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Become a Consistently Profitable Trader

3 Core Components of a Robust Market Methodology
Become a Consistently Profitable Trader

3 Core Components of a Robust Market Methodology

The Anatomy of a Powerful Market Framework/Methodology: A Trading Paradigm Skool Community member asked me a great question recently via private message in regard to trading strategies/systems, which inspired me to create this article to clarify my thoughts on the subject. I think you'll find it helpful. Within the trading world (blogs, courses, forums, chat rooms, etc.), terms like "strategy" and "system" are often used quite loosely. So I fear that most developing traders have…
Matt Thomas
February 7, 2023
What is Profile Trading - Volume Profile and Market Profile
Become a Consistently Profitable Trader

What is Profile Trading – Volume Profile & Market Profile

What is Profile Trading - The Most Powerful Way to View/Analyze Markets: When it comes to profile trading, there are 2 main types: volume profile and market profile. Volume profile is a graphical representation of volume (or market participation) at specific prices. And market profile is a graphical representation of time (or opportunity) at specific prices. These are extremely similar, yet slightly different tools. Typically, the more time a market spends at certain prices, the…
Matt Thomas
October 11, 2022
Volume Profile Trading - What Does Volume Profile Tell You
Become a Consistently Profitable Trader

Volume Profile Trading – What Does Volume Profile Tell You?

What Critical Information Does Volume Profile Tell You as a Trader? Most people who talk about volume profile and/or market profile  jump too quickly into the typical jargon - immediately firing off terms like opening range, initial balance, point of control, value area highs/lows, day types, opening types, and more. While these terms/concepts are important to understand in order to effectively trade based on volume profile analysis, it skips right over the critical explanation of…
Matt Thomas
September 13, 2022
Become a Consistently Profitable Trader - The Success Formula
Become a Consistently Profitable Trader

Become a Consistently Profitable Trader – The Success Formula

The Master Formula For Achieving Consistent Trading Profits/Success: Most people who pursue trading can only tolerate the learning/training process for a short, fixed period of time. They go through a 3-hour technical analysis course and expect enormous profits like clockwork - as if that knowledge will automatically equate to success. But basic information/knowledge barely scratches the surface of what's required to become a consistently profitable trader. Certain core trading concepts and frameworks are extremely strong/dependable/evergreen,…
Matt Thomas
July 29, 2022
Top 3 Reasons Why Traders Fail at Such a High Rate
Become a Consistently Profitable Trader

Top 3 Reasons Why Traders Fail at Such a High Rate (~90%)

Why Most Traders Fail - and How You Can Be Part of the 10% That Succeed: The exact percentage of traders that fail is difficult to accurately calculate. But the general consensus is that somewhere around 90% consistently lose money - and this might even be a conservative figure. Some believe it to be as high as 95-99%. This is often a shocking statistic for beginners to hear - and it typically turns them off…
Matt Thomas
June 15, 2022
What is Auction Market Theory - Discerning Price vs. Value
Become a Consistently Profitable Trader

What is Auction Market Theory – Trading Value vs. Price

What is Auction Market Theory - Trading With Auction Market Theory as a Framework: Auction market theory is a framework based in the notion that financial markets are giant auction mechanisms. They exist to continuously facilitate 2-way trade between buyers and sellers. When buyers are more aggressive than sellers - price goes up. When sellers are more aggressive than buyers - price goes down. When they're relatively even, price is stable. When you look at…
Matt Thomas
June 13, 2022
3 Critical Phases of the Trading Day - Prep, Trade, and Review
Become a Consistently Profitable Trader

3 Critical Phases of the Trading Day – Prep, Trade, and Review

The Non-Trading Elements Are Leading Indicators of Your Performance: When it comes to trading, most novices only worry about the trading session itself - when the actual buying and selling takes place. They roll out of bed 2 minutes before the open, power up their trading station, and think they're in a position to succeed. But I can tell you right now that without a consistent daily routine of preparation and review, your trading (the…
Matt Thomas
June 10, 2022
Molding Your Market Framework - How Do You View Markets?
Become a Consistently Profitable Trader

Molding Your Market Framework – How Do You View Markets?

