JA Solar (JASO) – The bollinger bands have acted well and done what they were supposed to when I first tweeted about this current stock pick. Now JA Solar says they are the world’s largest cell firm. While the stock may retreat a little bit, this is only before another jump once again into the stock.

Also look out for a possible inverted head and shoulders pattern creeping in here.

AK Steel (AKS) – It looks like we have a possible break in downtrend, which should result in a nice couple point jump. I’ve been noticing a lot of these patterns forming among multiple stocks so beware of stop loss points for any fakers.

An interested debate on contrarian investing (investing when others wouldn’t).

Tim Sykes shares 5 lessons from his worst trades in 2010.

If you are feeling a little confused, check out a good stock trading 101 class offered by Wall Street Survivor.

Whatever the case history is history, and, if this year follows the trend, then the markets should be testing current 52-week highs over the next couple of weeks.

From a technical analysis standpoint, all major indices are showing a pretty prominent inverse head and shoulders pattern with price targets either matching or surpassing current highs over the last year.

Dow

S&P 500

Nasdaq

What you  think? Will the markets test current 52-week highs in the coming months?

See Best stock trading apps for the iPad and 10 must have stock trading apps for the iPhone.

In most cases, these trading apps will allow you to trade from your phone (i.e E*TRADE) or act as a source of financial news (Bloomberg). While the new multi-tasking feature allows you to more easily manage from one app to the next, it would still be nice if there was an application that bundled this all into one.

Wikinvest Portfolio Manager

Wikinvest has been a popular social financial news site for quite some time, and it recently launched it’s own free stock trading app that surprisingly does a lot more than any of the other free trading apps out there.

Manage Brokerage Account - With Wikinvest Portfolio Manager users can sync up multiple brokerage accounts and manage their portfolio from within this app. Most popular brokers are covered. See stock brokerages that offer mobile trading.

Aggregated News Feed – Based on your watch lists and portfolios, users are able to access an aggregated news feed of stocks they are following.

Data and Charts – Besides news, users can also see the latest financial data and charts (up to 1 year)

Keep Track of Market – With many trading apps, you can only stay on top of stocks you are following. What I like about Wikinvest Portfolio Manager is that there is also a feature that allows users to see top market news and active stocks.

Web Access – Another cool feature of this trading app, is the ability to access everything (and even more) from the Wikinvest website. Track your accounts, watch lists, and create your unique views. Also keep tabs of your performance in relation to the major indices.

Needs for Improvement - While this application is good compared to its peers, the one criticism I have is that there could be some more interaction with the stock charts; regardless, this application is definitely one I recommend you check out.

You can download this application from the iTunes App Store.

The above is a question I get all too often. Trying to pinpoint the BEST advice is like asking how much is too much money – everybody has a different answer and none of them are necessarily wrong.

So instead of just sharing my input, I decided to seek out some of the best traders I know and beg them for their best stock trading advice. Below is the compilation of that greatness.

Thanks to all the contributors for their input. Make sure to check these people out on their website and/or twitter.

Damien Hoffman, Co-founder of WallStCheatSheet.com

The Holy Grail of investing/trading is risk management. If you don’t have an exit strategy or proper position sizing, you are gambling. I recommend all traders spend 90% of their time perfecting risk management, and success will come with time.

Howard Lindzon, CEO StockTwits.com | twitter @howardlindzon

Cut losses, cut losses, cut losses. If I followed my own advice, my email would be unlisted or a hawaii address.

Timothy Sykes, timothysykes.com | twitter – timothysykes

Cut losses quickly, take gains quicker when the investment doesn’t act EXACTLY the way you expected it to.

Jim Gobetz, Aiki14 Market Sense | twitter – @aiki14

If I could give just 1 piece of advice to traders of all levels it would be to know, and trade within, their comfort zone. One should be physically and mentally comfortable going into any trade. This allows for the maximum clarity of thought and the best decision making. This involves everything from a comfortable workstation, to limiting the size of trades to that which you can make without excess fear. It means not trading if you are experiencing anything that puts you off your game. If you are not 100% physically or mentally you are at higher risk of making errors. This is not to say you must be a triathlon runner and Zen master, but it does mean if you just had gum surgery or your wife emptied the bank acct and took the kids to Guatemala you should consider taking some time off.

Kunal Desai, Co-founder Bulls on WALLstreet | twitter @kunal00

Lot of good stock pickers out there millions. Thats 1 percent of trading. Trade management/position management thats the next level stuff that takes you from doing this as a hobby to a living.

Leigh Drogen, LeighDrogen.com | twitter – @ldrogen

The number one piece of advice I can give is this. Know your trading strategy and stick to it. Think of yourself as a baseball player. Not all hitters hit for power, some go up to the plate with the intention of hitting singles and stealing bases. Each player knows what type of game he plays which makes him successful, there is no one right way about it. Know your strategy and master it.

