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	<description>Guaranteed to change your life, or your money back!</description>
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		<title>Hey New Yorkers, Do Yourself A Favor….</title>
		<link>http://bclund.com/2012/02/22/hey-new-yorkers-do-yourself-a-favor/</link>
		<comments>http://bclund.com/2012/02/22/hey-new-yorkers-do-yourself-a-favor/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 23 Feb 2012 06:08:51 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>bclund</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[General Ramblings]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Day Trading]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Stock Market]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Stock Trading]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://bclund.com/?p=5544</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[As I have mentioned in the past, I am not a fan of Los Angeles.  I have to be there during the week for work, but it almost takes an Act of Congress to get me up there on the weekend. However last Saturday I made the trek from &#8220;The OC&#8221; up to LA in &#8230; <a class="more-link" href="http://bclund.com/2012/02/22/hey-new-yorkers-do-yourself-a-favor/">Keep&#160;reading&#160;<span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a>]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>As I have mentioned in the past, I am not a fan of Los Angeles.  I have to be there during the week for work, but it almost takes an Act of Congress to get me up there on the weekend. However last Saturday I made the trek from &#8220;The OC&#8221; up to LA in order to attend Joe Fahmy&#8217;s <a href="http://tradingbigwinners.com/">Trading Big Winners</a> seminar, and I have to say, it was well worth the trip.</p>
<p>Those of you who have played sports may be familiar with the phrase &#8220;leave it all out on the field.&#8221;  It means that when you are done playing, you have nothing left to give because you gave your all; and that is what Joe did, he gave us everything he had in that seminar.</p>
<p>For over 9.5 hours Joe explained in detail his methodology for finding and trading these winners, including going through tons of charts, step-by-step, and answering all questions.</p>
<p>It was a great day.  I got to meet a number of traders including StockTwits own <a href="http://stocktwits.com/ivanhoff">@ivanhoff</a> (who reviewed the day in his <a href="http://ivanhoff.com/2012/02/20/7-things-i-learned-from-joe-fahmys-trading-big-winners-seminar/">&#8220;7 Things I Learned from Joe Fahmy&#8217;s Trading Big Winners Seminar&#8221;</a>),  and I can highly recommend it to anybody that is thinking about attending his New York City seminar on March 3rd.</p>
<p>Do yourself a favor and check it out!</p>
<p><strong><a href="http://tradingbigwinners.com/">Joe Fahmy&#8217;s Trading Big Winners Seminar In New York City.</a></strong></p>
<p>Subscribe to bclund.com <strong><a href="http://feedburner.google.com/fb/a/mailverify?uri=bclund&amp;loc=en_US">Via E-mail</a></strong> or <strong><a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/bclund">Via RSS</a></strong></p>
<p><em>(Note: If you are new to my blog, I post about all sorts of things.  Sometimes it involves something extremely personal, like <a href="http://bclund.com/2011/10/28/how-2008-scarred-my-trading-intra-uterine-insemination-and-why-gary-numan-is-the-ideal-trader/">creating a 30K baby</a> or my <a href="http://bclund.com/2011/11/10/the-5-monster-trades-of-my-life-2/">Monster Trades</a>.  Other times it deals with <a href="http://bclund.com/2011/10/19/should-you-care-how-many-followers-someone-has-on-twitter-and-stocktwits/">hot ex-porn stars who trade stocks</a>.  And sometimes it&#8217;s about <a href="http://bclund.com/2011/11/30/avoiding-the-suicide-trade-at-all-costs/">how to avoid &#8220;suicide&#8221;</a>.  But a good place to start is <a href="http://bclund.com/the-best-of-bclund/">The Best of bclund</a>.  If you like what you read, please tell a friend.  If you don&#8217;t, please tell two friends.)</em></p>
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		<title>Come On, You Know You Want To: How To Short Stocks.</title>
		<link>http://bclund.com/2012/02/22/come-on-you-know-you-want-to-how-to-short-stocks/</link>
		<comments>http://bclund.com/2012/02/22/come-on-you-know-you-want-to-how-to-short-stocks/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 22 Feb 2012 12:30:41 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>bclund</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Education]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Trading]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[AAPL]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Day Trading]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[How To Short Stocks]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[NFLX]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Short Selling]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Stock Market]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://bclund.com/?p=5523</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Today&#8217;s guest post is by Henry Brookins.  Henry is a former hedge fund manager with 18 years of trading experience.  He is a graduate of the US Naval Academy and holds a dual Masters of Science degree in Meteorology and Physical Oceanography.  He is the founder of Stocklooker. Shorting stocks is a higher risk game right &#8230; <a class="more-link" href="http://bclund.com/2012/02/22/come-on-you-know-you-want-to-how-to-short-stocks/">Keep&#160;reading&#160;<span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a>]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><em>Today&#8217;s guest post is by Henry Brookins.  Henry is a former hedge fund manager with 18 years of trading experience.  He is a graduate of the US Naval Academy and holds a dual Masters of Science degree in Meteorology and Physical Oceanography.  He is the founder of <strong><a href="http://stocklooker.com/">Stocklooker</a></strong>.</em></p>
<p>Shorting stocks is a higher risk game right now, especially when you consider that the Government and Federal Reserve (private bankers) are trying to prop the stock markets up during this election year.  So right off the bat, the odds are against you if you are shorting in the near-term.</p>
<p>Additionally, from a historical perspective, the stock market has trended higher for over 200 years, and the average period of a Bull Market is 3.5 years while the average length of a Bear Market is 1.5 years. Again, on a longer-term basis, the odds are against you if you are shorting.</p>
<p>Furthermore, when you short a stock, because a stock price can go to infinity, you can lose all of your money. But if you short a stock and it falls and you are making money, the amount you make is finite, or limited, because when the stock price goes to $0 that’s it….</p>
<p>Finally, the Government and Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) can change the rules of the stock market with a stroke of the pen.</p>
<p>In 2008, the markets were falling and the SEC ruled against short selling financial institutions and other significant companies….so you can be making money “shorting” and overnight have your butt handed to you because the “Powers That Be” decided you are un-American by making profit off of the &#8220;misfortunes&#8221; of others.  (By the way, Investment Banks were allowed to short all stocks – because they own the rule makers).</p>
<p>And  have you ever heard of the SEC halting “buying a stock” because it was going up too fast? Nope. Again, the field of buying long and selling short is tilted in favor of buying long.</p>
<p><strong>SHORT SELLERS BEWARE&#8230;!!!</strong></p>
<p>That being said, when I am going to short a stock, this is what I look for:</p>
<ol>
<li>The overall stock market is overbought, in a trading range, or trending down, not breaking out or oversold, and</li>
