Recent content by Jason Van Bergen

Psychology is the often overlooked intangible aspect of trading, because it is unquantifiable and generally misunderstood by most traders and investors. Unlike the precise mathematical formulas used in technical analysis, we cannot easily reduce human behavior to a mathematical equation that can...

When technical tools are used judiciously, their value cannot be overstated. And every time you apply a tool of technical analysis, you are calculating a consensus of bullishness or bearishness among all market participants. For example, the moving average convergence-divergence (MACD) is...

To engage in momentum trading, you must have the mental focus to remain steadfast when things are going your way and to wait when targets are yet to be reached. Momentum trading requires a massive display of discipline, a rare personality attribute that makes short-term momentum trading one of...

The incessant intraday struggle stock market between the bulls and the bears is what drives market rallies and precipitates market declines. Regardless of the style of analysis or system employed by traders, one primary aim of their trading endeavors is to understand the degree of control held...

In all forms of long-term investing and short-term trading, deciding the appropriate time to exit a position is just as important as determining the best time to enter into your position. Buying (or selling, in the case of a short position) is a relatively less emotional action than selling (or...

When volume is high, those traders unlucky enough to be losing money in their positions feel the sharp sting of their losses. In order to alleviate the pain, these traders quickly close their positions (at a loss). As losers exit the market, a trend based on high volume is likely to be short...

Oscillators tend to be somewhat misunderstood in the trading industry, despite their close association with the all-important concept of momentum. At its most fundamental level, momentum is actually a means of assessing the relative levels of greed or fear in the market at a given point in time...

Swing trading has been described as a kind of fundamental trading in which positions are held for longer than a single day. This is because most fundamentalists are actually swing traders since changes in corporate fundamentals generally require several days or even a week to cause sufficient...