Invest For Financial Freedom

Haven't post for a very long time

2018-11-27T17:12:00.002-08:00

I haven't post any article for 10 year! Looking back the articles that I have written when I was younger and it is funny. I was ambition and full of energy. I was immature but full of hope in life.

Many things have happened in the last 10 years. I got to know more about this world and society. On my journey to become more financial independent, I happened to come across some good and many ugly sides in terms of people. Some people cheat/scam their way to become rich and famous.

Now that I am more mature and more realistic in life. Good thing is that I am still healthy and I am still working hard towards my dream to become financial freedom. I am looking forward to see what will happen within the next 5-10 years. Will I really achieve financial freedom? The only thing I am really sure is that I want to enjoy a better life and do goods to the society. If I want to become financial freedom, I will do it with honesty and integrity. :) All the best to myself!

Some Basic Technical Analysis Indicators

2009-01-01T20:54:00.000-08:00

Happy New year!
This is my first post in this blog of the Year 2009! I am thinking to share some very Basic Technical Analysis indicators and Charting in this entry.

Basically there are 3 types of Chart:-
1. Line Chart
2. Bar Chart
3. Candlestick Chart

I am using GBPJPY (Pound Yen) pair in H1 (1 hour) for all the charts below:-

Line Chart

- Line chart is the most basic Chart. It only has lines, you can not know clearly about how price moves in each hour in the day.

Bar Chart

- Bar Chart presents the information inside a chart Better. How to see?

Each of the bar in consist of 3 lines, horizontal line on left, horizontal line on right and a vertical line. Each of the Bar is in a certain period. The first Bar Chart that I show is in H1, meaning that each bar is equal to one hour. Horizontal line on the left is named as "Open". Horizontal line of the right is named as "Close". The top of the vertical line is named as "High" and the bottom of the chart is named as "Low". In H1, Chart, eg: 2:00 am. At 2:00:00 am, the opening price of the bar will be the Left horizontal line. In that 1 hour, (from 2:00:00 am to 2:59:59), the price will move up and down, you do not know where will the price move. So, the highest price move on that hour, will the the "High" and the lowest price on that 1 hour will be the "Low". At 2:59:59, the price will determine the "Close".

Candlestick

If I am not mistaken, this Candlestick chart is developed by Japanese about 400 years ago to predict the supply and demand of Rice. It is amazing that it is still using until today. Candlestick chart is actually the most popular charting. How to see it? It is almost the same like Bar Chart, but it is easier to see and you will notice if the price is up or down within some distance from the chart.

It is basically consists of 2 types of candle. White and Black (The colour of the candlestick can be customized). The White candle means that on that period, the price is moving up (Bullish), the Black candle means that on that period, the price is moving down (Bearish). I think example above illustrates the Candlestick Chart well.

Technical Analysis
The First Technical Analysis indicator that I would like to share is Bollinger Bands. Bollinger Bands is created by a person name John Bollinger in early 80s. I will not go into details on the Bollinger Bands here.

What is Bollinger Band?
- In simple world, it is a technical analysis indicator that determine if something is oversold or overbought. I will use Forex pair as example.

Bollinger Bands Parameters

Period that we are using is 21 and Deviations is 3. The default for this PFGFX platform is 20 and 2. What is Period and Deviations? Well. I will keep it simple for this post, so, will not discuss here.

Chart without Bollinger Bands (BB)

- From this chart, you see that like only a random price movement. You can not get much information from the Chart.

Chart with Bollinger Bands (BB)

After I add Bollinger Bands inside, it shows some information. Bollinger Bands determine if a pair in Forex is Oversold (when the price touches the lower Band) and Overbought (when the price touches the upper Band).

I have highlighted the Oversold and Overbought areas at the below chart:-

However, you must understand that that Bollinger Bands is not a Holy Grail.. It is not 100% accurate. In my opinion, the accuracy of Bollinger Bands is only about 60-70%. So, it is actually acts as support indicator in our SRDC (Support Resistance Daily Candle).
Happy Trading Everyone! May all the Good trades be with you in Year 2009!

How to marry a guy with $500k annual income

2008-05-17T04:32:00.000-07:00

A young and pretty lady posted this on a popular forum:

Title: What should I do to marry a rich guy?

I'm going to be honest of what I'm going to say here. I'm 25 this year. I'm very pretty, have style and good taste. I wish to marry a guy with $500k annual salary or above. You might say that I'm greedy, but an annual salary of $1M is considered only as middle class in New York. My requirement is not high. Is there anyone in this forum who has an income of $500k annual salary? Are you all married? I wanted to ask: what should I do to marry rich persons like you? Among those I've dated, the richest is $250k annual income, and it seems that this is my upper limit. If someone is going to move into high cost residential area on the west of New York City Garden (?), $250k annual income is not enough.

I'm here humbly to ask a few questions:
1) Where do most rich bachelors hang out? (Please list down the names and addresses of bars, restaurant, gym)
2) Which age group should I target?
3) Why most wives of the riches is only average-looking? I've
met a few girls who doesn't have looks and are not interesting, but they are able to marry rich guys
4) How do you decide who can be your wife, and who can only be your girlfriend? (my target now is to get married)

Ms. Pretty

Here's a reply from a Wall Street Financial guy:

Dear Ms. Pretty,

I have read your post with great interest. Guess there are lots of girls out there who have similar questions like yours. Please allow me to analyse your situation as a professional investor. My annual income is more than $500k, which meets your requirement, so I hope everyone believes that I'm not wasting time here. From the standpoint of a business person, it is a bad decision to marry you. The answer is very simple, so let me explain. Put the details aside, what you're trying to do is an exchange of "beauty" and "money": Person A provides beauty, and Person B pays for it, fair and square. However, there's a deadly problem here, your beauty will fade, but my money will not be gone without any good reason. The fact is, my income might increase from year to year, but you can't be prettier year after year. Hence from the viewpoint of economics, I am an appreciation asset, and you are a depreciation asset. It's not just normal depreciation, but exponential depreciation. If that is your only asset, your value will be much worried 10 years later.