<li>The stock I am shorting&#8211;its industry is in a downtrend, and</li>
<li>The stock I am shorting has entered a downtrend itself.</li>
</ol>
<p>What time frame am I talking about for each? It doesn’t matter, just make sure if you are a short-term trader that the short-term trends are down, and if you are longer-term the longer-term trends are down (determining trends is another topic).</p>
<p>I look for certain chart patterns (and these apply on any timeframe). I want to see the stock first move in a “false” direction, breaking out to the upside, then reverse and hit a new low for the day, then when it tries to bounce back and rally towards that daily high, I enter the short position as it approached that high and place a stop from .01 to .20 cents above that day’s high price.</p>
<p>The first example is <a href="http://stocktwits.com/symbol/AAPL" class="ticker" target="_blank"><span>$</span>AAPL</a></p>
<p><a href="http://bclund.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/image001.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-5528" title="image001" src="http://bclund.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/image001.jpg" alt="" width="574" height="507" /></a></p>
<p>The next example is <a href="http://stocktwits.com/symbol/NFLX" class="ticker" target="_blank"><span>$</span>NFLX</a></p>
<p><a href="http://bclund.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/short-pattern2.png"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-5530" title="short pattern2" src="http://bclund.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/short-pattern2.png" alt="" width="545" height="411" /></a></p>
<p>Right now as the DOW is hitting multi-year highs the idea of short selling may be the last thing on a traders mind.  That is especially true these days when you can “buy long” an Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) that shorts an industry or market – and thus you don’t ever have to learn shorting techniques. There are advantages and disadvantages to buying short-side ETF’s, but that’s also a topic for another day.</p>
<p>Short selling is one of the hardest things to do in trading and no matter how you try to quantify it, it still is more of an art than a science.  With that said, in times of a down-trending stock or market, it is nice to have this tool in your arsenal and be able to make money with it instead of sitting in a losing long position or in cash.</p>
<p><strong><a href="http://stocktwits.com/stocklooker">Follow Henry On StockTwits.</a></strong></p>
<p>Subscribe to bclund.com <strong><a href="http://feedburner.google.com/fb/a/mailverify?uri=bclund&amp;loc=en_US">Via E-mail</a></strong> or <strong><a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/bclund">Via RSS</a></strong></p>
<p><em>(Note: If you are new to my blog, I post about all sorts of things.  Sometimes it involves something extremely personal, like <a href="http://bclund.com/2011/10/28/how-2008-scarred-my-trading-intra-uterine-insemination-and-why-gary-numan-is-the-ideal-trader/">creating a 30K baby</a> or my <a href="http://bclund.com/2011/11/10/the-5-monster-trades-of-my-life-2/">Monster Trades</a>.  Other times it deals with <a href="http://bclund.com/2011/10/19/should-you-care-how-many-followers-someone-has-on-twitter-and-stocktwits/">hot ex-porn stars who trade stocks</a>.  And sometimes it&#8217;s about <a href="http://bclund.com/2011/11/30/avoiding-the-suicide-trade-at-all-costs/">how to avoid &#8220;suicide&#8221;</a>.  But a good place to start is <a href="http://bclund.com/the-best-of-bclund/">The Best of bclund</a>.  If you like what you read, please tell a friend.  If you don&#8217;t, please tell two friends.)</em></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
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		<title>The Market Is Not Closed For President’s Day.</title>
		<link>http://bclund.com/2012/02/19/the-market-is-not-closed-for-presidents-day-2/</link>
		<comments>http://bclund.com/2012/02/19/the-market-is-not-closed-for-presidents-day-2/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 20 Feb 2012 07:32:49 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>bclund</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[General Ramblings]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Just for fun]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[George W. Bush]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Jimmy Carter]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[President's Day]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://bclund.com/?p=5506</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The stock market has been closed for a number of reasons since its inception, some that you may feel are valid and some that you may feel are not.  They include: The centennial celebration of Washington&#8217;s inauguration The death of Queen Victoria, King Edward VII, and King George V. The death of J.P. Morgan. Draft Registration &#8230; <a class="more-link" href="http://bclund.com/2012/02/19/the-market-is-not-closed-for-presidents-day-2/">Keep&#160;reading&#160;<span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a>]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>The stock market has been closed for a number of reasons since its inception, some that you may feel are valid and some that you may feel are not.  They include:</p>
<ul>
<li>The centennial celebration of Washington&#8217;s inauguration</li>
<li>The death of Queen Victoria, King Edward VII, and King George V.</li>
<li>The death of J.P. Morgan.</li>
<li>Draft Registration Day.</li>
<li>No heat on the trading floor.</li>
<li>The return of General Pershing.</li>
<li>Parades for both Charles Lindbergh and General Eisenhower.</li>
<li>National Day of Mourning for Martin Luther King.</li>
<li>The &#8220;Paperwork Crisis&#8221; of 1968.</li>
<li>Heavy snow.</li>
<li>National Day of Participation for the lunar exploration.</li>
<li>Hurricane Gloria.</li>
<li>9-11 (multiple days).</li>
</ul>
<p>The markets have also been closed for a National Day of Mourning for the funeral of every president up to Gerald Ford&#8217;s in 2007.</p>
<p>Today some people think that the markets are closed for a holiday called &#8220;President&#8217;s Day,&#8221; but that is not the case.  In fact, according to the NYSE&#8217;s own site, it is closed for Washington&#8217;s birthday:</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><em>Washington&#8217;s Birthday was first declared a federal holiday by an 1879 act of Congress. The Monday Holiday Law, enacted in 1968, shifted the date of the commemoration of Washington&#8217;s Birthday from February 22 to the third Monday in February, but neither that law nor any subsequent law changed the name of the holiday from Washington&#8217;s Birthday to President&#8217;s Day. Although the third Monday in February has become popularly known as President&#8217;s Day, the NYSE&#8217;s designation of Washington&#8217;s Birthday as an Exchange holiday (Rule 51) follows the form of the federal holiday outlined above (section 6103(a) of title 5 of the United States Code).</em></p>
<p>When I was in was in school we had Lincoln&#8217;s and Washington&#8217;s birthday&#8217;s off as separate holidays.  Then somewhere along the line Lincoln&#8217;s got dropped and Washington&#8217;s mutated into this amorphous, beige-paint type holiday called President&#8217;s Day.</p>
<p>When Abe and George&#8217;s birthday&#8217;s were both still around there were TV specials, memorials, and school plays where you could actually learn something about the life and times of the two greatest presidents in American history.  There was some meaning to those two holidays and some significance past just being a three-day weekend and an excuse for department stores to have a sale.</p>