Develop a Strong Trading Methodology Based on Market Dynamics and Structure: Throughout this site, I often talk about expected value, asymmetric risk-reward, the law of large numbers, accurately tracking trades, and acting like the casino - and these are all core concepts to understand and apply when it comes to your market framework. But these concepts - while vital - don't explain market dynamics and structure. In other words, what moves markets? Why does price…
Matt Thomas
June 9, 2022
What is Market Profile Trading - Collapsed and Expanded Market Profiles
Become a Consistently Profitable Trader

What is Market Profile – Trading With Market Profile

What is Market Profile - Trading Based on Time-Price Opportunity (TPO) Charts: Market profile (sometimes referred to as time-price opportunity or TPO) is a unique charting method that displays time spent at price. Contrary to standard charting methods, market profile builds out a distribution curve to better showcase opportunity at price. Market profile/TPO charts can take some time to get used to since they're different from conventional methods (line charts, bar charts, candlestick charts, etc.).…
Matt Thomas
June 8, 2022
What is Volume Profile Trading - Trading With Volume Profile
Become a Consistently Profitable Trader

What is Volume Profile – Trading With Volume Profile

What is Volume Profile - Look Inside the Bars/Candles For Areas of Participation: Volume profile is a powerful charting study/indicator that shows volume at price (as opposed to the conventional volume over time). Many traders use bar charts or candlestick charts to track price action (which allow you to visualize the high, low, open, and close of a specified time period) - with volume presented below the chart (showing the volume generated for each individual…
Matt Thomas
June 6, 2022
There are No Naturals - Great Traders Aren't Born, They're Made
Become a Consistently Profitable Trader

There Are No “Naturals” – Great Traders Aren’t Born, They’re Made

Our Natural-Programming Makes Us All Bad Traders at the Beginning: As humans, our brains are naturally wired in certain ways in order to protect us. When we encounter a physical threat (like a tiger running at us), for example, we go into fight-or-flight mode. Both our minds and bodies immediately prepare for survival. When we enter this state, adrenaline kicks into overdrive, our perceived options decrease (all we can do is fight, flight, or freeze),…
Matt Thomas
May 20, 2022
Values and Principles to Live By as a Trader - What's Your Mission?
Become a Consistently Profitable Trader

Values and Principles to Live By as a Trader – What’s Your Mission?

Values Are Your Priorities - Principles Are the Rules You Choose to Live By: Values and principles are essentially what you stand for. They're the rules and priorities that you've generated in your mind - consciously or not - that guide every decision you make. So take some time to truly consider what you want yours to be. Most people who enter the markets try to hide behind guru alerts, newsletters, and all sorts of…
Matt Thomas
May 19, 2022
What is a Trading Mindset Journal - Why You Truly Need One
Become a Consistently Profitable Trader

What is a Trading Mindset Journal – Why You Truly Need One

A Trade Log is Not the Same as a Mindset Journal - Numbers Aren't Enough: When it comes to tracking trade data, most people only think about the figures and statistics - things like entry prices, exit prices, stop losses, profit targets, risk-reward ratios, percentage of winning/losing trades, gains, losses, etc. It's all about the numbers. And while these numbers/analytics can be extremely helpful, they're missing a core piece to the puzzle - what's going…
Matt Thomas
May 13, 2022
Failure is Only Feedback - Use Losses and Mistakes to Grow
Become a Consistently Profitable Trader

Failure is Only Feedback – Use Losses and Mistakes to Grow

Losses and Mistakes Are Just Learning Opportunities For Growth and Development: As a new trader, you are going to lose often, be wrong a lot, and make numerous mistakes. That's just how it goes. But if you cultivate the right perspective on these losses, weaknesses, and mistakes - then these "negatives" can be turned into "positives". You have one of two choices. Your losses, shortcomings, and missteps can be used as excuses to give up…
Matt Thomas
May 12, 2022
Transform Yourself Into the Trader You Want to Be in 3 Steps
Become a Consistently Profitable Trader

Transform Yourself Into the Trader You Want to Be in 3 Steps

We're Hardwired to Think, Feel, and Act in Alignment With Our Identity: Becoming a consistently profitable trader requires that you become a new version of yourself - there's no way around it. But due to your current conditioning/programming, change can be difficult. When patterns of thinking, feeling, and acting have gone unchanged and repeated for years, they're not so easy to break - even when you desperately know that change would be beneficial. Creating a…
Matt Thomas
May 9, 2022