Saturday, October 6, 2007

Fact - Forex Trading is Not Easy - 95% of Traders Lose!

As a regular trader I am amazed at what I see written about forex trading and how easy it is - it may be easy to become a forex trader but its far harder to win! Here are some facts to consider before you start to trade.

I have been a trader for 25 years and can tell you from first hand experience becoming a winner is not easy, listen to what I say, as I am no self proclaimed guru or mentor guaranteeing success.

The first fact to consider is there is a lot of advice on the net making claims that simply are not realistic and in many cases pure lies.

Trade with 80% accuracy, earn 20 pips a day, earn a regular income, the secrets of market movement revealed etc. youve seen them as well.

There normally made with no substantiation (try and get a real track record) and mostly marketed by clever sale people or failed brokers.

Fact: They make money from selling you information not trading it, well thats one way to make a guaranteed income from forex trading!

Once you have ignored the ridiculous claims, consider this:

Currency trading does offer huge rewards but with these rewards come risk.

The bigger the risk the bigger the reward if you dont like risk dont trade currencies.

Once you have accepted these facts - there is good news!

The first is that anyone who wants to can learn to trade and take calculated risks and make a lot of money forex trading remains one of the few areas where you can still start with small stakes and become wealthy.

The opportunity is open to all and there is no reason you cant take advantage of it.

You need to learn the right knowledge and base your forex trading strategy on trading the odds and you can get all the information free on the net.

Work smart and only learn what you need to and keep it simple its a fact of currency trading that simple systems work best as they are more robust.

Then its all down to mindset and the discipline to follow your system to gain long term success.

Dont believe its easy, but dont believe its impossible - its not.

As in all money making ventures (and forex trading is no different) you need to reply on yourself and get a system together you can have confidence in and follow it with discipline to win longer term.

You can do it but if you want to be a successful forex trader take into account what I have said and approach the markets with a realistic attitude of what you need to do and you can achieve currency trading success good luck!

GRAB 3 X FREE TRADER & FREE TRADER PROFITS NEWSLETTER

More on becoming a profitable trader some critical FREE Trader PDF's and more FREE Forex Education visit our website at http://www.net-planet.org/index.html

Forex Signals - The Easiest Way to Trade Currencies

The forex market can be pretty intimidating to a new trader. After all, it is the domain of multi-billion-dollar banks and foreign governments -- how can a small retail trader compete? Well, forex signals are one way to help level the playing field.

Forex signals are alerts that are sent to you, usually via email or SMS text message, when the conditions are ripe for a currency trade. Or, even better, you can sign up for an automated service that will automatically make trades for you when your preferred forex signals are triggered.

Forex signals services rely on forex signals software -- computer programs that constantly monitor the foreign exchange markets for high-probability forex signals. Most forex signals services rely on "technical data" from currency charts to identify conditions that have historically led to profitable trades. Although you don't absolutely need to understand the data behind forex signals, a little basic knowledge can help you get the most out of your forex signals service.

One way to better understand forex signals is to download currency charting software. Although there are many programs that are quite expensive, MetaTrader is a free one that works well for most forex signals applications.

Whatever forex software you use, it must be able to plot currency prices in "candlestick" format. This allows you to easily see the opening, closing, high, and low prices of a currency pair for a given time period -- daily, hourly, or even minutely! Viewing prices this way, you can see patterns that emerge with "support" and "resistance."

Support can be thought of as a "floor"; a price level which the currency seems to hit and then bounce back up. Resistance is like a "ceiling"; the price level at which the currency seems to reach its limit, and then drifts back down. But once a currency pierces through either the support or resistance, it is likely to fall or rise a substantial amount until it finds a new "floor" or "ceiling". Breaking through support or resistance is one of the best forex signals.

