1. The markets, as always, are so full of wonderful trades, sometimes it just doesn’t leave time to post.

2. I ran out of things to say.

That second one is the main issue. My last series of videos reached a natural conclusion with the final Let’s Get Practical film.

Doing more live trading videos isn’t really where I want to go, because they are of little value (they’re all the same after a while) and because they cost a lot in lost revenue while recording them (for various reasons I won’t bore you with).

Doing more content-based videos I think gives more value, but I want to make sure they are genuinely useful. So if you have suggestions for topics you’d like me to cover, do get in touch and let me know.

Anyway, back to trading. As I mentioned, the markets are awesome right now. I keep getting emails asking “Does your strategy still work?” or “Are you still trading?” etc.

Listen: a properly developed strategy that is based on fundamental market mechanics (or “price” as I prefer to call it!) will always work. My strategy, as anyone who’s read my course knows, is based entirely on price, not some wonder-indicator that only works in market that happens to be doing one particular thing – be that going up down or sideways.

As long as prices move, the strategy works. And prices move every day the market is open. All you need do is find the stocks whose prices are moving the most on any given day.

There are various ways of doing that, but here’s a really really simple one you can use right now: Pick 25 Nasdaq 100 stocks that fit in your price range.

In other words, make your daily watch list, a list of 25 stocks that come from the Nasdaq 100 list. Pick stocks that are trading within your price range as defined by your money management strategy. For example, stocks priced between $10 and $30.

It’s hardly scientific, and it’s certainly not the most efficient way of selecting a watch list. But as many people try and over complicate things, it’s as good a way as any of “dumbing down” and actually getting started (on paper, naturally).

Here are three trades from Monday that were Nasdaq 100 component stocks:

AAPL:

Ok, possibly a bad example I know, because it’s a high priced stock. Don’t forget though, with dynamic sizing you can make most stocks fit most budgets. So if you can’t trade 1000 AAPL shares, why not trade 100? It moves so well you can still make a good profit with smaller size.

Mondays trade went something like this (numbers relate to the circles on the chart):

1. Entered a short position.
2. Covered the short for +$0.50 (= $50 @ 100 shares, or $500 @ 1000 shares)
3. Took another short
4. Covered here for +$1.50 (= $150 @ 100 shares, or $1500 @ 1000 shares)

So even trading just 100 shares, there was a straightforward $200 profit to be had. For those who prefer the afternoon session, have a look at that lovely rally in the last couple of hours – easily $2/share to be had there (so another $200 profit if trading just 100 shares).

Right, next one:

AMZN:

1. Took a short
2. Covered for break even
3. Took another short on the break of the very obvious support
4. Covered for +$0.70 (= $70 @ 100 shares, or $700 @ 1000 shares)

And again, a lovely rally in the afternoon session, worth another $1/share without any trouble.

One more…

EBAY:

1. Took a short here
2. Covered here for +$0.20 (=$20 @ 100 shares, or $200 @ 1000 shares)

Ebay is a much lower priced stock, so although the profit per share was much lower than the other two, you could easily trade larger size to make up for it.

So there you have it – three Nasdaq 100 stocks providing simple trades. Now Monday was a particularly easy day to trade, but the point is there are easy trades like this every day – if you look for them.

“Eight ordinary people are given a million dollars, a fortnight of intensive training and two months to run their own hedge fund. Can they make a killing?”

This is being billed as “The Apprentice, but with stocks and shares”. Find out more here.

It’s nice to see mainstream TV showing what trader really involves, even if it is just cashing in on the current financial situation!

http://www.apple.com/itunes/download/

Once installed, search in the iTunes Store for “Harvey Walsh”, or just follow this link to get to my podcast page:

http://www.daytradingfreedom.com/podcast

Click “Subscribe”, and you’re all set! All my future videos, including my new series of how-to-trade videos, will be automatically delivered directly to you without you having to lift a finger.

First new video will be some time this week….

When I first started producing live trading videos well over a year ago, I broke new ground – I posted them to YouTube for all to see, and at the time, I was the only trader doing so. Then I started distribution through iTunes (more on that in a bit), again breaking new ground.

Since then of course, lots of people have jumped on the bandwagon, and the are loads of videos available on youtube and similar sites. So the bar has been raised, which is great.

