Financial Freedom Toolkit
Trading
Strategies
There are basically unlimited number of strategies for trading. This is filler text. This is filler text. This is filler text. This is filler text. This is filler text. This is filler text. This is filler text. This is filler text. This is filler text. This is filler text. This is filler text. This is filler text. This is filler.
Tier
What Is Trading Strategy?
Trading is the concept of strategic buying and selling on the free market for profit. It is the professional embodiment of the saying, “buy low and sell high.” Traders monitor prices of commodities and other assets for opportunities to grow their accounts by percentage.
What You Need to Know About Trading Strategies
You want to become a trader, huh?
Like most things, the only way to reach mastery is consistent practice.
So:
Just get started.
I recommend getting some skin in the game early. Sure, you can start with “paper trading” if you’d like. But for me, that was never interesting enough. I simply won’t pay attention to the markets if I don’t have anything on the line.
The thrill of “victory.”
The agony of “defeat.”
These are the things that keep me invested in learning.
And yet, these same emotions have caused the downfall of many a budding trader. Trading is all about good decision making. First, you need a good trading plan. Second, you need to stick to it. That can be hard to do when you miss a winning trade or take a couple losses in a row.
It’s ironic because the markets are fueled by emotion.
Yes. Economic forces do play a role.
However, prices tend to change based on public perception of these economic forces.
Good traders capitalize off this market sentiment.
But they don’t let themselves get wrapped up in it.
Instead, they focus on playing the probabilities.
It’s not about predicting the future. The are no crystal balls in trading.
(No Miss Cleo stuff!)
Good trading is about creating contingencies, then executing your plan based on what the market does. That’s true no matter what you’re trading or how you’re trading it.
There are innumerable things to trade and nearly as many strategies.
Instead of frying your brain trying to figure out which way to go, just get your hands dirty.
Once you’ve got skin in the game (and a commitment to learning), then you can figure out the details. Don’t look for a super-secret-magic-bullet-get-rich-quick plan. Instead, learn risk management and probabilities. Then your trades will come to you.
Now, that’s not to say I don’t have a rule of thumb or two.
For example:
- Don’t risk more money than you can risk to lose
- Don’t begin with short-term time frames
- Don’t enter trades without clear entries and exits
These are basic trading clichés. But that doesn’t mean they aren’t useful. And in truth, you could easily find many more.
Eventually though, you’ll have to work out other questions yourself…
Like:
- Which trading strategies suit you best?
- Which timeframes suit you best?
- Which trading platforms suit you best?
- Which risk management strategies suit you best?
Perhaps the least important of these is, “Which assets and/or commodities suit you best?”Â
No matter what you trade, the principles remain largely the same. BTC. Forex. Stocks. Precious metals. It doesn’t really matter. The prices for each may move a little differently but you shouldn’t treat them much differently.
The key is to find a combination that works for you and stick to it.
Which brings us to the last last point. Trading is a high-stress career choice. If you choose to do it for a living you’ll need things like Discipline, Grit, and Mental Toughness. It demands similar High Performance traits to Entrepreneurship. And this makes sense, because it has a similar ability to have a “life changing” effect on you.
Learn with Me
I’ve been trading on and off for a few years.
You might say I’m a “dabbler.”
It’s rarely my top priority. Sometimes, I dive deep for a few weeks and/or months. While that does breed familiarity, it doesn’t get you anywhere close to mastery. So, I’m still something like a novice trader.
Certainly, I don’t make massive profits… yet.
But the truth is, I want to master defending my stack first. You can lose everything if you don’t have the right risk and money management plans. And that’s whether you are trading or not.
So my motivation is a little different than most.
People get into trading to “get rich quick.”
I’m planning on getting rich through other means. I learn trading to make sure I stay there. Eventually, I may even embrace the full trading lifestyle. But I need a bigger stack first. For me, trading is a part of a larger plan.
Trading is the training ground for my rules of Playing Markets.
My Experience
I’ve really only just started with this one.
I’m still a few years away from becoming a good trader.
I’ve only just gotten my feet wet. So you can definitely find better sources of advice. This page is actually one phase of me teaching myself how get good at it.
I understand how important it is to my life.
Sometimes it falls to the back burner. That’s fine. Exposure to markets over time provides balance anyway.
Nonetheless, the progress on this page is evidence of the urgency I feel. Our financial system is frighteningly fragile while offering ample opportunities.
Just getting started. Still, optimistic on my prospects.