<p>I mean what sort of bullshit holiday is President&#8217;s Day anyway?  Who are we honoring, both Lincoln and Washington?  Are we honoring all the presidents?  If that is the case then I am sure there are a lot of people whose heads will explode when you tell them they are honoring George W. Bush or Jimmy Carter today.</p>
<p>And I for one will tell you that there is no way in the world that I will honor in any way, shape, or form that bastard Franklin Pierce.</p>
<p>Some will try to indulge in revisionist history and say that we are honoring the &#8220;Office of the President&#8221; today, but don&#8217;t even try that crap on me because it doesn&#8217;t even make sense.  I once broke up with a girlfriend who tried to pedal that BS to me, and she was a stripper.</p>
<p>The whole concept of a generic President&#8217;s Day just seems so politically correct to me, like when they do away with first place awards in children&#8217;s sports and just give everybody &#8220;participation&#8221; trophies.  I don&#8217;t want my Hoover&#8217;s, Nixon&#8217;s, and Clinton&#8217;s mixed in with my Roosevelt&#8217;s, Truman&#8217;s, and Reagan&#8217;s.  One of the keys to the American ideal is identifying exceptionalism, and that should apply most when honoring the leaders of our country.</p>
<p>So tomorrow, after you have bought a new pair of shoes in honor of William Howard Taft or grilled some steaks while thinking of Rutherford B. Hayes, take a few minutes out of your day and email you representative and tell them you want them to get rid of this communist based President&#8217;s Day holiday.  Tell them you want a return to presidential holidays that mean something, and while they are at it, tell them to bring back Columbus Day as well.</p>
<p>Subscribe to bclund.com <strong><a href="http://feedburner.google.com/fb/a/mailverify?uri=bclund&amp;loc=en_US">Via E-mail</a></strong> or <strong><a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/bclund">Via RSS</a></strong></p>
<p><em>(Note: If you are new to my blog, I post about all sorts of things.  Sometimes it involves something extremely personal, like <a href="http://bclund.com/2011/10/28/how-2008-scarred-my-trading-intra-uterine-insemination-and-why-gary-numan-is-the-ideal-trader/">creating a 30K baby</a> or my <a href="http://bclund.com/2011/11/10/the-5-monster-trades-of-my-life-2/">Monster Trades</a>.  Other times it deals with <a href="http://bclund.com/2011/10/19/should-you-care-how-many-followers-someone-has-on-twitter-and-stocktwits/">hot ex-porn stars who trade stocks</a>.  And sometimes it&#8217;s about <a href="http://bclund.com/2011/11/30/avoiding-the-suicide-trade-at-all-costs/">how to avoid &#8220;suicide&#8221;</a>.  But a good place to start is <a href="http://bclund.com/the-best-of-bclund/">The Best of bclund</a>.  If you like what you read, please tell a friend.  If you don&#8217;t, please tell two friends.)</em></p>
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		<title>Deconstructing A Trade: Finding The Exit.</title>
		<link>http://bclund.com/2012/02/18/deconstructing-a-trade-finding-the-exits/</link>
		<comments>http://bclund.com/2012/02/18/deconstructing-a-trade-finding-the-exits/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 18 Feb 2012 13:58:14 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>bclund</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Deconstructing A Trade]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Trading]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Day Trading]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Stock Market]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Stock Trading]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://bclund.com/?p=5428</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[(When video starts enlarge to watch in HD) Subscribe to bclund.com Via E-mail or Via RSS (Note: If you are new to my blog, I post about all sorts of things.  Sometimes it involves something extremely personal, like creating a 30K baby or my Monster Trades.  Other times it deals with hot ex-porn stars who trade stocks.  And sometimes it&#8217;s about how to &#8230; <a class="more-link" href="http://bclund.com/2012/02/18/deconstructing-a-trade-finding-the-exits/">Keep&#160;reading&#160;<span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a>]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><em>(When video starts enlarge to watch in HD)</em></p>
<p><iframe src="http://www.screenr.com/embed/U0ys" frameborder="0" width="550" height="396"></iframe></p>
<p>Subscribe to bclund.com <strong><a href="http://feedburner.google.com/fb/a/mailverify?uri=bclund&amp;loc=en_US">Via E-mail</a></strong> or <strong><a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/bclund">Via RSS</a></strong></p>
<p><em>(Note: If you are new to my blog, I post about all sorts of things.  Sometimes it involves something extremely personal, like <a href="http://bclund.com/2011/10/28/how-2008-scarred-my-trading-intra-uterine-insemination-and-why-gary-numan-is-the-ideal-trader/">creating a 30K baby</a> or my <a href="http://bclund.com/2011/11/10/the-5-monster-trades-of-my-life-2/">Monster Trades</a>.  Other times it deals with <a href="http://bclund.com/2011/10/19/should-you-care-how-many-followers-someone-has-on-twitter-and-stocktwits/">hot ex-porn stars who trade stocks</a>.  And sometimes it&#8217;s about <a href="http://bclund.com/2011/11/30/avoiding-the-suicide-trade-at-all-costs/">how to avoid &#8220;suicide&#8221;</a>.  But a good place to start is <a href="http://bclund.com/the-best-of-bclund/">The Best of bclund</a>.  If you like what you read, please tell a friend.  If you don&#8217;t, please tell two friends.)</em></p>
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		<title>A Perfect Compliment For Your Bacon Milkshake.</title>
		<link>http://bclund.com/2012/02/17/a-perfect-compliment-for-your-bacon-milkshake/</link>
		<comments>http://bclund.com/2012/02/17/a-perfect-compliment-for-your-bacon-milkshake/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 17 Feb 2012 18:01:40 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>bclund</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Just for fun]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Bacon Milkshake]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Doritos Taco]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://bclund.com/?p=5411</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I&#8230;ah&#8230;.umm&#8230;..just don&#8217;t have the words for this. In Case You Missed It &#8211; The Bacon Milkshake. Subscribe to bclund.com Via E-mail or Via RSS (Note: If you are new to my blog, I post about all sorts of things.  Sometimes it involves something extremely personal, like creating a 30K baby or my Monster Trades.  Other times it deals with hot ex-porn stars &#8230; <a class="more-link" href="http://bclund.com/2012/02/17/a-perfect-compliment-for-your-bacon-milkshake/">Keep&#160;reading&#160;<span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a>]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I&#8230;ah&#8230;.umm&#8230;..just don&#8217;t have the words for this.</p>
<p><a href="http://bclund.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/lzio15-lzinjrtacobelldoritostacoshell.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-5412" title="lzio15-lzinjrtacobelldoritostacoshell" src="http://bclund.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/lzio15-lzinjrtacobelldoritostacoshell.jpg" alt="" width="336" height="420" /></a></p>
<p><a href="http://bclund.com/2012/02/09/im-pretty-sure-this-is-one-of-the-signs-of-the-apocalypse/"><strong>In Case You Missed It &#8211; The Bacon Milkshake.</strong></a></p>
<p>Subscribe to bclund.com <strong><a href="http://feedburner.google.com/fb/a/mailverify?uri=bclund&amp;loc=en_US">Via E-mail</a></strong> or <strong><a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/bclund">Via RSS</a></strong></p>
