The Secret Method to Selecting a Winning Trading System

Every successful trader has a winning system. There are of course, as many systems out there, as there are traders. Some systems get you to buy on strength and sell on weakness others do the opposite.

Some investors succeed as value investors , a la Warren Buffet ; others make their millions in momentum trading . I have even heard of an astrologist who uses the stars to trade profitably. Although, there are a variety of methods, the point I am trying to illustrate here is this: there are many ways to profit from the markets, but you ultimately must devise a system that is your own, because the personalization will act as a motivational discipline to stick with the plan.

There is however, one common element amongst all successful traders...they have a systematic way they approach the market. This approach is unique. In reality, no two people have exactly the same amount of money, tolerance for risk, personality, time or experience. Therefore, the key to success is to design a system that is suited for you.

Many traders fail because they do not assess how well a trading system matches their temperament. Instead, they chase fads, searching for the "Holy Grail" of trading success; or they waste their money on the latest investing software or buying up the tapes of the latest self-proclaimed stock market guru.

The fact is there is no perfect system. Successful investors succeed because they choose a system that they feel comfortable with, not one that claims to be the current trend. A cool, disciplined trader will make money with an "average" system, while a nervous, arbitrary trader will wreck a "brilliant" system.

The key is to develop a methodology that maximizes your strengths and minimizes your weaknesses. Nevertheless, how do you do that? First, define your objectives.

Ask yourself these questions:

1. Am I designing a trading plan for cash flow or capital growth?
2. Do I want to trade part time or full time?
3. How much money can I work with?
4. What annual rate of return do I want? (Note: the higher the return, usually the higher the risk).

Decisions such as these will have the largest impact on the style of your trading system.

For example, if your goal is cash flow and low risk, buying or selling at extreme levels (overbought/oversold) is an unlikely style. If your goals center on quick capital growth, high returns and high risk, then bottom picking strategies and gap trading may be your style.

I had one client that was a wiz at buying and selling on eBay. This person was a beginner so I suggested buying the trade closer to the 52-week low, then selling the trade when it foresaw a profit.

Entries and exits must be precise and must follow a strict set of rules.

Styles range from aggressive day traders looking to scalp few point gains to investors looking to capitalize on long-term macro economic trends. In between, there are a whole host of possible combinations including swing traders, position traders, aggressive growth investors, value investors and contrarians.

Moreover, your style will depend on your level of commitment and experience. Day traders are likely to pursue an aggressive style with high activity levels. The goals would focus on quick trades, small profits and very tight stop-loss levels. For this, the trader uses intraday charts to provide timely entry and exit points. A high level of commitment, focus and energy would be required.

On the other hand, position traders are likely to use intraday charts and pursue 1-8 week price movements. Focused goals on short to intermediate price movements and the level of commitment, while still substantial, would be less than a day trader.

With this in mind, be sure to define your trading objectives as best as you can. Unless your system matches your own criteria, you will never make big profits. You need to ask yourself the simple question: "I am trading in the market because I want to __________"...

Answer this and you are well on your way to setting your portfolio objectives.

-=-=-==-=-=-=-==-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
David Jenyns is recognized as the leading expert when it
comes to designing profitable trading systems.

His most recent course Ultimate Trading Systems is a step-
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systems. Learn how *you* can become one of his students.
Click Here ==> http://www.ultimate-trading-systems.com

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What Does it Take to be a Stock Trader?

It takes a total mental commitment to the task. It becomes a complete way of life. You cannot be a part timer. You cannot work at a regular job and trade stocks successfully.

When you decide to make your living this way you must be willing to work 365 days a year, 7 days each week, 24 hours every day with no time off. I know.

How do I know? As an exchange member for 17 years and a floor trader I can personally tell you there is no time off. Never. Almost every waking moment is given to thinking about your current positions. Where should I sell? Should I move my stop up a little more? There are 3 more trades I'd like to make, but I need to save some extra cash in case I need it for a margin call. It is hard to pass up a trade that looks as good as XYZ, but I have to maintain my trading discipline. And so much more.

These are just a few of the thoughts that run through your head. You are constantly being torn by the natural enemies of fear and greed, yet you must hold your equilibrium to try to make dispassionate decisions. The first law of trading is to protect your capital so that any single trade will not have you going home broke.

If you are working a regular job or you own a business you cannot be a trader. One or the other or both of these pursuits will suffer. When I owned my brokerage company I did not make one single trade for 8 years because I understood the commitment necessary to be a successful trader.

Why am I telling you all this? Because I don't want you to lose your money in the market as so many people do and I especially don't want you to think you can be a day trader. You can still make money in the market and beat 90% of the Wall Street experts. Here's how.

First you must learn that you CAN time the market even though your broker and all those "experts" will tell you that you can't. There are several good timing advisory services that you may subscribe to or you can develop you own method.

Second, don't believe all that horsewash about research. That is Wall Street smoke and mirrors. Don't try to pick individual stocks. Stick to no-load mutual funds with a discount broker and buy only the best performing funds during the past 6 and 12 months. When they quit being in the top 1% sell them and find new ones that are going up.

There isn't enough space here to give you the details, but I want you to realize that you can safely make plenty of money in the market without devoting 365/7/24.

Al Thomas' book, "If It Doesn't Go Up, Don't Buy It!" has helped thousands of people make money and keep their profits with his simple 2-step method. Read the first chapter at http://www.mutualfundmagic.com and discover why he's the man that Wall Street does not want you to know.

Copyright 2005

The Three Little Pigs Went to the Stock Market

Three little pigs went to the market to stock up for the future.

The first little pig liked chips so he went to the DOW market. He was told by everyone you could always rely on their products. They were always good. The manager told him you could put them away and forget about them.

The second little pig liked spicy things. He shopped at the NASDAQ market where they had unusual products. He said that his purchases were good to put away even though they had some strange ingredients. He took his home and said he did not need to worry about them even though others had told him to be careful.

The third little pig went to both of those markets. He would pinch the tomatoes and squeeze the Charmin. He was a very careful shopper. Many times he would put things in his shopping cart, but later take them out because they were not "just right".

Our first little piggy brought home his purchases, put them away and many times forget about them. The store manager had told him they would always be good and he believed him so he did not bother to check on them periodically.

When the second pig got home he also put the things he picked out at the market on his shelf and would brag to his friends about the great things he would have in the future when he was ready to retire. He would have more than he would ever need. He rarely looked in the pantry, but once in a while he knew that one of the products was spoiling. That didn't worry him either, as he knew they would still be fine some time in the future when he wanted them.