John Lee, Charts Gone Wild | twitter – @WeeklyTA

Be self-aware and willing to adapt to change.

Evan McDaniel, HedgeAccording.ly | twitter – @sellputs

1. Patience
2. Never risk more than 5% of capital scalping or 10% swing on any trade
3. Understand how to profit from high implied correlation in the equity markets
4. Have the correct technology and real time news sources
5. Do not double down
6. cut your losers at a predetermined point.
7. always have a profit goal in mind

Rahul Sood, Co-founder Bulls on WALL Street | twitter - @stockgod

Don’t buy on margin. Ever.

Anne-Marie, TheTradingBook.com

The 15 minute rule:

If your stock breaches the high of the first 15 minutes, it is likely to continue upside for the day.
If your stock fails the low of the first 15minutes, it is likely to continue downside for the day.
the only caveat here is that your 10 day ema must have slope (it cannot be flat for this 15minute rule to hold).

Trey Jarmond | twitter - @tjtakes

Formulate a thesis, stick to it until circumstances change, build slowly until the thesis is confirmed, then hit it hard with 15% of it hedged. Always hedge.

Zachary Musso, The Moose Outlook | twitter – @ZMoose12

The most important thing you can do as a trader is psychologically break down your faults and promote your positives from the trading session that was – the next time you see something occur that reminds you of a previous fault or positive, take advantage of it and either take the trade or pass up on it.

Matt Davio, misstrade.wordpress.com | twitter – @misstrade

I would offer two suggestions:

1) more important that picking your next double digit winner is your exepctancy per position sizing and your reward to risk ratio. You can have good results wiped out by one or two big losses.

2) Always go into a trade with a solid plan: entry, target, exit stop. Your plan should come from your diligent research. Do not blindly follow others, even if they claim to be successful.

Leigh Jones, Bulls on WALLstreet | twitter – @copperstl

Understandably, a trader must understand the playing field of the stock market. When you step on the field, be aware, you are in the middle of a game that is highly sophisticated. The market doesn’t care how much you know, how much risk tolerance you have, or whether you are trading with the house payment. Constantly the market changes with the introduction of new technology and intricate software which essentially trade the markets based off logarithms and algorithms. You aren’t trading against simple-minded beings any longer; you are up against the big boys. Do yourself a favor and find a mentor that has traded successfully for over 10 years. This trader has both the hindsight and foresight to provide a competitive edge. Older traders that can’t migrate to the newer methods won’t help you. Newer traders that don’t have the hindsight to place the new methodology into perspective and tweak are just as dangerous. Educate yourself with the newest of methods or it could be difficult to keep up moving forward and remember: there are times when the trade is not your trade. ATAD = Another Trade Another Day

Michael Dawson, MichaelDawson.com | twitter – @TrendRida

Buy high and sell low is a recipe for disaster. Unfortunately, without a systematic approach to minimize your emotions its your destiny.

Trader Stewie, The Impatient Trader | twitter @traderstewie

“A good trader knows that the best trades work almost right away and never takes a big loss. If it doesn’t ‘feel’ right, remove it!”

Blain Reinkensmeyer, StockTradingToGo.com and tradeWISER.com

Post trade analysis is critical to future success. Learn from every trade you make by recording your pre-trade thoughts with a stock chart screenshot and post trade thoughts with a second stock chart screenshot. Store these all on your computer and you will be amazed at how they help in the future.

Have some of your own stock trading advice? Leave it in the comments below.

While the stock performed beautifully in 2009, this year hasn’t been so kind to one of America’s biggest bank (although the year isn’t over yet). All that being said, is the value of Bank of America (BAC) rivaling the must buy levels of early 2009?

You might remember, March of 2009, this stock going from $5 to $20 in just a few short months. As Bank of America starts to dip down lower and lower, is it time start accumulating more shares of this stock?

Sure, many believe the economy is in for some more heavy times again and the real estate picture isn’t getting any better. All valid concerns for a financial stocks; however, at levels so low generally worst-case scenarios will be required to not make this a profitable play.

Is the stock ready to turn upward right way? Maybe not. Maybe we will dip back below $10 again, but it is definitely a good time to start accumulating some shares. Think BIG PICTURE.

Considering buying some shares now or wait to see if it gets below $10 (although you may miss the move then).

Just like with any stock, once a price target (good or bad) is met, it is time to reevaluate your holding. In other words, do we need to sell or is there more upside left in the stock?

Below are some charts that should help us answer this question. Like always, let me know what you think of Netflix, in the comments below.

First, lets take a look at the initial call. You can clearly see the 20 point range that had been created between $90 and $110, which helped me establish the price target of $130.

Now that the price target has been met, we need to see what is left of this stock.

