Exploiting Opportunities, One Day at a Time

Back in the Market

noreply@blogger.com (tradeswing) — Sat, 23 Mar 2013 06:42:00 +0000

I'm getting back into the stock market. I've made a couple trades with great profits but more importantly I feel a lot more disciplined. Having thousands of dollars on the line don't seem to effect me emotionally like it used to in the past.

I've been working on fine tuning my criteria for selecting stocks that I think will have big moves at the opening bell. The only thing I'm concerned about is where to get out of the stock once I've made the buy. I'll be going over a bunch of scenarios on paper to figure out what I should be doing when the price moves in certain ways. I think this will help solidify in my mind what I should do. When these scenarios do present themselves I'm hoping I'll be able to act rationally and execute the plan.

Another thing I've noticed is my patience. I seem to be a lot more patient when it comes to trading. I've spent about a week in the market and only made one trade. I was patiently waiting for that particular setup and it paid off nicely. I think one of my big mistakes in the past was over-trading. I was so excited about trading stocks I constantly wanted to do it and that mentality cost me money. Now I seem to be more focused on only trading stocks that my methodology/system produces because I know the potential. At the same time I'm well aware that these setups will also produce losers, it's simply part of the game, so cutting these losers asap is also going to be vital to my long term success.

I'll be blogging my thoughts and reflections on trades, results, discipline, risk management, etc. There might not be a ton of activity here simply because I won't be trading just any old stock. I'll be patiently waiting for my setup. Ultimately me entry and buying decision of a stock is determined by how fast it moves at the open. Does it have enough juice to carry me?

This is the beginning of everything.

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CPRX: Lookin' Like Gold

noreply@blogger.com (tradeswing) — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 03:29:00 +0000

Came across CPRX today after hours. Beautiful looking chart. Ended on massive volume and a massive price gain today. I especially like how it closed today close to its high. After hours, it blasted through the day's high which I like. Right now its up above $2 which is a nice round number, good for a support level. All in all, looks like we could see a nice shot in the morning. I'm looking for 6-8% return would be nice. We'll see how it works out.

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ZANE: What a Doozy!

noreply@blogger.com (tradeswing) — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 13:59:00 +0000

The stock I was looking at this morning from yesterday turned out to be a dud. No more power left at the open. However, I did come across ZANE once again and this time we left on good terms. I got in at 3.13 and rode it on its first run to about 3.53 was its high. I held on since it was going up but then it pulled back as profits were being taken from traders. ZANE hit 3.33 and I bailed.

As I'm positing it looks like ZANE is having a second run and quite a run it is. An additional 30% from where I got out. I'm sure a lot of traders are stoked right now, haha. Unfortunately, I got out but I'm definitely happy with a 6.3% return. Thanks ZANE! lol

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ATSG: No More Steam, IMUC: Watching

noreply@blogger.com (tradeswing) — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 03:26:00 +0000

Looks like ATSG didn't have any more juice from the last two trading sessions and fizzled around and didn't do much today. No big deal since I didn't trade it or anything.

I'm not seeing too much tonight that looks worthy of being bought tomorrow. However, IMUC looks interesting because of its relatively flatness and nice price jump. Average volume is around 50k shares and it did around 500k today, not bad. High today was 1.34 and I set my alert to 1.35. If it does nicely pre market and opens high i'd consider buying. If not, then I'll wait to see what it does and if there is strength to blow past the high of 1.34

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Watching ATSG for Tomorrow

noreply@blogger.com (tradeswing) — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 04:21:00 +0000

It's been a quiet week for me so far. I'm looking at ATSG for tomorrow's open. The chart looks decent, particularly the second move it's had on strong volume. I'll be inspecting what it does pre-market to get an idea of price levels and possibly get in at the open to ride out any last momentum.

Right now, it looks like the stock is up a .75% at the days high after hours. We'll see what happens tomorrow.

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Selling Some Stock Trading Books!

noreply@blogger.com (tradeswing) — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 02:27:00 +0000

I went through my accumulation of used books and put them up on Amazon.com to sell. I have a ton of comprehensive books that have had a colossal impact on me and helped me in the learning process. I am trying to give back what I've received and am selling these books at pretty good prices.

Check out my store front if you wish: http://www.amazon.com/shops/AUXZEZC2U64L8

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SOMX- Crazy Ride but Ended Well

noreply@blogger.com (tradeswing) — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 18:39:00 +0000

So I broke my plan already. However, the trade did turn out well, very well.