If you have a knack for examining charts, or you just like to do it, that's great. But the reality is that in order to profit from high-probability forex trades, you need to react to data more quickly than manual chart analysis will allow. This is why forex signals services are the busy trader's best friend, and automated trading programs are the very-busy trader's better friend! It helps to understand the science behind forex signals, but it isn't vital. What is vital is a quality service that notifies you when it's time to make a trade -- or better yet, makes the trade for you! There are many competing services out there, so be sure to do your homework and check the company's performance data. Reputable service providers will have it linked from their home page.

Now get out there and start making some money!

For more information visit at http://www.tradefxplus.com and get free EUR/USD Forex trading signals, trading recommendations and email alerts. TradeFXplus Forex signals service gives the novice or professional currency trader the tools to trade currencies profitably.

A Simple Step by Step Aproach to Fail Your Way to a Million Dollars

If You want to be Financially Successful you need to Learn to Fail

At a Robert Allen Seminar he said the difference between successful people and unsuccessful people (Financially Successful) is that Successful know how to fail. He went own to say that in order to be successful you need to learn to fail, Unsuccessful people fail to get that 9-5 Job that pays $25,000 to maybe $90,000 a year and when they finally succeed what do they have a 9-5 Job. Successful People fail to buy that Property with a positive cash flow but when they succeed they have bought another property with a positive cash flow.

When you look around at Some of the World's Wealthiest People. Donald Trump, Lakers Owner Dr Jerry Buss, Clippers Owner Donald Sterling, Robert Allen and the List goes on they all have one thing in common they made their Fortune in Real Estate.

Let's contrast these Financially Successful Americans with the American Dream. The American Dream is to buy a House with a 3.4 Bedrooms and 2.7 Baths with 2.4 Cars in the Garage. Most people are very happy to Buy their "Dream Home". Once they buy that dream home they want to pay off the Mortgage so they can now own their Dream Home Free and Clear.

Perhaps you remember that TV Show All in the Family, from the 70s they still play it late night on cable. They had an episode where Archie and Edith had a Mortgage Burning party after they finally paid off the mortgage. There was another Episode where Archie took a loan against the House to Buy a Bar and was Edith ever angry at him.

Many people look at American Dream as Sacred. People are so blinded with the notion you buy a that dream house and pay it off that they fail to see the Big Picture. They Fail to See the possibilities that would open up to them if they would just unlock the potential in their homes. Many People are sitting on $50,000 to $500,000 in equity and are just letting it go to waste.

Let me ask you a Question. If you own a $400,000 house Free and Clear and it appreciates 10% a Year how much will it be worth a Year from now? If you have a $300,000 Mortgage on that $400,000 home how much will it be worth a year from Now? In both cases the answer is the same $440,000. The value or appreciation of your house doesn't change based on the size of the loan you have against it. The only thing that does change is the amount of Equity you have.

A Typical Homeowner has a $150,00 Mortgage on a property that is worth $300,000. Many lenders will give you a loan for up to 90% of your homes Value. If you were to borrow $270,000 you would be able to put 120,000 cash in your pocket. In St Louis MO you could Buy a 3 Bedroom Home in a nice neighborhood for between $70,000 and $90,000.

Now take that $120,000 cash and Buy 6 Rental Properties for $480,000 ($80,000 each). You take the $120,000 and use it as a down payment and borrow the other $360,000. Now rent Each of these Properties for $700 a Month and you have a monthly income of $4200. Your total loans are $730,000 and at a 2% interest rate your monthly payment would be about $2700 a Month. You would have a Net Profit of about $1500 even after the rental income pays mortgage the on your dream Homee.

Before

  • $ Value of Real Estate Controlled $300,000
  • $ Value of Equity in Real Estate $150,000
  • Positive Cash Flow after Paying Mortgage $0
  • 1 Year Gain at 5% = 15,000
  • 5 Year Gain in Equity at 5% = $83,000
  • 10 Year Gain in Equity at 5% = $189,000
  • 20 Year Gain in Equity at 5% = $396,000
After
  • $ Value of Real Estate Controlled $780,000
  • $ Value of Equity in Real Estate $150,000
  • Positive Cash Flow after Paying Mortgage $1500 (Monthly)
  • 1 Year Gain in Equity at 5% = 39,000
  • 5 Year Gain in Equity at 5% = $215,000
  • 10 Year Gain in Equity at 5% = $490,000
  • 20 Year Gain in Equity at 5% = $1,289,000

