tradeCYCLE™
The disciplined, easy-to-use approach to Proactive Investing You want to take control of your financial destiny. You know you should be proactive. You have taken steps; maybe you even have a few pieces of the puzzle in place. But you have yet to find the success that you are looking for and you aren't as comfortable with what you are doing as you would like.
Successful trading and investing require discipline and a repeatable process that you follow every time you place a trade. Our approach goes like this: Do your homework. Find a strategy. Craft a strategy. Analyze and test your strategy. Execute. Plan your exit. Adjust as necessary.
Our name for a holistic, proactive way of approaching the entire investment process is tradeCYCLE.
Most traders do some of these things. The successful ones do them all, for every trade. And you need the discipline—and the tools—to follow through on each of these steps. optionMONSTER helps investors with homework and strategies, by means of news analysis, market intelligence, trading subscription products, and education tips. (Our sister company tradeMONSTER, meanwhile, provides cutting-edge technology to execute your plans in real time.)
tradeCYCLE is not something we're selling: It's a mindset. Regardless whether it's precisely right for you, we encourage you to evaluate our approach to successful investing. Dive into the details of each phase by making use of our widget (to the left). We hope it will spur a more disciplined and profitable approach to your financial future.
Successful trading and investing require discipline and a repeatable process that you follow every time you place a trade. Our approach goes like this: Do your homework. Find a strategy. Craft a strategy. Analyze and test your strategy. Execute. Plan your exit. Adjust as necessary.
Our name for a holistic, proactive way of approaching the entire investment process is tradeCYCLE.
Most traders do some of these things. The successful ones do them all, for every trade. And you need the discipline—and the tools—to follow through on each of these steps. optionMONSTER helps investors with homework and strategies, by means of news analysis, market intelligence, trading subscription products, and education tips. (Our sister company tradeMONSTER, meanwhile, provides cutting-edge technology to execute your plans in real time.)
tradeCYCLE is not something we're selling: It's a mindset. Regardless whether it's precisely right for you, we encourage you to evaluate our approach to successful investing. Dive into the details of each phase by making use of our widget (to the left). We hope it will spur a more disciplined and profitable approach to your financial future.
Do Your Homework
To beat the markets you must have an edge, and that edge only comes with diligent research. This might include technical analysis in charts or research on fundamentals such as earnings reports and revenue forecasts. And, if you are trading options, it should include volatility analysis. You might also wish to follow newsletters or trusted advisers.
Related tradeMONSTER tools: Research Tools
Find/Craft a Strategy
Once you have done your homework and formulated your outlook—whether it is a direction, a price target, or just a range—you need to decide on the proper strategy. The last thing you want is to be right with your forecast but use the wrong strategy and end up losing money. The more complex your strategy, the harder this can be. The ability to enter a spread, or even an iron condor, as one trade with one price simplifies the process and can eliminate errors. Having the greeks and streaming quotes on spreads might seem like a luxury until you use them and wonder how you ever traded any other way.
Related tradeMONSTER tools: strategySEEK™, spreadMAKER™
Test the Strategy
Testing your strategy is something that can come into play at several stages in the process, but especially before you place the trade. It is not only useful but vital to see how your strategy wins and loses before you pull the trigger. Traders using complex options positions should have a visual representation of their P&L and know the probabilities the strategy under consideration.
Related tradeMONSTER tools: tradeLAB™
Execute the Trade
Executing can be as easy as hitting the "buy" button—and, at some brokerages, that is all you can do—but sometimes it shouldn't be that easy. Having an arsenal of order types and automated options allows you to get exactly what you want. You may never use an OCO ("one cancels other") order or trade in extended hours, but it is nice to have the ability to do so. And sometimes it can mean the difference between profit and loss.
Related tradeMONSTER tools: OMSuite
Plan Your Exit
The argument can be made that your exit is even more important than your entry. Unfortunately, however, this is another juncture where many investors fall down: Too many traders fail to plan their exit, and those who do often have only half of the equation. They may have a stop in place, for example, but they don't take into account what their exit will be if they have gains. Putting in a bracket order as soon as you place your trade is the easiest way to have a real exit plan for the upside and downside—but it's not the only way.
Related tradeMONSTER tools: Exit Plan™
Adjust as Needed
Many trades are not of the "set it and forget it" variety. Quite the opposite, they require monitoring and at times adjusting. This is the last step of the process, but it is the one that lets you repair losing positions, lock in gains, or take profits by rolling a position up or out. There are times when a repair strategy makes sense, or maybe it is time to put a collar on a stock that has had a tremendous run. And maybe your calls are so far in the money that it is time to take some profits and roll up to a higher strike.
Related tradeMONSTER tools: adjustTRADE™