The third little guy put his purchases away, but regularly checked to see that they were all right. If one of them was not "just right" he would take it back to the market. Our third pig made sure that none of his market purchases went sour.

Time passed and our first little pig got to the point that he needed to start eating out of his savings. To his dismay he found many of his guaranteed chips has spoiled. There were still enough there so he could eat, but not the way he had before. Our second pig also no longer bought at the market, but when he went to the pantry he found almost all of his purchases had become rotten. In order to eat at all he had to take a job at Wal-Mart as a greeter.

Mr. Third Pig's purchases all were good because every month he had checked to be sure nothing was going bad and if it was he would get rid of it right away. He was able to enjoy being at home or playing golf because his pantry was full.

It seems it doesn't make any difference where our 3 pigs did their shopping ? DOW or NASDAQ markets. The important difference was that the one who checked to be sure his purchases never went bad was the one who ended up with plenty.

Al Thomas' book, "If It Doesn't Go Up, Don't Buy It!" has helped thousands of people make money and keep their profits with his simple 2-step method. Read the first chapter at http://www.mutualfundmagic.com and discover why he's the man that Wall Street does not want you to know.

A Triple Dipper: How to Make 3 Profits on 1 Stock Trade

This is a rather simple strategy with which I am sure a lot of seasoned traders are very familiar, possibly under some other name with which I am not familiar. I wanted to write about it because I don't see anyone talking about it anymore. Since the big hey-days of day trading and, of course, the burst of the Internet bubble of 2000, there seems to be a lack of patience that this strategy needs to work.

A lot of people seem to be moving back into the markets since the declines of 2000. If you were one of those that jumped back in during the early part of 2004 you reaped big profits. But now there seems to be a fair number of Wall Street Pundits that are beginning to raise the "irrational exuberance" flag once again. If you have been watching some of the unrealistic gains in recent high flyers, you may be looking for a bit more conservative way of being in the market.

In the early 70's I met a young Dean Witter Reynolds broker and told him I had a few dollars I wanted to put into the stock market. The first thing he told me was that unless I had $100,000 I wanted to invest one time into a diversified portfolio with a buy and hold strategy?or?. $10,000 I wanted to invest in a more aggressive "trading" strategy, he was not interested in my account. Keep in mind, this was a long time before the day trading craze hit. I was impressed with his straightforward and honest approach. However, I did not have $100,000 back then, but I did have a bit more then $10,000. With that we were off to the races, and this is the trading plan he put to work for me.

First of all he stayed away form the high flyers altogether. He followed a number of solid, top quality companies that had a history of paying above average dividends but still with a little bit of volatility. Both the dividend and the volatility are required ingredients.

We bought six to ten positions with an average of 300-500 shares in each position. Every stock we bought paid higher then average dividend. We did well with companies like Phillip Morris [MO], American Electric and Power [AEP], Battle Mountain Gold Co. [now a pink sheeter], General Motors [GM] and few others. I only mention them so you that are nuts-o for research (exactly the sort of thing I would do) can go back and see the sort of movement we had in these stocks back in those days. There were others of course, but that will give you some fodder for research. GM and MO may still work these days, but I have not looked at AEP in years and, of course, Battle Mountain is history.

Okay, so now you know what sort of companies we are looking for; solid, higher then average dividend paying companies with a bit of volatility. Hey, I never said this was easy! But to make it even more challenging, we need one more component to make the triple dip into the money - Options. To be more specific, we need Covered Calls only!!! Let me repeat that, we are only selling covered calls, no other options. You will have to be cleared by your broker for options trading, and you will need a margin account.

Here's how the play is made. You buy 300-500 shares of a stock that is going to be paying a dividend with in the next 15-45 days. You sell the 30-60 day covered call taking in the premium money and giving you that amount of money downside protection to offset any move against you.

The ideal trade will play out like this. You will buy the stock, it will pay the dividend while you own it, you sell the Covered Call collecting the options premium money, and hopefully the stock will be called away at the strike price. Obviously, you have to make sure you only sell the call with a strike price higher then your entry price.

Now let's apply the math on a hypothetical trade. Let's say you buy MO at $50 and it is paying $.25 dividend and the $51 call option is selling for $.25 with an expiration date 45 days out. Let's further assume the stock pays the dividend, and moves above the strike price of $51 by the expiration date and it gets called away. You will earn $.25 for the dividend, $.25 for the premium money on the call and $1.00 on the stock position itself for a total gain of $1.50 on 300 shares. That's $300 on a $7500 investment (using 2:1 margin account) for a 24% annualized yield on your money. More of the math: $300 divided by $7500 = 4% X 8 = 24%. Keep in mind you made the $300 in 45 days meaning theoretically you can do this 8 times a year. That's how you get the 24% annualized yield. Not to shabby! (Because commissions vary, I have not put them into the equation, something you will have to do obviously.)

Seems pretty easy doesn't it? Well it is, when it works. But like everything in the stock market (or in life itself for that matter) there is no sure thing.

Any number of things can happen. Here are just a couple of things you have to consider. First off, I would check to see what all the analysts are saying about any stock you are about to try this on. Make sure the company has a solid dividend history. I would also caution against making the play on a stock that is due to report earnings while you are in the options period. Also keep in mind that as a general rule a stock will dip in direct relationship to the divided paid.

Obviously this strategy is not always going to play out as our hypothetical trade did. However, I have had results similar to that as well as some much better, and "yes" some that did not work at all. What makes the play less risky than the stand alone buy and hold trade is that no matter what the stock does, you get the dividend and the options premium money giving you that much downside protection on a move against you.

I had a number of stocks that I would hold in my account and merely roll over the option money and collect the dividend on a regular bases, double-dippers, and was very happy not to have the stock called away.

I was very fortunate that I had met a broker who became one of my best friends and taught me this method of investing. I strongly suggest that you seek the advice of a professional broker; money manager; your attorney; your accountant; your present, past or future wife or husband; your doctor; your heirs, your auto mechanic or anyone else in the world that you can think of before you try this or any method of investing. (Okay, I think that covers about everyone.)

To learn more about Covered Call writing, check the resources at http://www.TraderAide.com. Good luck and happy trading!

No permission is needed to reproduce an unedited copy of this article as long the About The Author tag is left in tact and hot links included. We do request that we be informed of where it is posted so reciprocal links can be considered. Email floyd@sbmag.org.