The feedback to my videos has been overwhelmingly positive. But watching live trades all the time is only useful to a point. What I can’t do very effectively while trading live, is explain some of my thought processes. In other words, showing what I’m doing is one thing, but I want to explain more about why I’m doing it.

So I’ve decided to take my videos in a new direction. Starting next week, I’m going to be bringing you more background stuff. Instead of live trades, I’ll be sharing with you my thoughts on how to trade.

This is going to be quite organic, and hopefully interactive. I’ve not got a long pre-planned list of subjects to cover, instead, I want to use your feedback to direct me. If there’s something you want me to talk about in a video, then let me know.

I’ll continue to include live trades from time to time as I know they’re popular. But over and above that, the format is open!

Getting The Videos

I mentioned iTunes earlier, and I really think this is the best way for getting your hands on my vids. It doesn’t matter if you use a Mac or a PC, iTunes makes the whole process ridiculously easy. You simply subscribe to my video podcast stream (for free of course), and every time I release something, it’s automatically in your iTunes!

You can watch it straight away on your computer, or if you have an iPod or iPhone, just sync it up and watch wherever you happen to be when you have a few spare minutes.

The great thing about this way of getting the videos is there’s no problem with buffering, or the video stopping and starting during playback, because it’s already downloaded to your iTunes. It also means you can keep copies of my videos on your computer, so if you want to watch more than once, you don’t have to wait for it to download each time.

If you don’t already have iTunes, you can download it for free from here (there are PC and Mac versions):

http://www.apple.com/itunes/download/

Once you’ve got it installed, you can subscribe to my podcast either by clicking this link:

http://www.daytradingfreedom.com/podcast

…or simply search for Harvey Walsh in the iTunes Store. That will bring up my podcast page, and then you just click the Subscribe button.

Priority Access

I always make new videos available on iTunes before they can be seen anywhere else. Starting next week this will be even more the case – iTunes subscribers will get at least a 24 hour head start on anyone else.

Of course, I’ll still be posting videos here to the blog, if you prefer to watch in a browser. But if you want to be first to see what’s new, subscribing through iTunes (for free) is the way to go.

If you’re at all interested in using meditation to improve your focus and discipline while trading, then I highly recommend trying out the trial of these CDs. If you then decide to go for the whole set, they’re available with a full seven month guarantee, which is pretty impressive.

Here’s the site again: Meditation CD Set

I can’t tell you how pleased I am that this system is going public. It’s been one of the greatest secrets of my success for a long time, and now everyone gets to benefit.

Do let me know how you get on if you decide to give it a try. And even if you don’t use this system, but use a different system of meditation, let me know how it works out for you.

I’ve never talked about this before, for three primary reasons:

1. People don’t generally like to hear that “head stuff” (getting control of your emotions) is so important to success in trading.

2. Although I use it daily, I’ve never really felt comfortable trying to offer advice on the subject of meditation. Just like I can drive a car, but wouldn’t know where to start teaching someone else to drive, so it is with meditation.

3. The structured meditation program I use myself, hasn’t been available to the public, so there was little point in me telling you about something you couldn’t get.

The third point is what is about to change though, as the program I use is going to become publicly available on Monday next week.

I’m going to tell you a little bit about it, then I’m going to give you a meditation exercise you can do right now.

MEDITATION FOR THE LAZY

As I mentioned yesterday, I’m naturally a very lazy person. I like shortcuts. Anything that avoids effort sounds good to me. The meditation program I use is right up my street.

You see the trouble with a lot of these kinds of exercises, the ones you find in library books, is that they require quite a lot of mental effort and discipline. You have to learn the exercise, then actually do it. My trouble is remembering the right steps, doing them in the right order, maintaining concentration, and all of this without falling asleep!

The meditation program solves these issues. It’s an audio system – in other words – something you listen to. And if we want to keep things simple, that’s basically all there is to it. I stick the CD into a player (or select the track on my iPod if I’m using that), sit back, relax, and listen. No effort involved – wonderful!

