Quotations by Bill Williams
Many start out trading on a position basis (end-of-day) and do well. Then they decide that they want to trade intraday, and everything changes. [2004] - Bill Williams
The key to success is being able to trade your belief systems and have fun. [2004] - Bill Williams
Only 15 to 30 percent of the time does the market trend. [2004] - Bill Williams
If you are trading commodities, there are a few more things you must know, such as contract month expiration. [2004] - Bill Williams
We recommend a minimum of $10,000 for a commodity account and $25,000 for a stock account. You have about 50 to 1 leverage in commodities. The smaller the account, the longer it will take you to build up your equity. [2004] - Bill Williams
It really should not take more than 30 minutes a day to evaluate all markets, and it could take only 10 to 15 if you can really focus on the markets instead of your opinions about the markets. All you need to trade on a position basis is a few minutes at the end of the market day to place your orders for the next day. [2004] - Bill Williams
I prefer to trade the daily charts. They tend to produce more profits long-term because you are able to increase the size of the investment with the trend. I also trade intraday if the daily time frame does not produce signals. If I trade intraday, I tend to look at the 10-minute time frame for volatile markets like the indices. All other markets like the currencies or the grains I trade the 30-minute charts. [2004] - Bill Williams
If you are totally new to the markets, you may expect a learning curve of one to a few months. Our goal is 10 percent per month ROI. That is more than 300 percent per year. [2004] - Bill Williams
We recommend that you do not trade on less than a 5-minute chart. [2004] - Bill Williams
You should not need to pay for full-service brokerage. You should shop around for the best price per round turn or per share that will give you excellent service on filling your orders. As you trade more, you will be able to negotiate lower commissions. [2004] - Bill Williams
Sometimes we may have more losing trades than winners but our winners are so much larger that the profits continue to accrue. [2004] - Bill Williams
Never margin over half of your account at any time. [2004] - Bill Williams
If you place your protection based on a percentage loss you are not trading the market. [2004] - Bill Williams
Reverse Pyramiding: If we fell comfortable trading a total of 15 contracts. our first entry is only one contract. Then on the second signal, we buy 5 contracts, then 4 contracts on the third signal, 3 contracts on the fourth signal and 2 contracts on the fifth market-generated signal. [2004] - Bill Williams
Assume we are in a profitable long position and the market is about to hit our trailing stop, when we have a good entry and nice profits, we sometimes will take out half our profits and place a stop on the other half and just let the market run and see what happens. The decision to get out of all or part of your position is mostly a psychological call. It probably is more appropriate for experienced traders who trust their “feel” of the market. [2004] - Bill Williams
My trading approach involves five different perspectives: 1. Momentum. 2. Change in the speed of current momentum. 3. Appearance of an initiating fractal. 4. Zonal influences. 5. Balance Line differentials. [1998] - Bill Williams
Because momentum always changes direction before price, we say the AO is like reading tomorrow's Wall Street Journal. [1998] - Bill Williams
A divergence is created in an up move when the Price is higher than it was at the most recent Price peak and the Momentum (as measured by the 5/34 AO histogram) is lower than the Momentum peak that was at the last Price peak. Most markets tend to turn on a double divergence. A double divergence in an up market requires a Price peak followed by a higher Price peak (first divergence), and that higher peak is followed by a still higher Price peak. The Momentum is highest on the first Price peak, lower on the second Price peak, and still lower on the third Price peak. If the market doesn't turn on a double divergence, it will most likely turn on a triple divergence. Only perhaps once or twice a year will you see a quadruple divergence. [1998] - Bill Williams
While analyzing the Elliot wave, we must have a minimum of 100 bars and a maximum of 140 bars. [1995] - Bill Williams
The Elliott sequence consists of a basic rhythm of "fives" corrected by "threes." This sequence remains constant no matter what degree of wave is being analyzed. This wave rhythm is observable as long as there is a minimum amount of trading volume. As a rule of thumb, we use a minimum average of 20 ticks per time period, although the Elliott sequence can often be seen in a shorter period market with much less volume--for example, the one-minute chart. [1995] - Bill Williams