I bought SOMX yesterday at around 12:55 PM Pacific time, 5 minutes before the close. I bought in at $9.20. I watched the stock move nicely; eventually hitting $10 which was a good time to sell for a number of reasons. One reason is that 10$ is a whole number and any time a stock approaches a whole number, it's a very cautious point. Second reason is I had about 30 seconds before the market closed and I wanted out. I really dislike holding stocks over night.

I went about setting up my order to sell at $10 and hit the preview before finally submitting my "final answer". For whatever reason, I don't know why, I never hit the submit order button right after the preview stage and ended up holding the position overnight. A definitely scary situation considering the stock fell all the way back to $9.20 after hours, wiping out all my paper gains. I immediately put in a limit order after hours at $9.10, .10 cents below my buy price. A tight stop price, indeed, but I wanted to limit the loss from my stupid mistake in case the stock decided to sell off at the open, I'd be out.

In the end, I was forced to hold the stock over night. The next morning I was watching pre-market to get an idea of what it was doing and was surprised to see it bouncing between 9.30-9.40. What was amazing was watching the stock jump .35 cents in 1 second immediately at the open. Before I knew it the stock hit $10.35, fell a bit and I hit the sell button and bailed out right at $10, which is the price I wanted out in the first place. A great end to a bumpy night; a 7.14% return!

The chart below is 2 days worth of intra-day data on 10 minute interval candles. The red and green lines roughly represent my entry and exit points.

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No Trade, Just Observing NNVC

noreply@blogger.com (tradeswing) — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 17:43:00 +0000

I haven't been active lately, which is a good thing considering I have not seen anything worthy lately. No point in trading for the sake of trading because every time that happens money is always lost, guaranteed! So, I came across a pretty nice chart last night. NNVC caught my attention and I was a bit hesitant as I thought to myself this had an 80% of being a winner. I put the stock in my watchlist to trade this morning at the open. However, I overslept and completely missed the open and missed the nice little run the stock had at the open as well.

The chart I liked.

And this is what it has done so far. I'm particularly interested in the first 15 minutes or so; the nice run at the open.

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Morning Breakouts: Trading Plan

noreply@blogger.com (tradeswing) — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 05:28:00 +0000

I have a few other posts' here dealing with my trading plans in the past. The same idea permeates the plan throughout: morning breakouts. I tend to gravitate toward trading the open of particular stocks that I fancy. What I intend to write here is explain what it is I'm looking for and to record for myself and have a place to come back to and keep myself in check.

The technical part of the charts I'm looking for is quite simple. The stock itself should be in a tight price range over the last 3 months at least and be between 1 and 10 dollars per share. What will attract me is a nice large price spike accompanied by a huge volume spike to confirm the new move. The picture below will serve as an example of this idea.

One can quickly see the exciting price move, represented by the white candle, and the nice tall green volume bar. What I plan on doing after finding this particular pattern is watching the stock pre-market so I can get an idea of how it's behaving and see if there are any certain support or resistant barriers. That's my pre-market routine. My End of Day routine will be to first find this pattern, then look at the intra-day data and see what the support and resistant levels are and measure any pontential moves in between those ranges.

So far, this is a rough sketch of what my trading plan will be as far as selecting stocks go. Later on I'll be fine tuning my entry and exit points more than what I use now, which isn't really worth writing down.

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Making a Comeback with CHGI?

noreply@blogger.com (tradeswing) — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 15:29:00 +0000

I've been out of the market for some time now and I thought I'd jump back in. I'm keeping this blog basically for my own records so I can see down the line what I've been doing, you're welcome to follow along if you so desire.

I bought CHGI close to the open, problem was I couldn't get my limit order filled due to the stock out running me, which is I good thing, I suppose. I bought in at 2.58, after recklessly putting my order in at the offer. Unsurprisingly, the stock fell 3-4% for where I got and made a nice rebound. When it hit around 2.87-2.90 needless to say, I was stoked. The bid fell to 2.82, I put in a limit order at 2.80 as insurance in case it did decide to fall I'd make out with a decent profit, if not, I could still ride it up.

CHGI sold at 2.80 for a 6.73% profit. Not too bad.

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Investors, You Can Help Darfur

noreply@blogger.com (tradeswing) — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 15:48:00 +0000

Millions of investors are unaware that their savings are invested in companies that help fund genocide in Darfur.