By the terms we use in Wall Street, every trading has a position, dating with you is also a "trading position". If the trade value dropped we will sell it and it is not a good idea to keep it for long term - same
goes with the marriage that you wanted. It might be cruel to say this, but in order to make a wiser decision any assets with great depreciation value will be sold or "leased". Anyone with over $500k annual income is not a fool; we would only date you, but will not marry you. I would advice that you forget looking for any clues to marry a rich guy. And by the way, you could make yourself to become a rich person with $500k annual income. This has better chance than finding a rich fool.

Hope this reply helps. If you are interested in "leasing" services, do
contact me…

signed,
J.P. Morgan

Is the worst really over?

2008-05-10T09:41:00.000-07:00

Last Week, I sold part of my Apple shares and its options to buy some other Financial stock options and most of my financial stock options are in negative! I bought at the wrong timing. If you ask me, " is the worst really over?" Answer: "I doubt it."
Crude oil price is trading above $125 and AIG missed earnings and lower its guidance. The above trades are only simulation.

Profit taking from Apple and Call options

2008-05-04T10:53:00.000-07:00

I have decided to take some profit from Apple and also the call options to release some buying power to buy other options next week. There are a few options that I am watching: Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) Call option, Citigroup (NYSE:C) Call Option, Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Call Option, Yahoo (NASDAQ:YHOO) Put Option and Bank Of America (NYSE:BAC) Call Option. Research in Motion (NASDAQ: RIMM) is also in my watch list as it has very good momentum comparing with Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL). But what I do not like is RIMM has only a single of line of product - Blackberry while Apple has multiple lines of products - IPhone , IPod, ITunes, Mac and more which make me think that Apple is more attractive.

Profit from Apple on May 2, 2008: 40.77% or $5,240.00

Profits from Options on May 2, 2008: 101.13 % or $41,210.00

Merck (NYSE:MRK) is doing well, it is just the matter of time for it to trade above $40.

The reasons I choose the Call and Put options stated above.
The Deal between Microsoft and Yahoo is Off! So, that is the reason I have placed order to buy Call Options for Microsoft and Put Options for Yahoo. Goldman Sachs is trading above $200, to me it is a buy opportunity as long as it is trading above $200. If the worst is over, I guess some good fundamental financial Stocks might be attractive. So, I am placing order for Citigroup and Bank of America which have been killed since October, 2007.

Disclaimer: The above trades are not in Real money

Profits from Apple and Call options on May 1, 2008

2008-05-01T14:40:00.001-07:00

Today the USA market was pretty strong. S&P 500 Index was able to close above the Major support of 1400. Last time 500 Index closed above 1400 was on 10 January. I believe that market will trading above this level for some time and will continue to go higher. I guess "The Worst is Over!" is sticking in the minds of the majority investors.

Apple has broken through the resistance at $175 and 180. Well, it is not unusual as the market was so strong, DOW was up 1.48% and NASDAQ was up 2.81%. Any strong NASDAQ stocks could easier up 3% today, Google was up 3.27%, Research in Motion was up 5.24% and Apple was up 3.48%.

The below is my profit from Apple shares: 40.03% or $5,146.00

Now, I will take half of the profit if it is trading below $175 and let the other half goes.

My profit from options: 92.18 % or $37,565.00
I just bought 2 new call options which the mother share is MERCK (NYSE:MRK). Merck is a Drug company. I bought the call options because Merck was recommended by Jim Cramer. As per Jim Cramer, Merck has better growth than Pfizer(NYSE:PZE), although both companies are Dow Components. I see the Daily chart for Merck, its share price is trading at half of what it was on January. It was getting killed and it sounds like another Apple or Google. The investors were just over react for the last couple of months. It is a steal at this price!

Now the market is getting stronger and I think that it is the buy opportunity for the stocks which have good fundamental but were killed because of the over reactions from investors and may be because of the fear of the Recession.

I have paper Profit of more than $30k from Apple and Apple Call Options!

2008-04-29T13:52:00.000-07:00

Apple was up $5 in 2 days and I have paper profit of more than $30k! This is amazing! I guess Apple will stay above $170 for a while. I will not take any chance, if Apple comes down below $170, I will take half of the profit. I might put a sell stop at $169.90 for 50% of my Apple shares.

Profit from Apple Mother shares: 36.18% or $4651.00

Total Profit from Apple Call Options: 156.47% or $29,025.00

Apple is trading comfortably above Support of $170 right now. It will stay at the price level as long as there is no bad news from the company or any so-called analysts downgrade the stock with stupid reasons. In my opinion, it will trading upward all the way to $200 again before the end of this year. Let's see if I am right.

Well again, I really hope that the above trades are in real money.

Profit from Apple Call Options, Look at That!

2008-04-27T12:15:00.000-07:00

I have bought Apple Call Options when Apple was almost at the Bottom. At one time, I was losing more than $10k and now I have paper profit of $22k! With this money, I can buy a few IPhones and also may be change my current Dell Laptop to a MacBook Air! I also have bought 100 Apple Mother shares at the $128.54 an Now I have paper profit of $4,119.

I think that Apple could go higher. I will feel comfortable as long as it is trading above $160 and $150. If it is really come down below $160, I think I might take half of the profit and let the other half goes. Now, the resistance is at $170, I hope next week it could break it convincingly.