Floyd Snyder has been trading and investing in the stock market for three decades. He was on the forefront of the day trading craze that swept the nation back in the late1990's both as a trader and as the moderator of one of the Internet's largest real time trading rooms. He is the owner of http://www.TraderAide.com, Strictly Business Magazine at http://www.sbmag.org, http://www.FrameHouseGallery.com and http://www.EducationResourcesNetwork.com

The Holy Grail (of Investment)

Every year I go to the Money Show in Orlando, Florida. Thousands attend. It is mostly an older crowd with the youngsters about 40 years of age. I have been saying for years that until you have lost enough money trying to make a fortune you will not become serious about investing. The under 40's are shooting for the moon and it has finally dawned on the over 40's (maybe it's the over 50's) that they must find a better way to get rich.

The Money Show presents a forum of recognized experts in their field. It may be long-term or short term trading. It could be in stocks, bonds, mutual fund, ETFs (Exchange Traded Funds), oil and gas properties, options, commodity futures, managed accounts and other more esoteric venues.

Each one of the "experts" allows you to listen to him speak (at no charge) to tell you how he has found the secret to stock market success and why you should buy his Holy Grail service. You will receive his (daily, weekly, monthly) market letter for the ridiculously low price of from $250 to $5,000 or more. You may not have found the Holy Grail, but he has.

Almost all of them have a "when to buy" method, but very few have a "when to cash in your chips" method and fewer than that will have any way to protect yourself from losing it all should their Holy Grail method turn into Holy Cow.

The Orlando show occurs in February so every expert has his predictions for the coming year. The only bear I fount was Martin Weiss, but he wasn't a bull in 1999 either. No one wants to hear dire consequences of a bad year for their stocks so the audience is fed the kind of food they like. Everything is going to be even better this years and with my super software (or newsletter) you will make a better return than ever before.

During the three day show there were 396 individual presentations most of which ran about an hour more or less and then there were the extra charges for having breakfast, lunch, tea, whatever with one of the speakers. And these weren't cheap. You could also sign up for all day seminars. In the Exhibit Hall there was always an expert giving a lecture with a great slide show on how his Grail (I am getting hesitant about calling it Holy) will increase your portfolio.

Many investors came to see the guru whose market letter they were receiving. Very few of these mavens are making anyone rich, but there are some. My question to them is are they putting their own money on the line or are these results hypothetical? After attending several of these seminars each day with each presenter showing his magic get-rich formula it would seem these folks would go home more confused than when they came. There is no Holy Grail of investing. At least I have not found it nor do I know anyone who has. Do not rely on someone else to make you rich.' You have to do it yourself.

The real Holy Grail translates into two words - Hard Work.

Al Thomas' book, "If It Doesn't Go Up, Don't Buy It!" has helped thousands of people make money and keep their profits with his simple 2-step method. Read the first chapter at http://www.mutualfundmagic.com and discover why he's the man that Wall Street does not want you to know.

Copyright 2005

The Great Stock Market Secret

When the stock market is going up and all your stocks and mutual funds are making money you feel like a genius. It is too bad that some folks don't remember what happened in 2000. Of course, right now we are in one of those genius phases.

Your broker and financial planner are encouraging you to buy, buy, buy. And I can't fault that at this time. You remember back in 2000 how many times they told you to buy, buy, buy while the market was going down, down, down. Are we in another of those periods now that are leading up to a humongous crash? Hey, I don't predict, but I do listen to the voice of the market.

The great Wall Street mantra is "buy a good stock and put it away". Did you keep WorldCom and Global Crossing? Even if these were exceptions because of fraud a smart investor would not have lost any money. In fact he could have made a nice profit. But Al, they went under! Yes, I know, but the smart money still made out because they sold near the top.

As a former exchange member and floor trader I was not right every time I bought something and I especially did not like giving back nice profits that had accumulated. You don't have to be psychic to know when to sell and don't think you are going to be able to pick the top. A really smart trader waits for a stock or fund to start up and then jumps on it with both feet. When it starts down he jumps off looking for another equity that is going up. The wise trader knows he can't buy the bottom and sell the top. What he wants is a big bite out of the middle.

When you make a sandwich most of the meat is in the center and a professional trader does the same with his trading. He wants to take a bite out of the middle of the move. You can do this too by looking for stocks, mutual funds or Exchange Traded Funds that have a nice upward pattern. As I said before buying is not the secret. Then what is?

You must learn to sell - for two reasons. First to protect your equity after your initial purchase and second to keep from giving back profits you have made as the equity advances. The great Wall Street secret is an exit strategy: knowing when to sell. Unless you learn to sell you will not be successful in the market. Brokerage companies do not want you to sell and rarely issue sell signals. You must decide how much you are willing to risk before you buy.

The simplest way is with a percentage stop loss order of 5%, 7%, 10%, 12%, whatever you can live with. Instruct your broker to place a trialing stop or you can change it yourself every week. Do not lower a stop.

Selling is the great secret you will never hear from your broker.

Al Thomas' book, "If It Doesn't Go Up, Don't Buy It!" has helped thousands of people make money and keep their profits with his simple 2-step method. Read the first chapter at http://www.mutualfundmagic.com and discover why he's the man that Wall Street does not want you to know.

Copyright 2005

Dont Spend Another Dollar on Business Opportunities Until You Read This

With an insecure job market, overworked employees, insufficient retirement savings and parents wanting the option to stay home with their kids, it is not surprising that many individuals are taking the leap into online business opportunities.

The need to create a secondary income is a smart move for people who recognize the risks associated with the traditional job market. However, there are questions: What are some of the options out there? And how can you avoid losing money to 'get rich quick' schemes or unproven business ideas?

"You Want to Make Money On the Internet? Get In Line"

The truth is there ARE many options for you. In fact, you may have had the typical learning experience of many who are exploring the touted 'gold rush' of online income opportunities. Many systems that are promoted require a learning curve that can cost more than an individual can afford, in time, money and energy.

Another problem many encounter is the need to invest in product, create a marketing system, and compete with the many other online entrepreneurs that are selling the same or similar products.

Regardless of your experience, however, there is an option that is making it possible for ordinary individuals to master a business that removes these obstacles. Mothers, retirees and even graduates looking for work can spend several hours online and bring home a real income.

"Money Makes the World Go Round"

I certainly don't tout this as a personal philosophy. In fact many who look for online income do so because they are concerned about quality of life, not possessions. But the fact remains that money exchanges hands every day and this does indeed make the economy move.

Consider what many would consider to be a safe system of financing your future: investments. Regardless of whether you invest in real estate, art, antiques or any other valuable, you count on the return being greater than the investment.

Take a look at this from another angle: investing in stock is an investment in a valuable that you anticipate trading at a greater value. Without knowledge of how the stock market works, many would caution against this as a dangerous and risky move.

However, with the proper training, many ordinary individuals have learned a process that allows them to trade within a few hours, create amazing income, and do so without the risk and cost involved in typical trading.

