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Linda Raschke's books are a must-read for traders of all levels. Her experience in trading has led to the creation of valuable resources that provide actionable advice.
Her book "Schaefers Hedge Fund Trader" focuses on the importance of risk management in trading. This is a crucial aspect that many traders often overlook.
Linda Raschke's books offer a unique perspective on trading, drawing from her own experiences as a professional trader. Her insights are invaluable for those looking to improve their trading skills.
Trading Strategies
Linda Raschke's trading strategies are a key part of her success as a trader. She segments her trading into four different strategies, or profit centers, which allows her to diversify her revenue streams.
Each profit center has a different approach to the market, enabling her to adapt to changing market conditions. Her second profit center involves swing trading on major futures contracts with a 1-3 day holding period, where losers are cut quickly.
For swing trades, Linda generates entry signals based on 2-period ROCs and other momentum readings. She manually writes down the indicator reading and closing prices for the 24+ futures markets she tracks, which helps keep her in tune with the market.
Linda's third profit center generates profits using classical charting patterns with Peter Brandt style execution. She uses discretionary entry signals, but quantifies her process and patterns via ATRs, pivot points, and swing highs and lows.
Her goal is to capture one great swing a month, which usually leads to a great year. She also pulls back her aggressiveness when the market enters a period of low-volume churn.
Linda refers to her trading as a business, and she approaches it with the same seriousness and discipline as running a company. She keeps meticulous records to know what's working and what isn't.
She monitors each of her four profit centers on a quarterly basis, and adjusts her approach as needed. If one profit center is consistently underperforming, she tweaks her strategy until it starts producing again.
One indicator she likes to look at is trade frequency. If trade frequency comes in way higher or way lower than normal, she knows there's likely an execution error going on.
Linda has a crisis management plan in place, which involves immediately correcting course if an execution error occurs. She shares a story about a time when she accidentally put on a large short instead of a long position, and she immediately cut the trade and went long.
Linda's fourth profit center involves taking on special situations, such as fading sentiment extremes with option structures. She prefers long call spreads for bullish bets and long put spreads for bearish bets, which keeps her risk tightly defined.
Rare opportunities in this bucket are not easily modeled, and that's what makes them valuable.
Models and Systems
Linda Raschke's trading approach is built on a business-like mindset, where she treats trading as a serious endeavor that requires discipline and attention to detail.
She keeps meticulous records of her four profit centers, reviewing them quarterly to identify areas that need improvement.
Linda adjusts her approach as needed, tweaking her systems to optimize performance.
She pays close attention to trade frequency, recognizing that anomalies can indicate execution errors.
Overtrading, failing to exit losing trades, and trading while sleep-deprived are all potential issues she looks out for.
Successful businesses, including Linda's trading operation, have a crisis management plan in place.
In the event of an execution error, Linda immediately corrects course, cutting losses and moving on.
This approach has saved her millions of dollars over her trading career.
Position Sizing and Risk Management
Position Sizing and Risk Management is a crucial aspect of trading, as highlighted in Linda Raschke's books. Linda emphasizes the importance of managing risk to avoid significant losses.
Risk management involves setting position sizes based on account size and market volatility. She recommends using a 1-2% risk per trade rule to maintain a healthy risk-reward ratio.
This approach allows traders to limit their potential losses and focus on making consistent profits. By doing so, traders can avoid blowing up their accounts and stay in the game for the long haul.
Linda also stresses the importance of scaling positions based on market conditions. This means increasing position size as the market moves in their favor and reducing it when the market turns against them.
By scaling positions, traders can adapt to changing market conditions and maximize their profits. This approach requires discipline and flexibility, but it can lead to significant gains in the long run.
In her books, Linda provides examples of how to implement position sizing and risk management strategies in real-world trading scenarios. These examples demonstrate the effectiveness of her approach and provide valuable insights for traders.
Market Dynamics
Market Dynamics is a crucial aspect of trading, and Linda Bradford Raschke's insights on this topic are invaluable. The market's reaction to news is what matters most to a trader, not the news itself.