<p><em>(Note: If you are new to my blog, I post about all sorts of things.  Sometimes it involves something extremely personal, like <a href="http://bclund.com/2011/10/28/how-2008-scarred-my-trading-intra-uterine-insemination-and-why-gary-numan-is-the-ideal-trader/">creating a 30K baby</a> or my <a href="http://bclund.com/2011/11/10/the-5-monster-trades-of-my-life-2/">Monster Trades</a>.  Other times it deals with <a href="http://bclund.com/2011/10/19/should-you-care-how-many-followers-someone-has-on-twitter-and-stocktwits/">hot ex-porn stars who trade stocks</a>.  And sometimes it&#8217;s about <a href="http://bclund.com/2011/11/30/avoiding-the-suicide-trade-at-all-costs/">how to avoid &#8220;suicide&#8221;</a>.  But a good place to start is <a href="http://bclund.com/the-best-of-bclund/">The Best of bclund</a>.  If you like what you read, please tell a friend.  If you don&#8217;t, please tell two friends.)</em></p>
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		<title>Why Would Any Serious Trader Subscribe To A Trading Service?</title>
		<link>http://bclund.com/2012/02/16/why-would-any-serious-trader-subscribe-to-a-trading-service/</link>
		<comments>http://bclund.com/2012/02/16/why-would-any-serious-trader-subscribe-to-a-trading-service/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 17 Feb 2012 06:35:38 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>bclund</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Quality Trading Services]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Trading]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[trading resources]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Stock Market]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Stock Trading]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[trade stocks]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://bclund.com/?p=5320</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Back when I used to workout with martial arts legend Bruce Lee, he was constantly emphasizing three important concepts to me&#8230;. 1.  Be like water (my friend), be like water&#8230;.. 2.  Chuck Norris is a wuss. 3.  Always use every tool available in order to be a successful trader. It&#8217;s not well-known, but Master Lee &#8230; <a class="more-link" href="http://bclund.com/2012/02/16/why-would-any-serious-trader-subscribe-to-a-trading-service/">Keep&#160;reading&#160;<span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a>]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Back when I used to workout with martial arts legend Bruce Lee, he was constantly emphasizing three important concepts to me&#8230;.</p>
<p>1.  Be like water (my friend), be like water&#8230;..</p>
<p>2.  Chuck Norris is a wuss.</p>
<p>3.  Always use every tool available in order to be a successful trader.</p>
<p>It&#8217;s not well-known, but Master Lee was a pretty bad-ass trader himself.  Often, after a long night of nunchuking the vast minions of some evil warlord, Bruce would spend the day arbitraging index options on the floor of the Pacific Stock Exchange.  The locals used to call him Bruce &#8220;Alpha&#8221; Lee.</p>
<p>Being a retail trader back then was hard work as well, not so much because of the markets, but because of the lack of tools you had access to.</p>
<p>When I bought my first stock in 1985 there was no such thing as real-time quotes or charting software for a retail trader.  If you wanted to get a chart on a stock you had to subscribe to a service and they would actually mail you a paper chart.</p>
<p>These services were so expensive that most families could only afford one chart, and once you got it, that was your chart for life.  Parents would pass the family chart down to their children, and if you wanted to trade another stock, you had to make enough money <span style="text-decoration: underline;">in your</span> stock to afford another chart.</p>
<p>Traditionally it was the eldest son&#8217;s responsibility to update the chart by hand every night, which was a tedious job that could lead to big problems if you were not careful. One of my best friends, Eric Phillips actually spilled a Slurpee across a chart during this process, ruining it and causing his family to miss a cup-and-handle breakout in Xerox that could have moved them into a higher tax bracket.  He has never entered a 7-Eleven since.</p>
<p>Information flow on most stocks was non-existent as well, since there was no Investor&#8217;s Business Daily, no StockTwits, and no CNBC (perhaps a good thing).</p>
<p>There was no online trading and it was a 50/50 shot to even be able to reach your broker via his single line, land based phone (way before cell phones).  If you did get through your were charged a then &#8220;reasonable&#8221; 2% of the total trade amount per side for commission and were lucky if you could get a trade confirmation back a few hours later.</p>
<p>Usually when I wanted to trade a stock I would have to brave the harsh Southern California weather and drive to my local Sears where the Dean Witter offices were located. Just in back of the Craftsman tool section was the office of my first broker, Randell Woodworth. Randell would take my order, hand write me a receipt, and then ask me if I wanted to look into whole life insurance from the Allstate rep at the next desk.</p>
<p><a href="http://bclund.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/img0211.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-5387" title="img021" src="http://bclund.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/img0211-1024x444.jpg" alt="" width="640" height="277" /></a><em>             My very first &#8220;trade ticket&#8221;.  This was cutting edge technology in 1985.</em></p>
<p>But the worst thing of all about being a retail trader at that time was that there was no way to communicate with other traders, especially those with experience, since the internet didn&#8217;t exist yet.</p>
<p>These days, with the click of a mouse button, you have at your fingertips an unending array of tools with which you can use to be a profitable trader.  And the number one tool as far as I am concerned is a subscription to a quality trading service.</p>
<p>When I made the transition to full-time trading I had the luxury of time; time to sit at my computer and review 100&#8242;s of charts, run scans, and read all the news flow&#8230;..but I hated doing it.  There I said it.</p>
<p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>I HATED DOING IT&#8230;!!!!</strong></span></p>
<p>Call me lazy, call me a slacker, call me handsome, it doesn&#8217;t matter, that&#8217;s just the way I have always been wired.  When I was learning Spanish, I didn&#8217;t like sitting in a classroom conjugating verbs, I wanted to be down at the cantina, drinking cervezas and actually speaking the language.</p>
<p>It&#8217;s the same with trading; I love finding the setup, figuring the risk/reward, stalking the entry, managing the trade, and then trying to exit at the best possible point.  But back then I didn&#8217;t have the choice, I had to do the &#8220;homework.&#8221;</p>
<p>In 2008 I was asked to join a start-up, and that combined with the fact that I now had two young children, time constraints made doing the homework no longer just an annoying necessity, but a virtual impossibility.</p>
<p>That was when I slowly started to add subscription services to my tool bag.  I say &#8220;slowly&#8221; because since I was in essence handing over the analysis part of my trading to a third party, I needed to be sure that I felt totally confident in their capabilities, as well as their ability to communicate information and ideas in a way that I could relate to.</p>
<p>Now these services are an indispensable part of my trading, and I wouldn&#8217;t have it any other way.  And to be totally clear, I am talking about a trading service, not a trading system.  I have already covered why as a retail trader <a href="http://bclund.com/2011/11/17/the-nexus-between-trading-systems-and-ron-jeremy-2/">you will never be able to purchase a viable trading system</a>.</p>