Looking at the Before and After in the Above Chart Some Numbers Stand out. You still have the Same $150,000 Equity but now you control $480,000 more Property. Instead of paying your Mortgage monthly on your Dream house your tenets are making your mortgage payments on all 7 properties and you have a $1500 monthly positive Cash flow. Using a conservative appreciation of only 5% a Year you would earn an extra $24,000 the first year alone in Equity appreciation. After 20 Years your Gain in Equity is almost $900,000 More.

If you do nothing more for 30 the next Years but collect your rents and pay off your 7 Mortgages at a 5% appreciation rate your 7 Properties would be worth over 3.3 Million Dollars even at an Ultra Conservative 3% your Net worth would be over 1.8 Million Dollars. Wow You just Failed your way to over 1 Million Dollars (This does not count the $1500 a month in positive cash flow or any Rent Increases.)

You can get a Loan with fixed payments fixed for 5 years based on a 1.95% interest rate Their are loans available with interests rates as low as 1.25%, through national lenders many of whom will approve you online

What would you do with an extra $1500 a month? A couple of car payments, a Dream home, that boat at the lake? What would you do with an extra $24,000 a year in appreciation?

About the Author
Mike Makler is a Financial Consultant in the St Louis Missouri Area Specializing in Real Estate Loans and Annuites. To Learn More Call Mike at 314 398-5547 or Visit Mike's Web Page: http://ewguru.com/finance

Get Mike's Newsletter Here http://ewguru.com/fin-news

Copyright 2005-2006 Mike Makler

The Secret to Generating Hordes of Free Website Traffic on Demand

You're about to discover the fastest and most effective way to drive thousands upon thousands of hyper-targeted visitors to your site - even if you don't have a single dime to spend on advertising. And believe it or not, this strategy will never fail.

Now, that's a bold claim, and I'm sure it's setting off some "BS alarms" in your head right now - but stay with me, and I'll show you exactly how simple this really is, and why it makes so much sense...

As I'm sure you've already realized from your own research and experience - the only way to build a substantial amount of traffic to your site is by getting other sites to link to you, tell their email subscribers about what you have to offer, and otherwise publish your content on their site in some way.

This might be in the form of an affiliate program, it might be a link-trade, or it might be some other type of arrangement - but one thing's for certain - it will be partnership (or Joint Venture) of some kind. This is the only way to drive hordes of traffic without paying through your nose for it!

But let's take it a step further...

The Pareto Principle states that 20% of your actions will produce 80% of your results. This "formula" can also be applied to your marketing partners, because only a handful of your affiliates, JV partners and sites that you trade links with will actually provide you with any substantial results.

In fact, the time you spend setting up deals with the "lesser" partners is almost always a complete waste of time. And the fact of the matter is that it takes the same amount of effort to form an alliance with a "player" in your industry as it does to partner with a small site or resource that really can't help you when it comes to producing real results...

What it comes down to is that if you want to generate a tsunami of traffic in record time - you're going to have to go for the gold right from the start. This means that you need to form partnerships with the "players" in your industry right from day one.

And this is how you do it:

1. Use a "primer email" when you contact potential joint venture partners. Instead of simply nailing them with a pitch/proposal right off the bat (without any formal introduction), introduce yourself, address the them personally by name, and ask if they'd be interested in discussing an idea that would benefit them directly.

Get their attention, pique their interest and initiate a conversation. Don't just jam a proposal in their face. Chances are, they probably receive multiple partnership proposals daily...

2. When you approach prospects that have large mailing lists and lots of traffic, always emphasize the exclusivity of your offer.

Make them a unique offer that only they'll get. Do whatever it takes to make it totally irresistible - even if that means giving up most (or all) of your profits, or offering other incredibly lopsided incentives.