How I wish that the above trades are real money. :-)

Tips for procrastinators: How to be punctual for work or school

2008-04-22T14:56:00.000-07:00

Are you always late for work or school? Are you always set your alarm 30 minutes earlier for yourself to have time to clean up yourself, but you hit the snooze button so that you continue sleep another 15 minutes. Next,it turns out that you have to rush to clean up yourself and late for work/school. I bet you come to the right place. I rarely late for work/school as a result of a thing that I do to make myself punctual - "Set all my clocks to be running on a future time"

I have this weird habit since high school to make myself to be punctual for any events. The time of my clock and watch during high school was 30 minutes ahead of the actual time. About 2 years back when I was still in University, I set the time of my clock and watch an hour faster. So, I always be the first one who arrived at the lecture hall. Sometime when I reached the lecture hall and I saw no body was inside, I would have confused myself that I saw the wrong time table. After I called my friends for time table, then only I realized that the time of my watch was an hour faster. Usually, I used the EXTRA time to do self study inside the empty lecture hall.

However, this technique will only be useful if you are able to make yourself forget that you set your time ahead of the actual time. It will not be useful if you set time of your clock 30 minutes faster but you hit the snooze button and continue to sleep for another 45 minutes. This is normal and it happened to me during university when I got used to the time I set and my mind would auto-deduct an hour from the current time and I became late for my classes. But after a short while, I found a remedy for this problem - "Make myself not to get used to the time that I set". Once a while, I will set my clocks back to normal time and then I will set the time ahead after one or two weeks. With this way, I will not get used with the advance time that I set on my clock or watch.

Steps of this technique:-
1. Set all your clocks time to a future time (all depends on how much time you need to continue procrastinate, FYI, now I am 20 minutes ahead of the actual time)
2. Set all your clocks time back to normal time after about a month
2. Set all your clocks time to a future time again.

I have been practicing this for years and it works well for me. Try it out yourself and let me know if this works for you.

Google Blows past Estimates, Apple above 160 support

2008-04-20T12:45:00.001-07:00

For the past few months, Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) has been hammered resulting from the rumors of its decreasing click-through rates and its market share might be grabbed back by YAHOO! (NASDAQ: YHOO) and it was further fueled by some so-called analysts to downgrade the stock which continued the burning of the stock. Google has reported its first 1Q earnings of 2008 on last Thursday after market close which blew past estimates and the stock was eventually up 20% on Friday!

Another stock which has been hammered by so-call Analysts was APPLE (NASDAQ:AAPL) for the rumors of less revenue resulting from unlocked IPhone and the saturation of the IPod market. Apple share was comfortably closed above support of 160 on Friday, thanks for the Google Earnings. Apple will release its earnings on next Wednesday (23 April 2008) after market close and I am waiting Apple to prove that those so-called Analysts wrong again.

It is surely an exciting week ahead.

Profit/Gain on Week 3 of April 2008

2008-04-20T12:19:00.000-07:00

I am still negative for this week, I guess I need sometime to gain back my momentum on March and February. I am looking forward to do better next week which has more earnings than this week.
Week 3 of April 2008

Date	Number of Shares	Profit/ Loss
14	2200	27
15	1800	-144
16	1300	61
17	2400	-102
18	1800	21
Total	9500	-137

Preview on next week (4/21/2008 to 4/25/2008)

Monday, April 21, 2008

Economic
None seen
Events
9:30am Fed's Evans gives remarks on Smart Money Week. 1:30pm Fed's Kroszner speaks on community development in Minnesota. 2:30pm Fed's Evans speaks to high school students in Illinois. Deutsche Bank Latin American Client Conference, MAGIC International Conference. Trades Ex-dividend: BBY $0.13, BK $0.24, EOC $0.798, PSD $0.25.
Earnings
Before the Open: ALDN, AME, AMLN, ACI, BAC, BOH, CNB, LLY, GCI, HAL, HBI, HAS, LEE, MAT, MRK, NVS, QXM, DGX, SAY, TNB, WFT. After the Close: ALB, BSX, BRO, CVTI, CR, DAC, DST, EFX, ETH, RE, FDG, FWRD, HPC, HXL, KRC, LNCR, LOGI, MSPD, NBR, NFLX, NVLS, OMCL, OMI, PKG, PTP, PLXT, SLG, SFG, STLD, TXN, USNA, VRTX, VNUS, VLTR, WCN, WGOV, ZRAN.

Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Economic
10:00am March Existing Home Sales (last 5.03M, m/m 2.9%), Feb House Price Index m/m (last –1.1%), April Richmond Fed Manufacturing Index (last 6)
Events
AFSA International Fixed Income Investors Conference. ICSC/UBSW Chain Store Sales (7:45, last +0.9%). Redbook Retail Sales (8:55, last +2.0%). ABC Consumer Confidence (last -39). Trades Ex-dividend: CL $0.40, ENI $0.39.
Earnings
Before the Open: AKS, AXE, ARB, ASTE, T, AUO, ALV, AVY, BHI, BKRS, BJS, EAT, CP, CSL, CE, CNC, CME, COH, CPO, CFC, DD, ECA, FITB, FMER, GNTX, HSC, HBAN, IEX, IIVI, JEC, JEF, JBLU, JRN, KELYA, KMB, KCI, KVHI, LAB, LXK, LMT, MCD, MDP, MICC, NCC, NS, OMC, OXPS, PCAR, PH, BTU, PNR, PAS, PTEC, RYN, ROH, SSW, SHW, SII, SNA, STI, TCB, TLAB, UAUA, UNH, USG, WDR, WAT, WU, WTNY, WYE. After the Close: RNT, AMSG, ANAD, ANEN, BRCM, CHRW, CDNS, CLMS, CLZR, CRI, CEC, CERN, CREE, CSGS, CYMI, DFG, EGP, EW, WIRE, ENTU, FCFS, FBC, FULT, HBHC, HGIC, IBKC, ILMN, INFN, IVGN, LDSH, LDIS, MANH, MOLX, NARA, NETL, NSC, NUVA, ODFL, ONNN, ORLY, PXLW, PPDI, RJF, RCRC, RHI, SEAB, SIAL, SIMG, SWKS, SSCC, TCO, TER, TRMK, TUP, VFC, VMW, VOCS, XL, YHOO, YUM, ZHNE.

Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Economic
4:30am Bank of England Minutes released
Events
JP Morgan China Conference. MBA Mortgage Applications (7:00, last 2.5%).
Earnings
Before the Open: AMG, APD, ATI, ABK, ABC, ABFS, ARW, ATMI, BDX, BHP, BIIB, BA, CPS, CXG, CEG, CFR, CYBI, DAL, DOV, DSL, EMC, FCL, FCX, GD, GENZ, GSK, GRP, HMA, HST, LII, LVLT, LECO, MPX, MNI, MNC, MCO, MWRK, NWA, NYB, PMTC, PBG, PFCB, PNW, PX, PDS, RGS, RIMG, ROK, RES, R, SGP, SEIC, SRP, SLGN, SPNC, TDY, TRA, SNAK, MDCO, UGI, UPS, WLP, XTO, ZBRA. During Trading Hours: BUD, EGN. After the Close: AEA, AEIS, AFL, ACL, ADS, ALL, AMZN, ECOL, AGP, AAPL, ARNA, AXYS, BEZ, BBSI, BCR, CLDN, CHIC, CMG, CTXS, CNS, CVGI, CLB, EXBD, CSGP, CVA, CCI, DSCM, EFII, EPIC, EPIQ, EQIX, EXTR, FFIV, DAVE, FNF, FADV, FR, FMC, GDI, GGG, GSIC, HLIT, HTZ, HRH, ICO, KEX, LHO, LSI, MTSN, MCGC, MRCY, MEOH, MOBE, MTSC, NFX, NE, NTRI, PTV, PRXL, PNSN, PLXS, PHM, QCOM, STR, QDEL, RMBS, RJET, RSG, RYL, SANM, SCSS, SKX, SOV, STMP, SRDX, TEX, TSCO, TQNT, TYL, UB, VARI, VAR, WOOF, VIGN, XLNX.

Thursday, April 24, 2008
Economic
8:30am March Durable Goods Orders (last –1.1%, ex transport –2.4%), Initial Jobless Claims (last 372K), Continuing Claims (last 2.984M)
10:00am March Help Wanted Index (last 21), March New Home Sales (last 590K, m/m –1.8%)
10:30am Natural Gas Inventories
Events
8:30am FDA Ophthalmic Devices Panel. Trades Ex-dividend: WPO $2.15, AXA $1.593, CHA $1.091.
Earnings
Before the Open: SMLC, FLWS, MMM, ABH, AET, AAI, ALK, MO, AEP, ABI, AIT, ARTG, ABG, AZN, AGIX, AN, AVT, AVX, BLL, BDC, BHE, BDK, BMY, BC, BW, BBW, BG, CCMP, CRR, CSH, CHINA, CRA, CBR, CNH, CCE, CNMD, COP, CNX, CBE, DLX, DO, DRAD, DTG, DDE, DVD, DOW, ELNK, ELON, ECL, ELN, EME, ESV, SSP, EXC, EXR, FLIR, FRPT, F, FO, BEN, GMT, GR, HSY, HUB.B, IKN, IMN, IMCL, IPCC, IART, IDC, IMA, IVZ, ESI, JAKK, JNS, JRC, KDN, KSU, KBW, KEI, KMT, KLIC, FSTR, LLL, LH, LTM, LIFC, LYTS, MDC, MEDE, MLNM, MKSI, MOT, MWIV, NAFC, NWL, NEM, NIHD, NJR, NOC, NCX, OXY, ORI, OHI, OVRL, PTC, PTI, PCCC, PENN, PEP, PLUG, POT, PCH, PLD, QUIX, RHD, RDN, RTN, FRZ, RGC, RSTO, COL, RCL, SWY, SCG, POOL, SHPGY, SI, SPAR, SPR, SWK, HOT, STFC, SSYS, SU, SXCI, SY, SNV, BRLC, SYNT, SYPR, TROW, TASR, TTEC, TNC, TEN, TMO, TRAD, TRV, UNP, USAP, LCC, UST, VDSI, WAB, WCG, WMAR, WST, WHR, WRLD, XMSR, ZMH, ZOLL. During Trading Hours: AIMC, BPL, HTLD. After the Close: ABAX, AFFX, AYE, AMX, AXP, AFG, ACF, AMGN, ARBA, ARTC, AJG, ASIA, AVID, BIDU, BKUNA, BJRI, EPAY, BTUI, BUCY, BLDR, BLG, CLS, CX, CENX, CF, CTHR, CHRT, CAKE, CHE, CB, CCU, CCO, CNET, COBZ, COHR, COHU, COLM, RIO, DVW, CW, DDUP, DCT, DECK, DV, DDR, DXPE, EMN, ELX, EXAR, EZPW, FALC, FIS, FMD, FDRY, GNW, ROCK, HITT, HME, HUBG, IKAN, INSP, IM, INSU, IDTI, ISSI, IBKR, IOM, IRBT, ISTA, XXIA, JJSF, JNPR, KLAC, KNX, LSCC, MEE, MFE, WFR, MELI, MMSI, MTD, MCRL, MSCC, MSFT, MTX, MCRI, MRT, NCI, NTGR, N, OPWV, OPLK, OSIP, OSG, PKTR, PCTI, PKI, PFWD, PRAA, POWI, PWER, RACK, RMTR, RRC, RVI, RVBD, ROP, RRR, WINS, SCSC, SCRX, CKH, SIGI, SMTL, SIRF, PCU, SPF, STNR, SRCL, SWN, SYNA, TNL, TMA, TZOO, TRMB, GROW, UHS, VSEA, VVUS, VLCM, WRB, WDC, WGL, WLL, WMGI, YRCW, ZIGO

Friday, April 25, 2008
Economic
8:30am March Final U of Michigan (last 63.2)
Events
Trades Ex-dividend: GS $0.35, AEG $0.417.
Earnings
Before the Open: ACPW, AXL, BPO, CSUN, SUR, CCUR, CVH, CVTX, ETR, GT, IDXX, ITT, LNCE, ERIC, MBFI, NNI, GAS, OPTR, PPCO, QLTI, SAIA, VVI, WEN. After the Close: ABMD, BFAM, DHOM, ENTR.