3 TRACK MIND

Of course, below the surface there’s quite a lot going on. Feel free to skip this explanation if you’re not interested in the technicals…

The audio tracks in the program have been designed to synchronize your brainwaves to specific frequencies – which is the basis of all meditation. There’s nothing scary or unnatural about this, we all do it all the time without knowing it – especially when we sleep, or daydream. Using a meditative technique just takes control of the process.

In basic meditation, with practice, you can train yourself to slow your brainwave frequency. This has a massive calming effect, and gets the logical and emotional sides of the brain working in harmony. It’s a very beneficial process, and actually has positive health effects as well as mental ones.

The audio program goes further though. It takes you on a journey through different frequencies. It gets different areas of the brain relaxed and calmed. It’s a kind of mental workout, but in reverse. Instead using energy, it fills you up with energy!

The audio uses three different techniques to work its magic. Firstly, it uses a system of “binaural entrainment”, which is a fancy way of saying you hear different things in each ear.

Secondly, it uses “rhythmic entrainment”, which uses rhythm to relax the mind. Thirdly, it uses “temporal entrainment”, a way of focusing the mind on the other entrainment techniques being used.

All this is wrapped up and “hidden” within a relaxing ambient soundtrack. You might have seen some CDs that use one or other of these methods, but as far as I know this is the only program that uses all three at once.

TICKLING THE MIND

Unlike basic meditation, listening to the audio is a totally passive experience. You don’t need to do anything. No exercises, no visualization, nothing that requires action. Just listen.

The result is something that’s difficult to describe. The first time I used the program, I could only liken it to someone gently tickling the back of my mind. I know that’s probably a really bad description, but that’s how it was!

The first five minutes or so nothing much happened. But then quite rapidly I felt myself falling into a surprisingly deep meditative trance. As I mentioned yesterday, I had already been doing some basic meditation before trying this program, so I was no stranger to this state of mind. But to reach it so quickly and effortlessly was a real revelation for me.

There are a number of audio tracks in the program, and in all they amount to what I can only describe as a a six month brain entrainment program. But don’t be deceived, the results start to show almost immediately.

THE BOTTOM LINE

What this all comes down to is this. Trading successfully requires a solid strategy, and a clear and focussed mind. Only when you have both can you truly reach your full profit potential.

The best way I know of getting your mind clear, is to regularly practice meditation. You can either do this on your own, using time tested exercises, or you can use a program that does the heavy-lifting for you.

Either way, if you meditate for about 30 minutes a day, I guarantee you that you will see a significant increase in your trading performance.

30 MINUTES = $???

How much is 30 minutes a day of your time worth? If you increased your profitability by just 10%, how much would that add to your bottom line each day? Each Month? Each year? What about if you increased profits by 25%? Or more?

And if you’re not yet profitable, do you think 30 minutes a day to turn the corner and start making money is a worthwhile time investment?

AN EXERCISE

As I promised earlier, here’s a simple meditation exercise you can try right now. Please bear in mind that this relies entirely on you, it’s not like the audio system with it’s clever use of technology to do the heavy lifting for you. This exercise will require some mental effort. But the reward should be a great feeling of mental relaxation and clarity. Ok, here goes:

Start by finding a comfortable position. Sitting is good, lying down better. Be somewhere you wont be disturbed. Close your eyes, and count down slowly, from 25 to 1. As you count down each number, try and visualize it in your minds eye. Concentrate on each number.

When you’ve finished the countdown, start to concentrate on your feet. Feel your feet become heavier and heavier, as if they were made of lead. Focus all your thought on those feet. When you feel they cannot become any heavier, move your concentration to the bottom half of your legs. Imagine them becoming heavier and heavier.

Move slowly up your body, repeating the process – your knees, thighs, hips, belly, chest, hands, arms, elbows, shoulders, neck, chin, face, to the top of your head.

The whole exercise should take around 30 minutes if done right. When you’ve finished, you should be in a deep state of relaxation. You can bring yourself out when you are ready, by opening your eyes and saying to yourself “I am wide awake, relaxed, and my mind is clear and focussed!”

Don’t worry if you break your concentration, this is after all just an exercise, and you’ll get better with practice. Also don’t worry if you fall asleep the first time you do this – I did! Again, with practice you’ll slowly gain control.

YOUR CHOICE

I really hope you give this a try. These posts have been a radical departure from my usual videos and charts, so I hope they help!