Many U.S. based investment firms own shares in companies such as PetroChina, a Chinese oil company whose parent company, CNPC, is filling the coffers of the Sudanese government and helping fund the government’s actions in Darfur.

Our campaign focuses on the five U.S.-based mutual fund companies that hold the largest shares in PetroChina, as of their most recent filings reported by Bloomberg on August 1, 2007.

Franklin Templeton
JP Morgan Chase
Capital Group/American Funds
Fidelity
Vanguard

Information Here http://www.savedarfur.org/page/content/index/

Buying Established Sites

noreply@blogger.com (tradeswing) — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 05:05:00 +0000

I've been looking at a few sites that are for sale lately and am looking to invest in some established sites. Wanted to write a quick note to anyone who is or knows someone selling a site. I'd like to check it out.

I know I need to get some new content here. My motivation to blog has slowly dwindled a little but I'll see if I can get back in the blogging spirit.

Slow Down- Pursing Other Ventures

noreply@blogger.com (tradeswing) — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 16:12:00 +0000

My blog might be a little slow from now on. I'm taking my money that I trade with and putting it into other ventures. So if you're looking to see what trades I've been making you might be bummed out because there won't be any.

I'll still post my thoughts on goals, power, knowledge, persistence, passion ,etc. But for the most party my trading career is slowing down for the moment. I'm not completely abandoning trading but when it comes to my interests I seem to learn everything I can and get to a point where I feel I've maxed out what I need to know and move on to something else.

So, when it comes to trading, I feel I have a very strong grasp on the concepts and what's needed to be profitable, why people fail, etc so I want to pursue something else, master it, and move on.

I'm not going to disclose exactly what it is I'm doing but if I feel it's something I can sustain for a period of time like my trading, I might setup another blog. Or create a "personal" blog to log all my activities and ventures.

OVTI- Took a Small Hit

noreply@blogger.com (tradeswing) — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 15:16:00 +0000

There was really no reason for me to trade this. It's just been so long since I've been consistent with my trading but the market is telling me to stay out so I have been. I guess today I wanted to trade for the hell of it, and well, I lost money because of wanting to do that.

Not a big loss. It's small. I got in at 15.94 which I knew was going to be close to the top I was looking for an exit of about 16.20 or so. My stop was down at 15.70 which the price would jump down there then jump back up so I didn't put in a hard stop limit because I didn't want to be falsely exited out while it kept moving.

I bailed out at 15.83 because I had to go the bathroom sooooo bad but I wasn't confident enough in the trade to let it keep running. So I made an executive decision and bailed out while I could. Now that I'm back. It looks like it hit my target of about 16.20 (the black arrow) after it took a little dip which I didn't want to go through. I was wanting it to keep moving after I got in, lol like most people.

SO, the loss wasn't big. I got out way ahead of my stop, took a small, really dumb loss I guess you could call it. February is definitely a hard and bad month for me. Which would explain the very light trading going on here.

eBook Cover Design

noreply@blogger.com (tradeswing) — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 04:23:00 +0000

Wanted to make a quick post and see if anyone out there is interested in a custom cover design for any of the following:

Book cover

DVD cover

CD cover

E-Zine cover

Box covers

Binder cover

Entrecard members would be able to pay with credits. How many credits would you pay to have a custom design? Would you even be interested in something like this? Do you know anyone who would? All comments will be great.

Just curious. I'd appreciate it if you could leave a comment below. Thanks!

The Power of Setting Goals

noreply@blogger.com (tradeswing) — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 18:06:00 +0000

Setting goals gives you the ability to see the light at the end of the tunnel and provides you with short term motivation to get to that light.

All the way from Professional level athletes to successful business men to entrepreneurs get to that point by setting goals. When you have a clear vision in site it's easy to see what you need to do to get to that clear destination. Coming across distractions and obstacles are also clearly seen and avoided because it's not in your best interest to go that route in order to get to your destination.

