Welcome to the WADS System. This document contains the recommended steps to take in order to learn to trade. I created it with one thought in mind... making this as fun and easy to learn as possible. For me it wasn't always easy and I struggled along the way because I did not have a good mentor that knew their stuff. I spent over 55k learning to trade. I even paid some schools up to 23k. In the end I can't even begin to tell you how disappointed I was to learn that my trading mentors weren't even that t good or holding things back. Disappointment is an understatement. Understand that the #1 reason why most people will never make money in the stock market is they ignore the most important part of the process...building the mental foundation. So I highly recommend that you start on this as early on in your career as possible. So, let's dive right into what you need to do to start. Oh, almost forgot. A good free screenshot software is Jing. It's free. Just Google it and download. If you 'd like to shell out some money you can't go wrong with SnagIt either. I have both and am just so used to SnagIt, but you can't go wrong w/ Jing. Step 1. Get NinjaTrader Setup and follow the tutorials on how to do so. Step 2. Begin building that technical. Modules 1-5: Watch Modules 1-5 to begin learning about charts. Before you continue to the next section make sure that you: 1 P a g e
Have a good understanding of what Futures are and what the values of points, ticks and contracts are in the ES. Get familiar with NinjaTrader and our Indicators. Get comfortable with our workspace and drawing tools - (VERY IMPORTANT) Step 3: Begin building the mental foundation: **If you have access to the MoneyMaker Mindset read Lessons 1-6 and 19. ** If you don't than you need to read the Mental Sneak Peeks at the end of the WADS curriculum. Everything that you need for the first 3 months will be in that section. In particular pay attention to the Goals section. Come back to this blueprint for the mindset after you gain access. Also look at and make sure you have an understanding of the following: Commit to working on your mindset and including it in your study topics. Do this daily. Understand the Adult Learning Model and think how it applies to something else you've learned and are extremely good at. Create some goals. Make sure the majority of them are short term and focus on the process. Create your main "TO DO LIST," and begin by listing on there what your goals are for the following month. Keep that close by and as you find an area of weakness, add it to that list. I use this daily for the things that I'm not that good at. Homework #1 Watch the Michael Jordan "Maybe" video. I don't think you guys can imagine how hard it is for me to include it in your training. The reason is that I am one of the biggest Duke fans in the world. LOL So please, please, please take the time to watch this video for the sheer reason that I would never have ever included it unless I thought it was that important. It is incredibly inspirational! 2 P a g e
Send me an email and let me know what that video meant to you or send me an email and link me to your favorite motivational video. If you'd rather share your goals with me and have me give you some feedback on those, I'd love to hear from you! Step 4: Go back to WADS and begin watching the other modules. Your goals at this point should include going through so many of the modules per day. Do not rush and take your time learning each of the modules. Remember it's not a race. Some of them below will require some homework lessons. These ARE NOT mandatory. Do only the ones that you aren't comfortable with or have questions about. You can also do all of them. It's entirely up to you. Module 7 - Basic Market Movements Homework: Screenshot the following 5 Examples of good run/retracements 5 Examples of average retracements 5 Examples of Strong retracements 5 Examples of very strong price bars 5 Examples of average price bars 5 examples of consolidation Module 8 - Using our Indicators 5 examples of where our MB acts as support 5 examples of where our MB acts as resistance 5 examples of where the Keltner channel bands act as resistance 5 examples of where the Keltner channel bands act as support Module 9 - Support and Resistance 3 P a g e
5 examples of support 5 examples of resistance 3 examples of support becoming resistance 3 examples of resistance becoming support 5 examples of trend lines 3 examples of FOBOS Module 10 - Reversal Patterns 5 examples of head and shoulders 5 examples of reverse head and shoulders 5 examples of double tops 5 examples of double bottoms 5 examples of divergence 5 examples of divergence holding 5 examples of broken divergence Module 11 - Fibonacci Extensions 5 examples of a Fibonacci Extension Module 12 - Market Environment 5 examples of a true trending market 5 examples of an oscillating market 5 examples of a channeling market with areas being respected 5 examples of a choppy market Module 13 - Macro vs Micro Environment 4 P a g e
Understand the difference between macro and micro. Module 14 - Trade Setups 5 examples of momentum shifting up - mark the exact bar where this happens 5 examples of momentum shifting down - mark the exact bar where this happens Module 15-18 - Trade Setups 10 examples of Trade #1 - mark target and entry price 10 examples of Trade #2 - mark target and entry price 10 examples of Trade #3 - mark target and entry price 10 examples of Trade #4 - mark target and entry pattern on the 233 chart Module 19 - Areas Disrespected and Respected 5 examples of areas being disrespected Module 20 - Order Types Study the chart in module 17 and make sure you are comfortable with what price to place your order at. Module 21 - Risk Vs Reward Set up your ATM strategy with your 5 tick stop. Practice using Chart Trader. Fire up a DOM and practice using one. Think about which one you feel more comfortable with and commit to using that for your first few weeks of sim. Module 22 - Goals of Our System Begin building a trading plan by typing out the Beginner's Trading Plan on a blank word file. 5 P a g e