On Monday, the audio program launches to the public. I’ll put up a post on Monday, with the link to the website. If you decide to give it a try, do let me know how you get on, I’d love to hear from you. And if you decide to just use the exercise above (or any other you might know of), let me know how that works for you as well.

As I hinted in the previous post, this isn’t something we do naturally, but it can be learnt.

Actually, “learnt” might not be the right word. What we’re really talking about is training our mind.

A MENTAL GYM

If we want to take control of our mind, so that we can more easily make decisions based on logic. then we need to give ourselves a mental workout.

When you want to train and hone your body, you go to the gym and do exercise. The same goes for the mind. With the right training and exercises, it’s possible to hone your mental abilities, and sharpen your mind.

Of course, these aren’t physical exercises you do in a gym, instead they are mental exercises you do in your head.

So what kind of exercises are we talking about here? Should we all be doing Brain Training on Nindentos? Well, not quite. Those kind of mental gymnastics are fine for improving the logical side of the brain, but we’re talking about getting the logical side and the emotional side to work better together. We want to calm that battle that is forever being waged in our heads. If we can get both sides of our brains working in harmony, then we’re really getting somewhere.

What kind of exercise can do that? Meditation!

BEAR WITH ME!

Ok, I probably just lost about 90% of the people reading this when I said that. But bear with me, because believe me, this is absolutely one of the biggest secrets to my success as a trader.

MR SPOCK

I first learnt this from one of my personal trading mentors. I used to watch in awe as he would sit there and calmly hit the buy and sell buttons, and take the losses with the same lack of emotion as he took the biggest profits you can imagine. Nothing phased him, ever. Imagine Mr Spock from Star Trek day trading, and you have some idea of what this guy was like.

The trader, I’ll call him Mr P because he doesn’t like publicity, was quite open about his meditation. In fact, he used to meditate for one hour a day, every day, before the markets opened. He swore blind that it was the reason he was so profitable.

I wasn’t convinced, but I figured that in the quest for profitability, anything was worth a try.

ANOTHER WAY

Learning meditation is in itself, fairly easy. But getting good at it, as I discovered, takes a lot of time and practice. And getting into a habit (which is absolutely key to making it work), takes discipline.

And herein lies the problem – we’ve already established that a lack of discipline is one of the things we need meditation to help us overcome! It’s a catch-22…

Much like we need structure to succeed in trading, so too can a structured approach help in meditation. I’m naturally a very lazy person, so anything that gives me structure, and makes something easy to do, is a godsend for me. Some time ago I was lucky enough to be introduced to a private system for structured meditation. Because I wasn’t required to think about it, or put in any effort, it suited me down to the ground!

And that’s what really turned round my trading. This structured approach to meditation gave me a way to take control of my own head. It calmed the battle between emotion and logic. I don’t claim to know exactly how it works, but it really does. When I finish my daily meditation, it feels like when you come out of a wonderful deep relaxing sleep. My head is crystal clear, my thoughts are laser sharp and focussed, and my emotions are completely under my control.

When I sit down to trade, it’s almost like I’m running on auto-pilot. I know my strategy inside out, and so I calmly click those buy and sell buttons when the chart tells me to. Sometimes, after a particularly deep meditation, I feel almost like I’m someone else, watching me trade!

HEAD STUFF – SORTED

Now here’s the reason I have chosen to share this insight with you at this time. The private structured program I used, has never been publicly available, it was only ever possible to get it via personal introduction. All that is changing next week.

I’ll tell you more about the program tomorrow, but first let me say something really important. Obviously I’m going to recommend you get this program when it’s released, I mean, it turned me from a so-so trader into a highly profitable one. But even if you decide to completely ignore me, please do think about what I’ve said about meditation and “head stuff”.

Getting my head in the right place was absolutely crucial to my success, and I’ve never talked about that openly before because most people aren’t ready to hear that meditation is a key to successful trading. Charts and stuff are so much more interesting, right? So feel free to ignore my email tomorrow, when I’ll tell you more about the program I use. But please do think about the advice I’ve shared thus far. There are many many methods for meditating and “head stuff”, and I believe that trying any of them can only make you a better trader.