Imagine the possibility of making $1100 in profits in under an hour. Imagine $3000. I can prove it can be done. What amount of selling would you have to do with M.L.M. or information products to achieve results like that? How much time would you need to invest in creating an effective marketing campaign? What if you didn't have to do either? Would you want to know how?

"Is This Something I Could Do?"

Absolutely! The ability to take advantage of stock market fluctuations may seem like the complicated process that only a university educated graduate could achieve. However, with the proper training, you could learn to day trade using a simple formula that anyone can master. I know what I'm talking about here; in fact, my own background was in construction - a far cry from Wall Street!

Unlike other businesses, the benefits of learning to day trade can be put to work immediately. With a brief education and knowledge of how the system works, day trading becomes a low risk option that can be extremely affordable and easy to execute.

If you are like many others, you don't want to waste another dollar or hour on learning complicated programs that fail to deliver. Day trading means no more hassles with marketing, customers or products. In fact, with the proper training, you can be making profits 80-95% of the time. You simply follow the progress of the market for a few hours and act when you see the ideal scenarios. Sound simple enough?

Understanding why some people make money and others don't is the key to avoiding costly pitfalls in any business. With the proper knowledge and support, day trading can be the smartest move towards financial independence that you can make today. Can you afford not to consider this?

Please watch for my next article "Day Trading: Is This The Perfect Home Business?" for more information on this exciting business.

About the author:

Michael S.L. Bombard, an accomplished 4 year online marketer, wants to rush you a free copy of his fact- filled PDF report that reveals the simple system he's using to generate massive profits online. Go now to: http://www.daytradetycoon.com/freereport.html

365/7/24

What does it take to be a stock trader? It takes a total mental commitment to the task. It becomes a complete way of life. You cannot be a part timer. You cannot work at a regular job and trade stocks successfully. When you decide to make your living this way you must be willing to work 365 days a year, 7 days each week, 24 hours every day with no time off. I know.

How do I know? As an exchange member for 17 years and a floor trader I can personally tell you there is no time off. Never. Almost every waking moment is given to thinking about your current positions. Where should I sell? Should I move my stop up a little more? There are 3 more trades I'd like to make, but I need to save some extra cash in case I need it for a margin call. It is hard to pass up a trade that looks as good as XYZ, but I have to maintain my trading discipline. And so much more.

These are just a few of the thoughts that run through your head.

You are constantly being torn by the natural enemies of fear and greed, yet you must hold your equilibrium to try to make dispassionate decisions. The first law of trading is to protect your capital so that any single trade will not have you going home broke.

If you are working a regular job or you own a business you cannot be a trader. One or the other or both of these pursuits will suffer. When I owned my brokerage company I did not make one single trade for 8 years because I understood the commitment necessary to be a successful trader.

Why am I telling you all this? Because I don't want you to lose your money in the market as so many people do and I especially don't want you to think you can be a day trader. You can still make money in the market and beat 90% of the Wall Street experts. Here's how.

First you must learn that you CAN time the market even though your broker and all those "experts" will tell you that you can't. There are several good timing advisory services that you may subscribe to or you can develop you own method.

Second, don't believe all that horsewash about research. That is Wall Street smoke and mirrors. Don't try to pick individual stocks. Stick to no-load mutual funds with a discount broker and buy only the best performing funds during the past 6 and 12 months. When they quit being in the top 1% sell them and find new ones that are going up.

There isn't enough space here to give you the details, but I want you to realize that you can safely make plenty of money in the market without devoting 365/7/24.

Al Thomas' book, "If It Doesn't Go Up, Don't Buy It!" has helped thousands of people make money and keep their profits with his simple 2-step method. Read the first chapter at http://www.mutualfundmagic.com and discover why he's the man that Wall Street does not want you to know.

Stock Trading Success

The ABC's of Stock Trading Success

Stock trading success...why is it so elusive?

With all the trading information, systems, trading advice and assistance available today, the fact that most people who attempt to profit from trading Stocks lose money seems quite bizarre.

Can you imagine the millions of dollars that must have been spent by countless traders on courses and Stock analysis software, that was wasted because the buyers didn't understand the key principle of trading success I am about to share with you now.

We aren't going to need any charts for this lesson...just your ability to comprehend the value of what I am about to share with you and your willingness to take action - right now I want to share with you the ABC's of trading success.

If trading was an easy business to master and profits were freely available to all, every punter with a computer and a free charting program would be a millionaire and the streets of our cities would be clogged with chauffer driven limousines.

The fact that the majority of the population have no idea how to make a buck from the Stock Market, often after spending large amounts of money on education and trading losses, made me wonder why this is so.

I searched for the answer to profitable trading for years, until I found it in an unexpected place, when I wasn't looking for it at all.

You may be able to relate to this story, or you might just be starting out and this will help you to reduce the time you spend in your initial learning stages and speed up your path to profits.

Let me tell you about Jim (not his real name?of course). Jim first started trading after answering an ad in the Brisbane Courier Mail for a popular trading education package that cost him around $1000.

Little did he know that the fateful investment in that course would lead him into the abyss of Gann analysis, and that it would eventually cost him thousands of dollars in courses and trading losses to pull himself out the other side.

He read the course, watched the videos, read the course, watched the videos...you get the picture.

Losses, losses, small profit, losses. He felt that because of his limited knowledge, he had to learn more and more in order to stop the losses and to start profiting from the market. So he spent more and more on courses - and his trading got worse and worse.

The more he learnt, the less he seemed to know and the worse his results became. Then, he finally learnt about the A, B, C triangle of success, in trading and in every other area of life, from one of his property mentors - John Fitzgerald.

The A, B, C's stand for -

A - Awareness

B - Belief

C - Conduct

Awareness - He realised that he already did in fact know enough to become a successful trader and investor. He had studied many books and courses on trading and had everything he needed in the way of practical trading information to make a profit.

He was aware of what it took to trade profitably. He could become a good, a great trader, if he could just develop the second factor...

Belief - If he could bring himself to believe that he was a good trader, he would become a good trader.

He didn't need more knowledge at that time, because he had a firm grasp of the basics. He simply had to believe in himself and his abilities and the profits would follow.

The third leg of the success triangle

Conduct - Was were he was falling down.

He would look at a chart of a Stock or market, and decide on a trading strategy using his understanding of trends ? he was calm, detached and unemotional - just like his written trading plan told him to be.

His success rate was good at finding profitable trades - but his conduct was the problem...

He had no trouble placing the trade while the market was closed. He would simply call his Broker and give him the order.