Linda emphasizes that trading in the direction of the market's reaction to news is key. This means being aware of the boom/bust process that plays out in public markets.
The boom/bust process is a natural cycle that repeats itself over and over. Linda has studied this process to gain confidence in trading bubbles before they pop. In fact, a study simulated trading with non-traders, and the price of the market always rose first, only to break sharply when there was no one left to buy.
This phenomenon is one of the main reasons markets sell off. Sentiment indicators can help identify periods of extreme optimism that set the stage for selloffs. Linda uses call spreads or put spreads to exploit this edge in her profit center 4.
A positive attitude and gratitude can lead to optimism, which is 90% of the game.
Linda Raschke's Approach
Linda Raschke's Approach is centered around three main profit centers: swing trading, classical charting, and combining fundamentals and technicals.
She uses a 1-3 day holding period for swing trades, generating entry signals based on 2-period ROCs and other momentum readings.
Linda tracks 24+ futures markets, manually writing down indicator readings and closing prices every day to stay in tune with the market.
She finds that her best trades come from daily swings turning up or down, rather than breakouts of chart formations.
Her goal is to capture one great swing a month, which would lead to a great year if she can pull back her aggressiveness during periods of low-volume churn.
Linda's "Marcus Trifecta" approach involves finding fundamental market imbalances and then entering the market via technical analysis cues.
She successfully traded the yen using this multi-faceted approach, recognizing a crowded trade and a bear trap on the weekly charts.
The Trifecta Approach: Fundamentals and Technicals
Linda Raschke's approach to trading is built on a solid foundation of combining fundamentals and technicals. She uses the "Marcus Trifecta" approach, which involves finding fundamental market imbalances and then entering the market via technical analysis cues.
The key to this approach is to pull data and information from numerous sources to construct a trading thesis. Linda made tons of money trading the yen using this multi-faceted approach.
A crowded trade, like the popular "carry trade" from 2002-2007, can be a ripe situation for a market imbalance. Linda was aware of this imbalance and used technical analysis cues to enter the market.
The yen was a bear trap or false downside breakout on the weekly charts, and Linda tried twice to put on a position before finally getting it right on the third attempt. She loaded up on yen and the ensuing rally made her year.
Linda's approach is not about trying to guess the market, but about making it pay and using maximum leverage when the trade starts working.
Short Life Lessons
Here's what I've learned from Linda Raschke's approach:
Linda Raschke believes in taking calculated risks in the markets.
She emphasizes the importance of having a solid trading plan in place before entering the markets.
A good trading plan helps you avoid making impulsive decisions based on emotions.
Raschke stresses the need to stay disciplined and focused on your trading goals.
She also advises traders to be aware of their own biases and emotions when making trading decisions.
Raschke's approach to trading is centered around the idea of managing risk and minimizing losses.
By doing so, you can maintain a healthy trading account and avoid significant financial setbacks.
Linda Raschke's experience has taught her that even small losses can add up over time.
She recommends traders to keep a trading journal to track their progress and identify areas for improvement.
Regularly reviewing your trading journal can help you refine your trading plan and make adjustments as needed.
Books and Resources
If you're interested in learning more about trading and technical analysis, Linda Raschke has written several books that are worth checking out.
One of her most notable books is "So You Want to Trade in the Stock Market?" which is a comprehensive guide for beginners.
Linda Raschke has also written "The Original Encyclopedia of Technical Analysis" which is a thorough resource for traders looking to improve their technical analysis skills.
Another valuable resource is her book "Street Smarts: High Probability Short-Term Trading Strategies" which offers practical advice for short-term traders.
Sources
- https://www.goodreads.com/author/list/438169.Linda_Bradford_Raschke
- https://tradergav.com/linda-bradford-time-tested-trading-rules/
- https://sacredtraders.com/product/professional-trading-techniques-linda-bradford-raschke/
- https://worldclassperformer.com/short-life-lessons-from-linda-raschke/
- https://macro-ops.com/lessons-from-a-trading-great-linda-bradford-raschke/
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