What does weekend mean to you?

2008-04-20T10:17:00.000-07:00

How do you spend your weekend? Weekend is a time for most people to rest, relax and have more time with family members. This weekend, I have wasted my time on computer games and movies. In this world, there are only 3% of people who are very successful. They use their weekend differently. They work harder in weekend compare with weekdays, so that they can plan well for the week to come. The only time they rest/relax is the time they close their eyes to sleep. They are so motivated that they can't wait to wake up on the next day so that they can continue what they were doing yesterday, even it is on weekend.

I tell myself, if I want to join the top 3% most successful people of the world, I must follow what they are doing. The followings are the things that I MUST do for the next weekend.

I MUST do the followings 5 things on the next weekends:-
Weekend is the time for me to review what I have done right and wrong for the passed week.
Weekend is the time for me to reward myself or punish myself.
Weekend is the time for me to plan for next week.
Weekend is the time for me to do more self study on investment, trading, charting, technical analysis to improve on my trades.
Weekend is the time for me to work out, so that I will always have a strong and healthy body.

Let me test out the things I need to do on the next weekend and I will slowly add more weekend tasks so that I will be on the right track to join the Top 3% Most Successful People Club.

3 things that I tell myself

2008-04-20T09:48:00.000-07:00

I always tend to lack of self-discipline especially during weekend as I have so much free time. I do not follow the plans that I set for myself. I always waste time on playing computer games and watching movies. I tend to sleep more than I have to.

I do not think that successful people will spend their time on computer games and movies. I believe they always spend their every minutes and seconds on productive things. That's the reason they are able to earn 10x or may be 100x money than me. They may just have the same intelligence as I am, but the way they use their time make them the top 3% most successful people in the world.

I have a choice to make: Join the club of the top 3% most successful people in the world or the 97% crowd of not so successful people.

I choose to join the top 3% most successful people club, So I tell myself 3 things:-

I tell myself: "If you want to be succeed, Do productive things every minute, every second!"

I tell myself: "If you want to earn 10x or 100x of what you earn right now, Do productive things every minute, every second!"

I tell myself: "If you want to have a better life, Do productive things every minute, every second!"

I promised myself to use my time productively from now on and this is the promise of a life time.

My Trades on 14 April 2008

2008-04-15T01:09:00.000-07:00

Today was a very thin market, not much volume. I only up gross $27 today.
My best trade for today was JCI. I shorted it because last week, it has been downgraded. But my entry point was not good enough (32.31) and I could have entered the trade since (32.60) as I know about the news.

Another trade that I should have made money but I did not was RHT, I shorted it at 19.50 but it went against me once I entered the trade. I hold on that until I see the MACD turned a slightly bullish trend then I got out. The MACD was a little bit deceiving on this trend. I should have hold it a little bit longer and if I did, I would have made more than $100 today.

Profit/Gain on Week 2 of April 2008

2008-04-11T22:27:00.000-07:00

After a big loss on last week, I reduced my share sizes to gain back some momentum. This week, I am positive which I gained 2 last days. Next week will be a big week! There are many earnings released and there are a few economic numbers also. I will set a few rules and I think if I have disciplined to follow, I believe I should make a big gain.

Week 2 of April 2008

Date	Number of Shares	Profit/ Loss
7	1200	-130
8	1100	-40
9	1900	-12
10	1100	206
11	1600	76
Total	6900	100

Preview on next week (4/14/2008 to 4/18/2008)

Monday, April 14, 2008
Economic
8:30am March Advance Retail Sales (last –0.6%, ex autos –0.2%)
10:00am Feb Business Inventories (last 0.8%)
Events
3:15pm Fed's Warsh speaks about financial markets in New York. Trades Ex-dividend: EOG $0.12, GGP $0.50, MGRC $0.20, KWR $0.23, TOC $0.318.
Earnings
Before the Open: ETN, WERN, GWW. After the Close: AMLN, ELS, INFY, JBHT, STLY.

Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Economic
8:30am March PPI (last m/m 0.3%, y/y 6.4%, ex food & energy last m/m 0.5%, y/y 2.4%), April Empire Manufacturing (last –22.2)
9:00am Feb Net Long-term TIC Flows (last $62.0B), Feb Total Net TIC Flows (last $37.4B)
1:00pm April NAHB Housing Market Index (last 20)
Events
CIBC Energy Conference. RBC Platinum Group Metals Conference. SunTrust Institutional Conference. ICSC/UBSW Chain Store Sales (7:45, last 0.7%). Redbook Retail Sales (8:55, last 0.8%). ABC Consumer Confidence (last -34). Trades Ex-dividend: RRD $0.26, AYI $0.13, DLM $0.04, DMND $0.045, ABV $0.862.
Earnings
Before the Open: ADTN, BKRS, BHP, FRX, GMTN, IIIN, JNJ, MTB, MI, NTRS, PII, QXM, RF, STT, USB. After the Close: CHB, CSX, HCSG, INTC, LLTC, RLRN, RUSHA, STX, SORC, WM.

Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Economic
8:30am March CPI (last m/m 0.0%, y/y 4.0%; ex food & energy last m/m 0.0%, y/y 2.3%), March Housing Starts (last 1.065M), March Building Permits (last 984K)
9:15am March Industrial Production (last –0.5%), March Capacity Utilization (last 80.4%)
10:30am Crude Oil/Gasoline/Distillate Inventories
2:00pm Fed Beige Book
Events
11:45am Fed's Yellen speaks in Alameda, CA on US outlook. 12:30pm Fed's Plosser speaks on monetary policy in Pennsylvania. 8:30am FDA Pediatric Oncology Subcommittee. MBA Mortgage Applications (7:00, last 5.4%). Trades Ex-split: BBD 3-2. Trades Ex-dividend: PKI $0.07, LOW $0.08.
Earnings
Before the Open: ABT, AMB, AMR, ASML, BMI, KO, ITW, JCI, JPM, NITE, LUFK, MTOX, MTG, EDU, PJC, SSW, STJ, WFC, WWW. After the Close: ALTR, ATR, AVCT, CAVM, CNW, CCK, DTLK, EBAY, GILD, GKK, IBM, ISIL, KMP, KNX, KNL, LEG, PLCM, RMBS, SOV, SPSN, TER, UFPI.

Thursday, April 17, 2008
Economic
8:30am Initial Jobless Claims (last 357K), Continuing Claims (last 2.94M)
10:00am April Philadelphia Fed (last –17.4), March Leading Indicators (last –0.3%)
10:30am Natural Gas Inventories
Events
9:45am Fed's Kohn speaks at conference on credit markets and banking. 10:30am Fed's Prescott speaks on Fed panel. 2:00pm Fed's Fisher speaks in Chicago to the Council on Global Affairs. 3:00pm Fed's Lacker speaks to the media at the Charlotte Credit Conference. 3:15pm Fed's Calabia moderates panel on credit risk. Small & Mid Cap Financials Conference. Trades Ex-split: CHDX 3-2. Trades Ex-dividend: CVS $0.06, OEH $0.025, SHLM $0.15, FFNW $0.075.
Earnings
Before the Open: SMLC, AOS, AMFI, ECOL, AM, APH, ASPM, BK, BAX, BBT, BGG, CHINA, CHKP, CIT, CMA, CAO, CY, DHR, DSL, FCS, FHN, FRPT, GPC, HOG, HSY, HNI, RX, IART, IGT, JRC, KEY, LSTR, MAR, MMR, MEG, VIVO, MER, MLAN, NYT, NOK, NUE, ORB, PFE, PNC, BPOP, PPG, RS, RSTO, SGP, SHW, SLM, SON, LUV, SPNC, SPWR, SVU, SXCI, BRLC, AMTD, TTEC, TXT, UTEK, UTX, USAK, WSO, WCG. During Trading Hours: HTLD. After the Close: AMD, DOX, ARNA, BKUNA, COF, CX, GRRF, CYN, CTCT, CPSS, CBST, CYBS, CYT, ETFC, ESLR, FNB, FCF, GOL, GOOG, HIFN, ICUI, INFA, INPC, ISRG, KKD, LHO, MCGC, MELI, MHK, MGI, PKTR, PNFP, LGBT, PMCS, PGI, QMED, RLI, SNDK, SEP, SYK, SRDX, TPX, TMA, VASC, ZION.

Friday, April 18, 2008
Economic
None
Events
8:30am Fed's Lacker, Rosengren speak on liquidity, systemic risk. 10:45am Former Fed Chairman Greenspan, EU's Barrosso speak at a conference in Turin, Italy. 11:30am Fed's Schuermann speaks on banking. Credit Suisse Russian Utilities Conference. Trades Ex-dividend: APA $0.15.
Earnings
Before the Open: ACO, CAT, C, HON, MAN, NVR, PRSP, SLB, WB, WL, XRX. After the Close: WIT.

Apple (AAPL) on 7,8 April 2008

2008-04-09T00:15:00.000-07:00

On April 7, 2008. Apple (AAPL) was up 2.81 to 155.89 after it was upgraded by Thomas Weisel from "Market Weight" to "Overweight".

The next day which is on April 8, 2008. Apple (AAPL) was downgraded by Morgan Keegan from "Marker Perform" to "Under Perform" and Apple was down 3.05 to 152.84.

This is not the first time Analysts have mixed opinions about Apple. On January 23, 2008. Needham & Co has upgraded Apple from "Buy" to "Strong Buy" but Caris & Company has downgraded Apple from "Buy" to "Above Average". It is really amusing to see such a thing happened. The bottom line is analysts can not be trusted and there might be some hidden agenda for upgrading or downgrading the company (eg: downgrade as the company is holding short position or vice versa)

Carnival of Equity Trading

2008-04-06T08:46:00.000-07:00

What is Carnival of Equity Trading?
After I browsed through http://blogcarnival.com, I did not find any carnival for Equity Trading. So, I have decided to host one. Carnival of Equity Trading is mainly about sharing ideas on Equity Trading. No matter if you are a day trader or swing trader, what is more important is you are willing to share your experience, thoughts about Equity trading to people so that they can learn from you. You might want to let people your software setups, good trades, bad trades, your way of risk manage the trades, money management, positions sizing and more. I believe that if you share, other Equity Traders will also share to you and you can learn from them as well.

The first edition of the Carnival of Equity Trading will be published on 12pm EDT 13 April 2008 and the submission deadline is 12am EDT of the same day.
If you would like to join the Carnival of Equity Trading, please join http://blogcarnival.com and search for "Carnival of Equity Trading" and submit your entry over there.

Good news! Apple (AAPL) broke through 150 on 3 April 2008

2008-04-05T07:22:00.000-07:00

Apple was able to break through 150 on 3 April 2008 and It was up 1.47 to 153.08 on 4 April 2008. It was indeed for the loyal Apple Shareholders who held on the pain when there was a sell off on early January 2008.