Then, the market would open. His calm, detached, unemotional state would turn into panic.

He would feel physically sick at times, scared in case his analysis was wrong and he lost money on the trade.

He honestly believed that he couldn't afford to lose any money (the poor mans mindset) so he focused on losing.

He got what he focused on... He watched his trades like a hawk, and at the first sign of a reversal against his position, he would either call his broker and exit the trade, or move his stop loss order to a place where he was virtually guaranteed of being knocked out by the normal fluctuations of the market.

He simply had too much leverage - he was over trading.

He was continually setting himself up to fail.

His conduct was the weak link in his trading success triangle.

Because he was continually losing money on his trades, albeit only small amounts, his belief system started to falter, and he saw himself as a losing trader even more - then he started to think he had two weak sides on the success triangle ? conduct and belief.

He started to question the system he was using, which he had painstakingly back tested, over many markets on hand drawn charts and knew was solid, but his failure to have control of his conduct or belief made it look like it wasn't a good system at all.

So, how to fix it...

He sat down and looked at his recent trading results, and noticed that on most occasions, if he had stayed in the trade, he would have made a profit. His system was valid. His Awareness was enabling him to find and execute profitable trades.

His Belief system needed a gentle prod after several losing trades in a row, but because he had done so much study and work on back testing, he knew he deserved to be successful.

He started to visualise himself in his trading room, making profitable, long term trades and enjoying the benefits that this type of trading would bring to himself and his family.

Then, he worked on his conduct. He again wrote out his trading plan, and decided that he would treat his plan like a shipwrecked sailor treats a life raft.

He would cling to it until he was forced out of a trade by the actions of the market, not by his fearful, emotional response to the actions of the market.

He started placing his stop loss orders in a position so that the market had to change trend in order to take him out of a trade. In other words, a logically placed, technically correct stop loss position.

He then reduced his position size to allow for these stop loss orders being further away from the price action, so that his account was never at risk of being totally wiped out by one serious loss.

He did a pre-trade and post trade analysis sheet, so he could analyze his performance and try to consistently improve his results.

(This can be as simple as a sheet of paper where you write down your order, the position of the market and your thoughts and feelings before, during and after a trade.

Or it can be an elaborate system of checks and balances that guide you through each of your trades. Be careful though - keep it simple or you probably won't use it!)

Once he started to do this, he started to make money (with the exact system we have been teaching you on this Website).

(There are, of course, many other strategies and systems you can use in addition to the lessons we teach you to increase your profits, but to start with, these methods are all you really need to become a profitable trader.)

We are always learning and improving - every trader should strive to do this also.

When you are making consistent profits using the methods we have shared with you, investigate some of these additional entry and exit techniques, but not at the start. Keep it simple.

When he started to trade this way, he found it was far better to take a small position with a loose stop loss and be able to sleep at night, than his previous strategy of using maximum leverage and stressing out whenever he was in the market, to the point where he couldn't stand to walk away from his screen in case the position went against him.

This method sets up lots of profits and a few losses. Much better than the alternative he had previously used.

He then started looking for Stocks that trended strongly for long periods of time, and was drawn to the US Stock Market.

He used exactly the same entry and analysis techniques I have shown you on the Website, and -

He bought Call options in Gen Probe Inc (GPRO) with the Stock at $27 and held on until the Stock price was $58 three months later.

He bought Pacificare Health Systems Call options (PHS) when it was trading at $24 and held them to $51 four months later.

And he bought Sandisc Corp Call options (SNDK) with the Stock at $24 and held them to $58 less than four months later.

(Please Note - these are not Stock recommendations, they are merely mentioned here for illustration and educational purposes and the trades are hypothetical examples).

Can you imagine the change in the size of his trading account balance?

None of these Stocks had given him any reason to sell earlier, so he simply held on for the ride?Awareness, Belief, Conduct...the success triangle.

The Awareness will come when you study and really 'get' the lessons on the Website and in the Newsletter.

Study the lessons carefully, read books written by the masters. Teach others what you have learned - you will gain a better understanding yourself.

All human interaction is a chance to learn or to teach.

By teaching someone else and sharing your knowledge, you will learn any subject at a deeper level. You ultimately go from an intellectual understanding to an emotional understanding (as Robert Allen calls them, an aha!) of your chosen area of interest, in this case, profitable trading. Try it...

The Belief will come when you back test the Trading Plan I share with you on the Stocks that you want to trade and prove to yourself that it does indeed work.

Visualize yourself making a series of profitable trades. Feel how good it is to see the market moving in the direction you expected it to.

Imagine spending the profits you make trading Stocks with your family and friends, and the time you will have to do the things you want to do instead of the things you have to do. Successful trading gives you the 'time freedom' to do whatever it is that you want to do with your life. Do it first in your mind, and then do it in the market.

Your Conduct - well that's up to you. Will you 'decide' to look at your written trading plan as your life raft? Cling to it as your last defense against the emotions of fear and greed that live inside each one of us?

Will you trade with the trend, enter off 1 to 4 day reactions to the main trend, reduce your leverage or position size and put your stop loss orders out of the way, so the market has to change trend to get you?

If you do this, you should be confident that you can achieve trading success. That is our wish for you. Good luck.

Now, lets review today's lesson -

The Trading Success Triangle has as it's three sides - Awareness, Belief and Conduct

If any of these elements are weak or missing, the triangle has no strength

The sides are all important and are dependent on each other, but Conduct is the most difficult for the average trader to master

Fear and Greed act to change our conduct from what our rational thoughts tell us is the correct course of action, to actions that aren't always in our best interests. By controlling Fear and Greed, we can make rational decisions that help us to become profitable traders

I hope this lesson has helped you in understanding the mindset of a successful trader a little better.

Understanding these three critical elements of trading psychology will put you well on the way to a profitable trading career.

Get this, and your trading success is practically assured. Miss the lesson, and your chances of making big money in the Stock Market are profoundly limited.

Please feel free to share this lesson with your trading friends and associates - they will thank you for it.

To Your Trading Success,

Tony Spann and the Team

Stock Trading Review is dedicated to helping you succeed as a trader by sharing with you simple and easy to follow tips and techniques.

Discover more insider secrets and the exact proven strategies to trade stocks profitably: http://www.stocktradingreview.com

Copyright(C)2005 Stock Trading Review

The Seven Mistakes All Novice Traders Make and How to Correct Them

We learnt the following the hard way! If any of these things applies to you, don't worry ? there is an easy solution!

MISTAKE ONE

Lack of Knowledge and No Plan

It amazes us that some people expect to trade the stock market successfully without any effort. Yet if they want to take up golf, for example, they will happily take some lessons or at least read a book before heading out onto the course.

