Tim calls his new site the TripAdvisor of financial products, and I think that is a perfect analogy. The site currently covers a vast array of categories including brokers, newsletters, dvds, books, websites, blogs, and even software. And like TripAdvisor, the site relies on its community to submit quality reviews for all the products (read TechCrunch’s take).

The Investimonials community will be the core of the site, and without it Tim will have a tough time creating a solid brand. What Tim has though are the many dedicated readers from his penny stocks site at timothysykes.com which I am sure will help him build up reviews quickly.

Overall I am a fan of Tim and Adarsh’s work and think the Investimonials site has a lot of potential. Thesy are both extremely hard workers and always deliver quality work. Visit Investimonials.com, create a profile, bookmark the site, submit a few reviews, and overall just get involved. Heck, write us up our first review and get STTG rated would ya? Thanks in advance!

Below I have the scoop on two of Sean’s most recent successes which were both shorts. After reading up on the trades please feel free to email us and start a free one week trial run of the Premium service (three total reports)!

Whole Foods Market (WFMI)

Although most of the short sales in EPIC Insights are based on technical analysis, Sean also uses fundamental factors to influence his decisions. His recent short of Whole Foods Market (WFMI) is a prime example.

A purveyor of high-end groceries, WFMI appeared to be a company that would be hurt by an uneven economic recovery as consumers decided that frugality trumps luxury. In the November 1st newsletter, Sean argued that investors were overly optimistic about the company’s future. Then trading at a P/E of 36, Sean recommended a short position in WFMI heading into earnings.

After the company posted strong numbers but a weak outlook the stock’s shares fell over 15% in one day then proceeded to slip thereafter. This past Sunday Sean recommended covering this short position and walking away, netting subscribers over 20% in returns.

Goldman Sachs (GS)

After Goldman Sachs (GS) reported third-quarter earnings, the stock traded in what Sean called an erratic manner which ended up creating an island reversal (black circle). This bearish pattern coupled with overvalued fundamentals lead Sean advising subscribers short on October 26th near $180.

After increasing the position size around $175, GS continued to trend downwards. By the end of November the stock had reached Sean’s initial price target of $165 (red box) leading Sean to recommending readers cover their short positions in this past Sunday’s Newsletter. The result? A nice 8% return in just over one month.

Start a Free Weekly Trial Run of EPIC Insights Premium

Ready to gain free access to Sean Hannon and the EPIC Insights Premium service? Read more about Sean’s three weekly reports then simply email us to start your free week.

All you need is an email address to take advantage of the one week trial so take advantage and see for yourself how EPIC Insights Premium delivers quality market analysis and powerful returns. See you there!

(Disclosure: Sean Hannon and Blain Reinkensmeyer are partners in the EPIC Insights Premium service.)

If so you need to read the list below which consists of the 10 best ETFs based on overall return from the last month. Note: ETFs must trade atleast 50,000 shares per day to be included.

Top 10 ETFs For December 2009

1. Market Vectors: Gold Miners, Symbol GDX, up 15.71%
2. ProShares: Ultra Basic Materials, Symbol UYM, up 12.33%
3. IShares: Comex Gold Trust, Symbol IAU, up 12.17%
4. Spider Gold Trust, Symbol GLD, up 12.08%
5. Powershares DB Precious Metals, Symbol DBP, up 11.55%
6. Ishares Silver Trust, Symbol SLV, up 10.06%
7. E T F S Silver Trust, Symbol SIVR, up 10.06%
8. Powershares DB Silver, Symbol DBS, up 9.82%
9. Market Vectors Steel, Symbol SLX, up 9.60%
10. Proshares: Ultra Industrials, Symbol UXI, up 9.50%

Pretty noticeable to see that the majority of ETFs are Gold and Silver related. These precious commodities have jumped in value which means individual stocks within the group are also on the run. We highlighted 7 great gold stocks recently so check them out.

Research with Morningstar

To research these funds we recommend utilizing Morningstar Premium which provides fund rankings, holdings breakdowns, sector analysis, fee information, and more!

Further Reading ETFs:

• Best Online Brokers for trading ETFs
• 40 Great Inverse ETFs For Bearish Investors
• 24 Great Ultra Long ETFs For Bullish Investors
• Currency ETFs
• Water ETFs
• Alternative Energy ETFs
  
• US Treasury ETFs
• US Dollar ETFs

Upon visiting the new OptionsXpress landing page, you are greeted by a guy named TED. There is some soothing background music and he talks to you about options, and well of course OptionsXpress.

The cool apart about TED chatting with you is that he asks you questions and responds as if you were having an actual conversation. Even better is the fact that he doesn’t sound like a ridiculous robot, “yes *pause* sir *pause*, thank *pause* you.”

After a quick question, “Have you traded options before?” I answered “Not Really” and proceeded. Later I said I was not to savvy with options and so TED gave me some education “OptionsXpress style”. Nice. A full run through was roughly 5 minutes, but it can be as short as 10 seconds if you simply click the button at the bottom to open a free account.

You can view more screenshots of the interactive landing page at our sister site TradeWiser.com, the source for comparing online stock brokers. Otherwise head over and check out the landing page for yourself.

Jesse Livermore, one of the best traders of all time, and John Paulson, one of the best traders of the last few years, both have a set of rules they follow religiously. Their success serves as your opportunity to expand your investment savviness.

Below are the rules of both Livermore and Paulson alongside a bit more background information on who they are (hat top Minyanville and Wsj).