Next, Apple will have to test the resistance at 160 and 170. I believe that it will stay at this level for a while, before the earning on Apple on 23 April 2008 (unless there is a very positive news or a very negative news on Apple before its earning).

My Trades on 3, 4 April 2008

2008-04-05T05:54:00.000-07:00

Trades on 3 April 2008

Trades	Number of Shares	Position	Gross P&L/share	Gross P&L
Dis	200	Short	0.0	0.0
GPS	200	Short	0.04	7
HD	300	Short	-0.11	-33
MAR	100	Short	-0.21	-21
MU	500	Short	-0.13	-65
S	300	Short	-0.07	-21
STX	300	Long	-0.17	-52
Total	1900			-185

Trades on 4 April 2008

Trades	Number of Shares	Position	Gross P&L/share	Gross P&L
CVC	100	Short	0.14	14
GPS	200	Short	-0.02	-4
JEF	300	Short	0.06	19
TXN	400	Short	0.15	60
Total	1000			89

1. My best trade on 4 April 2008 was TXN. It looked weak when the market opened. I shorted 200 shares at 29.72 when it came down below the 144 Exponential Moving Average and when MACD showed bearish trend. I sized in another 200 shares when the trend confirmed by MACD at 29.58. I put a limit buy at 29.50 to take profit before the trend changed.

2. Another good trade JEF. JEF has been killed from previous day close at 17.12 to the low of the day at 16.23. It bounded back to near 144 at about 1 pm and it never broke though 144 to climb higher. I took the opportunity to short JEF and put a stop a little bit about previous open at 16.91. JEF has tested at the 144 a few times but never broke through. I sized in more when I saw the MACD confirmed the bearish trend and when it broke though the previous low. However, the exit was a bit premature as it bounded at the Bollinger band.

Summary
This week has been the worst week ever for me. I was very careless on 3 April 2008 and It was a choppy market and every trade that I got into was against me. I have traded very carefully on 4 April 2008 with lesser shares to slowly gain back my momentum and that was my only positive day at the first weeks of April 2008.

Week 1 of April 2008

Date	Number of Shares	Profit/ Loss
1	6900	-371
2	1400	-203
3	1900	-185
4	1000	89
Total	11200	-670

Overall, the first week as a full time trader, I am -670 and I am not happy with it. I will have to do more homework and be more careful on my trades and do not trade on crazy stocks. I have to be patient to wait for nice setup before getting into a trades.

Apple (AAPL) could not close above 150 on 2 April 2008

2008-04-03T00:13:00.000-07:00

Apple opened at 149 and down 2.04 (1.36%) from previous close of 149.53 to Today close of 147.49. However, Research in Motion (RIMM - sister stock of Apple) released its earning and it beats earning and has upside guidance. In after Hours trading, RIMM up 5.46 (4.72%) and Apple also up 1.39 (0.94%) to 148.88.

Please look at the After Hours trading for RIMM and AAPL as below:-

There were rumors about the possible release of the new Iphone (3G Iphone) which also mentioned in Fast Money. I will be waiting patiently for the release of the 3G Iphone and get one on my hand in future.

My Trades on 2 April 2008

2008-04-02T23:30:00.000-07:00

Today was not a good day for me also. I had software problem early in the morning and I could not trade until 11 am something.

Trades	Number of Shares	Position	Gross P&L/share	Gross P&L
BIG	200	Long	-0.1	-20
CA	500	Long	-0.08	-38
JEF	500	Short	-0.17	-85
LDK	200	Long	-0.20	-60
Total	1400			-203

1. The first trade that I was entered was CA which kept hitting High yesterday and today. I tried to Long it and I was killed in the pull back.

2. The second trade that I got into was JEF, most financial stocks were positive at about 1 pm but I saw that JEF turned negative and kept on coming down. I think that will be a good short. I gave it a try and put a stop at 17.41. Obviously, my stop is too tight and it triggered mt stop and go down further.
Lesson learned: I must give it some more room and do not put my stop too tight.

3. The reason I Long BIG was simple. BIG was positive in the morning and It pulled back starting from 12 pm. To short a stock that is still positive is not a good idea, so I was just watching BIG. It bound off at 144 at 5 minutes charting and it made another attempt to go up by breaking the Previous High. I long it after it broke previous High and put a stop a little bit below the previous High. I was in the money like 10 cents but I never take profit and it just came back hard after the news about the increase of crude oil price by $4.

4. My worst trade of the day was LDK. It was a crazy stock and it started to ripped to the moon at about 1:20 pm and I Long it but too late, I was in the money about 10 cents and it just suddenly tanked in front of my face.
Lesson Learned: Do not get into a crazy stock. LDK will be removed from my list today and I will never look at it again.

Apple (AAPL) on April 1, 2008

2008-04-01T22:43:00.000-07:00

Apple (AAPL) was not left behind on this bullish market also. Apple was trading upward for the whole day and it filled up the Gap between 22 January 08 and 23 January 08. This means that it has broke through the Gap resistance and it is another confirmation that the stock will be moving higher. It is up 6.03 (4.2%) to 149.53 during the trading hours.
In the same time, the after hours trading was bullish also, it was up 0.67 cents to 150.20. So, tomorrow Apple will open above 150 and 150 will act as support level. We will have to see if this support is sustainable or not. If Apple is able to close above 150, this will be another confirmation that Apple is in bullish trend and it will go all the way to test the next resistance at 160.

My Trades on 1 April 2008

2008-04-01T20:00:00.000-07:00

Starting from today, I will post all my trades with number of shares and my Profit/Loss in blog. I will also put the reason I got into, and how I can improve from the trades. From there, I believe I can be more disciplined, stick to my rules and become more careful before getting into any trades.

