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13 June 2013

A Bear Put Spread Can Help Investors Profit In Down-Trending Markets

By Lou Manning


After years of experiencing a bull run, the recent economic crisis was an eye-opener for many investors and traders. Learning to trade in a bear market is essential for success in the markets. A bear put spread is a very useful tool for taking advantage of a market which is trending downwards and reducing the amount of risk involved in the trade.

Many investors are excessively nervous of bear trends and fail to profit from them, despite the fact that there may be many opportunities. In reality, strong uptrends and downtrends both present great trading opportunities, and down markets move more swiftly due panic setting in. Because money can be made more quickly, learning to trade downturns is an essential skill.

Perhaps people are prejudiced in favor of a rising market, or they have just become more accustomed to this situation. Whatever the reason, the result is that people who can do well in a falling market are rare, and can easily take advantage of the general incompetence in this situation. Being able to do well in any type of market makes you a force to contend with.

Any serious trader should learn to trade options. Many people think of options as being extremely risky instruments, but the risk can be controlled. The amount of risk is determined by what the individual investor is comfortable with. This makes the options market very popular with sophisticated traders and volumes on these markets are high, with great trading opportunities presenting themselves all the time.

One way of limiting the risk on an option is to use spread trading. This involves two trades which act to hedge against the possibility of large losses, while still permitting a reasonable profit to be made. While profits are slightly lower, risks are greatly reduced, making the exercise very worthwhile. Using such techniques helps expert trader achieve steady gains.

Trading should not just be a straight gamble: here a professional approach will mean that you do not depend on always being right. Gamblers can easily become greedy and get wiped out as quickly as they build large fortunes. Not only that, but it is easy to splurge after a big win, leaving no reserve for the bad times. Gambling should be reserved for the race track or sports fields.

Responsible traders husband their resources and control the amount of risk they will accept. The euphoria from big gambling gains produces overconfidence and fuels greed. Control over your emotions, particularly greed, is the mark of a trader who will be able to survive and do well in the long term, and not be tempted by short-term windfalls.

So it is important for an investor to get to know all about trading risk and how to control it. Because it impossible for every trade to be successful, you need to make sure that too much will not be lost. You need to handle both rising and falling markets, and should be familiar with the use of techniques such as a bear put spread to keep your losses within limits.




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