How to Set Goals and Accomplish Them

Get a pen and paper and write down exactly what you want in precise detail (most people can't even get past this stage)
Brainstorm about what you need to do to get there

Break the goal down by year, month, week, day, etc. so you can "eat the elephant one bite at a time"

Bring in any outside help you might need to accomplish the goal (friends, family, mentors, etc.)
Take Action and start chipping away at your goal one day at a time

Going through the entire process and working through a goal can be extremely rewarding and will boost your confidence to the point where you can conquer the world! Anything you want to do, can be achieved. You need a plan, tactics, and the ability to waste no time in taking action

The Goal

I setup a short term goal for myself this past weekend. Last summer I weighed 180 lbs at 9% body fat which at the time I wasn't impressed with. I was going to the gym on a daily basis and still didn't like what I saw. Looking back now I was easily in the best shape of my life. Now, I'm 205 at 22% body fat and I attribute a lot of that to me focusing 150% of my attention to learning to trade stocks. Plus, there were other factors as well. I have two herniated discs back from the summer of '05 due to a lifting injury, and I did a lot of moving from house to house which killed my motivation to keep going to the gym.

Goal Breakdown

By June 6th (a few days before my 21st B-Day) I want to be back down to 185 at 10% BF. So I got my spreadsheet open and broke it down by weekly milestones. I'll be weighing myself every Friday morning. I need to lose 1.3 lbs a week which isn't too aggressive but will definitely require work. I'm also keeping track of how long it takes me to run to my destination which is quite rough. There's a lot of slow and steady inclines and declines on the way there. Then when I get there I run 2 sets of stairs which run down the side of a cliff (76 steps, I counted, lol). Round trip I believe is about 1.25 miles

Strategy to Accomplish

So, I knew my goal, I know what I needed to shoot for. How do I do it? I'm going to bump up my running from a once a week or so to 5 days a week. I'm also going to watch very careful what I eat. Which I thought would be hard because I can eat anything and everything, haha but just the simple fact that I have a hard copy goal that's clear and attainable in the back of my mind is really pushing me to stick to the plan.

I was actually amazed at how well I was doing by not eating any garbage food and walking right by it considering my sweet tooth is horrible! I hate it and had such a hard time getting rid of it. But now I think I can easily get over it thanks to my clear goals. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel!

DARA- Now this is a Trade

noreply@blogger.com (tradeswing) — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 15:14:00 +0000

DARA was one of the stocks on my watch list today but I closed it out because of the extremely wide spread and it was jumping around back and forth at the open so I closed it out.

Just brought it back up and it was up around 34% so I got in. I liked the movement and the volume and I entered at 5.50 My stop was 15 cents below my entry at 5.35 and you can see that by the long black bar that's slightly crooked lol.

Immediately jumped up nice and high and pulled back but still higher than where I got in. Let it ride for a few minutes and bailed at 6 mainly because I was more than happy with the gain and because I still have a freakin' hard time letting my winners run. I don't know why... I need to figure something out.

Overall, I'm stoked about this trade. Mostly because it's been a while since I've pulled a nice gain like this. I was thinking yesterday how long do I need to go before I put on a trade? Because it seemed like forever. Well, I had a couple beauties in front of me and I'm stoked about that.

ERES- Better Than a Loss

noreply@blogger.com (tradeswing) — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 15:00:00 +0000

Traded ERES this morning. It was none of the stocks I was watching but I saw it move and move in a straight line and jumped in at 11.88 which I knew was going to be pretty lat in the game but I thought I could squeeze some cash out.

I let ERES run for few minutes and 12.20-12.25 was a key range I thought because it was the price level where the stock has hit twice before and declined. Like a double top kind of thing back in Oct. and Dec.

So I see it running up to that level and it seems to be hovering like I thought it might. Although it never decided to decline but that was after I sold out. I got out at 12.17 because the bid immediately dropped from 12.20 to 12.17 as I was just hitting the send button. So I got screwed on that part and I got screwed on me not wanting to stick it out and let it run.

My stop was 25 cents from entry which would be at 11.65 Low enough to stay out of the fluff but not too far where I'd take a big hit.

All in all. It was good that I followed my initial game plan but I shouldn't of sold a stock that was moving straight up lol.

How to Trade Stocks to Ensure Long Term Survivability and Profitability

noreply@blogger.com (tradeswing) — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 22:20:00 +0000

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There is absolutely zero satisfaction in making huge money trading stocks, only to see hard earned gains evaporate in a couple days. Each morning it's a battle to fight for a paycheck yet still finishing the evening tattered and torn

The morning comes along where the market quickly saps profits and takes it all in a matter of days or even minutes! Can I really trade successfully? Why do I do this? Why can't I keep what I make? What am I doing wrong?

