New Year’s Resolutions

Back by popular demand, here is my list of my top 10 New Year’s Resolutions, in no particular order.

1. Be cognizant of my emotions and not act impulsively on them. I need to be in touch with my emotions to prevent fear, greed, ego, FOMO and YOLO from influencing my decisions. As soon as I let any emotion into my trading, I lose.

2. Ensure proper setups before embarking on a trade. If the setup is not there, I will simply hold off on taking the trade. I do not need to be in a trade all the time. The stock market is not going anywhere, and there will be ample opportunities to “get it right.”

3. Exercise patience and discipline, not jump in too early or out too late. One of my battles is “jumping the gun.” I tend to perceive where the market is going and enter too early. This resolution is designed to combat that, and even though I may give up a few cents on a trade, it is better to hold off for a better chance of profit than to enter a higher risk position.

4. Check upcoming news for any conflicts of interest with my technicals. News moves markets and hindsight proves that to be correct over and over again. I will aim to not fight the underlying fundamentals but rather roll with them, even if the technicals suggest otherwise at the moment. The funny thing about this is that most of the time, the technicals will conform to the fundamentals, given enough time.

5. Stay healthy physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually in order to stay balanced. Balance is key. Staying in shape in all aspects of your life will provide that balance and hence, better trades. I will aspire to stay more connected with family and friends and partake in hobbies I may have neglected.

6. Stay true to my proven strategies and not veer into uncharted territory. I know my strategies work, having proven that time and time again. Yet, it can be so easy to stray away into an unfamiliar zone, which is where I can easily get in trouble. I may need to adjust my sights on occasion, but I will strive to remain true to my time-tested methodologies.

7. Celebrate my winners but review and learn from my losers. My lessons come from the losers mostly. If I fail to analyze my challenging trades, then I will have failed on two fronts: financial and knowledge. If I can avoid doing what does not work well, what is left are those things that do work.

8. Not overtrade but quit when I hit my daily profit target. This is one I still struggle with. If my spreadsheet says, for example, my target is $500 a day, then I need to stop when I reach that goal. “Pushing the envelope” to overtrade will inevitably lead to that trade that will turn on me. When is “good enough” good enough? If my plan is to earn $500 a day, that’s about $125,000 a year. By any standard, that is an excellent pay for “working” about an hour a day.

9. Plan the trade and trade the plan. One of the most popular maxims, this one is self-explanatory. Even if mentally, it is vital to know when to enter and how you will exit a position.

10. Keep trading and training as much fun as possible and help others achieve their goals. As long as this remains fun and exciting, I plan on trading and teaching others. I enjoy beating the S&P 500 at its own game, but my real thrill comes from teaching others to do the same. God willing and me able, I intend to stay in this game for another year, anticipating seeing our many subscribers succeed on the stock market.

Feel free to use these or create your own. I cannot promise I will adhere to these goals, but putting them down on paper is a good start. Posting them in front of my monitors is also helpful.

Please join us Sunday night at 8 p.m., ET, as we discuss SPY options trading. In addition to reviewing the prior week and a peek into the following few days, we will show how you can get involved in our programs. Click here to join this free, interactive, exciting session. You may also win a free e-book!

Have a safe and prosperous New Year!

Hugh