The stock market is not the place for the ill informed. But learning what you need is straightforward ? you just need someone to show you the way.

The opposite extreme of this is those traders who spend their life looking for the Holy Grail of trading! Been there, done that!

The truth is, there is no Holy Grail. But the good news is that you don't need it. Our trading system is highly successful, easy to learn and low risk.

MISTAKE TWO

Unrealistic Expectations

Many novice traders expect to make a gazillion dollars by next Thursday. Or they start to write out their resignation letter before they have even placed their first trade!

Now, don't get us wrong. The stock market can be a great way to replace your current income and for creating wealth but it does require time. Not a lot, but some.

So don't tell your boss where to put his job, just yet!

Other beginners think that trading can be 100% accurate all the time. Of course this is unrealistic. But the best thing is that with our methods you only need to get 50-60% of your trades "right" to be successful and highly profitable.

MISTAKE THREE

Listening to Others

When traders first start out they often feel like they know nothing and that everyone else has the answers. So they listen to all the news reports and so called "experts" and get totally confused.

And they take "tips" from their buddy, who got it from some cab driver?

We will show you how you can get to know everything you need to know and so never have to listen to anyone else, ever again!

MISTAKE FOUR

Getting in the Way

By this we mean letting your ego or your emotions get in the way of doing what you know you need to do.

When you first start to trade it is very difficult to control your emotions. Fear and greed can be overwhelming. Lack of discipline; lack of patience and over confidence are just some of the other problems that we all face.

It is critical you understand how to control this side of trading. There is also one other key that almost no one seems to talk about. But more on this another time!

MISTAKE FIVE

Poor Money Management

It never ceases to amaze us how many traders don't understand the critical nature of money management and the related area of risk management.

This is a critical aspect of trading. If you don't get this right you not only won't be successful, you won't survive!

Fortunately, it is not complex to address and the simple steps we can show you will ensure that you don't "blow up" and that you get to keep your profits.

MISTAKE SIX

Only Trading Market in One Direction

Most new traders only learn how to trade a rising market. And very few traders know really good strategies for trading in a falling market.

If you don't learn to trade "both" sides of the market, you are drastically limiting the number of trades you can take. And this limits the amount of money you can make.

We can show you a simple strategy that allows you to profit when stocks fall.

MISTAKE SEVEN

Overtrading

Most traders new to trading feel they have to be in the market all the time to make any real money. And they see trading opportunities when they're not even there (we've been there too).

We can show you simple techniques that ensure you only "pull the trigger" when you should. And how trading less can actually make you more!

David Chandler

For free mini-course on stock and options trading click the following link:

http://www.StockMarketGenie.com

Or visit our blog at: http://stockmarketgenie.blogspot.com/

Ordinary People Making Extraordinary Profits!

The above comments are offered for educational purposes only. We are not providing you with financial advice. We are simply sharing with you what has and hasn't worked for us personally. If you wish to trade or invest in the stock market you should obtain advice from a registered licensed advisor.

Stock Trading - Daddy, Why Arent We Rich?

One Saturday morning, while he was sitting at his computer studying the market, David's 7 year old daughter came up, tugged at his shirt sleeve, and said, "Daddy, why aren't we rich?" He looked his child in the eye, and thought to himself, what a great question - Why aren't we rich?

As she stood there expectantly waiting for an answer, he struggled to come to terms with the realization that, although he had focused his complete attention on trying to create wealth for more than 10 years, he had never actually made any real headway.

He had bought and sold many Stocks and several properties over those years, but had never made any real money.

He looked at his daughter, and asked, 'What makes you think we aren't rich, darling?'

She looked at him and said, 'Because you said that if we were rich, you and mom wouldn't have to go to work any more, and you both still work all the time. You said we could live at the beach and play in the sand every day. I want to know what you are doing about that. When can we go and live at the beach?'

Nothing like a child to cut straight to the heart of the problem - and what was he doing about it?

'We're not rich because daddy made some mistakes,' he finally answered. 'What kind of mistakes, daddy,' she asked. 'Well, I bought some shares that were going down and then didn't sell them soon enough. Then I bought some houses but sold them again.' 'Why?' she asked.

He had to think about that. He had no reason to buy those shares in the first place. He had no reason to hold on to them when they kept going down. He had no reason to sell the properties either. Her logic was flawless - why?

He had to change his strategy.

He owed it to himself and his family to finally get his act together and make some changes - that was the day the pain of not living up to his potential made him sit down and write out his trading plan and his goals...his strategy and rules - his life raft.

He started by writing out his vision - what he wanted his life to look like when he became a successful trader and investor, then worked backwards from there - through the details of how he was going to achieve his dream.

He saw in his mind the 4 bedroom apartment on the beach, the red Ferrari 360 Modena, the plasma screen computer monitor in an office overlooking the surf beach 7 floors below, the family holidays in the Greek islands, the significant donations to worthwhile causes and children's charities.

He visualized all the tremendous benefits of becoming a successful trader.

He realized that he was afraid of losing, and that fear was just too expensive to let it control his life any longer!

He decided that he would no longer accept anything less than full compliance with his trading plan.

He decided that he would take every trade entry signal and follow his trading plan as if his life depended on it.

As if, after each trade was closed out, he had to stand in front of a Panel of his trading Mentors, and explain his actions to them - why he entered where he did, where he placed his stop losses, why he exited when he did.

And if they weren't convinced he followed the rules of successful trading, he would be taken out and shot!

This certainly focused his attention on only trading strong trends - trends where the price bars were trading above their respective moving averages for long trades, or below for short trades, and the Stock price was moving strongly in one direction.

He pretended that if he couldn't justify his trading decisions to his trading Mentors, he was dead...

That was the day he resolved to study his selected group of Stocks, the ones that had a track record of trending strongly, every day. He would then take every trade his system produced, put his stop loss orders in the market as he entered each trade it a place where the trend had to change to take him out of the trade, and he would hold every position until the trend changed.

He would act 'as if' he was a great trader, even though his record up to that point had been less than inspiring...

That innocent question from a child turned out to be the start of David's successful trading career.

He started to trade profitably and consistently for the first time in his life. He thought he was doing well, and indeed he was making money.

He knew from his wealthy mentors that rich people are different; they make rational decisions based on facts, not emotions. They understand the value of money - they respect it as a tool for building a better world. They buy well for logical reasons and hold until there is a valid reason to sell.

Then one day, he closed out a trade, and excitedly told his daughter, 'Daddy made a big profit in the market today darling, come and look and see what I did.'