For a stock that has consistently moved higher for nearly 2 years now, it can be hard to imagine even more growth in price to come. That is why stops are always a good tool to use in stock trading. Why sell, if the stock doesn’t make us?

In the chart below, a cup and handle pattern has been formed – with a 22 point jump between the top of the cup and bottom. We add this to the breakout spot of the handle and we get the new price target of $139. Learn more about this pattern and more at ChartPatternManifest.com.

The dotted red line, shows us a support area around $125.

Ultimately, it is possible that we see a minor pullback here before making another push higher. Then again, from the initial call of $22, I think we got some leeway in terms of stop losses.

Don’t trust me? See what MarketClub’s triangle trade has to say about Netflix’s outlook.

Anyways, it still doesn’t look like the market has defined where it wants to head for the last half of 2010. Below are some charts that are currently peaking my interest. Let me know what you think.

Netflix (NFLX) – Based on how many times I have recommended this stock, if you aren’t in Netflix already, odds are you will continue to sit on the sidelines and watch this thing grow. Remember when it was at $22?

Clearwire (CLWR) – Too be honest, there is a lot of good news and bad news in favor of this stock. The steady range it has been bouncing through over the last year is evidence of that. Based on that theory we are toward the lower end of the range, so lets see if we can get a bounce higher here.

MasterCard (MA) – Based on the head and shoulder pattern a break of the neckline (resistance) should put price target at around $237.

What stocks are you looking at?

Eventually traders will gain some sort of plan or “to-do” list that will make a stock search that much easier – a popular method being stock scans.

A stock scan is what it sounds like: based on criteria the trader inputs a list of stocks that meet those needs will be generated. While this all sounds fun and easy, obviously the hard part is trying to put together a list of criteria that you would like to see in a stock to consider it a buy.

You could always use something like Finviz.com to conduct your stock scans, but, again, this requires that you know the exact inputs you need to create a list of good stock buys. What most of you are probably looking for are scans that will tell you whether to be long, short, or out of the stock.

Sound interesting? Check out the video below that shows you a fun little way on how to use MarketClub’s smart scan technology to get your stock searching done within mere minutes.

Watch video – How to use smart scan technology.

Now embarking on my second year as a college-grad, I am constantly reminded of just how smart I was to manage my finances during school. Besides giving me a head start in how much money I have compared to my fellow peers, building a portfolio also helped me learn about business in general.

While the amount of money made from stock trading will obviously vary from person to person, there is no denying how much the experience can benefit in the long-run.

Some external benefits of trading during college include:

• Learn how to manage money.
• Learn what does and doesn’t make a successful business.
• Learn just how greedy the world really is.
• Learn your threshold and what kind of risk you can take

Since I first started trading in college, I thought I’d put together a blueprint on how anybody can start trading stocks in college.

Join an investment club

One of the perks of trading in college is the resources students have access to. An investment club is a great place to meet traders of all skill level that can bounce ideas off each other and share strategies. Some schools even allow the investment club a say on how the school’s fund is invested.

The investment club at my school held competitions using virtual trading platforms and winners won prizes… and bragging rights.

While most schools should have some form of an investment club already established, if there isn’t one grab a few classmates that are also interested in trading and start your own club.

Get a smart phone

Odds are you probably already have one, and, if setup correctly, this phone can be the basis for which most of your trades are made through. After all, it isn’t like anybody pays attention during class anyways, right? So why not trade?

Unfortunately, there weren’t too many mobile trading options until my last year of college, but nowadays, most brokers offer some sort of solution - a full list of brokers that offer mobile trading.

Save money from summer internship/job to fund first account

I’m sure by now you are probably wondering where do we get the money that we will actually be trading? From personal experience, I was paper trading, or virtual trading in my first year of college. That summer after, I saved money from a summer internship, which I used to fund my first account.

Use your school resources

Depending on your school some resources will obviously be better than others, but all schools offer something. Make sure to research into your school’s facilities and see what is all available. Some colleges offer full trading rooms that can be booked, while most schools offer discounts on the Wall Street Journal and other finance publications.

Don’t be scared to take risk

Lastly, don’t be scared to lose your money. At the same time, don’t go into stock trading thinking you will make big bucks and come out of college a millionaire. That is a surefire way to lose all your money and whatever else you put into it.

Make sure to have fun, learn about all the resources available to you, and prepare yourself for the real world. Its only just beginning.

Over the last couple of years, the popular coffee shop has gone through critical changes and alterations in order to try and revitalize that luster it once had, while keeping competitors at bay.

From my own technical approach it seems like the rally Starbucks has been enjoying over the last couple of months is looking to slow down.

And to no shock Adam agrees with me too… check out his latest video analysis of Starbucks, which includes complete technical analysis and other trading goodness.

Watch video – Is the star in Starbucks fading?