Trade with a process,
not a gut feeling.
Plain-English guides on the parts of trading that actually decide whether you last: sizing, risk, and discipline. Every guide comes with a free tool so you can put it to work the same day.
How to size a position: the 1% risk rule
The three-step formula disciplined traders use to size any trade off their risk instead of a gut feeling, with a worked example.
What is Value at Risk (VaR) and how to calculate it
The parametric VaR formula, a worked example, the three methods, and the tail risk VaR quietly hides from you.
Risk of ruin: the math that decides if you survive
Why a winning system can still blow up, the four levers that drive ruin, and the one that matters most.
The Kelly Criterion for traders (and why to use half-Kelly)
The formula for optimal bet size, why full Kelly is dangerous, and how half-Kelly keeps the growth while cutting the drawdown.
Options profit and loss explained: max gain, max loss, breakeven
The three numbers that define every option trade, worked for calls, puts, covered calls, and spreads.
How to install ThinkorSwim indicators (step by step)
Add any thinkScript indicator to thinkorswim in a couple of minutes with the manual paste method that always works, plus how to run it in a scan.
How to read a 10-K in 5 minutes
The four sections that carry the signal, a five-minute read plan, and the red flags that separate a solid filing from a trap.
How to use a trailing stop (ATR-based)
Lock in gains without giving them back: why an ATR trailing stop beats a fixed percent, with a worked example that walks the stop up.
What is trade expectancy and how to calculate it
The one number that says whether your system makes money. Win rate alone lies; here is the formula that tells the truth.
Risk/reward ratio: how to use it with your win rate
Why a 3:1 setup only needs to win 25% of the time, and how risk/reward and win rate together decide your edge.
The covered call strategy explained
Generate income on shares you own, the max-profit and breakeven math, and the two ways a covered call can bite you.
Drawdown and recovery: why a 50% loss needs a 100% gain
The brutal asymmetry of losses, the full recovery table, and why staying shallow beats swinging for the fences.
The power of compounding (and why CAGR beats average return)
How returns on returns bend the curve, the CAGR formula, and the volatility drag that makes average return a lie.
What is RSI (Relative Strength Index) and how to use it
The momentum oscillator every trader quotes, why overbought is not a short signal, and the divergence read that actually matters.
What is VWAP and how traders use it
The volume-weighted line institutions trade around, why it acts as intraday support, and how anchored VWAP sharpens it.
What is MACD and how to read it
The three parts of MACD, what crossovers and the zero line mean, and why it whipsaws in a range.
Moving average crossover: golden cross and death cross
What the 50/200 crossover signals, SMA versus EMA, and why crossovers work as a filter but whipsaw in chop.
What is ATR (Average True Range) and how to use it
The volatility gauge behind smart stops and sizing, how True Range is built, and why ATR is an input, not a signal.
The iron condor explained
The four-leg range strategy, its max profit, max loss, and two breakevens, and why the loss is bigger than the win.
What is support and resistance (and how to trade it)
Why support and resistance are zones, not lines, how they form, role reversal, and why they set the odds instead of a guarantee.
What are Bollinger Bands and how to use them
The 20-period middle band, the 2 standard-deviation envelope, the squeeze, and why tagging the upper band is not a sell.
Dollar-cost averaging explained (and when it helps)
How a fixed-dollar schedule lowers your average cost, the honest lump-sum tradeoff, and why DCA is not averaging down.
Fibonacci retracement explained: the key levels
The 23.6, 38.2, 50, 61.8, and 78.6 percent levels, how to draw them, and why they only work as confluence with other evidence.
Candlestick patterns explained: the ones that matter
Candle anatomy, the doji, hammer, engulfing, and star patterns, and why context and confirmation beat pattern-spotting.