instead of being mildly skilled at day trading, swing trading, options, and futures all at once. Then put in real time at the screens, because nothing substitutes for having lived through a Monday, a Friday, an FOMC day, and a holiday week.
The third one is where most traders come up short, and it happens to be the one you can compress. The OnDemand feature in Thinkorswim lets you replay months of market moves and practice against them in real time. Think of it as the DVR of stock trading. That is the closest thing there is to buying experience.
The honest test for all of it: if you cannot explain your setup quickly and easily, it is probably too complicated. I walk through all three in the video below.
Your Profit Pilot,
TG Watkins
John Carter just introduced SPX Advantage, an AI dashboard that reads options flow, dealer positioning, and market internals on the S&P 500 index and turns all of it into actionable trade ideas. Watch the replay here.