From Module 23 on, all of the WADS lessons are advanced topics. We will cover those in the Group Review class. MoneyMaker Mindset Curiculum Sneak Peeks Module 26 - Losing This one is still a work in progress. Overall I want you to think back on how you deal with losing. This is a good opportunity to get used to writing out your thoughts. It's a simple tactic called journaling. How does losing make you feel? It's also a good self-discovery lesson. Let me give you an example of what I would have written about losing prior to playing poker. -----------------------------------------------SIDE RANT--------------------------------------- Prior to playing poker I absolutely hated losing. I was the biggest sore loser in the world. So, why am I telling you this? Well because it took me a long while to get this under control. Primarily because I had no idea how to build this skill. If I had only known how to deal with losing, I would have had a much more lucrative career. So, how do you begin dealing with it. You write about it. You realize that it's part of the game. The more you write it out, your mind will begin to believe it. It took me awhile, but I finally did it. Now I can sit at the table or take a trade and have thousands on the line without even blinking when I lose. I know that one day, you will be able to do the same. ---------------------------------------------- SIDE RANT--------------------------------------- Module 30 - Trading Plan Begin constructing a trading plan. Download the sample trading plan and construct yours similarly. Understand that right now it's a work in progress and as you improve, you will either add or take out things. Think about what trades you will take. When you first start you might want to avoid Trade #4's altogether. Module 36 - Stop Losses for the Day 6 P a g e
Think about a time that you let something really small and insignificant grow from the bottom of the spectrum to the larger end. And now reflect on it and think about how out of control your emotions were throughout that whole ordeal. Let me start by giving you an example. When I first started working with Jared and was running really poorly (probably playing poorly also!) I used to tell him I sucked (under confidence). Weeks later when I was on a good run, I'd tell him I was such a bad ass and I felt like I could play and beat anyone. (overconfidence) In hindsight it shows that I hadn't developed a stable confidence at this point. It also shows that I had no idea how variance plays a large part in our day-by-day results. You can just do this on your own and you don't have to share if you don't want. A lot of times we aren't very comfortable with an exercise like this because it shows us EXACTLY what we need to work on (our flaws). You have to get used to the fact that no one is perfect. Hey I know that most of you are probably really SEXY, ;) but the fact remains that our emotional makeup needs some discipline. Module 37 - Variance Just read this through and be aware that there is variance in trading. Module 38 - Failing Don't ever quit. You can do this. I'm not even smarter than the average bear, but I've done it. And I continue to do it every single day because I have complete and total control of my emotions. Not because I'm a master on the charts, but because I have total control of myself. Step 5: At this point you are ready to sim trade. So before you begin, start off by going through all of the mental sneak peeks in the WADS curriculum and the following MoneyMaker Mindset lessons. Lessons 7-12, 15-29 Plan out your process model. What will you do to prepare? What will you do to evaluate? What do you do to analyze? 7 P a g e
Add at least one daily routine to your trading day that is going to make you a better trader. If at any time you feel something out of the ordinary when trading, write it down. We are trying to start getting in touch with our emotions. If at any time you are uncertain about something - write it down. Either ask me to clarify or do some backtesting. Think about something else you've done in the past that caused you to reach the crossroads of frustration. How did you approach this? Doesn't it feel better now that you know how to approach it. Eliminate things that distract you from the trading session. Examples can include Skype, AIM, cell phones, and surfing the net. Treat mistakes as opportunities and study them daily. Try to have a basic understanding of tilt. Think of it in terms of revenge trading. Start journaling if you haven't already Lesson 13 and 14 are only used when you realize that you have a problem. When you do realize that you have a problem with any of the following: Tilt, Confidence, Motivation, and Fear. There are two strategies. The short term one which is used when you are in the line of fire. And the long term that you need to do when you step away from the market. Step 6: Begin sim trading the live market Notice any emotional problems you might have and write it down as it happens. Work on these small things and continue to get better. As soon as you feel that you are consistent enough sim trading, then begin trading the live market with 1 contract. Make sure that by this time you have the most complete trading plan possible. 8 P a g e
Good Luck and as always, shoot me an email if you need some help. I'll be changing this as I organize it in a more streamlined fashion. Watch for updates 9 P a g e