Trades	Number of Shares	Position	Gross P&L/share	Gross P&L
CA	500	Long	0.04	20
DFS	500	Long	-0.11	-53
DIS	500	Long	0.07	35
F	1500	Short	0.05	-75
GM	1000	Short	-0.02	-21
GPS	500	Long	-0.19	-95
LOW	500	Long	0.13	65
NCC	400	Short	0.09	37
NOK	500	Short	-0.28	-140
PIR	500	Long	-0.10	-49
T	500	Long	-0.19	-95
Total	6900			-371

1. One of my colleagues was calling that Nokia was hitting Low and another said that in 5 minutes charting, NOK is very far away from 144 moving average. So it might come down. I took the opportunity to short Nokia which turned out to be bad trade. It is my worst trade of the day and I am losing $140 in this single trade.
Lesson learned: I was so careless by not looking at other communication stocks like T, VZ, S as they were hitting high of the day. The whole communication sector is bullish and Nokia was just having a temporary correction.

2. After I got our from NOK, I was thinking to Long some communication stocks. My colleague was in VZ and S and he was making money in it. I compare T with VZ and it looked like T has more room to go. I Longed T and I got killed!
Lesson learned: It was about 11 am and normally this time there will be less volume as people who made money in the morning will take profit and go out for beer and lunch. I should not be so reckless to enter a position that it might made a major movement, especially after 11 am.

3. I shorted GM in the morning price: 19.39 at about 9:39 am and put a stop at 19:51. It triggered my stop. This was a bad trade. I know that today GM will release its auto sales and I did not wait for the Sales number and shorted the stock. At about 1:50 pm, the GM auto sale number was released, it was -13% compare with estimate -5.5% It was a bad number, I took advantage of that and short GM and I earned back some money. Without knowing the auto sales of Ford, I was stupidly think that F might follow as it was the sister stock and I shorted F at the same time and I lose money in it. Ford Auto sales was -7.6% versus estimate of -9.7% which was better than expected. I should have more careful and know all the information before trading any stock. I learned my lesson well.

Summary of the day
I did many bad trades today and I should be more careful. Today was a strong market and I was losing money. This is totally unacceptable! If I randomly Long any 5 stocks and don't even bother on them and close my position before the market closes, I would have made thousands of dollars.

April 1, 2008 -> My First day as Full Time Equity Trader

2008-04-01T18:30:00.000-07:00

I did not have a good start today as I was losing money in this strong market. About 2 months ago, the 'R' word was everywhere ('R' - Recession). Since 2 weeks ago, there were talks about the worst of the credit crisis has passed and the bottom was seen. There were less appearance of the 'R' word. This made me think that when the Dow Jones Industrials index dropped 400 points on the start of the market on January 21, 2008 was the bottom. Today the Dow Jones industrials index surged nearly 400 points, and all the major indexes were up more than 3 percent. The upside of the market was primarily of the news of Lehman Brothers Holdings. Lehman said that it was forced to raise $4 Billion in capital because of growing rumors that Lehman was facing the same kind of liquidity problems that brought down Bear Stearns. Lehman Brothers Chief Financial Officer Erin Callan said that they do not want to wait until they are in defensive mode, they raised $4 billion of capital Tuesday in a deal that could boost Lehman's outstanding share count by about 15 percent, but could also stop questions about the investment bank's stability. Lehman also suspects that short sellers were spreading rumors about the company to push its stock down. Big write down from UBS ($19 Billion) convinced some that the worst might be over for the Swiss investment bank.

The Dow rose 391.47, or 3.19 percent, to 12,654.36. It marked the eighth-biggest point gain ever for the Dow, and the third time in two weeks it came close to or surpassed 400 points. There were few more reasons contributed to the gain of the market.

There were 2 economic data released on April 1, 2008:-
10:00am ISM Manufacturing prior 48.3 est. 47.5 Real:48.6
Construction Spending MoM prior –1.7% est. –1.0% Real:-0.3%

Although the ISM Manufacturing index below 50 level signals contraction in the sector, it is still better than the forecast and the better than expected construction spending also has helped to push market to new high.

Continue to blog

2008-03-02T05:25:00.000-08:00

I have stopped to blog for about 2 months. For your information, I am working in 2 jobs at the moment and I am in the transition to become a full time Equity trader and resign from another job. I am expecting to become a full time Equity Trader on April 08. Starting from April 08 onward, I believe that I will have more time and I would continue to blog and provide some educational information to my blog readers.

In the last 2 months, the market has been very volatile and many unexpected things happened. Just to update a little on what happened on the past 2 month. I was so damn wrong in my last port that Malaysia market will drop the next day after Dow Jones dropped 356.54 points(1.96%). Malaysia market was strong on that week because of the General Election has been heated up and almost all shares of the Government Linked companies are rocketing. There was a rumor that it was additionally helped from the foreign fund.

Apple share has been killed when the performance of Steve Jobs in Macworld 2008 was not live up to the expectation of the investors.

There was a global financial market sold off on 21 January 2008 , following by the 75 basis points emergency rate cut by the Federal Reserve which has cool down the sold off. If was my first time watching Dow Jones down for more than 400 points and slowly climbing up to -150. It was a crazy indeed! Thanks to the emergency rate cut which helped to prevent panic selling.

Managing Director of Gamuda Berhad (a public listed construction Campany in Malaysia), Datuk Lin Yun Ling reduced his stake from 5.2% to 1.7% which caused a sold off by other investors for Gamuda shares. The share price dropped to RM 3.2 which was dropping about 35% before the sold off. The share is slowly recovering after Datuk Lin clarified in a press conference that he remained very optimistic about Gamuda's prospect and he will serve for the company at least another 5 years.
I will try to blog on best effort basis on the month of March. I am looking forward to update my blog daily on the month of April.