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Let profits run

This simple rule is the key to being a successful trader. It is three simple words that are very hard to actually implement. When we get a profitable trade our natural fear of losing the unrealized cash kicks in and we truly want to close it out now and take the money. Most trading consists of long periods of small winners and losers followed by a few huge winners that make the difference between overall profitability and simply breaking even or losing due to trading costs(commissions, spread, and slippage).

It is our ability to let the huge winners become just that – huge – that determines how we will perform overall during the year. The key to letting winners run is to have trailing stops that are outside the daily noise of the market so that they are not tight enough to get stopped out during ‘normal’ trading. This means being prepared to give up a significant portion of a winning trade’s open profit and is the thing that makes this so hard to implement. In fact, we should be adding to a winner and widening stops rather than working out how tight our stops can be to capture maximum profit. The trade has already shown you that it intends to be a winner, and the chances are it is a low-risk idea to add to the position now rather than ‘strangle it’ with stops that are too tight.

It is very important that your position management rules allow for large winning trades, and that the rules are pre-defined and understood before you place the trade. This will allow you (if you have confidence in your method and discipline) to stick to your rules when you do get the big winner.

This is the sister rule to the previous one, and is usually just as difficult to implement (although it is very easy to define). In the same way that profitability comes from a few large winning trades, capital preservation comes from avoiding the few large losers that the market will toss your way each year. Setting a maximum loss point before you enter the trade so you know before-hand approximately how much you are risking on this particular position is relatively straightforward. You simply need to have a exit price that says to you ‘this trade is a loser and I will exit before it gets any bigger’. Due to gaps at the open, or limit moves in futures we can never be 100%
certain that we can get out with our maximum loss, but simply having the rules, and always sticking to it will save us from the nasty trades that just keep on going and going against our position until we have lost more than many winning trades can make back.

If you have a losing position that is at you maximum loss point, just get out. Do not hope that it will turn around. Given that trades are either winners or losers, and this one is shouting ‘Loser’ at you, the chances that it will turn around and become a large winner is tiny. Why risk any more money on this losing trade, when you could simply close it out (accept the loss) and move on. This will leave you in a much better place financially and mentally, than holding the position and hoping it will go back your way. Even if it did do this, the mental energy and negative feelings from holding the losing position are not worth it. Always stick to your rules and exit a position if it hits your stop point.

The Golden Rules of Trading

The following sections outline a set of rules that can significantly improve your chances of success if they are understood, practiced, and implemented consistently in your trading. These rules have been learned the hard way, by study, research, trial-and-error, and the inevitable mistakes that everyone makes when they start a trading business.

We hope that you can learn from the work we have done, and benefit from our experience.

Have specific goals and objectives

Few things are more important to your trading success than having set (i.e. written) goals and objective for what you are aiming to achieve. It is amazing to me how often we hit our targets, meet our objectives, and reach our goals only when we articulate them and write them down.

For any business to be successful it must have measurable objectives that are actually achievable. In trading (obviously) the primary objective is to make money, but it is important to have other objectives that are not purely cash-related. We must always remember that reward and risk go hand-in-hand in trading and that we cannot expect to achieve high returns without planning for high risk (i.e. draw-downs).

Your objectives and goals will be very specific to you, but they must have the following characteristics to be useful:

o Be measurable (in completion and timeframe)

o Be achievable

o Be worthwhile

o Be positive

As an example, here are some of our current objectives (this is only a partial list):

o Develop 2 new positive-expectancy trading systems each year

o Make fewer errors implementing our trading systems each year

o Achieve a return to maximum draw-down ratio of 1.5:1

o Take 2 weeks vacation each year

Note that only one of them is about making money, and that has a measurable objective that is relative to draw-down, not absolute (i.e. make 100% per year). If you know what you are trying to achieve, and when you are trying to achieve it, the whole business will be focused on meeting
your objectives and help guide you to only pay attention to things you really want to achieve with your limited time and resources. This will also give you a way to measure the success and progress of your trading. Generally traders with well-defined objectives will be much more successful than those that do not have pre-defined goals.

Long term loans supply for initial costs of a start up business and extends from three to seven years.

Documentation! Yes, just get ready with your file of documents and make sure it has – proof of ownership, letters of reference, contracts, tax returns, financial statements, credit references, Incorporation or LLC organizational documents. The loan lender might ask for any other documentation for Small business loans.

Read the small business loan agreement carefully and have your lawyer review it. Some terms can be negotiated with the loan lender. If your circumstances are favourble, you can even manage to waive some terms. Obtain terms which you are comfortable especially with regard to repayment process and interest rates.

You can have a great idea, great people to work with, a well written business plan – everything, almost everything. All you need is a small business loan to make it a success. So, how do we begin writing the success story? With writing small business loans application.

Equity is also significant. The equity will be in the form of money you invest in your business. The loan lender will be very pleased to know, if you have invested your money in the business. If there is enough equity in your business to payback the loan, the small business loan will be yours.

The next crucial thing will be called a credit report. If your credit report is good, your small business loan application will be reaching the top of the application pile. If you have no idea what your history reveal for you – get a copy of credit report. Make sure the details given there are correct. In case there is an error, get it corrected before you apply for small business loans. Pay all the pending debts and get going.

The question that you will be facing with small business loans is what you are going to do with the money. Give concrete answers. Convince the lender that you will repay the small business loan with long term profitability that your plan ensures. Your confidence will be a key to unlocking small business loans.

Small business loans are available in three forms -

Short term loans will solve funds problem for immediate business starting. Their term is usually one year or less.

Intermediate loans are meant for large initial expenses with loan term between one to three years

Scene one: you are sitting on your office desk surrounded with files and work overload, you are thoroughly frustrated. You work hard and get paid. But somewhere something is lacking.

Scene two: you work for yourself; you do what you want to do. You work hard and you are satisfied. You go home a better person each day cause you work for yourself. And you definitely earn more.

You don’t even have to look at the results; votes for Scene two are definitely more. You want a life like that. But every business entails capital. Small business loans can accrue the capital you need to start a small business. With so many online sources for small business loans, you don’t need to rely on family or relatives for capital.

Homework! Yes, it is not meant for school kids only. You too have to do it, to find the right resource of your small business loans. There are a few points, the loans lender will be looking at, when he is contemplating providing you small business loans. A lender will be paying attention on your education, experience, business plan and its feasibility. Other things that are crucial are repaying ability, credit history, equity, presence of collateral.

The first things will be your ability to repay. Every loan is meant to be repaid. Loan lender wants his money back. They will look for a business that has existed for some years now. If you are starting a new business, prepare an application that will prove to them that you will repay the loan. If your business is low risk proposal, you are getting a small business loans.

Presence of collateral would provide a positive boost to your small business loan application. The financial institution would be looking for an alternative source to payback the loan. Without collateral, you would need a cosigner who can pledge collateral. Collateral can be any business or personal assets that can be sold to pay for the small business loan. The market value of collateral is not taken into account but the value which results after negating the valued lost when the collateral is liquidated.