- Importance – 98%
- Passion – 85%
- Mastery – 35%
Journey Started: 2014
Skills of the Wealthy
Playing markets is a game-changer. Often unseen, economics affects affect us all. Take advantage by learning how to play the game.
Where Trading Fits in a Good Life
Trading is one of the most important pieces of the Money Mastery puzzle.
For me, it’s a “Tier 4” concept, combining with Markets and Investing to form Playing Markets.
Eventually, you’ll find Technical Analysis and more under it.
2. Money Mastery
3. Playing Markets
‣ 4. Trading
5. Strategy
5. Positioning
5. Technical Analysis
5. Assets
5. Tools
5. Macro Trading
5. Swing Trading
5. Day Trading
5. Market Dynamics
Money Tool Rank
Videos Watched
Mentions on My Site
Books Read
Pulling Threads: A Lion Chasing Rabbits
What the hell is This Site, exactly? A pointless stream of consciousness? A fanboy's ode to his Heroes? A psycho's Favorite topics? All three? Or maybe, it's just the result of a lion chasing rabbits. You might LOL... but this is how it works: I am destined to be the...
My Favorite Trading Strategies
01
Momentum Trades
It takes a different type of person to become a successful trader. Best believe, you’re going to take an L or 2 (or 200). Some even say you aren’t a real trader until you’ve taken a big loss. It’s important not to risk more than you can afford to lose. Still, it always hurts.
02
Breakout Trades
When it comes to Investing, this is rule number one. But over on this side of Playing Markets, things are different. Before you start down this path, you need a solid source of income—and probably a nest egg too. In fact, most should probably begin with investing.
03
Pattern Trades
Mentors are always great. But in trading, they’re darn near a necessity. In-person mentorship is always ideal. Books and trading groups can be helpful as well. However, YouTube is full of traders like Krown and TheChartGuys who produce free education daily.
04
Bounce Plays
One of the most intimidating parts of trading is all of the indicators. It can be downright overwhelming. Luckily, you don’t have to learn them all (or the math behind them). But you should explore at least a few of them. Find the ones that make sense to you and roll with it.
05
Position Trades
This is hands-down the most important aspect of successful trading. It’s the difference between winning and losing. If you’re going to learn any of the math, learn this math. Risk and money management—these are the things that make the pros successful.
Remember: just start. Trading is one of those skills with compounding benefits over time—both financially and personally.
My Favorite Trading Videos
Everything you need to learn about trading any asset is available online.
I’m no trading titan. I stand on the shoulders of giants. I simply listen to what my Heroes say and apply it. Not everything sticks. But enough does to have an impact on my economics.
Data
Dump
One of the main purposes of This Site is to catalog my learnings. I’m not that learned. But I’m working on becoming moreso. If you see a “data dump” on this site, you’re looking at unsorted information. It may be related or completely unrelated, depending on the topic.
Ray Dalio Breaks Down His "Holy Grail"
Playing Markets
10-Minute Talk Every Trader Needs to Hear
You Better Learn to Trade
31 Habits of Wealthy Traders
Trading as a Way of Life
The Mindset of a Trader
The Rabbit Hole Of Trading | Dan x Krown
Making Sense of the Coronavirus Dump
Good Example From Dan the Man
Really Strong Overview of How Dan Looks At Price Trends – Context Provided By Late 2018 Stock Market Bounce (SPY IWM QQQ XLF VIX)
- “What I look for on the sign of the bounce” ~ 0:56
- Doesn’t Use Fibonacci Retracement But Uses Similar Visual Principle
- “Looking at Odds of What’s Most Likely to Happen Next…”
- Compares Bounce in Feb 2018 to Bounce in Dec 2018 (SPY)
- Emphasizes Percentage of Bounce as Sign of Market Health
- Begins Explaining How He Starts to Estimate Whether the Top Is In ~ 3:59
- Factors in Fundamentals like Pension Rebalancing & Tax Law Season
- “Lose the Hourly Uptrend Thats the First Indication that the Daily Lower High on the Bounce Has Been Set”
- Touches on Nuances of Extended Hours Trading in Stocks, Make Note But Take with a Grain of Salt
- Good Overview of How to Identify & Read Market Trends ~ 6:04
- Shows Hourly Uptrend Key Support Levels
- Illustrates How Much Room Bulls Have to Establish Uptrend on Daily Timeframe
- “Even if the Top of the Bounce is Set… The Bulls Still Have a Chance… for Continuation”
- Touches on the Importance of Volume as Price Goes Either Way
- Says If The Market Gives All the Bounce Back without Higher Low, It Signals Significant Weakness
- SPY Analysis Done, Goes On To Compare IWM, QQQ, XLF, & VIX ~ 8:31
- IWM Almost Identical to SPY
- QQQ Better Weekly Bounce But Still Almost The Same
- XLF Again Similar But Nuance of Double Low As More Important Level
- VIX (CBOE Volatility Index) Provides Inverse Look For Context (Moves Somewhat Opposite of Others)
Removed Video From Gary Vee
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OpQ48yCsWzs
Guys. It happens in one day.
