2/18/2011

Are you an anticipatory or a reactive trader

You have a strategic choice. Either you can anticipate a move or react to a move.
In anticipation you enter ahead of a move hoping the move will continue in the direction of primary trend.
Or in an exhaustion kind of setup you are entering in anticipation of a trend reversal.
Value investor are also anticipation kind of trader. They anticipate that market will recognize the value in the identified stock and that is why the stock will go up.
Reaction kind of traders are breakout traders, trend followers, momentum traders, and growth investors. They react to a breakout or trend change or growth in sales or earnings. They wait for a proof before making trading decision.
In any time frame you can build a strategy based either on anticipation or reaction. A day trader can have a anticipation strategy where he pre identifies opportunities and enters them in anticipation of move. Then there are bulk of traders who are reactive day traders. They react to news, reversals, breakouts or exhaustions.
Both approaches offer opportunities for profitable method building. Once you decide on your basic approach you can find several ways to execute them.


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