His daughter came over to the computer and looked at the screen as he excitedly showed her where he had bought a Stock and then sold for a $3000 profit. She looked at him and said, 'But daddy, it's still going up, why did you sell it?'

His smile faded as the power of that question sunk in...why had he sold it? What was he doing getting out of such a strongly trending Stock just to take a profit? What would his trading Mentors say?

She was right...the market was still open, so he bought back in again. He had never been able to bring himself to do that before - he was becoming a great trader!

The rally continued and he kept buying more as it rallied. The trend finally changed, but his profit on that trade, when he eventually got a valid sell signal, was $14500!

His daughter's question 2 weeks earlier was worth over $11000!

That was the last time he ever got out of a trade based on his emotions. His fear of the market was gone - thanks to some simple questions from a 7 year old...

So now, it's your turn. Whenever you are preparing to place a trade, find a small child, even if you have to borrow one, and ask them what the trend is. Then don't trade the other way!

If your trading isn't as great as you know it could be, decide to create a trading plan now that will become your life raft.

Remember, fear is just too expensive.

If you are afraid of losing money, reduce your position size until your fear goes away.

Once you have made a series of small profits, you will be trading with the markets money and you can increase you position size according to your growing confidence and account balance.

If you have a series of losses, reduce your position size again until you get back on the right track. Stick to your trading plan - whether it's the one that Peter outlines for you on the website or something else you have tested by paper trading until you are confident that it works.

Then, just do it!

To Your Trading Success,

Tony Spann and the Team

Stock Trading Review is dedicated to helping you succeed as a trader by sharing with you simple and easy to follow tips and techniques.

Discover more insider secrets and the exact proven strategies to trade stocks profitably: http://www.stocktradingreview.com

Copyright(C)2005 Stock Trading Review

A Personal Stock Market Investment Philosophy

Make every investment in the stock market a long-term investment.

My Mother worked as a teller in a small bank in Dover, New Jersey. The name of the bank was called The Dover Community Bank. While working at the bank (she eventually became a branch manager) she enrolled in the bank's dividend reinvestment plan, making purchases of the stock through pay-roll deductions. She continued purchasing the stock through the years, having the dividends from her shares in the bank reinvested into more shares every quarter. By the time she left the bank (in the early seventies) she had accumulated around 300 shares of The Dover Community Bank.

My Father, when he retired, had the dividends from those shares sent home ? to help ends-meet. When my Dad passed away at age 80, my brother and I inherited over 7,600 shares of The Bank of New York, all originating from those 300 shares of what was once called The Dover Community Bank.

From this personal experience grew an investment philosophy that all stock market investments in a security should be purchased with the intent of providing dividend income to help ends-meet during retirement, with the understanding that no one can successfully retire without financial freedom. So every investment now in a security is purchased with the intent of holding that security (and adding to it during the years) until the dividend income from that security is ample enough to ease the loss of income from retiring from my job.

∙ Make every investment in the stock market provide you with an ever-increasing cash dividend for the rest of your life.

With the philosophical investment approach of holding a security position forever, what criteria should I be looking for in that security? Certainly dividend income ? that's a given! And since I never intend to sell the security, capital gains may not even be an issue.

I would argue that a company that just pays a dividend isn't good enough. Instead, I will only purchase those companies that have a long history of raising their dividend every year. This will eliminate a whole bunch of risk. It would eliminate the possibility that the company is 'cooking their books;' after all, the money has to be there to pay the shareholder. And because this company has been raising their dividend every year for many years, it eliminates the risk of investing in a start-up company that may not even be around in a year or so.

Also, the rising dividend every year would help off-set the risk of inflation and the risk of a lower stock price during the year would actually accelerate my income from the security.

Since I would want my position in the stock to grow through the years, thus increasing my dividend income, all dividends would be reinvested back into the stock, until retirement. A lower stock price during the year, therefore, would allow the dividend from the company to purchase more shares, at a higher dividend yield, and would simply accelerate my dividend income.

∙ Diversify into no more than twelve different companies.

Owning shares in twelve companies is plenty. It would provide the diversity to sleep well at night, and provide a cash dividend every week of the year. Start by owning three companies, and build from there. Determine how many shares you want of each company before moving on to the 4th, 5th, and 6th. Invest in sets of three different companies at a time, until twelve are owned.

∙ Persevere

Success in the stock market is not so much derived by buying a company's stock at the lows, but is almost guaranteed successful through dollar-cost-averaging over the years. One of the most powerful methods of investing in the stock market is having the perseverance to continue adding shares to your stock positions over the years, through reinvested dividends and quarterly infusion of funds, be it 50 dollars, or 100 dollars a month. Persistence, persistence, persistence, and your stock market investment philosophy will become unbeatable!

To read the PREFACE from the book 'The Stockopoly Plan- Investing for Retirement' visit: http://www.thestockopolyplan.com

Charles M. O'Melia is an individual investor with almost 40 years of experience and passion for the stock market. The author of the book The Stockopoly Plan ? Investing for Retirement; published by American-Book Publishing. You can invest in the book at: http://www.pdbookstore.com/comfiles/pages/CharlesMOMelia.shtml

You have permission to publish this article either electronically or in print, free of charge, as long as the author bylines are included. A courtesy copy of your publication would be appreciated. Please email to mailto:charles@thestockopolyplan.com

The 10 Commandments

Wall Street has been preaching for years and years to investors how and where to put their money. The "experts" have put forth these ideas for so long that they seem to be carved in stone just like Moses did with God's 10 Commandments. The only difference is that what Wall Street preaches is lies that will make you broke.

It will be difficult in this short space to elaborate on them, but please stop and give a long think to all of these commandments.

1. Do research
2. Buy and Hold
3. Dollar Cost Average
4. Diversify
5. Buy a good stock and put it away
6. You can't afford to be out of the market
7. Never try to time the market
8. Rearrange your portfolio with age
9. Your broker will watch your account
10. The market always comes back

The first 3 are preached by every broker who breathes. Consider that if you can find out about a company so can everyone else so what good is it? If you haven't figured out Buy and Hold by now you are either broke or have not owned any stock. Dollar Cost Average is only for suckers ? you could have bought Enron from $90 to nothing. When your broker says diversify he means he doesn't know what to do with your money so he recommends putting some here and some there and a little in the safety deposit box or under the bed and hopes some of it will make a profit. He doesn't know.

Hope is the most expensive word in the dictionary of any investor.

Buy a good stock and put it away. That is what the talking heads in CNBC-TV have been saying. Brokers, analysts and financial planners touted Enron last year as a quality stock. Even their bonds carried an investment grade rating. I don't mean to leave out Xerox, Global Crossing, Pan American (for you old timers) and about a thousand others if you want to take the time to look. I am not exaggerating. In 2000 there were more than 1,000 stocks on the Nasdaq that lost 90% of their value.