Talking to Guy in the Real Estate Business About Debt & Recession
- It’s the Scariest Thing on Earth ~ 0:14
- “This Is Why So Many People in Your Business Go Out of Business”
- “Guys, It happens in One Day.”
- “We’ve had $400,000 in pre-order wine cancel this morning.”
- Debt is Awfully Scary If Your Business Doesn’t Do Well When the Economy Collapses ~ 2:03
- “Look I Think VaynerMedia Explodes… But I Think Your Business Won’t”
- “If We Were Partners… Let’s Just Actually Horde Cash”
- When the World Melts, That $1 Million is Worth Like 4.”
- “I think You’re Going to Pick Up Sh!t for Fncking Pennies on the Dollar.”
Datadash's Investing Plan for 2019
Datadash: Understanding Market Cycles
Datadash: How To Trade Market Cycles
Datadash: How To Invest in Commodities
Datadash: Uranium Fever
This video highlights the current Uranium market. It’s valuable not only in the actual information, but also in how he analyzes this market.
It has a few too many soundless pauses but it’s really strong.
- Uranium Market Negative History Since 2007Â ~ 0:40
- Commodities Boom Lead to Parabolic Run Up
- Fukushima Disaster & Japanese Nuclear Shutdown
- Supply Glut Due to Overproduction (Japan Was #3 World Uranium Consumer)
- Production Cuts from Cameco, Paladin Energy, Kazatomprom
- Begins to Highlight Positive Trends ~ 3:01
- Japanese Has New 8 Restarted Reactors & 14 More in Review
- Top Ten Nations With Plans in Construction is Significant
- “Perfect Storm” Clip from CEO of Uranium Energy Corp
- “Have Uranium Markets Actually Bottomed?” ~ 5:52
- Prices Still Low for Uranium & Stocks in Sector
- Global X Uranium ETF (URA) Price Action & Trends ~ 6:40
- Uranium ETF with Mix of Large, Mid, & Small Caps (Predominantly Miners)
- 90% Drop From 2011 Highs ($130+ to $13)
- This is What Institutional Traders & Other Long Term Players Like
- Volume Increase Indicates Institutions Stacking Up
- Price Strength Confirmation (No New Lows Since January 2016)
- Short-Term URA Analysis (Aug’ 2016-Aug ‘2018) ~ 8:18
- No New Lows Since Jan ’16; No New Highs Since Feb ’17
- Simple Wedge “Signalling Massive Breakdown or a Breakdown”
- “Make or Break Moment for Uranium Equities”
- Indicates Gold and Silver BreakDOWNs Through Similar Patterns
- Says He’ll Get Bullish If Price Breaks Above the Wedge
Datadash: Comparing Bitcoin & Gold
Datadash: U.S. Stocks Face Buyback "Blackout"
Datadash: Comparing Bitcoin & Gold
Datadash: US Stocks See Their Worst Month Since 2008
Money vs Currency - Hidden Secrets of Money
Smart Money Index
https://www.bullmarkets.co/problem-with-the-smart-money-flow-index/
How the Economic Machine Works
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Zach’s Trading
Journal
As usual, I’m an imperfect example. I keep a trading “journal” in a fairly public way. But I’d learn faster if I could make time for trading more consistently. Still, making videos help me maximize my experience. There’s magic in recording your thoughts (and reviewing them later).
PHD
Trading
If you go all the way down the rabbit hole on how modern markets actually work, you’ll make a startling revelation. You’re mostly up against robots and PhD level mathematicians. Luckily, they largely play a different game with different rules than the average trader.
Crypto Trading with Neural Networks
How A.I. Traders Will Dominate Hedge Fund Industry
High Frequency Trading & New Algorithmic Ecosystem
AI for Smarter Trading Decisions
Trading Robots TED Talk
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Macro-
Economics
I fancy myself a macro-trader one day. It’s hard and stressful, but worth it. The goal is to find the best opportunities across all markets while protecting your wealth against economic tides. Eventually, I want to fight amongst the hedge funds with my own family office.
