Making Money On The Trends with Better Trades

Written in a CEO-friendly, reflective tone, as if typed by hand after years of watching trends form, fail, and succeed.

Introduction: Trends Reward Discipline, Not Excitement

Making money in the markets is often described as a search for opportunity. In reality, it is more accurately a process of waiting. Waiting for clarity. Waiting for alignment. Waiting for trends that justify risk.

Trends do not reward speed. They reward discipline.

This article is written from the perspective of experience rather than theory. It reflects the lessons learned by investors and professional traders who understand that better trades—not more trades—are what turn trends into consistent results.

Understanding What a Trend Really Is

A trend is not a single strong move or a headline-driven spike. A true trend is the market’s agreement over time.

It reflects sustained buying or selling pressure driven by fundamentals, sentiment, and positioning. Trends develop slowly, become visible only after confirmation, and often end when participation becomes crowded.

Smart market participants focus less on predicting trends and more on recognizing when a trend has already proven itself.

Why Most Traders Miss Trends

Ironically, many traders fail to profit from trends not because they do not see them, but because they do not trust them.

Common mistakes include:

Entering too early

Exiting too quickly

Overtrading during consolidation phases

Letting fear override structure

Trends require patience. They often move in waves, not straight lines. Better trades are built by respecting this rhythm rather than fighting it.

Better Trades Begin With Selectivity

Professional traders trade less than most people expect.

Selectivity is a competitive advantage. Waiting for high-probability setups aligned with the dominant trend reduces emotional stress and improves consistency.

Better trades share common characteristics:

Clear directional bias

Defined risk levels

Logical invalidation points

Favorable reward-to-risk ratios

Trading every market movement is activity. Trading only when conditions align is strategy.

Risk Management Is What Makes Trends Profitable

Trends can be generous, but only to those who survive long enough to benefit from them.

Risk management determines whether a trader can stay in a trend through normal pullbacks without emotional exits. Position sizing, stop placement, and exposure control matter more than entry precision.

A well-managed trade allows the trend to work without constant interference.

From a CEO’s perspective, this is no different from long-term business strategy. Short-term volatility is tolerated in pursuit of long-term direction.

Timing Without Obsession

Better trades do not require perfect timing. They require reasonable timing with controlled risk.

Waiting for confirmation often means entering later than ideal, but with higher confidence. This trade-off is acceptable.

Attempting to capture exact tops and bottoms introduces unnecessary risk and emotional pressure. Trends offer multiple opportunities. Missing the first one does not invalidate the move.

The Role of Market Structure

Trends express themselves through structure: higher highs, higher lows, or their bearish equivalents.

Better trades respect this structure. Entries are planned near pullbacks, consolidations, or continuation patterns rather than at emotional extremes.

Structure provides context. It answers the question of whether a trend is intact or breaking down.

Emotional Discipline: The Hidden Edge

Following trends tests emotional discipline more than technical skill.

Traders exit profitable trades too early because gains feel fragile. They hesitate to re-enter because past exits create regret.

Better trades are executed with acceptance. Acceptance of pullbacks. Acceptance of uncertainty. Acceptance that not every trade will reach its full potential.

Emotional control allows profits to run and losses to remain manageable.

Fewer Trades, Better Results

One of the most difficult adjustments for traders is doing less.

Markets offer constant stimulation, but not constant opportunity. Better results often come from fewer decisions made with greater clarity.

Trend-following strategies that emphasize quality over quantity outperform over time—not because they avoid losses, but because they avoid unnecessary ones.

When Trends End

No trend lasts forever.

Better traders recognize signs of exhaustion without trying to predict reversals. Reduced momentum, structural breakdowns, and changing volatility often signal that conditions are shifting.

Exiting a trend is not an admission of failure. It is a recognition that the market has changed its mind.

A CEO’s Perspective on Better Trades

In leadership, strategic focus produces results. Scattered effort does not.

The same principle applies to trading. Trends reward commitment, patience, and clarity. Better trades come from restraint, not aggression.

Those who succeed are not constantly in the market. They are consistently aligned with it.

Final Thoughts: Letting the Market Work

Making money on trends is less about action and more about permission—permission for the market to do the heavy lifting.

Better trades create the space for trends to unfold. They reduce interference, limit emotional noise, and allow probability to assert itself.

In the end, trends do not need to be chased. They need to be respected.

And when they are, the results tend to speak quietly, but clearly.

End of Article

Summary:
One thing I learned, when I decided to trade in the stock market, is how important it is to learn from someone that is actually walking the walk and trading. Let me clarify that even more, making money in the market!