<p>I&#8217;m sure that there are some hardcore purist neo-Ludittes who think that because of this I cannot then call myself a &#8220;serious&#8221; trader.  Okay Jebediah, here&#8217;s an idea; why don&#8217;t you grab your typewriter, your telegraph, and your Victrola, throw them on your mule, and come join me here in the 21st Century?</p>
<p>If you really think about it, using a service to find trade candidates is no different than using a scan to do the same thing.  You are filtering down the universe of tradable instruments into a more focused and actionable list; the only difference being that the &#8220;filter&#8221; is not a bunch of code or if/then variables, but an experienced trader.  The bonus here is that you can also interact with that trader in real-time and dynamic way via social media.</p>
<p>Most of these services clock in at about $99.00 per month, so for basically the price of a Saturday night bar tab with your buddies you can get a tool that I would have killed for back in the day.  And I will tell you now, if I ever go back to full time trading, I would keep every one of the services I currently use, and maybe even add some.</p>
<p>The real question then is &#8220;why <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>wouldn&#8217;t</strong></span> any serious trader subscribe to a trading service?&#8221;</p>
<p>The list of quality services out there is long, but if you want a head start on finding one, check out my list on the right hand menu bar of this blog.  I am not associated with any of these services nor do I get any compensation for mentioning/listing them.  However I can tell you that with every single of them, I either subscribe myself or have followed their trading close enough to feel comfortable recommending them.</p>
<p>Once you have a few trading services as tools, the only thing you are missing is access to a witty, intelligent, and insightful blog about the markets and life in general.  If you can find someone who offers that type of subscription for free via E-mail or via RSS, you should should definitely sign up&#8230;&#8230;</p>
<p>Subscribe to bclund.com <strong><a href="http://feedburner.google.com/fb/a/mailverify?uri=bclund&amp;loc=en_US">Via E-mail</a></strong> or <strong><a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/bclund">Via RSS</a></strong></p>
<p><em>(Note: If you are new to my blog, I post about all sorts of things.  Sometimes it involves something extremely personal, like <a href="http://bclund.com/2011/10/28/how-2008-scarred-my-trading-intra-uterine-insemination-and-why-gary-numan-is-the-ideal-trader/">creating a 30K baby</a> or my <a href="http://bclund.com/2011/11/10/the-5-monster-trades-of-my-life-2/">Monster Trades</a>.  Other times it deals with <a href="http://bclund.com/2011/10/19/should-you-care-how-many-followers-someone-has-on-twitter-and-stocktwits/">hot ex-porn stars who trade stocks</a>.  And sometimes it&#8217;s about <a href="http://bclund.com/2011/11/30/avoiding-the-suicide-trade-at-all-costs/">how to avoid &#8220;suicide&#8221;</a>.  But a good place to start is <a href="http://bclund.com/the-best-of-bclund/">The Best of bclund</a>.  If you like what you read, please tell a friend.  If you don&#8217;t, please tell two friends.)</em></p>
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		<title>Totally Self-Indulgent Mid-day Humor Break.</title>
		<link>http://bclund.com/2012/02/16/totally-self-indulgent-mid-day-humor-break/</link>
		<comments>http://bclund.com/2012/02/16/totally-self-indulgent-mid-day-humor-break/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 16 Feb 2012 20:18:13 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>bclund</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Just for fun]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[How To Use A Semicolon]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[The Oatmeal]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://bclund.com/?p=5364</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Writing a blog can be tough at times, especially when you are not the bestest use of grammar or punctuation ty?pe of guy.  It&#8217;s the semicolon that usually does me in, and today I decided to finally put this demon to rest.  I Googled &#8220;How to use a semicolon,&#8221; and to my pleasant surprise the &#8230; <a class="more-link" href="http://bclund.com/2012/02/16/totally-self-indulgent-mid-day-humor-break/">Keep&#160;reading&#160;<span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a>]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Writing a blog can be tough at times, especially when you are not the bestest use of grammar or punctuation ty?pe of guy.  It&#8217;s the semicolon that usually does me in, and today I decided to finally put this demon to rest.  I Googled &#8220;How to use a semicolon,&#8221; and to my pleasant surprise the first result was from &#8220;The Oatmeal.&#8221;</p>
<p><a href="http://bclund.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/header.png"><img class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-5365" title="header" src="http://bclund.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/header-280x300.png" alt="" width="280" height="300" /></a></p>
<p>I spent the next 30 minutes laughing my ass off, reminding me why this is one of the funniest and most creative sites on the web.  Oh, and I finally learned the proper use of a semicolon.</p>
<p><strong><a href="http://theoatmeal.com/">The Oatmeal</a></strong></p>
<p>Subscribe to bclund.com <strong><a href="http://feedburner.google.com/fb/a/mailverify?uri=bclund&amp;loc=en_US">Via E-mail</a></strong> or <strong><a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/bclund">Via RSS</a></strong></p>
<p><em>(Note: If you are new to my blog, I post about all sorts of things.  Sometimes it involves something extremely personal, like <a href="http://bclund.com/2011/10/28/how-2008-scarred-my-trading-intra-uterine-insemination-and-why-gary-numan-is-the-ideal-trader/">creating a 30K baby</a> or my <a href="http://bclund.com/2011/11/10/the-5-monster-trades-of-my-life-2/">Monster Trades</a>.  Other times it deals with <a href="http://bclund.com/2011/10/19/should-you-care-how-many-followers-someone-has-on-twitter-and-stocktwits/">hot ex-porn stars who trade stocks</a>.  And sometimes it&#8217;s about <a href="http://bclund.com/2011/11/30/avoiding-the-suicide-trade-at-all-costs/">how to avoid &#8220;suicide&#8221;</a>.  But a good place to start is <a href="http://bclund.com/the-best-of-bclund/">The Best of bclund</a>.  If you like what you read, please tell a friend.  If you don&#8217;t, please tell two friends.)</em></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
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		<title>How To Find 5-Star Trade Setups.</title>
		<link>http://bclund.com/2012/02/15/how-to-find-5-star-trade-setups/</link>
		<comments>http://bclund.com/2012/02/15/how-to-find-5-star-trade-setups/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 15 Feb 2012 12:35:18 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>bclund</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Trading]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Day Trading]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Stock Market]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Trading Stocks]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://bclund.com/?p=5298</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Today&#8217;s guest post is by Tom Morton.  Tom started his career at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange in 1996, working in the Eurodollar futures pit, then moving to the Nasdaq 100 pit in 1998. In 1999, Tom left the floor and began building a successful career trading individual equities.  He is the co-founder of The Equities Room. &#8230; <a class="more-link" href="http://bclund.com/2012/02/15/how-to-find-5-star-trade-setups/">Keep&#160;reading&#160;<span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a>]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><em>Today&#8217;s guest post is by Tom Morton.  Tom started his career at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange in 1996, working in the Eurodollar futures pit, then moving to the Nasdaq 100 pit in 1998. In 1999, Tom left the floor and began building a successful career trading individual equities.  He is the co-founder of <strong><a href="http://theequitiesroom.com/">The Equities Room</a></strong>.</em></p>