Jesse Livermore

Jesse Livermore, one of the greatest investors of all time, has been featured in many investment books. The most popular was Reminiscences of a Stock Operator by Edwin Lefevre in 1923. During the course of his life he made and lost millions, going broke several times before committing suicide in 1940. These are his seven greatest trading lessons:

1. Cut your losses quickly.
2. Confirm your judgments before going all in.
3. Watch leading stocks for the best action.
4. Let profits ride until price action dictates otherwise.
5. Buy all-time new highs.
6. Use pivot points to determine trends.
7. Control your emotions.

For those investors wondering if they are emotional, we suggest reading out post 50 Ways You Know You Are An Emotional Investor.

John Paulson

John Paulson, a hedge-fund manager in New York, lead his firm to make $20 billion in profits between 2007 and early 2009. By betting heavily against first the housing market and then later financial stocks, his firm made a killing. Paulson’s success netted him a paycheck of some $4 billion, or more than $10 million a day. His funds during this time had returns of several hundred percent. These are his eight investing lessons:

1. Don’t rely on experts, be skeptical.
2. Always have an exit strategy.
3. Debt markets can do a better job predicting problems than stock markets.
4. Always educate yourself on new investment vehicles.
5. Don’t underestimate insurance (such as put options).
6. Experience counts.
7. Don’t fall in love with any single investment, keep emotions aside.
8. Don’t risk too much on any single trade, diversify risk.

By applying any of the above fifteen lessons you can take your investing game to a new level and become a better trader. Success takes time, and these rules will lead you in the right direction.

For further reading take a look through our stock education archives which houses more than 100 articles on a variety of investment topics.

As of yesterday’s Sunday report the EPIC Insights service has returned investors 27.4%. The S&P 500 over the same period has only returned 12.9%, not even half of the success of EPIC Insights.

Some of the highlight trades made by Sean between October 15th and November 15th are shared below. To view a demo issue of the Sunday newsletter click here.

Long gold/short oil – By late October, oil had been moving steadily higher and outperforming other commodities. Noting that the long-term relationship between oil and gold requires 15.7 barrels of oil to purchase one ounce of gold, the ratio of 13.3 led Sean to recommend shorting oil and buying gold in the October 25th newsletter. Since then, oil has declined slightly from $80 and gold has rallied from $1,038 to nearly $1,140, delivering subscribers impressive returns.

Short Whole Foods (WFMI) – Believing high-end retailers were likely to be hit by the combination of slowing sales and excessive valuations, Sean recommended shorting WFMI in the November 1st newsletter. When the company offered disappointing guidance a few days later subscribers saw the trade gain 15% in less than two weeks.

Short Goldman Sachs (GS) – Also in the October 25th newsletter, Sean noted a strong downtrend in the shares of that was triggered from an island reversal after GS reported earnings. Looking to profit, he recommended shorting the shares near $180 as compared to its current price around $177.

Buy Arkansas Best (ABFS) – In the November 8th newsletter Sean saw the shares of ABFS extremely undervalued and decided to buy them. Now one week later, this stock has already advanced some 8% for subscribers.

To learn more about the EPIC Insights premium please visit our website, www.epicinsights.com. Take advantage of the 30-day money back guarantee and start a monthly subscription for only $15. See you there!

Over the last two months these stocks have outperformed the market in demanding fashion. Since mid October NFLX is up 20%, AMZN is up 45%, and PCLN is up 18%.

Out of the three momentum traders will find PCLN to be in the best position to start next week off strong. It has created a beautiful bull flag. Investors looking to get in should target $204 as a good entry point. All three stock charts are below:

The only enemy for these high fliers may be the overall market. Even though the major indices have had no problem marching back up to October highs, they have done so on little volume. If the market were to roll over, the downside pressure could end the party.

While investors such as myself have retreated to cash in expectation of a market sell off, those investors still in the game could find some easy money with Netflix, Amazon, and Priceline. Buy into strength, keep the stops tight, and don’t risk what you’ll cry over losing.

With that said, if you’ll excuse me I have a flight to book, a movie to rent, and some online shopping to do. Have a great weekend!

The fundamental investor will tell you no, but the investor who feels that hyper inflation is just around the corner will most certainly answer yes.

Theories aside, the fact is that gold stocks are on the rise and you have to decide whether or not you want your portfolio involved in the bullish price action. A quick glimpse of the Spider Gold Trust (GLD) offers a good look at the recent price movement.

My point of interest is the channel highlighted in green which has been formed by a series of higher highs made since the beginning of September. The trend is your friend, and until it is broken it can easily be supported.

Benefiting from this trend are all gold etfs and stocks (mining, explorations, production, etc.).  Two stocks I personally have been watching include both Randgold Resources (GOLD) and Buenaventura (BVN). Their charts lie below.

While GOLD has been subject to intense and quick price swings while building its horizontal base BVN has experienced more one way action. Between the two I like BVN simply because of its consistency and defined support.

Three other gold stocks to consider include Iamgold (IAG), Northgate Minerals (NXG), and Eldorado Gold (EGO). Investors Business Daily currently ranks IAG as #1 amongst its peers and its 30.8% move in the last five trading sessions affirms this leadership.

And lastly for those investors who want to play the bigger trend there are the gold etfs. The Spider Gold Trust (GLD) which we featured above alongside the Market Vectors Gold Miners (GDX) are the two most popular and widely traded.

Personally I am skeptical of joining in on the gold rush because I believe that the market has topped. While there are a lot of signs that gold will move higher from here, short term I feel that a market downturn will take down gold. Thus, I cannot classify myself as either a gold hater (bearish) nor a gold player (bullish). Perhaps I am a gold mediator (neutral). Yeah, that sounds good.