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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.

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

September 23, 2021 / 1 minute of reading / Leave a Comment

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

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

September 23, 2021 / 2 minutes of reading / Leave a Comment

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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The Coachable Moment: A Lesson on Self Coaching By, Ken Long

September 16, 2021 / 4 minutes of reading / Leave a Comment

The following is a trader’s check-in report, submitted to me a few months back. Ken, two things – 1. There’s a good trading education opportunity I have become aware of. It costs $4k. Do you think it is worth it? Not only from a value and learning standpoint but also from the point of view of my trading development – is it a good idea for me to learn new stuff? Or should I keep focusing on making bricks in the usual way? 2. Monthly Check-In: You challenged me last …

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The Trade Framing Process: Standard Questions for Preparing a Trade By, Ken Long

September 16, 2021 / 1 minute of reading / Leave a Comment

Trade Framing is our name for constructing a decision-support framework to trade symbols that are in a critical state. A Critical State is a moment when there is an abnormally large probability of: A larger-than-normal move, In either direction with a reasonable probability, In a Shorter-Than-Normal period of time, And where the “execution risk” is much smaller than the reasonably available gain, in both directions. When we find a critical state, we frame the trade in both directions by systematically answering the following standard questions: For a trade frame: What …

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What is a Trading System? By, Van K. Tharp, PhD

July 8, 2021 / 1 minute of reading / Leave a Comment
Editor's Note: This popular article was previously published in Tharp's Thoughts Weekly Newsletter. Traders often ask, “What exactly is a system?” In this article, we will focus on clearly defining what a trading system is and then looking at the broader picture of your system—your trading plan. Finally, we’ll focus on some key elements in system development.   System vs. Strategy What most people think of as a trading system, I would call a trading strategy. A system would consist of eight parts: Market filter Set up conditions Entry signal …

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Coaching for Performance On the Soccer Field and In the Trading Room By, Dr. Ken Long

June 24, 2021 / 4 minutes of reading / Leave a Comment

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote a short essay about the principles of Instructional Coaching and how I use that framework to develop the courses I teach traders. The framework places a strong emphasis—a central emphasis—on learning by doing in small chunks with an additional emphasis on good, precise feedback on the small tasks that make up large skills. I experienced a learning moment this morning at a soccer camp, where I had to stop myself from overcoaching the young student campers. I needed to create space for my …

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When Life Gives You Lemons…Teach Others By, Ken Long

June 10, 2021 / 4 minutes of reading / Leave a Comment

When life gives you lemons, figure out how to make lemonade, then use Scale, Leverage, and Momentum to Innovate. Next, make an Artifact to lock in Innovation-That-Lasts, then Lather-Rinse-Repeat with Continuous Improvement. Finally, Teach Others in order to Learn More. COVID forced us to adapt the way we teach our Tortoise trading techniques. From long-term core investing, to intermediate-term swing trading to short-term day trading, and the hybrid trading approach which integrates them all in a master trading strategy. An “instructional coaching” approach when teaching our Tortoise style of trading …

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Market Overview and Effective Intraday Trading – April 20, 2021 By, Ken Long

April 22, 2021 / 1 minute of reading / Leave a Comment
  This 45-minute video was Ken’s nightly market overview from Tuesday, April 20, 2021. Ken discussed the broad market action for the day and analyzed how various indexes, sectors, and select symbols performed. Ken reviewed a number of intraday trades and presented some interesting trade setups. As usual, he sprinkled valuable lessons throughout the podcast. On Tuesday evening, Ken spoke about active learning, volatility, and the task of applying standard patterns for effective trading.

Strategies, Trade Evaluations, and Why Masterminds Work (VIDEO COLLECTION) by, Dr. Ken Long

April 15, 2021 / 1 minute of reading / Leave a Comment
Ken Long offers a perpetual wealth of resources to his students and others in the trading community. Ahead of his Spring workshops, we have compiled a selection of video highlights to illustrate his approach to the markets and to adult learning. NIGHTLY STRATEGY PODCAST: A typical podcast session, highlighting Ken's routine, analysis, and bar-by-bar case study practice. SWING PORTFOLIO SPEED-RUN: Ken analyzes 50 charts in 8 minutes! AAPL, CAT, MSFT and more! SUNDAY STRATEGY PODCAST: This sample podcast from March 14th shows Ken evaluating the trade frames provided by students …

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Plan-PREPARE-Execute-ASSESS By, Dr. Ken Long

March 25, 2021 / 5 minutes of reading / Leave a Comment

I teach a 4-step process of “Plan-Prepare-Execute-Assess” in order to systematically and continuously improve my adaptation to the market and trade effectively. Plan: A top-down procedure to identify tradable targets in the time frame I have chosen, or which chooses itself. My criteria: targets are tradable symbols that have evidence to support the hypothesis that they are in a “critical state.” I define a critical state as a moment when there is a larger-than-normal probability of a larger-than-normal directional move in a shorter-than-normal time frame and where the amount and …

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