The shortest distance between two points is a straight line. Having to repeat lessons causes the line to be a zig zag. The "shortcut" to trading success is not repeating mistakes.

The best tool for learning how to trade is a diary.

This is not the "dear diary" type, it is a daily progress worksheet that you fill out after each trading day. You fill out each trade, stock, entry, exit, grade, comments and so on. Then you calculate your statistics for the day and draw your conclusions.

Download the worksheet that I prepared for you from:
http://www.shoguntrading.com/dailylog.pdf

Print out quite a few copies, dedicate a binder for your trading business and make sure you fill one out every day. Pay special attention to the quality of your conclusions, make sure you include lessons learned and emotions encountered during your trading day.

The power of this process will reveal itself when you review your week on the weekend. Sit down with a nice drink and go over your conclusions for the week. Did you learn any new lessons? Did you learn any lessons again? Are you repeating mistakes?

I hope that this will help you progress in a straight line and not a zig zag.

Dedicated to maximizing your profits,

Shay Horowitz
Shogun-Trader

The Feds have been very busy buying bonds on the free market to support this kind of rally. Bernanke printed $1.3 trillion Dollars to go out and buy treasury bonds in the free market, all in an effort to lower rates and raise the value of our bonds.

Unfortunately, overwhelming spending and quadrupling of our national debt have caused our credit rating to get shaky. This has caused a decline in our bond market and a subsequent rise in yields.

Last week, our bond auction went out at the highest rate since last August, almost 4%. To put that in perspective, an investor has a choice, invest in a mortgage that generates 4% or a govt bond that generates 4%. The choice is pretty clear as one carries a lot of risk and the other one, should, less.

As bond yields climb up so will mortgage rates. The Feds will have to either raise overnight rates to curb inflation and catch up with bond yields or fight the trend by printing out even more money and support the bond market. Either way, this could spiral up and caused mortgage rates to rise, putting a dampener on the real estate market recovery.