<p>Day and shorter term swing traders often ask themselves these questions…How can I find bigger winners?  How can I increase my winning percentage on my trades?  How can I stay consistent during a trendless, choppy market?</p>
<p>I don’t have the easy answers to those questions…&#8230;&#8230;sorry!  However, after 14 years of trading, I know I do my best and most consistent trading when I stick to what I call <span style="text-decoration: underline;">5-Star Setups</span>.</p>
<p><span style="text-decoration: underline;">5-Star Setups</span> are pretty simply defined, in that they have positive catalysts in each of five different categories.  Here are those categories:</p>
<p><strong>Daily Chart</strong></p>
<p>Before I even look at intraday charts, I filter a bunch of names every night that have actionable daily charts.   Everyone out there likes to trade their own pattern. Personally my favorite is range/consolidation breakouts (popular among short term momentum traders), but I will trade others, including oversold/overbought names, names trading around key Moving Averages as well as a few others.  In my opinion, the daily chart setup is key in finding the big winners* out there, as the profit potential is greater if it can fulfill its daily chart pattern instead of just an intraday pattern.</p>
<p>*The biggest and best trades for me come from trades that start out as day trades, and act so well, that you are able to take enough off that day to make a tidy profit, but keep a portion on for a swing trade, while moving your stop to break even.  As they fulfill their daily chart pattern, you keep raising your stop on this “free” portion of the trade.</p>
<p><strong>Stock/Sector News</strong></p>
<p>It is very important to know if the stock you are looking at has had some relevant news that came out, or at least some sector news that can/will be a driver for the stock. Finding stocks that have positive news/sector catalysts can help push up the volume which can serve as the engine for the move you are looking for.</p>
<p><strong>Volume</strong></p>
<p>In my opinion, volume  is the most important indicator for a short(er) term trader.   Most short term traders are trading based on a certain chart pattern or momentum indicator.  Quite simply, those patterns and indicators just have a hard time playing out when the volume dries up…or wasn’t there to begin with.  When looking at a name, I like to make sure that the volume is at least above (ideally greater than) its relative average before making a trade.</p>
<p><strong>Intraday Chart</strong></p>
<p>It is important to look at your intraday chart as well before jumping into a trade. Volume looks good?  Daily chart pattern got triggered?  That is great, but if the stock has just run $1.00 and put it a long up candle ahead of your entry, you are not doing yourself any favors (granted, this depends on your profit goals and stop loss price).  It can have a very negative affect on your ability to hold the trade if after buying it, you watch it immediately go against you… especially if  you feel like you may have top ticked the short term move.  Ideally, it helps if you can enter your trade on some sort of pullback, or consolidation before jumping in.</p>
<p><strong>Broad market sentiment</strong></p>
<p>Seems like common sense, but if the market is tanking, it may not be a good idea to play for your “breakout” trade long.   Thanks to HFT and program trading, stocks are as correlated as ever, and if the broad market is going against you, it can (thought not always) hurt your chances at finding catching a winner.  Try and match up the market sentiment time frame with the time frame you expect for your trade.</p>
<p>For example, if you are looking for a multi day/week move, it may not matter as much what the market is doing THAT MORNING, but it might matter how the market has been acting for the days/weeks leading up to the trade. Conversely, if you are looking for a morning only daytrade, then you might want to make sure the market is green and/or moving higher for your longs and red/moving lower for your shorts.</p>
<p>There you have it.  Those are the five catalysts I monitor in each trade I make. Certainly more common sense than rocket science.  To make things easier for yourself, filter down some stocks before and after the market that have chart patterns that fit your trading style, as well as certain relative volume characteristics. Also, make yourself aware of what stocks are in the news that day/week.</p>
<p>I’d be lying if said  I only executed trades that saw those 5-stars align.  I wouldn’t be lying if I said that my biggest winners and best winning percentage came on those that did.</p>
<p><a href="http://stocktwits.com/TheEquitiesRoom"><strong> Follow Tom And The Equities Room On StockTwits</strong></a></p>
<p>Subscribe to bclund.com <strong><a href="http://feedburner.google.com/fb/a/mailverify?uri=bclund&amp;loc=en_US">Via E-mail</a></strong> or <strong><a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/bclund">Via RSS</a></strong></p>
<p><em>(Note: If you are new to my blog, I post about all sorts of things.  Sometimes it involves something extremely personal, like <a href="http://bclund.com/2011/10/28/how-2008-scarred-my-trading-intra-uterine-insemination-and-why-gary-numan-is-the-ideal-trader/">creating a 30K baby</a> or my <a href="http://bclund.com/2011/11/10/the-5-monster-trades-of-my-life-2/">Monster Trades</a>.  Other times it deals with <a href="http://bclund.com/2011/10/19/should-you-care-how-many-followers-someone-has-on-twitter-and-stocktwits/">hot ex-porn stars who trade stocks</a>.  And sometimes it&#8217;s about <a href="http://bclund.com/2011/11/30/avoiding-the-suicide-trade-at-all-costs/">how to avoid &#8220;suicide&#8221;</a>.  But a good place to start is <a href="http://bclund.com/the-best-of-bclund/">The Best of bclund</a>.  If you like what you read, please tell a friend.  If you don&#8217;t, please tell two friends.)</em></p>
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		<title>The 10.5 Question Interview: Joe Fahmy</title>
		<link>http://bclund.com/2012/02/13/the-10-5-question-interview-joe-fahmy/</link>
		<comments>http://bclund.com/2012/02/13/the-10-5-question-interview-joe-fahmy/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 13 Feb 2012 12:53:53 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>bclund</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[The 10.5 Question Interview]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Trading]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Joe Fahmy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Stock Market]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[StockTwits]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Trading Stocks]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://bclund.com/?p=5262</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Joe Fahmy is one of those rare individuals who five minutes after meeting, you feel like you&#8217;ve known your whole life.  Over the last six months I have had a number of occasions to sit down socially with Joe and talk about the markets, trading theory, and life in general, and each time I have come away &#8230; <a class="more-link" href="http://bclund.com/2012/02/13/the-10-5-question-interview-joe-fahmy/">Keep&#160;reading&#160;<span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a>]]></description>