You have to remember that you're getting free traffic from this - along with the opportunity to build a client base that you can leverage again and again by selling them additional products, and having them evangelize your business for you as time goes on...

Think long-term, and view joint ventures as a way to build a business for free - not so much as a "quick cash" strategy (even though that's often a part of it).

3. Get their complete attention by sending a "hard copy" of your proposal. Not just another email cramming up their inbox (which is all to easy to delete...)

Instead, try using Fed/Ex (or even a fax message) instead of simply firing off an email. You'll be surprised with your results.

Also, once you've received some kind of response, take it to the next level as soon as possible by arranging a time to speak on the phone. When your partner hears your voice audibly, it will be much easier for them to get a feel for who you are - which will make them feel more comfortable in dealing with you.

Rapport goes a long way...

4. Set up the deal and make it happen. Make things as easy as possible for your partner.

Have mailings, articles, banners, links and other promo tools built and ready-to-go in advance. The less your partner has to do, the better.

Additionally, make sure that you set a date for the promotion to begin. If possible, solidify a start-date as soon as you can. Most deals end up evaporating because there is no deadline or schedule in place.

5. Before your JV partners start promoting you - and before their traffic hits your site like hurricane and your sales start flying off the charts - make sure you have a plan in place to maximize their traffic as much as possible.

There are hundreds of ways to do this, but this is what you need to consider doing for the most part:

a) Have a system in place to capture leads that aren't ready to buy your offer yet - but that want more information. (This is typically done by offering a free mini-course, a free demo, or something similar in exchange for a newsletter subscription)

b) Consider using an "exit-popup" to try and salvage visitors that are leaving your site. (Make sure this doesn't conflict with your ordering process)

c) Find (or develop) numerous products and services to promote after people buy your product, or subscribe to your newsletter. Remember that this is the whole point of setting the deal in the first place - you're trading upfront profits in exchange for long-term revenues from an active customer base...

d) Have a backup payment processor, web host and other "pick and shovel" necessities in the event that the sudden spike in traffic and sales causes problems with your host or your merchant account.

(This happens frequently in larger-scale product launches where several "super affiliates" promote a single offer. You need to be prepared...)

6. When the deal is done and over with, make sure to stay in contact with your partner regularly. One partnership can lead to several, and by building a relationship with the key players in your niche, you'll literally be holding the "keys" to all the traffic in your market.

And then you'll be able to generate massive traffic on demand - whenever you want - just by leveraging your current relationships.

This is how you can go from being a "nobody" to being an internet all-star in a matter of days. It takes planning, motivation and the will to actually follow-through, but it is well worth doing.

Big time.

In fact, you're only one successful partnership away from transforming your online business from being a "bill payer" into a cash-spewing powerhouse that will support a ridiculous lifestlye.

All you have to do now is find the super affiliates in your niche and use the 6-step formula you just read to generate as much traffic as you can handle...

Chris Rempel just released a video that reveals how he tracks down super-affiliates in any niche at the click of a button. Watch the Ultimate Traffic Tool in Action

Also visit Joint Ventures Revealed (Chris's home page), and the Instant Joint Venture Success System (Chris's course on JV Marketing).

How To Tame The Big Bad Bear

Is the next "Bear Market" just around the corner? Was the recent market correction a harbinger of things to come? No one can know the answer to these questions, but there are a number of steps each of us can take to prepare for the next Bear which, sooner or later, is surely on the way.

The preparation should begin now, whether you are a new investor, or have already amassed a sizeable portfolio. The objective is to protect it from the ravages of the bear as it emerges from its four year slumber.

The first step is to evaluate yourself, your financial objectives, and your emotional and psychological tolerance for risk, (your account values going south in a hurry), and invest accordingly. Investing accordingly simply means building a portfolio that reflects your risk tolerance and financial objectives. If you are a relatively conservative investor then your portfolio should reflect that, whereas if you are a bona fide risk taker, then your portfolio will be designed to reach for higher returns.

