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Dr. Ken Long

About the Author: Dr. Ken Long retired from the Army as a Lieutenant Colonel and teaches at the U.S. Army Staff College. He is a proud father of three, a husband, teacher, student, martial artist and active trader.
 
Ken started investing in mutual funds in the 1990s but has grown over the last fifteen years into an outstanding big-picture thinker and tactical trader. He also instructs dynamic trading workshops for the Van Tharp Institute, including Adaptive Swing Trading, Day Trading Systems, and two video workshops covering swing trading and long-term core systems. He has evolved his strategies over the years and teaches his latest advancements in his workshops.
 
Ken is currently supervising several Masters theses this year on applying AI to military decision making.

Crafting the Trader’s Mind and Developing the Trader’s Toolkit By, Ken Long

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I was reviewing the “Future of Jobs Report 2020” by the World Economic Forum, which lays out the top 10 cognitive skills needed to survive and thrive in the world, as an individual and as an organization. It was as if I had been hit in the face with a wet fish. You know what that feels like already, even if it hasn’t happened to you personally. These top 10 cognitive skills describe what I have been thinking of as “The Trader’s Mind”. I have been reviewing our many lessons […]

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Ken’s Corner – An Intraday Bitcoin Trade With Controlled Risk

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Ken’s Corner is a place you can pop in to see what kind of trading tid bits trader and instructor Ken Long is sharing. This week Ken shares the learning journey of one of his students. While students are still learning the patterns and methods, in the 3rd week of a 10 week course this student is applying the techniques he’s learned to intraday trading in Bitcoin and managing 37R in 2 days with very controlled risk.  In his workshop Ken uses chart markups to help him improve his exits

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The “Virtuous Circle” and The 37 Strategies Ken Long’s Nightly Strategy Podcast By, Ken Long

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Sit in on this recording of Ken Long’s Nightly Strategy Podcast from Tuesday, December 21st, for a discussion of The Virtuous Circle, which represents his approach to a “Community of Practice.” Plus, we see a 15R and 22R trade from our Foundations students in Bitcoin. 37 Strategies Student Flashcard Ken also shares a deep-dive document from one of his current Foundations Course students. This detailed summary of the Foundations sub-course, The 37 Strategies presents a map to Ken’s approach of Plan, Prepare, Execute, and Assess. Click the image below to

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Student Presentations: Examples of Due Diligence From Ken Long

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Delivered to Ken’s community of practice, the following student presentations are what he considers examples of what excellence looks like. “Their briefings demonstrate conclusively, with evidence, that they gave achieved mastery of a particular set of enduring skills.” Watch these presentations to see what it’s like to work with Ken and to achieve excellence! Ken H. https://youtu.be/-uejBznsAUU Luke https://youtu.be/P8J4Q2AsFLQ Phil https://youtu.be/DeEPbSSFgTc Griffin https://youtu.be/VQN1qWGXfRY Eric https://youtu.be/096A7QSBLeA Ken L. https://youtu.be/C1NrdV8kUkk Tom https://youtu.be/uFZleYJYSI0

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Do Routine Things Routinely By, Ken Long

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Trading is all about taking action. That is, taking the right action according to your rules for Standard Work. We have Standard Work for normal conditions (what to do when things are normal) and we have Standard Work for abnormal conditions (what to do when things are interesting). Your relationship with your Standard Work defines your mindset, habits, and approach to trading as a serious person. In a legendary comedy routine, the ventriloquist artist Senor Wences would ask Cecilia Chicken how she knows that this egg is her “son.” Then,

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An Example of Applied Craftsmanship By, Ken Long

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Being prepared to learn is more important for your personal development than any magic insight your teacher might give (speaking from my own 20-year experience in delivering graduate-level management and strategy education to a variety of student populations). The Modified Cornell Notetaking Method is a working example of how you might synthesize and organize a 2-hour lecture from our April 2021 Foundations training course in such a way that you get all the big ideas in a single, formatted, and organized sheet, including timestamps to key parts of the lecture

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Audio Piece: The Walking Man By, Ken Long and Bill Scheidt

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Genius of rhythm, Bill Scheidt, has paired up with Ken Long to present, The Tortoise Album. In this track, we hear about The Walking Man and His Five Ways of Knowing: Head, Heart, Gut, Hands, and Feet, on the chosen path. “It’s an ongoing dynamic cycle of life and an ecosystem that shapes who you are and which is shaped by who you are and what you’re becoming along the way… Looking forward to our journeys together” —Ken https://youtu.be/GkVI3hKll6k

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Tactical Trading Tip: The Psychology of Standard Work in Trading By, Dr. Ken Long

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In our planning process, we seek to develop a list of tradeable targets that are in a critical state. In a previous article, I described a critical state as being postured to make larger than normal moves, in either direction, in shorter than average periods of time. We use our set of indicators to identify these through a statistical lens against historical norms. Once we have a manageable set of potential targets, we enter the preparation phase. Here we develop detailed decision points that offer favorable reward-to-risk ratios that give

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