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<p><em>Joe Fahmy is one of those rare individuals who five minutes after meeting, you feel like you&#8217;ve known your whole life.  Over the last six months I have had a number of occasions to sit down socially with Joe and talk about the markets, trading theory, and life in general, and each time I have come away with some great insight on each.  Joe loves to teach and to help others in the markets and will be doing both those things in Los Angeles at his &#8220;Trading Big Winners&#8221; seminar on February 18th.  For more details you can go to <a href="http://www.tradingbigwinners.com/" target="_blank">www.TradingBigWinners.com</a>.  Joe was nice enough to be the inaugural interviewee for &#8220;The 10.5 Question Interview&#8221; series.</em></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>1.       How do you first get into trading?</strong></p>
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<p style="text-align: justify;">My father got me interested in trading back in the 1990’s. Back then, I was strictly a buy-and-hold investor. Basically, I had no sell rules and thought stocks went up forever. It wasn’t until I went to work on Wall Street and studied the market that I began to understand how stocks really work. That’s when I got rid of the buy-and-hold mentality and became a trader.</p>
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<p><strong>2.</strong>       <strong>Describe your trading style.</strong></p>
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<p style="text-align: justify;">I believe the market is healthy 2-3 times per year. Identify those healthy times and take advantage of them by aggressively trading the best stocks you can find. The rest of the time: raise cash, trade light positions, or simply sit out. I am mostly a swing trader. I hold positions anywhere from 2-3 days to 2-3 months. I try to identify potential big winning stocks (based on the historical studies) and trade them as effectively as possible during those healthy times.</p>
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<p><strong>3.       What’s the most important tool  or resource you use for trading?</strong></p>
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<p style="text-align: justify;">MarketSmith. It’s a great product that gives you all the information you need on one page. Earnings, sales, relative strength, company description, next year’s earnings estimates, etc. Full disclosure: I have no affiliation with them. I pay for the product just like everyone else.</p>
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<p><strong>4.       Tell us about your best and worst trade.</strong></p>
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<p style="text-align: justify;">My best trade was trading Hansen Natural (now Monster Beverage) all the way up from 2003-2005. It just kept setting up and I traded it very well. My maximum loss is 7-10% and I take tons of losses. I just make sure my gains are larger than my losses to make up for being wrong. So, I don’t really have a “worst” trade. If I get stopped out, I stick to my sell discipline and move on.</p>
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<p><strong>5.       What are the biggest mistakes you see struggling traders make?</strong></p>
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<p style="text-align: justify;">Poor stock selection, not cutting losses and forcing trades in bad environments. I used to do the same. Like anything in life, the only way to get better is to work hard, do post analysis of your work, and make the proper adjustments.</p>
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<p><strong>6.       Are there any lessons or concepts from other areas of your life that you </strong><br />
<strong>          have been able to apply to your trading?</strong></p>
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<p style="text-align: justify;">Yes! Taking action and making decisions. I am a firm believer that you have to act and have conviction if you want to get anything done. This especially applies to trading where the ability to make a decision is very key. Too many traders “freeze up” when they should take massive action and overcome their fears.</p>
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<p><strong>7.       Three best books on trading.</strong></p>
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<p style="text-align: justify;">How To Make Money in Stocks (4<sup>th</sup> Edition), William O’Neil<br />
How To Trade in Stocks, Jesse Livermore<br />
The Battle for Investment Survival, Gerald Loeb</p>
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<p><strong>8.       You show a lot of humor in your tweets and posts.  Who is your all-time </strong><br />
<strong>          favorite stand up or comedic actors?</strong></p>
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<p style="text-align: justify;">Many surveys show that people’s number 1 fear is “Public Speaking” and number 2 is “death.” Not only do I give stand-up comics credit for getting up in front of people, but I also think they are some of the most brilliant minds out there. George Carlin and Chris Rock are my two favorites.</p>
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<p><strong>9.   What’s the number one question people ask you when you tell them what        you do for a living?</strong><br />
<strong>     </strong></p>
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<p style="text-align: justify;">I tell them I work at an ice cream shop so they don’t ask me questions about the stock market.</p>
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<p><strong>10.   If you weren’t trading, what other profession or job would you be doing </strong><br />
<strong>       (or like to do).</strong></p>
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<p style="text-align: justify;">Coach basketball. I was an assistant High School coach for two years and <span style="text-decoration: underline;">I LOVED</span> it! I think I just like running up and down the sidelines, wearing a suit, and screaming at people like I’m Rick Pitino or John Calipari. Too bad I don’t have hair to slick back like they do, lol.</p>
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<p><strong>10.5  Tell us anything you want us to know.</strong></p>
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<p style="text-align: justify;">I always tell people: “Do what works for you.” It’s such a shame that people argue over everything: religion, politics, sports teams, trading styles, favorite burger joints, and the list is endless. Rather than trying to force ideas down someone’s throat, it’s better to focus on your own life and let people “do what works for them.” The world would be a much happier place if people focused more on making progress in their <span style="text-decoration: underline;">OWN</span> lives.</p>
<p><em><strong>Joseph Fahmy</strong> has over 16 years of trading experience during which he developed his investment strategy. Joe worked in New York City for a boutique research firm where he gained extensive knowledge of the technical analysis of stocks, market forecasting, and risk management. Joe completed his undergraduate work at Tufts University, receiving a B.A. in Economics and Religion in 1995. Outside of trading, Joe enjoys playing the drums, travel, and sports.</em></p>
<p><a href="http://tradingbigwinners.com/" target="_blank"><strong>Learn More About Joe&#8217;s &#8220;Trading Big Winners&#8221; Seminar.</strong></a></p>
<p><a href="http://stocktwits.com/jfahmy" target="_blank"><strong>Follow Joe On StockTwits.</strong></a></p>
<p>Subscribe to bclund.com <strong><a href="http://feedburner.google.com/fb/a/mailverify?uri=bclund&amp;loc=en_US">Via E-mail</a></strong> or <strong><a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/bclund">Via RSS</a></strong></p>