Next, build a portfolio from the ground up, much like you would build your home. For example, our strategy is to build portfolios with a solid foundation of consistently performing hybrid mutual funds. Hybrids are funds composed of stocks and bonds, and the ones we use have demonstrated consistent performance over a number of years, in both good markets and bad.

Next, we layer the portfolio with a healthy dose of what we call "All Weather" stock funds, again, funds that have performed well in Bull and Bear markets. These funds tend to practice a value management strategy, buying under priced stocks in the marketplace. Many of these funds exhibit strategies similar to legendary manager Warren Buffet, the worlds most well known and respected value strategist.

The preceding describes how we build portfolios for the more conservative investor, whereas additional steps are taken for those willing and able to accept a higher degree of risk.

For those able to accept the additional risks involved, we seek to add value and capture the best performing market sectors by adding Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) to the portfolio. These ETFs cover the range of economic sectors, i.e. energy, metals, real estate, health care, utilities etc., and/or regions of the world, i.e. Asia, Europe, Latin America, and even individual nations, Japan, Spain, Germany, China etc.

And finally, an additional technique that can be used by everyone is the "contrarian" fund. They come in many flavors but the two we use are the contrarian mutual funds and exchange traded funds. Contrarian funds are designed to do the opposite of what the market is doing. In actual practice we will buy this type of fund when a serious market correction is underway, which allows us to protect the value of the portfolio. Our "All Weather" funds described above tend to give ground grudgingly, and some have even gone up in past market corrections, while at the same time our contrarian funds are actually going up in value during the market decline, as they are designed to do. The objective is to be able to hold our investments through the correction and protect our capital at the same time.

Every situation is unique of course, and each investment portfolio should be compatible with ones own goals, financial needs, and risk tolerance.

Above all, never forget the two most important rules of successful investing. One, never ever suffer large losses, and two, never forget rule number one.

Steve Hood helps his clients find quality investment and insurance programs, and builds and manages "All Weather" investment portfolios.

"All Weather" => Consistent performance through good markets and bad, resistant to market declines.

Find more ideas about lifetime financial security at => http://www.allweatherinvestors.com

A Forex Signal That Is Absolutely Critical For Success

Support and resistance is such a powerful Forex signal that without understanding its impact on the market, a trader will probably never master the skills necessary to make profits on a consistent basis.

This Forex signal simply registers where price reached a peak or a low. On a higher time frame these price levels can have huge significance. Why?

Getting Behind The Scene

We need to understand what is going on behind candle patterns and price movements. Imagine thousands of traders coming to their desks each day all around the world and processing orders involving billions of dollars worth of currency.

The price at which they bought the currency now represents a key level for them. They do not want to see price go in the opposite direction or they will be at a loss. So what happens? They do everything possible to protect that price level.

The daily chart is of particular importance when considering support and resistance as a Forex signal. Traders associated with big institutions often refer to the daily chart rather than lower time frames. So price highs and lows on a daily chart can represent key, strategic price levels.

If price reached a high within the last few days, you can be sure a number of traders have millions or even billions of dollars worth of currency tied up at around that level or below it. For price to go above that high there is going to have to be considerable buying pressure from the bulls. Obviously the converse is true when price reaches a new low.

So look at the higher time frames like the daily, and 4 hour charts and identify these key levels of support and resistance. They form a major Forex signal.

Where Price Spends Most Of It's Time

Here is another factor regarding support and resistance that makes it such a critical Forex signal.

Most of the time price moves in a consolidation channel or range. Depending on the time frame you are looking at, it may be a 40 or 50 pip range on the higher levels, and within these larger levels are small trading ranges of 10 to 20 or 30 pips.

Some estimates put the amount of time the market is in consolidation around 60-80%. This means only 20-40% of the time price is actually trending, making new highs and lows.

This piece of information is critical. Once you have identified a trading range (it helps to put lines on your charts marking the high and low of the trading range) you can now manage trades much more effectively.

If you are considering going long and you see price is in a consolidation channel, you will not want to enter near the top of the channel. Wait for price to come back to the bottom of the channel by putting in an entry order and get taken into the trade. This way your stop is closer and your profit potential is greater.