Sound familiar? I've gone through that experience. I'm an amateur trader as well and I've dedicated the last 32 weeks to learning how to trade and doing what's required to be profitable. During that time I've created products that was essential to ensure long term survivability to stay in the game longer while still trading actively to learn this profession.

The Stock Traders Elite Success Kit, is that creation. It's an advanced spreadsheet that represents all details of past performance on many different levels. A Position Sizing Calculator to tell me exactly how many shares I need to buy for my trade to ensure minimal loss as well as maximum upside. Lastly, I put together a 6 page mini book with jam packed information for the amateur trader required for the mind set of a professional.

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NCI- Small Loss, Move On

noreply@blogger.com (tradeswing) — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 15:00:00 +0000

Took a small hit with NCI. I lowered my position size by about 40% so now my upside profit potential will be a lot lower, but more importantly my downside potential is lowered in terms of dollars. I figure I'll be having a lot more losers now mainly because my Jan gains might of been just because of a good month. I haven't had those amazing trades for Feb at all. In fact I pretty much lost all my Jan gains in the second week of Feb. But those losses were from me putting on way too big of a position and not selling when I could, but when I was forced too.

NCI had a few things going for it that I liked. It had a huge blast on Friday but the only thing that drove it were earnings. Nothing special. There was actually a headline out saying it was overbought. Maybe the dip at the open were people selling but it took off after that. Unfortunately I was in the rest room when It ran up, came back and I bought in at 15.80

Next candle started out significantly lower and it didn't even attempt to inch it's way higher. It fell down to about 1.65 which I wasn't too worried about and then it started falling below 1.60 and that was a problem. I didn't have any indicators telling me to sell but a monetary loss told me to sell. I got out at 1.58

Not a big loss, actually very reasonable. We'll see what tomorrow brings.

Two Kinds of Knowledge

noreply@blogger.com (tradeswing) — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 23:14:00 +0000

Very simple. There are two kinds of knowledge that can be acquired. One is General knowledge which is derived from schooling/college, etc. The other is Specialized knowledge that's acquired from learning a very specific skill.

General Knowledge, know matter how much of it you have or how much schooling you've been too really does very little for you in the long run as far as financial abundance. College Professors make very little money, yet they are considered very very educated human beings. They have learned a great deal of all around knowledge or know a lot about a particular subject.

Why is that?

They specialize in the teaching of knowledge, but they don't teach you how to use that knowledge. The idea is, "ok, here you go. I've taught you what I know, go make it happen" How do I make it happen? What do I do? All I know is what I've been told about what I need to know, I don't know how to use what I know.

Simply being educated will not produce financial results. You can be an Einstein but if you don't know how to organize your knowledge and direct it to a definite ultimate goal, you'll be floundering.

I'm sure back in elementary or even H.S. and College you'll see "Knowledge is Power" That's such bull crap I want to puke. Knowledge is not power.

Knowledge = Potential Power
Knowledge + Action = Power

Yet, no one will teach you anything about how to put things into Action. Institutions fail to teach students how to organize their knowledge and build a plan towards a definite goal. The missing link to creating Power and Financial freedom is putting your acquired knowledge into action and striving non stop towards a concrete end.

An educated man is not someone who has a huge amount of knowledge but one who has developed parts of his mind to the point where he may acquire anything he wants or it's equivalent without violating the rights of others.

The Daffodil Principle

noreply@blogger.com (tradeswing) — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 19:18:00 +0000

When I finished reading this story it reminded me of something. How do you eat an elephant?....One Bite at a Time.

Several times my daughter, Julie, had telephoned to say, "Mom, you must come see the daffodils before they are over." I wanted to go, but it was a two-hour drive from my place by the beach to her lakeside mountain home.

"I will come next Tuesday," I promised, a little reluctantly, on her third call. The next Tuesday dawned cold and rainy. Still, I had promised, and so I got in the car and began the long, tedious drive.

When I finally walked into Julie's house and hugged and greeted my grandchildren, I said, "Forget the daffodils, Julie! The road is invisible in the clouds and fog, and there is nothing in the world except you and the children that I want to see bad enough to drive another inch!"

My daughter smiled calmly, "We drive in this all the time, Mom."

"Well, you won't get me back on the road until it clears and then I'm heading straight for home!" I said, rather emphatically.

"Gee, Mom, I was hoping you'd take me over to the garage to pick up my car," Julie said with a forlorn look in her eyes.

