Before you trade, you should have some idea of how you are going to decide to buy, sell or sit tight. Slightly more advanced than our "beginner basics" articles, these explain some analytical strategies and methods that beginning traders can reasonably apply.

The development of a breakout
Some of your best trades will come from correctly anticipating big market moves. Here's an introductory look at breakout analysis.
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Beyond analysis: Sizing your trade
By James T. Holter
Money management refers to techniques for adjusting your position size as your account gets larger (or smaller). Here are some approaches to this this often overlooked aspect of trading.
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Buying Options Part I: Reading Option Prices
By Rick Thachuk
Options trading introduces many more dimensions than futures trading and, therefore, offers unique challenges to new traders. In the first of three parts in which we'll explain many issues related to options buying, we tackle the most basic issue of all: reading prices.
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Buying Options Part II: Picking the Strike Price
By Rick Thachuk
When trading options, there's more to decide than just whether to go long or short. You have to answer questions such as which strike price or expiration to use.
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Buying Options Part III: Beware of Deep Out-Of-The-Money Options
By Rick Thachuk
In this third of three parts, we look at one major pitfall of many beginning option traders: buying deep out-of-the-money options. Here are some guidelines for deciding when, or if, to place these low-probability trades.
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High flying market protection
Here's a bonus article on options. This one looks at how you can use options to control your risk in the markets
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Day-Trading Basics
By Sunny J. Harris
Many new traders think that day-trading is the answer to immediate profit satisfaction. While this isn't true, day-trading still can be a rewarding vocation. Here are some guidelines, tips and perspective for beginning day-traders.
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Testing, Testing, 1, 2, 3...
By Sunny J. Harris
If you don't have the mystical ability to trade on intuition (like 99% of us), then you should rely on statistics and your computer to prove your trading rules. Here's how a beginner can get started systematically testing trading strategies.
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