Once price has moved through a major level of resistance, that level now becomes future support. Once price has moved through a major level of support, that level now becomes future resistance.

Include This In Your Daily Preparation

Every day when you open your charts look for this simple yet powerful Forex signal. Mark out your lines of support and resistance on each time frame you use. For example, if you customarily use daily, 4 hour, 1 hour, and 15 minute charts, mark out the key levels of support and resistance. Remember the more candles there are either side of the high or the low, the more significant that level becomes.

Then compare the various time frames and see if any of the levels you have marked coincide. Then look for suitable trading opportunities accordingly.

An effective Forex signal does not have to be complicated. Understanding how support and resistance works can make a huge difference to your consistency as a trader.

Don't pass over it because it is so simple. Remember, in the minds of the traders who pushed price to key levels, and who are defending positions involving billions of dollars, levels of support and resistance are hardly inconsequential!

Learn how the MACD indicator can help you avoid much anxiety:

http://www.vitalstop.com/Forex/Advisor/forex-strategy-MACD-save-anxiety.htm

The powerful 200 EMA strategy - easy for newer traders:

http://www.vitalstop.com/Forex/Advisor/200EMA-forex-strategy.htm

For the best free economic calendars plus a free pivot point calculator and Fibonacci calculator click here:

http://www.vitalstop.com/Forex/tools.html

How Average Students Can Win At The IIM Personal Interview

However what should your strategy be if you have no awards and achievements (other than being school prefect - somehow all MBA candidates are school prefects) to speak of and you found yourself selected by one of the IIM's or other top tier B-schools.

For you to succeed here are a few pointers that can aid in the process:

1) Be clear about your goals: In your case you will have to be definitive about what you want to achieve in the next 3-5 years and exactly how an MBA will fit in the picture. Suppose you are an Arts graduate, suppose Psychology Honors. Now you should focus on the industry to begin with- suppose Finance and Investment Analysis. You can state that a major part of the investment analysis is examining trading psychology. Why some stocks tick despite poor fundamentals and some fail to move despite good fundamentals. You can state that you have enough of numerical understanding and backed by an MBA in finance you could carve out a strong niche in the area of Investment Analysis and Dealing of securities.

2) Show your ability to think business: If you have never won a award, examine activities that seem to add value to some process. For example you could start a blog on a topic such as Tax planning for home based professionals. Talk about what kind of advice and articles you wrote for the blog and how popular your blog was by examining the page views received from the blog. You can start a blog on wordpress or blogger as they allow free blogs and also have a statistics section to measure how many page views you received.

3) Be well prepared to talk about your academics: Be clear of the basic fundamentals, as they will surely want to know how serious you were about your studies. Go over the major fundamentals and be sure to be able to answer them

It is not an easy task to prepare for IIM Personal Interview questions . So don't punish yourself mentally if the initial answers you write don't seem impressive enough.

Keep practicing to make your answers better and you may end up doing quite well at the IIM Personal Interview. Get more tips on how to perform for the IIM Personal Interview questions

Put Option - Stock Put Options

What are Put Options?

A Put is a contract on a particular stock, index or other security that allows the investor to sell the underlying stock at a set price (strike price).

The holder of his option has paid a premium (cost of the contract) to buy it. Put options are profitable when the market is in decline. If the investor has a put on a stock that has now fallen enough to cover the cost of the premium, the person would be profitable.

Ways to Profit with Put Options

Trading them:

If the Put is profitable, the investor can sell or trade the contract back to the market. The profit on the contract is shown by the premium increase on the option. As the market declines, the premium increases. This premium increase allows the investor to sell the contract. He is not "exercising the option". He is trading it out. This is how most options are done vs. exercising.

Exercising them:

When an investor exercises a Put Option, he or she is selling a stock they already own. The right of a put holder is the right to sell the stock at the strike price, regardless of the actual price in the market. If you owned a Put with a strike price of 50, and the market has declined to 40, you could purchase the actual the stock in the market at 40 and then exercise the put at 50. You would make 10 points on that stock, minus the premium paid.

