Van Tharp Institute - Page 2 of 42

My Favorite (and Most Used) Entry Edge. You Can Use It, Too. By, D. R. Barton, Jr.

May 19, 2022 May 19, 2022 / 6 minutes of reading / Leave a Comment

More than two decades ago, Van introduced me to the concept of “parts” of our personality—roles that compete for our attention and influence over our decision-making. If you’re not familiar with that concept, this is a psychological construct that I’ve found quite helpful for understanding how we make decisions. You may have a safety part, a joy-seeking part, a big spender part, and a pleaser part—all acting from their perspective in our own best interest. While perhaps not a clinically exact description of personality, it is a useful model. Under …

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System Design by Market Type By, Van K. Tharp and R.J. Hixson

May 12, 2022 May 12, 2022 / 3 minutes of reading / Leave a Comment

Editor’s Note: Dr. Van Tharp’s content is timeless and our goal for the future is to continue to share his material with our readers as written by him. Today’s tip is an excerpt from a past article, “How to Design a Trading System to Trade a Particular Market Type”. System design and development become easier and more effective when you think about how prices behave in each market type. Let’s assume that what works in a bull market will also apply to a strong bull market and the same for bear and …

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Guessing Is NOT a Good Thing for Traders and Investors. Do This Instead. By, D. R. Barton, Jr.

May 12, 2022 May 12, 2022 / 4 minutes of reading / 1 Comment

Through the years (okay, decades) I had the joy and pleasure of teaching many classes with Van. Even though he was a mentor to me early in my transition from chemical engineering to the financial markets, he and I always had the type of relationship where conversations could range from deep intellectual or spiritual discussions all the way to crazy fun diatribes about pop culture. We also LOVED to play his trading simulation games, sometimes jumping in with students. There was one trading simulation game that I loved to play …

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May 2022 Market Update Bear Volatile Market Type By, RJ Hixson

May 12, 2022 May 12, 2022 / 7 minutes of reading / Leave a Comment

Part I: The World Market Model Stepping back from the US equities, let’s start this month’s update with a look at the markets globally via the World Market Model. The model uses Van’s Market SQN® methodology which evaluates trend and volatility for the last 100 trading days in a single score. He added colors to help with a quick indication in the model about how each market is performing. The model uses ETF symbols as proxies for what’s happening in the markets. As you look at the following table, what …

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What Kind of Trader Am I? By, Ken Long

April 29, 2022 April 29, 2022 / 3 minutes of reading / Leave a Comment

A VTI student asked for ideas on how to address that question in an organized way. Below is my offer to them. Your situation may be different but taking into account the criteria by which you evaluate yourself can help answer your own questions. My Offer to Them: You are not a Day trader. You would know already if that were the case, and nothing anyone can say could persuade you otherwise. If you DON’T have that mindset in your bones, you are not a day trader. Then it’s just a …

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Inflation: How We Got Here and One Low-Risk Play By, D.R. Barton, Jr.

April 29, 2022 April 29, 2022 / 5 minutes of reading / Leave a Comment

My guess is that many people reading today’s article haven’t before experienced inflation in the way that it’s showing up now—as higher prices for regular stuff you buy. And if the stuff you buy is a home or a car, those prices are not higher, they are a whole lot higher. Same for gasoline or lots of food products. Houses in my neighborhood are up 30% or more year-over-year. Used car prices have zoomed up almost 40% in 2021 (though the rate of increase slowed a bit in March 2022 when the …

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Remembering Van Tharp By, Gracia Rosslow

April 21, 2022 April 21, 2022 / 5 minutes of reading / Leave a Comment

I was asked to say a few words about my memories of Van Tharp but this may be more than a few words since I have known him for more than three decades. This means I have known Van for half of my life. During that time, Van has been my teacher, a mentor and a friend. Like most people, I met Van through his work and my interest in trading. I started with the Peak Performance Home Study Course after I listened to one of his lectures at the …

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Bitcoin and Cryptos: Are They Still Their Own Asset Class? By, D.R. Barton, Jr.

April 21, 2022 April 21, 2022 / 6 minutes of reading / Leave a Comment

I’m really excited for spring to come to my home state of Delaware here on the east coast of the U.S. But after one warm spell last week, we’ve been hit with chilly weather and even had frost warnings over the last couple of nights. Despite the short-term weather, my backyard is starting to come alive. I found two weeds growing in a mulch bed and had to look them up to see what they were before pulling them. One I found was a common chickweed. It has shallow roots …

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My Journey With Van and The Institute By, Gabriel Grammatidis

April 14, 2022 April 14, 2022 / 4 minutes of reading / 1 Comment

During the 15+ years that I have known Van personally, a lot of things have changed in my life. As you likely know, the Van Tharp Institute stands for “personal transformation while using trading as a metaphor.” Over those years, I can say that I have transformed as a person on many different levels – psychologically, spiritually, as a trader, a teacher and as a coach. Mission completed! How I Met Van During the early 2000’s, I was working for Corporate America at one of the world’s biggest asset management …

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What I’ve Learned From Waves (So Far): Inflation Edition By, D.R. Barton, Jr.

April 14, 2022 April 14, 2022 / 10 minutes of reading / Leave a Comment

“If you want to know everything about the market, go to the beach. Push and pull your hands with the waves. Some are bigger waves, some are smaller. But if you try to push the wave out when it’s coming in, it’ll never happen. The market is always right.” —Market Wizard, Ed Seykota After the big U.S. Consumer Price Index report was announced yesterday (April 12, 2022), inflation is front of mind for almost everyone. The CNBC headline screams, “Inflation climbs 8.5% in March, highest level since December 1981”. That’s …

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