Welcome back. Enjoy this latest article and then scroll down and please leave your comments/reactions at the bottom of this post. Thanks for visiting again!

All good things must come to an end, and this is the last in our series of 5 articles on Floor Traders and what they have to teach us about emini day trading, buying stocks or Forex and trading in general.

The original reason for creating this series was that I received a lot of emails from readers asking me to teach more about how the floor traders are screwing them over, and how they could ever compete with that elite group.

My hope is that while I personally hold pit traders in high esteem (it’s a tough job as I think you can see now), they are not necessarily smarter or better than you, and many of the advantages they used to enjoy are fading away … like the pits themselves.

So respect them, but don’t be intimidated by them … and certainly don’t blame your lack of trading success on them.

Rather than posting another video, I’m going to use this final post in the series to refer you back to a blog article I made back on April 15 of 2007 about my first visit to the CME (Chicago Mercantile Exchange).

I received a lot of great feedback on that post and it’s still one of my old articles that remains firmly in my memory even 2 years later.

The title of this post was simply “ME” and you can read it here:
http://www.topdogtrading.com/?p=18

… and if you are disappointed I didn’t post a video this time, here’s a video of actor Robert Downey Jr. visiting the floor of the NYMEX. At the end of the visit he gives his candid impressions of the experience. I’m just putting a link here rather than embedding the video because (be warned) there is some very, VERY colorful language!

If interested, you can check it out the video here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dtc58sTsTpE

Please leave your comments below.

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Whether you are doing Forex, futures, or stock market research, the process can be time consuming and expensive. Therefore I’ve made it a policy to provide a tremendous amount of free, quality information to everyone in the trading community.

My trading courses provide a universal method that applies to day trading, swing trading and even investing. So in my free educational materials I make it a point to use examples for traders who use those different time frames.

Below is a list of the free videos, articles and training materials I’ve given to the entire training community (this list may not include my articles/interviews that others have posted on their web sites):

Head and Shoulders Articles for eSignal Learning Web Site:
Part 1
Part 2

Many Technical Analysis Videos on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/TopDogTrading

Day Trading Articles on HubPages:
http://hubpages.com/hub/daytrading

Interview of me on OTrader:
http://www.traderinterviews.com/programs/permalinks/TI_2008-01-24_BarryBurns.php

1 Hour Recorded Webinar Outlining My Trading Methodology:
http://www.topdogtrading.com/TopDogIntroWebinar.html

Free Articles on my Web Site:
http://www.topdogtrading.com/Articles.html

Ezine Articles:
http://ezinearticles.com/?Day-Trading-Tips-to-Turn-Amateurs-Into-Pros&id=1455098
http://ezinearticles.com/?Day-Trading-Rules-to-Live-By&id=1398584
http://ezinearticles.com/?How-Day-Trading-Works-According-to-Einstein&id=2184280

My “Ask Barry” Form where you can ask me any trading question you may have:
http://free.allforms.mailjol.net/u/f9b96d9e.php

Traders Kingdom Presentations:
Bottom-Line Trading: How to Make Money Right Now
Putting the Odds on Your Side
How to Trade Breakouts
What’s More Important: Trading Method or Trading Psychology?
Why Pros Win and Amateurs Lose Every Time

Top Dog Trading MySpace Page:

http://www.myspace.com/topdogtrading

My Facebook Page:
http://www.facebook.com/TopDogTrading

My Twitter Page:
http://twitter.com/TopDogTrading

My Recommended Resources List:
http://www.topdogtrading.com/recommended_resources.html

My 5-Day Free Video Trading Course:
http://www.topdogtrading.com/enter.html

Enjoy the free educational materials and please leave comments below and also at any of the sites you visit above – that’s what encourages me to continue to provide the free material for you!

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Here’s a great video about trading psychology, even though it’s not directly about the stock market, futures or Forex, and doesn’t reveal any day trading tips. But it does contain a secret most traders are violating every day.

Trading is a great business. I love it, I’m passionate about it, and it is so much fun that I’d do it even if there were no money involved.

But it’s not just me. We traders are a passionate bunch.

We spend a LOT of time reading, studying, trying different indicators, tweaking indicators, testing various strategies and looking at chart after chart after chart.

And then you add the money factor – and well, we can get to be a bit obsessive (just ask any trader’s spouse!).

Work ethic is good, and it does take a certain amount of experience in the markets to become successful. The problem arises when you take things TOO seriously. That causes a block of your mental and emotional energy. And in extreme cases, it can have negative consequences in the rest of your life.

This video isn’t about trading. It’s about life. And therefore, it is about trading.

Enjoy, and leave a comment below with your reaction to the video.

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I just returned from an absolutely amazing trip to the beautiful country of Japan.

If you haven’t been, I highly recommend it.

It’s a beautiful country with beautiful people.

My family and I were fortunate to enjoy 15 days there traveling around the country seeing the ancient Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines, Hiroshima (a must stop for everyone), the big cities, the engaging countryside, and of course, the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

I came away from the country with many impressions.

First, there is much less crime than the US. We could walk through downtown Tokyo at midnight with our children and never feel threatened.

Second, even the big cities are virtually litter free … yet they have no public trash cans! What a contrast to the US where we have trash cans on every block, yet the streets are burdened with litter.

Third, they are a very, very polite people. We only encountered one rude person, and after that experience, another Japanese man immediately came up to us and apologized on behalf of the country! Actually that one encounter occurred on the plane while we were still on American soil.

Fourth, the Japanese people are very, very hard working – and even when they have fulfilled their obligation, they are looking for what more they can do. The service we received was the best we’ve had anywhere … and yet they won’t accept tips!

Fifth, the culture is very much enamoured with anything “cute.” They love everything from Hello Kitty to my favorite: “Happy Monkey Babies.”

It’s such a wonderful country, and we met so many fantastic people there, that I miss it already.

As mentioned, we also visited the Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE).

The TSE is one of the 3 largest stock markets, on par with New York and London. Trillions of of yen are traded every day.

Don’t go there expecting to witness the frenzy of floor traders you’ll find in New York or Chicago. The TSE was one of the first stock exchanges in the world to computerize trading, which it began in 1982 and moved to full computerization in 1999. Like most things technological, Japan is ahead of us and we’re playing a bit of catch up.

Not only does it trade stocks, but the TSE also trades options and futures.

Walking into the TSE is akin to walking into an library. There are very few people and it’s so quiet you could hear a pin drop.

There’s an almost haunting absence of human presence in the vast open spaces now that computers have taken over most of the work. Even the slightest whisper bounces off the walls and makes your conversation public.

The main floor houses a huge glass wall circle, inside of which are a small group of people sitting in front of their computers.

Off to the side are broadcast booths to televise the events of the day.

It is run like everything in Japan – with pride in it’s methodical and precise operation. Very, very impressive indeed.

We didn’t get any souvenirs while we were there (I hoped they might give out free stock to visitors, but no such luck), but we did get to see an original stock certificate of the company that markets the famous Hello Kitty, so that alone was worth the trip.

Speaking of Japan’s enjoyment of everything cute, even the TSE has it’s own mascot (see the picture in this post) which was my daughter’s favorite part of the visit to the exchange.

Feel free to click on the pictures to enlarge them and get a better view.

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NEW ANNOUNCEMENT:

I’ve added a new, free web site on day trading. It contains 3 articles I’ve never posted anywhere else. You’re welcome to go visit it now and enjoy those articles. I only ask that you leave a comment and give me a “thumbs up” rating if you liked it (just above the section that has people’s comments).

You can get the free day trading articles here:

http://hubpages.com/hub/daytrading

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