The break-even for investors who own put options (disregarding commissions) is the strike price minus the premium paid. In the above example, if the investor paid $300 for the option - his break-even would be 47. Since the market in our example went down to 40, the actual profit for that person would be $700.

Writing a Put Option

When you sell or short a put option, you are "writing" the contract. The writer is someone who is bullish on the market. The seller collects the premium (as opposed to the buyer who pays the premium) and is hoping the option expires worthless. The premium is the writer's maximum gain. So, obviously if the premium is all that he can make - having the option expire is the best case scenario.

Put option writing does carry risk. If the option is exercised (by the holder/buyer), the writer must purchase the stock from the holder at the strike price. In the example above, the writer would have had to buy the stock at $50 (the current price), while the market was at $40. He would be stuck with a stock 10 points above the market. His loss would be lessened by the premium received. The writer can buy back the put before it is exercised, but if the put has gained value, the purchase price would be higher than the premium he originally got - so, it would be a loss either way. The option is expiring is the best bet.

Covered Put Option Writing

Since the seller or writer of puts must purchase the underlying stock at the strike price, he must have the cash to do that. Selling stock short and using the proceeds to cover an exercised option can be done. Also, the premium received for selling the put option can assist a short position to get greater profit.

As with any option, time is the biggest factor. Put options expire monthly. All options carry large risks, but can present large profits. Educate yourself further and talk to your broker.

Learn More: Put Options

Nick Hunter is the President of American Investment Training (AIT) and the owner of http://www.brokerjobs.com - A financial career and education website.

Stock Picks 101 - Certain Profits in Uncertain Times

Join me for an instructive mental exercise.

Lets imagine youre the owner of a casino. I was going to say successful casino, but this is so self evident that it doesnt really need mentioning. Everyone knows casinos are successful because the house has the statistical advantage, right?

Now imagine youre watching the people going into and out of the casino. Your security system happens to be very good, so you know exactly how much money each person brings with them into the casino and how much they take back out.

Just now you see a really happy looking person who just won $25,476 at the slot machine leaving through the front door. Does this bother you? No, because you know that, in the long run, youve got the edge.

Just as you think that, you notice somebody slinking out the side entrance after maxing out their credit cards to the tune of $37,544. Do you take a special delight at having relieved this poor unfortunate individual of all that cash? You shouldnt, because its all in the system. Its all in the odds.

Now, lets look at this from the perspective of YOU, as a professional trader engaged in stock market trading. You shouldnt EVER be in a trade unless you know you have an edge. Theres a paradox here, because obviously you can never be sure that any given trade will be a winner, so you always need to have a system in place to manage your losses.

Like I said, you should never be in a trade unless youve calculated that the odds are in your favor. Usually, this is because the CLEARLY AND CAREFULLY DEFINED system youre trading has a credible historical record that shows that the odds are, indeed, in your favor.

If the odds are in your favor, then guess what? You ARE the house. As you work your system, you should not care if any given trade ends up hitting your profit target or closing out at your stop loss.

Why? Because you know the odds are in your favor. Each trade, win or lose, brings you one turn of the crank closer to that long run average that will be in your favor.

As you can see, theres no point in being emotionally invested in being right or wrong with any one trade. You are just working your system. Each step, each trade, each stock pick, contract, option, etc., in time, just becomes a blur on the way to your eventual success.

So here is the paradox: You are totally uncertain of the outcome of any given trade. However, if your system is sound, and you stick with it long enough, you will certainly profit.

The next time you find yourself getting giddy with the thrill of a long string of winners, or despondent because all your trades are going against you, just remember: YOU ARE THE HOUSE. And the house always wins, in the long run.

With Customers in more than 70 countries Doug Newberry enjoys his position as the Editor of the "Market Toolbox Newsletter" and Host of the "Market Toolbox On Demand" online radio show. The Investing Systems Network specializes in stock market trading tools and portfolio management software.