Rick Ratchford

Trading Tips - WHEN TO BUY OR SELL

During my 22-year trading career in Stocks, Futures and Commodities, I have come across many methods and techniques. Most at first glance appear intriguing, but soon expose it becomes evident that all those pretty lines do nothing more than decorate your ... Read >

Nothing Beats Cycle Analysis for Market Timing

To make profits trading in futures & Commodities, Forex & the Stock markets, we can all agree that you must buy low & sell at a higher price, or sell high & buy back at a lower price. Usually, this is easier said than done. The majority of active trade... Read >

Trend Trading Is Serious Business

So much has been written on the subject of 'trading with the trend'. And for good reason, as the moves of longest duration occur with the trend, not against it. Yet, with all that has been said and written about this subject, many traders cannot resist... Read >

Trading Turn Dates

Trading is all about dealing with probabilities. When you have a method for calculating turn dates that produce a high degree of probability that the market will likely turn, it is important to understand how to properly deal with it. Forecasting... Read >

Timing Trades Using Fixed Market Cycles

For many years and continuing even to this day, there are a large number of proponents to what is called the "Efficient Market Theory". This theory puts forth the concept that "prices fully reflect all available information", and that the more efficient t... Read >

Taking the Best from Trend Trading and Swing Trading

Trend trading is a trading approach that offers the potential to reap greater profits by capitalizing on large market moves. There are two main concerns dealing with trend trading; either the market is trending upwards (bull trend) or trending downwards (... Read >

Importance of Market Timing

The importance of market timing cannot be described by only one thing. There are several reasons why anyone interested in trading futures and commodities, forex, ETF's and stocks would want to hone their market timing skills. The biggest single importa... Read >

Profitable Trading Using Time Price Squaring

In this article we are going to discuss how to exploit the incredible power of squaring time and price. Usually when someone mentions 'time and price squaring', what might come to mind is that of making the time match the price. For example, one might ... Read >

Techniques in Market Timing - Price Time Squaring I

In this article I will discuss a technical analysis technique used for forecasting a change in market trend called Price/Time Squaring. It is a technique that many associate with the late great W. D. Gann. The idea here is to start from a major market ... Read >

The Risk/Reward Ratio

If you are a trader of Stocks and/or Commodities, you have heard mentioned from various sources and so-called educators something called the "Risk/Reward Ratio". According to one source, "Risk/Reward Ratio" is defined as; "A ratio used by many inves... Read >

Do Not Trade Stocks, Futures, Forex Blindly

The price chart is the window into market price behavior. By examining what prices have been doing in the past, we can extract a lot of information as to what it will likely do in the near future. Unlike gambling where risk is created out of thin air a... Read >

Trading Multiple Time Frames

There are many ways one can make big profits trading the markets. Usually the approach taken is one that fits the trader's comfort zone for risk and activity. But no matter what approach a trader finally decides to focus on, examining the market across se... Read >

Always Use Stop-Loss Orders When Trading

No one can ever know, with 100% certainty, when a market is going to turn against a position or how fast. While it is possible to have a high degree of certainty that a market is going to move in a given direction, as FDate turn dates have proven since 19... Read >

The Fundamentals of Successful Trading

Trading, or speculating on the markets, is the best business in existence if you treat it like a business, not gambling or as a hobby. And to make a success of trading requires that you apply the same diligence you would apply to building any other kin... Read >

Power Lift Your Trading

Successful trading requires having a firm understanding of the risk and reward picture before taking a trade. It requires having a good idea as to the trend direction of the market within a time frame that is higher than the one used to trade from. For... Read >