Daytrading Newsletter
for Active Day Traders

Vol. 2 - Issue No. 2
April - May 1999

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Dayraders: Here is "What's New" at the Daytrader's Bulletin

+ NEW: Daytrader's Mentor
+ New Subscription Rate
+ Trade Management E-Mail
+ Day Trading the S&P500 - A Visual Approach
+ Surviving Drawdowns
+ Software Spotlight: Double Desktop
+ New Bookstore
+ Results for April 1999
+ Disclaimer

==================== Daytrader's Mentor ================
Subscribers continue to say, "Watching you trade has taught me so much about trading," "I've learned to trade without hesitation," and "Since subscribing to the Daytrader's Bulletin I've learned to follow my system."

To further enhance the educational aspects of our program, we will add the following to our Real-Time Signals:

+ Easy access to previous Log Files for review and study with your charts.

+ Mentor Update: In-depth analysis of an actual trade or set-up that day. What set-up we saw, what indicators were used, what triggered our decision to enter, move our stop, and/or exit?

You will learn more by trading alongside the Daytrader's Bulletin in a single month than you will in a year of hit-and-miss trading by yourself. If you are not already trading the S&P500, we suggest you open an account with an on-line broker, and intially paper trade our Real-Time Signals.

Using our Real-Time Signals, you can participate in a valuable, real-time trading experience. Trading fundamentals and techniques can be learned by reading books and attending seminars, but like any skill, effective trading takes time and hands-on practice.

Accelerate your real-time trading education by joining us as we trade the S&P 500. The S&P 500 is a fast moving market, presenting multiple trading opportunities during the trading day. You'll feel what it is really like to day trade. Experience the excitement first hand, and gain a familiarity and clear understanding of the process day traders must follow to be successful.

Experienced traders use our service to validate their own signals, and gain valuable experience in trading without hesitation. Novice traders can accelerate the learning curve (through electronic paper trading) and gain experience in a real trading environment. The knowledge and experience required for day trading cannot be obtained in one weekend seminar, but is only truly gained by interaction with the market.

Perhaps the single most valuable feature of the Daytrader's Mentor will be having someone to answer your trading questions. How many times have you read a book and needed further clarification. Have you tried writing the author? Here you not only can ask the author directly, but you can also talk to other traders.

We will be using a bulletin board format so all questions and answers are usable by all participants. We feel it is a far better use of everyone's time and resources and we will be encouraging all subscribers to post their trading questions on the board. This bulletin board will be private and only available for the use of current subscribers and free trial participants.

For one-on-one training visit our new site The Daytrader's Mentor

=================== New Subscription Rate ===============
Our existing subscribers will enjoy the additional benefits and services at no additional cost for as long as they choose to remain as subscribers. After May 17, 1999, the new subscription fee will be $149.00 for 30 day's access. This is considerably less than what is being charged on other day trading sites, and we feel the value of our program far exceeds anything else available.

================== Trade Management ==================
Our Trade Management Tips was sent to all mailing list members in March. If you missed this mailing, or would like to reread it, you can review it on-line. You may request an e-mailed copy by sending an empty e-mail to

No subject is necessary as this is an autoresponder. You will receive this one mailing only. Your name and e-mail address are not retained by us for any purpose when using our autoresponders.

== Daytrading the S&P 500 - A Visual Approach. By Charles Holt, CTA =
We've posted a sample chapter of Charles' forthcoming trading book. It is outlined here, but too lengthy to post in its entirety.

Chapter 9: Psychological Strategies for Optimized Trading. A Daily Regimen for Top Trading which includes:

1. Daily Psychological Analysis.
2. Mental Visualizations.
3. Locate Low Risk Opportunities.
4. Location of an Entry Point.
5. Market Entry.
6. Trade Monitoring.
7. Trade Suspension.
8. Taking Profits.
9. Daily Review.
10. Periodic Review.
11. Being Out of the Market.

