Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Effective ETF Trading System Hints For Beginners

By Patrick Deaton

As you get going in ETF trading you are going to find that there are a lot of strategies, systems, and methods. The method, strategy or system that is best, will be the one that works for you. An ETF trading system may be very effective for one person, but not for another. The effective trading system will be one that matches your personal style, your skills, and your ETF goals. To find that system you will need to work through a few to find the one that is the best fit for you.

Website that offer one system or one strategy are not effective for many people. They are also not a cost effective way to learn ETF trading. The websites which offer training, materials, books, and information about all of the strategies, systems, and methods that make up ETF trading will give you a holistic view of what is available. This websites also usually offer forums and chat rooms for beginners to ask questions and gain valuable information from successful ETF traders.

Most successful ETF traders agree on two things. The learning curve for ETF trading is about two years. And, if you get through the first year with a 0% loss you've had a really good first year. With that in mind, setting realistic goals for the first two years will help to keep you grounded and out of hot water with trading. Creating a safety net that allows you to try different systems and strategies without suffering losses is a great way to learn the intricacies of ETF trading.

The safety net will help you to stay afloat in a very fast moving trading medium. The ETF is moving at 15 second intervals. If a person has committed to the wrong system, in the wrong sector, they can lose gains before they have finished their first cup of coffee. So, setting a stop-loss will help you to avoid those kinds of losses.

Another helpful net when beginning will be to set buy and sell points or set take profit prices. This will be a huge help until you have got a good knowledge base of how ETF trading works. Once you know how to do the technical and historical analysis that makes any system and strategy you use work more effectively, you will be able to have less structure in your safety net. But until you feel very comfortable with ETF trading, the stronger your safety net is, the more consistent your gains will be.

Starting to trade in sectors that have clear trends and trend lines to track will be easier than the more complex sectors. Trading in at least two separate sectors is also a good idea. Somewhere in your research of ETF trading systems you will find the actual formula for the system. This formula will show how the system is set up, how it works, and it's risk. There may be some systems that have a low risk, but I haven't seen any, so try to stick with systems that have a medium low to medium risk.

When looking at systems, any system that involves following trends is a system worth looking at. Learning to follow and spot trends, patterns, and variables is a great way to gain confidence in ETF trading. A system like the ETFA is one good way to start. The Exponential Moving Average System is a medium low to medium risk system that involves following trends. It is used primarily with TLT, XLE, RTH, XLF, and SPY (long term). Most people run the system on a fifteen day cycle. When the fast EMA and slow EMA cross, you move.

Tracking a system to see how effective it is will be a huge help when learning systems and strategies. By tracking before trading a person can develop the knowledge and confidence they need to make effective trades proactively. Another advantage of tracking before trading is that a person can track several systems on the same sector at the same time and see the effectiveness of each system for easy comparison. - 23309

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