"How far will we have to drive?"

Smiling she answered, "Just a few blocks, I'll drive ... I'm used to this."

After several minutes on the cold, foggy road, I had to ask "Where are we going? This isn't the way to the garage!"

"We're going to the garage the long way," Julie smiled, "by way of the daffodils."

"Julie," I said sternly, "please turn around."

"It's all right, Mom, I promise, you will never forgive yourself if you miss this experience."

After about twenty minutes we turned onto a small gravel road and I saw a small church. On the far side of the church I saw a hand-lettered sign ...

"Daffodil Garden"

We got out of the car and each took a child's hand, and I followed Julie down the path. As we turned a corner of the path, and I looked up and gasped.

Before me lay the most glorious sight. It looked as though someone had taken a great vat of gold and poured it down over the mountain peak and slopes. The flowers were planted in majestic, swirling patterns, great ribbons and swaths of deep orange, white, lemon yellow, salmon pink, saffron, and butter yellow. Each different-colored variety was planted as a group so that it swirled and flowed like its own river with its own unique hue.

Five acres of the most beautiful flowers I had ever seen!

"Who planted all these?" I asked Julie.

"It's just one woman," Julie answered, "She lives on the property. That's her home," and she pointed to a well-kept A-frame house that looked small and modest in the midst of all that glory.

We walked up to the house and on the little patio we saw a poster ...

Answers to the Questions I Know You Are Asking

50,000 bulbs
one at a time
by one woman
2 hands, 2 feet
and very little brain
Began in 1958

There it was ... "The Daffodil Principle"

For me that moment was a life-changing experience. I thought of this woman whom I had never met, who, more than thirty-five years before, had begun - one bulb at a time - to bring her vision of beauty and joy to an obscure mountain top.

Still, this unknown, old woman had forever changed the world in which she lived. She had created something of magnificent beauty, and inspiration.

The principle her daffodil garden taught is one of the greatest principles of celebration:

learning to move toward our goals and desires one step at a time, (often just one baby-step at a time)
learning to love the doing,
learning to use the accumulation of time

When we multiply tiny pieces of time with small increments of daily effort, we too will find we can accomplish magnificent things. We can change the world.

"It makes me sad in a way," I admitted to Julie, "What might I have accomplished if I had thought of a wonderful goal thirty-five years ago and had worked away at it 'one bulb at a time' through all those years. Just think what I might have been able to achieve!"

My daughter summed up the message of the day in her direct way, "Start tomorrow, Mom," she said, "It's so pointless to think of the lost hours of our yesterdays. The way to make learning a lesson a celebration instead of a cause for regret is to only ask ... "