Keywords:
better trades, bettertrades, investing, investments, finance


Article Body:
Dear Traders and Friends:

I have been having a blast trading this last week. I made $7,300 on KKD, $1,700 on FRX, $2,000 on QQQQ and am doing well in my open trade entering FRX to the downside.

I am putting a day of my commentary here for you to see the value of using THE DEDICATED TRADER website as a trading tool.

One thing I learned, when I decided to trade in the stock market, is how important it is to learn from someone that is actually walking the walk and trading. Let me clarify that even more, making money in the market!

I have been shocked to find out how many people out there that are big name authors in the stock market that do not trade or have a negative trading record. What I mean is the rumor is they are no good at trading!

I do what I teach! I am one of very few stock market authors who not only talks the talk, but I walk the walk. I place my trades on my daily commentary for you to learn from. And this has been very valuable for my readers.

In addition to my commentary, I have a mentorship program called TRADERS TALK, where you can pay to spend four hours a week in a private Webshop with me. We go over any trades or whatever you want to learn, including my trades. It is very powerful, and I have been able to watch people go from a beginner level to about three years experience in just a few sessions.

Here is my commentary for Friday, June 6th:

Market Notes – Friday, June 06, 2003:

COMPLETION OF QQQQ TRADE: 3PM EST

I closed my QQQQ trade from a few hours ago using a GTC I set about 1/2 hour ago to just take 50 cents. I was filled for $2.95 on my 40 contracts listed below for a profit of $2,000 before commissions. Not bad for a Friday.

My other trades are going well – RED, RED, RED…I love the downside.

TRADES: 12:00 EST

1. I purchased 15 contracts of FRX puts. August $60 puts $5.90 FHATL. I will stop out if it breaks the high of today at $55.90 if it does not head back down right away. I will then trail it down to around $52 to profit.

2. I just purchased 40 contracts of the July $33 QQQQ puts for $2.45 QAVSG. I will stop out with an alarm if it breaks the high of today at $31.47 and does not turn back down right away. It gapped up today on Intel’s good earnings report but is getting weak as I type. I usually do front or next month out on the QQQQ. I will trail it down for profits.

Good MORNING & Happy FRIDAY!

The markets are looking very green at the market open, and my trades for today are all down ones (that is if the markets were down). Perhaps in a few minutes we will get a reversal????? I doubt it!

Anyway here were my candidates if the market was down:

DOW: AA AXP DD XOM

NASDAQ: CMVT INTU JNPR MOLX NXTL SANM SPOT

I had no up trades. We seem to be in the middle of a trend for most stocks, and we are in a very sweet uptrend.

That is about all for today. If I do place a trade I will put the comments above this section later today.


So even though this message is short, it is a powerful one…BE CAREFUL WHO YOU LISTEN AND LEARN FROM!

The stock market is very powerful. If you learn how to trade, and do not short change yourself by trying to trade without necessary tools, you can have TIME & MONEY FREEDOM beyond your wildest dreams. I would love to help you!

Last, I just want to mention my trade on the QQQQ’s. It is one of my favorite things to trade. It is an EXCHANGE TRADED FUND that actually owns all of the NASDAQ 100 stocks in it. MSFT is the heaviest weight so I do watch what MSFT is doing for a direction. It obviously follows the NASDAQ market.

But as you can see by my trade listed above, I was able to buy 40 contracts at $2.45 a share for a cost of $9,800 and my delta was .71. The stock only moved about 77 cents to take a profit of 50 cents – making me $2,000 in about two hours. SWEET!

What I love about the QQQQ’s is that they have strike prices every one dollar! That means the July 33 calls I got when the stock was at $31.30 were only $2.45 with a delta of .71. That is incredible. You see, I could spend $5 – $8 per share on regular stocks to try and get that high of a delta, but it is so cheap on the QQQQ!

A lot of people miss the boat, thinking the QQQQ does not move enough to make it worth trading! What a mistake! I love trading this, and it only needs small moves to profit – but your investment is so small compared to trading stocks.

If you had only done 10 contracts that would have been a $500 gain from $2,450 before commission which is 20%! In a few hours 20% is phenomenal!!

All you need to do is pretend the QQQQ are a stock. Look at support and resistance the same way you do already, and choose a strike price with a delta of .70 or higher for a short term trade and trade it up on support and down on resistance.

I will be doing a course on this soon. I will probably offer a free one hour class on my site to introduce you to it. I think you can see why I am so excited about it, and I hope you might catch the fever.

I teach a two day class twice a month, check it out on my site! I will be in Atlanta on June 19 -20th…come see why students say I was their miracle they needed to become a better trader!

Happy Trading!

Darlene Nelson with Better Trades