<p><em>(Note: If you are new to my blog, I post about all sorts of things.  Sometimes it involves something extremely personal, like <a href="http://bclund.com/2011/10/28/how-2008-scarred-my-trading-intra-uterine-insemination-and-why-gary-numan-is-the-ideal-trader/">creating a 30K baby</a> or my <a href="http://bclund.com/2011/11/10/the-5-monster-trades-of-my-life-2/">Monster Trades</a>.  Other times it deals with <a href="http://bclund.com/2011/10/19/should-you-care-how-many-followers-someone-has-on-twitter-and-stocktwits/">hot ex-porn stars who trade stocks</a>.  And sometimes it&#8217;s about <a href="http://bclund.com/2011/11/30/avoiding-the-suicide-trade-at-all-costs/">how to avoid &#8220;suicide&#8221;</a>.  But a good place to start is <a href="http://bclund.com/the-best-of-bclund/">The Best of bclund</a>.  If you like what you read, please tell a friend.  If you don&#8217;t, please tell two friends.)</em></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
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		<title>How To Make $2.5 Million While Sitting On Your Couch.</title>
		<link>http://bclund.com/2012/02/12/how-to-make-2-5-million-while-sitting-on-your-couch/</link>
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		<pubDate>Sun, 12 Feb 2012 15:16:21 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>bclund</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Just for fun]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Music]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Nick Lowe]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[The Bodyguard]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Whitney Houston]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://bclund.com/?p=5226</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Yesterday brought the news of Whitney Houston&#8217;s death, and no matter how you feel about the circumstances that led up to it, there is no denying that she was an incredible talent and probably had the greatest voice of her generation. She has sold over 200 million albums in her career, but buried in those &#8230; <a class="more-link" href="http://bclund.com/2012/02/12/how-to-make-2-5-million-while-sitting-on-your-couch/">Keep&#160;reading&#160;<span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a>]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Yesterday brought the news of Whitney Houston&#8217;s death, and no matter how you feel about the circumstances that led up to it, there is no denying that she was an incredible talent and probably had the greatest voice of her generation.</p>
<p>She has sold over 200 million albums in her career, but buried in those numbers is the story of how she made a little know veteran British rocker an unexpected fortune.</p>
<p>You probably don&#8217;t know who Nick Lowe is, but chances are you are familiar with his 1979 song &#8220;Cruel to Be Kind&#8221;.  Lowe, in addition to having his own long and critically acclaimed career, is a seminal figure in the UK punk and new wave scene, having produced and shaped Elvis Costello&#8217;s first five albums, as well as early recordings by The Pretenders, The Damned, Graham Parker, and Dr. Feelgood.</p>
<p>In the late 70&#8242;s and early 80&#8242;s he had a string of hits in Britain, but that success never quite crossed over the Atlantic, with his album &#8220;Labor of Lust&#8221; being the only one to ever crack the U.S. Top 40.  As his career leveled off, Lowe began to transform into a journeyman performer, with a small but loyal core of fans who he could count on to buy enough records and concert tickets to keep him in the music business with a modest degree of comfort.</p>
<p>Then Whitney Houston came into his life.</p>
<p>As an eager 19-year old, and in a &#8220;cloud of marijuana,&#8221; Lowe had signed an unfavorable publishing contract for his songs, giving the rights to his then record label.  But as his career cooled, those songs were seen as &#8220;damaged goods&#8221; with no real potential for future revenue (this was WAY before iTunes and other tech advancements that made re-monitizing a back catalog more viable).</p>
<p>In 1985, for a pittance, Lowe bought back the rights to about 30 of his previously published songs, one of which was entitled &#8220;(What&#8217;s So Funny &#8216;Bout) Peace, Love, and Understanding&#8221; which had been covered by Elvis Costello on his &#8220;Armed Forces&#8221; album in 1979.  That would turn out to be a prescient move.</p>
<p>As Clive Davis was putting the finishing touches on the soundtrack to the Whitney Houston/Kevin Costner movie &#8220;The Bodyguard&#8221;, he felt that the album&#8217;s length was a little short.  It already contained six songs sung by Houston as well as some other &#8220;fillers&#8221;, but Davis thought it needed one more song to round it out.  The song that he added was a cover of &#8220;Peace, Love, and Understanding&#8221; sung by Curtis Stigers.</p>
<p>Back in England, Lowe had no idea that the song was being considered for the album, nor did he have any part in influencing its ultimate selection, but it&#8217;s inclusion certainly made an impact in his life.</p>
<p>As holder of publishing rights to that song, Lowe was entitled to 6 cents for every copy sold of the &#8220;The Bodyguard.&#8221;  It would take another five blog posts to list how many awards and accolades that album has received, not just in the U.S. but worldwide, but suffice to say that to date it has sold over 44 million copies.</p>
<p>Hiyoooo&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;..!!!</p>
<p>That has translated into over $2.5 million dollars into Lowe&#8217;s pocket and gave him a new creative freedom in his post &#8220;rock star&#8221; life, no longer having the financial pressure to keep his career perpetually stuck in the &#8220;best of&#8221; mode.  The windfall has allowed him to turn down a lot of financially rewarding but creatively empty gigs, and continue writing and perform the music he wants.</p>
<p>The irony is the Lowe bought the rights back to his songs not for financial gain (of which there was almost no chance) but for love of his craft.  Those songs were a part of him and were touchstones to important periods in his life, and he didn&#8217;t think that anyone else should own them.</p>
<p>And what about the movie that spawned his great fortune?  Lowe has never seen it. His tastes run more towards more &#8220;artier fare&#8221;, and has been quoted as saying, &#8220;It seems terribly cheerless to say it, but I don&#8217;t think it&#8217;s the sort of thing I&#8217;d like very much.&#8221;</p>
<p><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6RVDQgVxprE"><strong>Elvis Costello&#8217;s version of &#8220;Peace, Love, and Understanding.&#8221;</strong></a></p>
<p><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TGfszrEdpdU"><strong>My favorite Nick Lowe song &#8220;Big Kick, Plain Scrap&#8221; (drummers will love it).</strong></a></p>
<p>Subscribe to bclund.com <strong><a href="http://feedburner.google.com/fb/a/mailverify?uri=bclund&amp;loc=en_US">Via E-mail</a></strong> or <strong><a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/bclund">Via RSS</a></strong></p>
<p><em>(Note: If you are new to my blog, I post about all sorts of things.  Sometimes it involves something extremely personal, like <a href="http://bclund.com/2011/10/28/how-2008-scarred-my-trading-intra-uterine-insemination-and-why-gary-numan-is-the-ideal-trader/">creating a 30K baby</a> or my <a href="http://bclund.com/2011/11/10/the-5-monster-trades-of-my-life-2/">Monster Trades</a>.  Other times it deals with <a href="http://bclund.com/2011/10/19/should-you-care-how-many-followers-someone-has-on-twitter-and-stocktwits/">hot ex-porn stars who trade stocks</a>.  And sometimes it&#8217;s about <a href="http://bclund.com/2011/11/30/avoiding-the-suicide-trade-at-all-costs/">how to avoid &#8220;suicide&#8221;</a>.  But a good place to start is <a href="http://bclund.com/the-best-of-bclund/">The Best of bclund</a>.  If you like what you read, please tell a friend.  If you don&#8217;t, please tell two friends.)</em></p>
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