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Don Dawson
About Don Dawson
Don has been trading the futures markets for 20 years. His perseverance through the ups and downs of trading, openness to experience of others, balanced tolerance for risk and patience to wait for his setups are a few of his strengths as a trader. He is excited about sharing his passion for trading with others. A quote he likes is "A candle loses nothing by lighting another candle." He is now looking for a balance in life between trading and teaching others what he has learned from 20 years of trading. He acknowledges that the best teacher is a student ñ always in learning mode and wanting to learn more by teaching. He looks forward to working with each of you in one of his E-mini Futures classes. He is also writing articles for Online Trading Academy's free newsletter "Lessons From the Pros" and hopes students find this a valuable resource.
Posts by Don Dawson
Commodity Grain Trading Hours Changing, Again
I have mentioned many times before that a Futures trader must always be in the learning mode. Never feel like you know it all in the trading industry. The only constant in this business is change. Today I am going to... More »
Where Did the Prices Go?
Futures trading predominantly took place during the day time hours in an open outcry fashion for many years.... More »
Futures Trading: The Hardest Easy Money You Will Ever Make
For years people have swarmed to the Futures markets, hoping to find the holy grail trading system and to get rich overnight. If you really believe there is such a thing as the holy grail trading system, then why... More »
Sometimes It Takes a Board Upside Our Heads to Understand
This is probably what many traders trying to pick a top in the Lumber market are saying right now.... More »
Where Would You Like These 5,000 Bushels of Corn Dumped?
This question has kept many a trader from venturing into the Commodity Futures markets. ... More »
It’s the Pits
For many years the Futures markets only had a day session and all the transactions were conducted in trading pits on the floors of the Exchanges.... More »
Do You Know Where Your Money Is?
Trading Commodity Futures on a Central Exchange has been around for about 200 years. When Futures trading on these Exchanges was first started, it was designed to allow Commercial traders to offset price risk. ... More »
Equity Index Futures Daily Price Limits
When trading Futures contracts a trader must be aware of daily price limits for the markets they are trading. There are different types of price limits in different Futures markets. ... More »
Before You Dive In, Check the Depth First
I remember a vacation in Aruba where the water was a beautiful turquoise color and you could see the bottom of the ocean, even when the water was twenty feet deep. Diving into water like this reduces the risk of an... More »
Futures Markets and Offsetting Price Risk
Futures markets exist for the purposes of price discovery (facilitation of trade) and transferring risk to counterparties (hedgers trading with speculators).... More »
Just When You Thought You Knew It All
As markets become more global, technology for electronic trading changes, geo-political events occur, economic cycles change, severe weather conditions happen and of course we, ourselves change as we grow older. ... More »
The S&P Has a Seasonal Pattern? Really?
Yes, most definitely…along with all other financial Futures contracts.... More »
Simplifying Continuous Futures Charts
Let’s face it, when we place our orders to buy or sell at our levels we need a lot of other people with big orders to be in that same area as us or the market is going to rush right through our level into our awaiting... More »
Which Commodity Index is Best to Follow?
By having the knowledge we teach you about the other Commodity asset classes you will be able to scan across different markets from Grains to Energy and everything in between.... More »
How to Make a Cash Withdrawal From the Markets
I know many of you read that title and thought maybe I was going to disclose that magical “get rich quick” secret trading strategy that everybody is looking for. Trust me, there is no such secret. ... More »
Show Me the Money!
If anybody has watched the Suze Orman show on late night CNBC you have heard the phrase “show me the money!” She takes audience phone calls and people ask her if they can afford to buy a particular object.... More »
You Can Keep Having Fun, But You Have to Leave Here
Has anybody heard this line before? If you have you were probably out having a good time, perhaps celebrating a great trading day. This line also applies to the Commodity Futures markets.... More »
The Path to Becoming a Master Trader
A question I hear and a situation I face myself on occasion is "I had a setup to enter the market and I found it very difficult to pull the trigger, why?" I would like to address this issue and then write... More »
Futures Charting: Clear As Mississippi Mud
Unfortunately this is the case when it comes to charting the Futures markets. One of things I like about the Equities markets is that their charts are very easy to create and there is no ambiguity.... More »
How Important are Commodity Futures Speculators?
I have been involved in Commodity Futures trading now for 24 years and have had the opportunity to see first-hand the significance of my participation as a speculator.... More »
Natural Gas – Wealth Builder or Widow Maker?
Occasionally, a Commodity offers prices to investors at a deep discount. Many times, there is a reason for a market to be cheaply priced, and we would do well to keep shorting that market.... More »
But the Media Said Differently
There is a dilemma that traders who make their trading decisions off of the news have been facing on a regular basis recently.... More »
Contango – It's Not Dancing With the Stars
Commodity Futures trading is an exciting arena for some traders and an absolute nightmare for others.... More »
Adjusting Your Entry for Proper Risk
Risk is one of the most important parts of trading that we must master if we are to have a long consistent trading career.... More »
You Shouldn't Need a GPS to Place a Trade
As traders, we are required to take decisive action. This is where having a written trading plan will help us to make those rapid decisions when the market conditions set up in our favor.... More »
How to Tell When a Commodity is Too Expensive or Too Cheap
Most traders, when trying to determine if a market is overbought or oversold, rely on an indicator.... More »
So Little for So Much
How about this volatility in the Futures markets that we are experiencing? Some point to events like geopolitical and natural disasters for causing this elevated volatility.... More »
The Coil Effect
Markets are continually in a state of moving from range contraction to range expansion.... More »
Removing a Charting Mystery
Unlike a Stock that has no expiration, this creates a few challenges to the Commodity trader. The question soon becomes, "Which chart do I trade Commodities on - Continuous or Contract Specific?"... More »
Are You Staying Over Tonight?
This question can be inviting under the right circumstances. However, in the Futures markets, it could mean you are in for a large move against your position when the market reopens in the morning.... More »
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