All About Automated Trading: What It Is and What It Isn’t

[This is a guest post from a reader who currently works in an arbitrage development team. He wanted to clear up a few points about what "automated trading" is and isn't.]

Ah, taking a mid-day nap and waking up with extra money in your trading account… who wouldn’t want to make money while sleeping?

That promise of set-it-and-forget-it money draws lots of traders into the field and attracts computer science and engineering students who suddenly “discover their interest in finance.”

Only one problem: “automated trading” is far from automated cash flow, and you always need human intervention.

To find out why and to learn all about algorithmic trading, arbitrage and other forms of automated trading, read on.

Did Europe Just Ban Investment Banking? And More on New Financial Reform

I very, very rarely write news-style articles on this site, but when a bank fails, multiple banks fail, or something else big happens this rule gets broken.

And the recent financial reform that has passed / is in the process of being passed falls into that last category of something big happening.

So let’s see what just happened, whether or not the finance industry will survive, and how your bonus will be affected.

Trading Psychology: How to Think Like a Trader

Trading – it’s all about using your brain to analyze the options and then make the best decisions, right?

You might hear that from a trader at a cocktail party when he’s trying to impress people, but most traders know that psychology plays a huge role.

Some traders would go as far as saying that psychology and emotions are 80% of the battle.

Do not overestimate your ability to be unaffected by emotion.

Real Life vs. the Trading Floor