"How can I put this to use today?"

~~~

Jaroldeen Asplund Edwards, Author

COINW- What a Roller Coaster!

noreply@blogger.com (tradeswing) — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 16:51:00 +0000

Man, after that trade, I had to go for a run. I just got back running a bunch of stairs over looking a huge cliff here in Newport. I run there a lot to reflect on my goals and what I'm doing.

Well, I got entered COINW at 6.62 It immediately started declining and at one point I was down about 15% I think. When that happened I basically said "screw it" and didn't really care anymore what happened. Then the QQQQ's started declining pretty rapidly and I that just reinforced me not caring.

Right after the price started stalling and not moving anymore, it slowly inched it's way higher and all of a sudden I see an order for 15k shares come in and that started driving the price straight up. Of course, the moment I see a profit I take it and I sold at 6.77

My exit strategy for taking profit is simple but I have a hard time following it. When the bottom of the most recent candle gaps up above the 7 EMA, take profits.

In retrospect I got out way too early. It ended up shooting to around 7.50 but I'm happy I didn't end the day down huge, lol.

The Holy Grail of Trading

noreply@blogger.com (tradeswing) — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 18:15:00 +0000

Do you want to make money from the markets? Consistently? I'd suggest forgetting everything you know about the market. The more you know about the stock market the worse off you are. The majority of people when they first start out trading think it's necessary to know everything about it because the market seems so complex. The markets are complex only if you make them out to be. Trading is actually very simple but what makes it so hard is human nature, not the market.

Lack of confidence, second guessing, fear of losing money, being greedy and selling when you can, not when you're forced too all are human emotions and those qualities are the reasons it's so hard to trade. It's not the market, it's you. The holy grail of trading is inside you, not in some technical indicator, a newsletter or some book. Understanding why people make the decisions they do under pressure and being able to read emotion from a chart, is one step closer to the only thing you really need to know. Emotion and perception about what people believe the prices should be are the driving forces of the market.

I'm telling you, technical indicators all pretty much same. It's the same regurgitated bull crap derived from volume and price. It only tells you where the price has been, none of them tell you where it will end up. If an indicator did tell you where the price is going to end up, exactly and all the time, that indicator won't work very long because everyone will jump on the bandwagon and destroy that particular indicator because everyone is expecting the same thing. At that point it'll be a great contrarian indicator.

Plus, the more technical garbage you have on your chart, the more likely paralysis by analysis will spring up while you're debating whether to sell or buy. You have so much going on you start second guessing yourself because one indicator might be conflicting with another. Soon enough, you sit there doing nothing while the stock is declining. Having a game plan before entering a trade is so crucial because it prevents what I just mentioned. The game plan you create will include: when to get in, when to get out if it goes against you, when to get out if you goes in your favor. Knowing these before hand, I guarantee will take the fear and psychological load off you while in the middle of a trade.

Trading is about probabilities, the odds of something happening with the provided information. Creating a strategy you develop yourself or buying one if you have the discipline to follow it are ways to help push the odds in your favor. But, the hard part is following the strategy exactly. Following directions seems to be something people don't know how to do. Someone will buy a strategy, put on a few trades and they all end up being losers's so they completely scrap that strategy and find one that works. WRONG! You can't have 100% winners, it just doesn't work like that. You will have losers. Any strategy that doesn't produce losers, I'd be very afraid of.

Another emotional barrier you need to get past is admitting your wrong while you're in the moment of a losing trade. This is something I have trouble with sometimes. Why? Because I think the stock will go back up. Horrible...the fact that the stock is declining is more than enough reason to sell it for the loss you have and move on. When you buy a stock, I'm sure you're expecting it to move in your favor. Why would you hold on to it if it's not doing what you intended it to do? Stocks will go against you, it's the nature of the beast. Again, why is this so hard to do? Emotion. We get so wrapped up in wanting to make money now that we won't sell it and hope it goes back up so we can say we "won".

Trading is something of an art. It's not something you can go to school for, learn and then start making money right after school. It takes time, a lot of patience, and passion to keep you driven to understand the language of the market. Which is why I think the market is similar to reading music.

To a musician, he/she can read the musical notes and tell if this is a master piece or work done by a 5th grader (not knocking any genius 5th graders or anything but I'm sure you get my point). To the untrained and undisciplined person, that sheet of music looks like a bunch of mumbled up squiggly garbage. But anyone can learn to read music. Same idea apply's to trading. An uninformed person looking at a chart has no idea what's going on and wonders how anyone can consistently make money at this. But the to trader who understands emotion and can relate that idea with the chart of a particular stock, he can read whether he'll buy it or sell it or even walk away from the trade. He can read the probabilities and decide whether to pounce or not.

It's about only putting on trades where the probabilities are slanted in your favor. Trade these setups over and over, while cutting any losses that might result from a good trade turning into a loser, and taking profits that result from your trade, is the holy grail to trading. Keeping it simple is the best way to go.

Below are a few books that I've read and highly recommend everyone to read to help them on their journey. Go to amazon and read the reviews.

Trade With Passion and Purpose by Mark Whistler
Market Wizards by Jack Schwager
Inside the Investors Brain by Richard Peterson
Trading in the Zone by Mark Douglas

Non Trading Books

Richest Man in Babylon by George S. Clason
Think and Grow Rich by Napolean Hill (love this book)
Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki (of course everyone needs this on their book shelf)

If You Think You Can

noreply@blogger.com (tradeswing) — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 03:31:00 +0000

If you think you are beaten, you are

If you think you dare not, you don't

If you like to win, but think you can't

It is almost certain you won't

For out in the world we find,

Success begins with a fellows will,

It's all in a state of mind

If you think you are outclassed, you are

You've got to think high to rise

You've got to be sure of yourself,

before you ever win a prize

Life's battles don't always go,

to the stronger or faster man,

But soon or late the man who wins

IS THE MAN WHO THINKS HE CAN

I have this poem taped up on the side of my monitor and I read it when I feel down and bummed out. It puts perspective back into my vision. Unfortunately, I don't know who it's by. I found it in a book I read a long time ago.