Here is a list of tools, downloads, strategies, and just miscellaneous things that will hopefully help your trading decisions. None of these are financial advice or recommendations, these are just things I have noticed and used in 10+ years of trading derivatives, crypto, futures, and now NFTs. Any link is more than likely an affiliate one, You obviously don’t need to use them but it’s always appreciated. Anything the site makes gets pushed back into the site for content, upgrades, and future products/trading tools.
Tools
Tradingview – Arguably one of the most important tools is charting. I have a few different charting packages, but TradingView is by far the most versatile I have found. You can chart stocks, futures, crypto, and more using it. They have a few paid packages but a free account is more than sufficient. You can use it as a “guest” but it is definitely worth creating a free account just to save your search history and chart layouts.
Magic Eden Pro Tools – On the Magic Eden “analytics” tab under any collection you can enable “Pro Mode” which will put you into a chart that looks similar to those on trading view. There is a screenshot of it below. This will show you the floor price, listing distribution, and some other valuable information about the collection. It’s helpful to view the average direction of the floor price when making a decision. While it is historical data, you can usually get a feel for the price action.
Sharky Finance – This is a platform that will allow you to lend your NFTs for some instant liquidity, it also lets you use your SOL to fill those loans and you can make a pretty hefty return on your investment. That is how I use the platform, also lending my sol to make more and not risking my NFTs.
Francium – This is a DeFi Platform that will allow you to bid into a bunch of different Dex’s and make a return on not just sol but also a bunch of other coins. DeFi platforms can be a significant money maker, but they can be a tad complex. If you have questions please reach out to me in the discord and I will be happy to answer any questions.
OpenBB – This is a tool for equities, options, and futures. This will install a python container on your PC and will give you a lot of the same functionality a professional trading terminal has. This is a VERY technical tool though. If you aren’t well versed in terminal use (or are afraid to break something) I would not install it. It’s incredibly useful but incredibly dense.
FInviz – This is a full research website for most stocks traded on almost any market as well as crypto, futures and a bunch of other stuff. On top of giving you a solid graph of it, you can also see a bunch of fundamental data such as earnings, different ratios, and screeners. It’s something I go to for quick research. Their paid service is well worth it if you are an investor, but the free account is more than sufficient if you don’t spend a lot of time in the market. As with everything, an account is well worth it to save progress.
The above is a guide on options I put together for a class I run occasionally. I have a bunch of them but this will be a sufficient start for most people interested.
Crypto Strategies
NFT Strategy 1.
One strategy I employ for trading NFTs is watching the floor price graph on Magic Eden. Most floor prices have a great degree of cyclical movement over the course of days or weeks so you can capitalize on it by purchasing when it’s at the bottom end of a range and selling when it gets to the top end. This is not a Hold forever strategy, it’s simply a way to add a little SOL to your balance. The whole idea is to be in and out of the project in a few days’ time. This has worked well for me with Oak Paradise in particular because they pay a dividend every week. Once it comes out prices fell and then ramped back up toward the end of the week. It’s been less profitable as of late but it’s still working well. It’s very important to hone in on one or a few projects though. You really have to know how the project moves, this isn’t something you can throw at any project you see so tread carefully if you employ it. (NFA)
NFT Arbitrate Strategy
This isn’t strictly arbitraging but it’s close enough to call it that. One thing I have noticed with SOL and SOL NFTs is that they are often inversely related. Meaning that when SOL pumps the floor prices fall and when SOL falls the floor prices start to rise. Now it should be obvious that in a complete panic sell this does not hold up. But in the usual weekly and monthly rotations it’s been a pretty solid rule. Same as above, this only works with solid projects so really know what you getting involved in before you attempt it. Nothing in trading is guaranteed (NFA)
Coin Strategy
I do very little trading of actual coins. My strategy for them though is to focus on the larger cap coins that have some legitimate functionality behind them. I like SOL (obviously) but also Matic and ETH and have been looking at DOT recently (at the suggestion of someone in the DDP room). These are longer-term positions for me, I am looking for a 2-5 year hold time on most coins and will trade around a core position on an active basis, but I am never completely out of any of them. I want to be in when one of them really pops off.
Equities/Options
I could write for days on these, I have spent a long time honing my edge for trading these instruments. Below is a very high-level overview, if you have any interest in really digging into options/equities you can reach out to me in discord and I will be happy to help. This will be a perk for anyone in the Tradr tag and is usually something I charge consulting fees for. Nothing below should be considered financial advice and I am not recommending any product, service, or stock to anyone. I am not a registered advisor, I have just gotten good at trading.