Emotional Control - In trading, preparation is mostly mental and emotional. Establish a daily routine before trading each day...

1. Meditation
2. Visualization
3. Self-Talk Read a full draft of this Chapter

=============== Surviving Drawdowns ====================
In our last Newsletter (February '99) we talked about how traders will talk themselves into or out of trades. This is especially important during a period of drawdown such as the one we recently experienced. Here is where experience makes the difference.

If you are a new trader, how can you develop the confidence to continue trading your "system" when it suddenly seems to be no longer working? Find out what the pros do in this situation: Get your hands on any trader's equity charts (ours are posted at the end of each trading day both monthly and quarterly), or review your own. You'll notice how they closely resemble stock or commodity charts.

Trade a winning system, follow your rules, and cut your losses short, and you will succeed. A trader must develop the skills necessary to garner a reasonable expectation of price movement and then trade accordingly. Occasionally your system will fail; the market will move against you; you may even make a mistake or not follow your rules.

Don't take losses personally, or beat yourself up over them. Once a trade has been taken and exited, it is finished. There is nothing gained by lamenting a loss, but everything to gain by analyzing the process and determining whether the trade might have been handled differently. If you followed your rules and still experienced a loss, you are doing well and should take this as a positive, not a negative.

There is something to be learned from every trade. Resist the urge to constantly change your system and/or rules of trading. Keeping tight stops and exiting any losing position immediately will help reduce your losses, but a continual tweaking will result in no system at all.

Rules are developed for a reason; follow them. Concentrate on maximizing the winners. Many highly successful traders lose more often than they win, but their winners are far larger than their losers and consequently they are profitable. Home run Hall of Famer's must strike out hundreds of times to attain the number of successful stolen bases or home runs that they reach. They don't dwell on the misses, but focus on the hits and so should you.

Study your winning trades and find ways to make them even bigger winners. Focus on the positive.

================ New Book Store =======================
Please visit our new bookstore. We are now associated with Amazon.com because they offer regular discounts. We've listed many of our favorite books; those titles we especially like have the words "recommended" underneath the bookcover image. An easy link to Amazon provides full access to all of their books, tapes and other items. We will feature a Book-of-the-Month here and on our web site.

Book of the Month: Mastery by George Leonard. $9.56 softcover. This is not specifically a trading book but one of my favorites nonetheless. Skillful trading requires a master's dedication and patience. This book is about success and how it is gained in any endeavor.

"Mastery is not perfection, but rather a journey, and the true master must be willing to try and fail and try again."

=============== Results through April 1999 ================
Our cumulative net results up to and including April 1999 on our model account of $30,000 starting capital is $25,775.00. This is an 85.92% annual return and includes the recent drawdown period. These results are posted after each trading session (late evening) on page 6 of the Overnight Update and also can be viewed on our Cumulative Net Results pages.

================= Software Spotlight =====================
Two Screens. This is an incredibly useful little utility. This program puts an icon in your tool tray (Win-95 users, bottom of your screen, far right) that is a little red arrow pointing either right or left, depending on which "screen" you are currently viewing.

That's right, this utility enables you to double your screen space. You can have your charts viewable in your main screen, and switch to the Right screen (click on the right pointing red arrow) and there is the Bulletin Signals page, LeoWeb, your news sites, or whatever is your preference.

This is useful because you can set up your programs and display them however you wish without the constant overlapping when they are all displayed in one screen. This utility is freeware and the next best thing to having dual monitors.

HINT: If you lose track of the address for the Software page, a link to the software page is off the Trader's Tools page.

====================== Disclaimer =====================
It is our sincere desire that our web site and Real-Time Signals service is an informative and educational resource for you as a trader. Please be aware that you may trade in front of us, with us, or after us and that it is imperative that you make your own trading decisions based on your specific risk tolerance and discretionary funds. There is a risk of loss in trading futures.

Good trading,
Charles Holt,
Publisher Daytraders Bulletin