Technical
Analysis
Learning the language of the charts is crucial for beginning traders. Outsiders often thing TA is BS. But professional traders swear by it. To the untrained eye, it seems like fortune telling. In reality, it’s less about predictions and more about identifying possibilities and probabilities.
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How I Trade Currencies & Assets to Build Wealth
If you haven’t noticed, I take this stuff seriously.
You don’t have to do it like me. But maybe you wanna know. So I guess I’ll tell you. You might have picked some of it up by reading through this page or clicking on some of the links.
I’ll spell it all out here.
Forex First
I got my feet wet with Forex back in 2014. I started out with binary options, a terrible way in if you actually want to make money. However, the roller-coaster ride served as a great introduction to the emotional side of trading. It also introduced me to the market-maker-method. But perhaps most important, its where my “itch” to trade originated.
Bitcoin Swing Trades
This is my main way to trade today. I’m confident that Bitcoin is destined to continue going up in price for years to come. So I feel fairly safe looking for places to get in and out. I’m fairly conservative and stick to longer-term timeframes. Plus, I have a HODL position that I add to over time. At this point, the main focus is to accumulate experience.
Altcoin Value/Momentum Trades
When I have the time, I also like to dabble in Altcoins that have hype behind them. I prefer coins that are already trending. Digging through the swmp of sh!tcoins looking for good “projects” is not really my cup of tea. Some of my altcoin trades have the potential to become investing postions. But for the most part, I just try to catch the obvious waves.
Trading in "Investments"
Once you’ve played markets enough, you realize that most investing is just long-term trading. No matter which market you pick, the mandate is to “buy low and sell high.” You can do that with nearly anything. Real estate. Artwork. Baseball cards. It feels different since you aren’t reading price charts. Yet the underlying principles remain the same.
Macro-Trading
An unfortunate paradox: “Cash is King” and “Cash is Trash” are both correct in their own way. One of my main motivations for trading is to protect myself against the devaluation of the US Dollar. At the same time, I know that you have to have cash on hand to buy the best dips. Thus, I trade to train myself how to walk the economic tightrope.
Favorite Coaches
Favorite Teachers
Favorite Entrepreneurs
My Trading Posts
Becoming Legendary: My 2022 Goals
I'm fairly confident 2022 is going to be the most successful year of my life so far. I'm writing this post to help guarantee that. Obviously, I can't control the future. But I can set intentions and create a plan of action. That's what Goal Setting is all about. So...
Setting the New 20s Off Right: My 2020 Goals
New Year's Resolutions get a bad wrap. It's not their fault though. It's yours. The truth is: The beginning of the year is a perfect time for a reset. You have to execute though. Do it right and this year could be the best year you've ever had. No guarantees. Because,...
![How to Become a Morning Person [Life-Changing Habit #1]](https://zachbradshaw.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/How-to-Become-a-Morning-Person-and-Stop-Being-a-Night-Owl-400x250.png)
How to Become a Morning Person [Life-Changing Habit #1]
Becoming a "morning person" has changed my life. Only time will tell, but it could go down as a top five factor to my future success. Learning how to wake up early wasn't easy. Until the second half of 2018, I've been a notoriously late sleeper. It started as a kid: I...
Becoming Legendary: My 2022 Goals
I'm fairly confident 2022 is going to be the most successful year of my life so far. I'm writing this post to help guarantee that. Obviously, I can't control the future. But I can set intentions and create a plan of action. That's what Goal Setting is all about. So...
Setting the New 20s Off Right: My 2020 Goals
New Year's Resolutions get a bad wrap. It's not their fault though. It's yours. The truth is: The beginning of the year is a perfect time for a reset. You have to execute though. Do it right and this year could be the best year you've ever had. No guarantees. Because,...
How to Become a Morning Person [Life-Changing Habit #1]
Becoming a "morning person" has changed my life. Only time will tell, but it could go down as a top five factor to my future success. Learning how to wake up early wasn't easy. Until the second half of 2018, I've been a notoriously late sleeper. It started as a kid: I...
Setting Goals for 2019
I have mixed feelings about New Year's Resolutions. I don't believe in waiting to make changes. I think it makes more sense to try to grow everyday. Create good new habits. Erase the negative old ones. Do it all the time. However, I find that measurement is...
My Top Three Trading Teachers
YouTube University is my go-to for trading training. I've completed several programs and keep up with these guys weekly.
So, You Think You Want to Climb to the Top?
Nice little subtitle for the win.  Nice little subtitle for the win.  Nice little subtitle for the win.  Nice little subtitle for the win. or the win.Â