First off I am assuming you are trading a small account, so for these types of accounts, you want to stick with trading a cash account type. This will remove leverage and will save you from blowing up quickly if you are wrong. From an account growth perspective, you should be looking to start with trading the equities alone. These aren’t as exciting as options but it’s a great place to get your feet wet. I know a lot of traders that just stuck with equities, never made the move to options, and they now trade 1,000+ shares at a time and make a great living. Just because other people trade them doesn’t mean you do as well. Trade what makes you comfortable. Once you have a solid base understanding if you want to move to options I recommend trading AT LEAST 15 days out from the current day. Do not ever trade same-week expiry and Never ever trade anything with 0DTE. That’s a sucker’s game in the long run, brokers do not keep introducing shorter and shorter time frame options because they are losing money on them. Think of it like a casino, they are the house and they never really lose, just don’t be stuck holding the bag and you will be fine.
I find trades by looking at a core watchlist of stocks I like to trade, I suggest everyone make one at some point so they can at least get a feel for it. This is the same for crypto as well, never just blindly jump into something you haven’t looked at. I then analyze volume profiles, price action, and overall market activity. Below is what one of my charts looks like. After that I wait for something to happen, I follow unusual options activity through Unusual Whales as well as watch a live ticker of all my watchlist. Once I see something I like, I jump in. With smaller accounts try and buy as much time on the option as you can and always buy at least 2 contacts. This will allow you to close 1 and cover the cost and have a second to catch as much of the run as you can. Personally, I use a laddering system to take profits on options and various percentage gains. My stops are set at a hard 50%. That is a very basic understanding of my strategy, I will post a longer guide if there is a desire for it.
Investing/Company Analysis
Outside of active trading, I also have an account that has long-term investments in it The difference here is an Investment is looking to be held for 5+ years, a trade you can close and reopen tomorrow if you want. Know the difference because they are treated differently. A Trade is about income, an investment is about safety. My vetting process is very simple for investing: I like companies that have good cash flow, a reasonable moat around them, history or performance, and usually a solid dividend.
First up is cash flow, I like to see a solid income quarter over quarter. Growth isn’t as important to me as most of the companies I like are mature and have established businesses, think Coke on this. While earnings are stagnant there is no doubt that coca-cola is here to stay. I don’t have the exact ratio of income to debt I am looking for, but I just want to make sure the company is solvent. It is just part of the holistic approach if the company isn’t turning a profit then its a shell, not a business.
Second, is the security of the business. How difficult is it to replicate or disrupt what the company does? Also how much brand recognition is there? A good example of this is Amazon. While there are tons of online retailers, Amazon has an undisputed lead just due to its recognition. People all over the world “Prime” something to their house. It’s not going away anytime soon. That is a solid moat. Something similar would be power companies, people need power, and not anyone can buy and work on a generation system. Solid moat, a lot of necessity, makes for a good investment over the longer time horizon. Finally, where does its edge come from? This will ruffle a lot of feathers but things like Telsa have yet don’t have a strong moat, they make a lot of their revenue from Government subsidies and not their products, regardless of how I feel about the cars this is not something that is safe. An administration change or a change in policy direction can be devastating to their PnL. By contrast, things like Oil and gas are often on the receiving end of a lot of heavy heavy fines and yet still turn a profit. While I think there is a solid need for green energy and I like the space a lot, based on current facts one of these is a better investment for safety than the other.
Finally, how has this stock performed historically? You can pull up charts of a stock ranging all the way back to the 1950’s in some cases. This is an important tool because it shows how a stock performed during previous depressions. Companies with a long track record or just existing is a benefit. I try to avoid anything that didn’t survive at least two real recessions. The next one will kill a lot of popular companies, just a fact of market dynamics, the ones that survive can be purchased on the other side of them. Don’t gamble with newer companies until they prove they have a model that can survive all kinds of economic conditions. Again know the difference between a trade and an investment.
Two final notes on this. The first is on dividends, I like most companies I invest in to pay dividends unless they serve a specific purpose. An example is anything gold related, I am in both a general ETF and a few miners. Some of the miners pay dividends but most do not. These serve a purpose, they help balance out down years AND hedge against currency risk and inflation. The second is market crashes, they happen. There is no amount of diversifying, complex theory, and trade planning that can help you with them. The only tried and true method is cash, these crashes hurt but having some cash lying around makes it easier both financially and mentally. You make the most money buying right after the complete panic, you can only do this if you are not over-invested and have some cash to burn. So never ever invest more then you can comfortably lose and always keep at least a few percent of a portfolio in cash. When you get better at market timing you can try to get fancy, but I don’t recommend that.