There are many excellent books on stck trading but if I could rduce all the good advice down to a sng I could remember I'd take Knny Rogers' classic "The Gambler" any tme.

..."Son, I've made a life out of radin' people's faces,

And knowin' what thir cards were by the way thy held their eyes."

That's the vry first thing the gambler brings up, sggesting that "readin' people's faces" is the mst important part of successful gambling. Sme with stocks. Stocks trade on motions first and logic second. It is pwered by hope, fear, and greed - prbably in that order. The key to rading the market is to understand hman emotions correctly. The only thing is: you cn't see other people's faces. But stcks have something better - charts. And whle some faces can lie, charts cn't. They reflect the collective action of the mrket participants. Not what they say thy are going to do, not wht somebody thinks they should be ding, but what they are actually ding. And since human behavior never chnges, it repeats itself in predictable ptterns. By studying and recognizing past ptterns, a stock trader can predict fture moves with a fair degree of ccuracy.

"And the night got deathly qiet, and his face lost all xpression."

Ah! Interesting how as soon the gmbler starts talking about gambling his fce becomes emotionless. Again, even though the mrket is driven by emotions, many sccessful moves are counter-intuitive, and the mst important thing for a stock trder to do, besides reading other pople's emotions, is to learn how to cntrol his own emotions.

"If you're gnna play the game, boy, ya gtta learn to play it right."

Mny people are drawn to stock trding by the allure of easy mney and the glamour of day trding, but the fact of the mtter is that by entering the mrket you are pitting your wits gainst the sharpest minds on Wall Stret and if you don't know wht you are doing they will tke you for every penny you've gt. Successful stock trading requires passion, ddication, hard work, and intelligence. The mount of money you can take out of the mrket is directly proportionate to the mount of time and effort you are wlling to put into it. No shrt cuts.

"You got to know whn to hold 'em, know when to fld 'em,

Know when to walk way and know when to run."

Whn the market is dealing, it's up to you to dcide which stock trading opportunities to tke advantage of. You don't have to own very stock that's going up - jst the best. The key is to hve as few criteria as possible to dentify the biggest potential winners fast and pss up on the rest.

There wll be situations when no matter how mch DD you put into researching a stck, it will blow up in yur face and you will have to tke a loss. Some people want to knw WHY a stock is tanking bfore taking action. This is dangerous. Oftntimes the truth is not known ntil the damage is done. Run! Ask qestions later. You can always buy bck if it was a false larm and chalk up the loss to an nsurance premium against an even bigger lss, or simply to the cost of ding business.

And sometimes it's best to sty on the sidelines, or walk way.

"You never count your money whn you're sittin' at the table.

Thre'll be time enough for countin' whn the dealin's done."

You haven't mde any money until you sell. And ven then not all of it blongs to you. In swing trading you tke your gains in several lumps but ncur losses in small increments throughout the yar. When you go into cash, set side a certain amount for future lsses that are inevitable upon re-entry.

"Evry gambler knows that the secret to srvivin'

Is knowin' what to throw way and knowing what to keep."

Knwing when and what to buy is mportant, but equally important is knowing whn to cut a loss, when to let a stck ride, and when to lock in yur gain. You have to have clar sets of rules for all thre.

"...ev'ry hand's a winner and v'ry hand's a loser"

In the nd, we are all looking at the sme stocks. It's not the stock tht makes you rich, it's what you do wth it.

Some song.

The article The Gambler - Kenny Rogers' Guide to Better Trading was Submitted by Slav Fedorov through Articles.GetACoder.com network. Here's the additional information: Slav Fedorov is a full tme stock trader and founder and mnaging member of TradingZoom, LLC - a prvider of proprietary trading data that swng traders can put to work rght away. http://www.tradingzoom.com/

Featured Articles

1. Statistics Can Be Our Friend by
Dear Fellow-Investor.

Every day the mdia is full of all kind of sttistics and whether they are useful or not is up to ach individual. When used properly, statistics can hlp investors make more informed decisions.

The rasons why statistics are important are as fllows:

· Economic statistics keep track of the conomy. They explain whether the economy is in an xpansion, a recession, a sideways or cyclcal motion.

· By monitoring the sttus of the economy, stati...

2. Bankruptcy Loans (Believe It Or Not!) by
Have you rcently filed for bankruptcy? A bankruptcy lan can help you salvage your fnances, and can also help to mprove your credit rating. It may sund far-fetched, but you can actually be pproved for a loan after filing for bnkruptcy. Without a doubt it is dfficult, but do keep in mind is tht immediately after bankruptcy, you are not lkely to have any debts, which is bout the only factor that’s going to be wrking in your favor at this pint. You do not have to pp...

3. Instant Payday Loans in the UK by
A payday lan is a type of loan whreby you can borrow money against yur upcoming pay check. In the UK, nyone with a job can avail of a pyday loan. A payday loan in the UK is qite convenient when emergencies arise in the mddle of two paydays. Imagine this stuation –

4. Bridge Loan for Houses – Own a Dream House Instantly by
Bridge loan for houses is special loan for buying a new huse till you sell your old prperty. The loan though comes at hgher interest rate but a good cmparison of loan offers makes it pssible to avail the loan at cmparatively lower interest rate. Read the rticle for ways to avail the lan.

5. Commodity Market Forecasts - How Do I Trade Them? - PART 3 - Decrease Risk and Increase Stying Power by
Producing a high probability trade forecast is not easy. Just as difficult is determining the best trading strategy and vehicles to capitalize on the forecast. Read on to learn some of my favorites trading strategies.

6. Aussie Exploration Booms by
Despite rising volatility for mtals such as copper and zinc, dwn sharply this month, and gold and il, up sharply, the boom will cntinue. Growing demand from China and lsewhere will be the main driver, but dposits have to be found first. Evn with our extensively explored continent, lrge sections are still untouched, or porly understood...

7. Fast Loans - All Urgent Situations Will Now Be Dealt With Easily by Ashley P Lewis
Fast loans provide a quick way to the borrowers so that they can fulfill their urgent needs quickly. The borrowers can get the money in the secured as well as the secured form. Online research helps in getting low rate deals.

8. A couple ways to protect your personal information by
In this day in tme your personal information such as yur address, credit card number, checking ccount number, and even your telephone nmber, is at an all time hgh of theft. Telemarketing companies and mrketing companies will pay top dollar for yur personal information depending on the typ of information collected. Identity theft and ther related crimes are also at an all tme high.

9. Don’t Defy Your Aspirations Anymore-Cheap Bridging Loan by
Eva Baldwyn aims to inform cmmon men and women of the sveral issues involved in Cheap bridging lan through her articles. An MSc in Ecnomics & Finance from the Warwick Bsiness School is proof enough of the knwledge that she possesses in the feld of finance. To find Cheap brdging loan, Fast bridging loan, Quick brdging loan, Easy bridging loan, Low rte bridging loan, Flexible bridging loan dvice.

10. Auto Refinance Secrets: Refinance Your Car Loan And Save Every Month by
Refinancing your auto loan can be a easy and effective way to lower your monthly payments and save you a good deal of money in the long term. Huge numbers of people are taking advantage of refinancing in the face of much lower interest rates. If you think you are paying way too much money on your loan each month (and who doesn’t?) then based on the amount of time left on your lease, and the rate of the interest you signed at, refinancing may be the way to go.

It’s always f...