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In our last lesson we finished up our discussion on trading journals with a look at the important things to look for when reviewing past trades. In today's lesson we are going to discuss how to handle trading like a business with a discussion of how to compile a trading business plan.

One of the leading causes for the failure of many businesses is their lack of planning. I think most successful people would agree that if you want to be successful in life and business you need to have a plan for how to obtain that success, set goals to meet along the way, and then work on executing your plan and meeting your goals.

Trading is no different from any other business in this sense and it is my opinion that those who fail to plan out their trading like a business are doomed to failure as well. With this in mind it is important to have a written business plan for your trading just as you would for any other business. Below are some of the things which should be included in that plan, most if not all of which you should now have a good understanding of if you have watched all of our lessons up to this point.

What are your reasons for wanting to become a trader?
What do you hope to gain from trading? Be specific here. If the possibility of making a lot of money has drawn you towards trading then list out how much money you want to make from trading and what you plan to do with that money if you make it.
What are the things that are going to separate you from the large majority of traders who fail?
What are your biggest weaknesses?
How do you plan to address your weaknesses and leverage your strengths?
How much time can you devote towards actively following the market?
Do you plan to day trade, swing trade, position trade or a combination of the three? Does your choice here reflect the time you have to devote to the markets?
What market or markets do you plan to trade and why?
At what times throughout the day are you going to spend actually trading, researching trades, and then learning about the market?
What are your criteria for entering a trade?
What are your criteria for exiting a trade?
What is your money management strategy?
How will you know if one of the pieces of your strategy stops working?
After identifying that one of the pieces of your strategy has stopped working what will you do to address it?
What trading software and equipment you will use to trade and how much is it?
What Broker/Brokers will you use?
Do you plan to add money to your account and if so where is that money going to come from?
If you are profitable do you plan to reinvest profits or withdraw some or all of them?
If you plan to trade full time how you will support yourself if you aren't profitable right away.
How much money do you plan to start to trade with? Does the math work out when considering taxes, all costs, living expenses and your initial trading balance?

As you can see, just as with any business, there are many things to consider before jumping into trading. From my experience however those who actually take the time to think about and write down the answers to each of the above questions have a much higher chance of success than those who do not.

That's our lesson for today and this completes the InformedTrades.com basics of trading course. I hope you have had as much fun and learned as much from our first trading basics course as I have from putting it together.

1. Intro to Technical Analysis
2. Introduction to Dow Theory
3. Second 3 Tenets of Dow Theory
4. How to Read Stock Charts
5. How to Trade Support and Resistance
6. Multi Time Frame Analysis
7. Introduction to the Double Top and Double Bottom Charting Pattern
8. How to Trade Double Tops Like a Pro
9. How to Trade the Head and Shoulders Pattern Part 1
10. How to Trade the Head and Shoulders Pattern Part 2
11. How to Trade the Wedge Chart Pattern Like a Pro Part 1
12. How to Trade the Wedge Chart Pattern Like a Pro Part 2
13. How to Trade the Flag/Pennant Patterns Like a Pro Part 1
14. How to Trade the Flag/Pennant Patterns Like a Pro Part 2
15. How to Trade Triangle Chart Patterns Like a Pro Part 1
16. How to Trade Triangle Chart Patterns Like a Pro Part 2
17. Learn to Trade with Technical Indicators
18. How to Trade Moving Averages Like a Pro (Part 1)
19. How toTrade Moving Averages Like a Pro (Part 2)
20. How to Trade the MACD Indicator Like a Pro (Part 1)
21. MACD Indicator: Trade it Like a Pro (Part 2)
22. How to Trade the Relative Strength Index (RSI) Like a Pro
23. How to Trade Stochastics Like the Pro's Do
24. The Difference Between the Fast, Slow and Full Stochastic
25. How to Trade Bollinger Bands - Stocks, Futures, Forex
26. How to Trade the Average Directional Index (ADX)
27. How to Trade the Parabolic SAR
28. How to Trade Candlestick Chart Formations Part 1
29. How to Trade Spinning Tops and Doji Candlestick Patterns
30. How to Trade the Bullish/Bearish Engulfing Candlesticks
31. How to Trade the Hammer Hanging Man Candlesticks
32. How to Trade the Morning/Evening Star Candlestick Pattern
33. How to Trade the Inverted Hammer/Shooting Star Patterns
34. Why Most Traders Lose Money and The Solution
35. Why Traders Hold On to Losing Positions
36. Two Trading Mistakes Which Will Destroy Your Account
37. Herd Mentality is the Psychology That Leads to Big Trading Losses
38. Profit Expectations: What Millionaire Traders Know
39. How to Join the Minority of Traders Who Are Successful
40. How To Determine Where to Put Your Initial Stop Loss Order
41. How to Use the Average True Range (ATR) To Set Stops
42. How to Up Your Chances for Profit When Setting Stops
43. How to Reduce the Chances of Being Stopped Out on a Trade
44. How Successful Traders Use Indicators to Place Stops
45. Stop Your Mind From Causing You to Take Profits Too Soon
46. How To Use Trailing Stops
47. Why Position Sizing is So Important in Trading
48. Why Fixed Position Sizing Is Not the Best Way to Trade
49. Trading The Martingale and Anti Martingale Strategies
50. How to Set Trade Position Size for Maximum Profits
51. Maximize Trading Profits with Correct Position Sizing 2
52. Fundamental Analysis and The US Economy
53. A Simple Explanation of the US Economy for Traders
54. Simple Explanation of The US Economy For Traders Part 2
55. The Business Cycle and Fiscal Policy - What Traders Know
56. How Interest Rates Move Markets
57. What Traders Know About Interest Rates Part 2
58. What Traders Need to Know About The Structure of The Fed
59. How the Fed Changes Interest Rates
60. How to Determine When the Fed is Going to Change Rates
61. Why Markets Move Ahead of Interest Rate Announcements
62. How to Trade the GDP Number (Part 1)
63. The Components of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP)
64. Intro to Trading Non Farm Payrolls (NFP's)
65. Trading the News - Economic Numbers - Retail Sales
66. Trading the News - Economic Numbers - ISM Manufacturing
67. The Producer Price Index (PPI)
68. The Consumer Price Index (CPI)
69. Trade the News - Existing Home Sales Index
70. How To Interpret the Consumer Confidence Index (CCI)
71. How to Interpret the Index of Leading Economic Indicators
72. The Advantages and Disadvantages of Day Trading
73. The Advantages and Disadvantages of Swing Trading
74. The Advantages and Disadvantages of Position Trading
75. How to Keep a Trading Journal
76. The Most Important Attributes of a Good Trading Journal
77. The 20 Components of a Successful Trading Plan

This is a series of 77 short video lessons meant to give traders an introduction to the basics of trading as well as the components necessary to develop a profitable trading plan.