Charles Schwab says you can't afford to be out of the market. He wants to keep your money. I'm sure he will say you can't time the market, but there are many of us who have been doing it for years. When they say that I know they have not taken the time to learn their trade ? investing to make money. Rearrange you portfolio with age should be rearrange your portfolio to make a profit and not lose what you have.

Your broker will watch your account ? get smaller. He never tells you to sell those losers or put in a stop-loss order. And you know because you have been told so many times that the market always comes back ? except when it doesn't, especially to the stocks you own.

Put these lies, oops, commandments, up on your wall and recite them to your broker when he calls or you might want to send him a copy.

Al Thomas' book, "If It Doesn't Go Up, Don't Buy It!" has helped thousands of people make money and keep their profits with his simple 2-step method. Read the first chapter at http://www.mutualfundmagic.com and discover why he's the man that Wall Street does not want you to know.

1-888-345-7870; al@mutualfundstrategy.com

Wall Street Paradigm

In 1960 an engineer working for a watch company in Switzerland discovered that a small crystal would vibrate at a constant rate. He found this was so accurate that it could be used to calibrate time so he took it to company management and said it would make an entirely new kind of watch that had no springs and no gears. They could not imagine who would want such a thing. Swiss watches dominated world commerce. They did not even bother to patent it.

The inventor took his new idea to a commercial trade show, set up his booth and tried to interest manufacturers to produce his new kind of watch. Of the thousand people only 2 were willing to try it ? Texas Instruments and Seiko Corp. of Japan. Ten years later the Swiss manufacture of watches had shrunk to 10% of it former production.

It took a complete change of thinking to produce this new model because most people are rooted in the old way and are reluctant to change. The new model, the new paradigm is refused.

Now I want you to think about another paradigm. This time a model for your investment portfolio.

Wall Street has been teaching since time began to Buy and Hold. When your stock or mutual fund heads south you are not to worry about it because "the market always comes back". But my question is, "In your lifetime?" There are thousands of stocks that go up then go down and never recover. You might have some of those in your bank vault.

Here is the change in thinking you need to incorporate. Instead of blindly holding and suffering through a major decline, place a stop-loss order about 10% or 15% below the price. This is especially true when you first buy. The most important thing every professional investor does is protect his capital. You never need worry about how much you will make. Your major concern should be how much will I lose if this turns into a mangy dog. After you have owned this gem and it does go up you can replace the stop-loss order at a higher level and continue to do that (monthly) until you are finally stopped out (sold out) when this puppy starts down.

Your broker will not want to do this for one very simple reason. He then becomes responsible to see that the order is executed because if it isn't he will have to make up the difference out of his pocket. He will actually have to watch your account for a change. If he gives you a hard time find another broker.

Customers are not taught this simple method of thinking about the stock market because it creates additional paperwork for the brokerage company. You must change your thinking. This is a better way than how the big brokerage houses tell you. This paradigm will allow you to make more money because when you are sold out and have cash in your account you will be able to find a better stock or mutual fund.

Strangely there is a similarity to the Wall Street thinking and that of the Swiss watchmaker. If the watch manufacturer had opened his mind he could have expanded his business and held on to the world dominance of timepiece manufacture. If the major brokerage houses taught their brokers and customers to make money (which they don't) they would increase their income and have many satisfied investors. Instead of holding on to a losing position the customer would be sold out (another commission) and have cash to buy into a different stock or mutual fund (another commission). It would result very quickly in doubling the amount of trading and protect their clients from substantial losses.

Brokers almost never tell their people to sell. Of the more than 8000 listed stocks there are currently only 87 sell recommendations. It is customary after a stock loses 50% of its value to be downgraded to "hold". And you know where you are holding it while you watch it go lower and lower.

You are obviously smarter than your broker. No one will take better care of your money than you do. Isn't it time to adopt this old, but unused paradigm?

Al Thomas' book, "If It Doesn't Go Up, Don't Buy It!" has helped thousands of people make money and keep their profits with his simple 2-step method. Read the first chapter at http://www.mutualfundmagic.com and discover why he's the man that Wall Street does not want you to know.

1-888-345-7870; al@mutualfundstrategy.com

Trading For A Living

How many times have you said to yourself, "I'd like to quit this job and just make a living trading in the stock market"? Well, maybe you can, BUT...

There a few things to consider.

First, you have to have enough money to generate the income you need for your daily expenses and that amount is going to vary considerably depending upon the trading system. Shorter term methods will require less starting capital than longer term trend following or momentum systems. I am not an advocate of day trading. It takes a certain type of a very disciplined personality. Even though I was an exchange member I did not stand in the pit and makes scores of trades each day. The long term worked for me.

How much income do you need? $50,000, $100,000, more? Based on your starting capital what kind of profits can you expect?

Once you have decided on any system you must get to know it and should paper trade it for 6 months before putting real money on the line. Assuming you have a successful method you then must have the discipline to follow its rules even when you think they are wrong. You must take every trade. There are hundreds of systems and the magazine Futures Truth follows about 300 and prints their returns every 2 months.

The easiest method is a momentum system with stop-losses built in to reduce your draw down during a bad trade. Even the best system only wins 50% of the time or less. The closer (more frequent trades) you get to the market the more random it seems. That is called noise and it can drown you out.

You won't need expensive overhead as you can work from home, but you will need a high speed computer, maybe more than one, with good software. In some places brokerage companies will provide a workstation for active traders.

The most important thing about trading is having a good exit strategy. Staying with a losing position will break you every time. You must keep losses to a minimum.

The size of the position you take is another factor. If you decide never to risk more than one or 2% of your total assets on any trade that will determine the number of shares you can buy. If you have $100,000 and limit your risk to 2% ($2,000) using a 10% stop loss then you can buy 10,000 shares of a $2.00 stock or 200 shares of a $10 stock as your 10% loss will come to $2,000 (2%) in each trade.

There are many other considerations to trading for a living and one of the most important is your emotional stability. How will you handle those losses? Can you stand 5 or 6 losing trades in a row? Or more?

I know the answers to all these questions because I have been there and done that and I do not recommend you quit your job to do it.

Al Thomas' book, "If It Doesn't Go Up, Don't Buy It!" has helped thousands of people make money and keep their profits with his simple 2-step method. Read the first chapter at http://www.mutualfundmagic.com and discover why he's the man that Wall Street does not want you to know.

1-888-345-7870; al@mutualfundstrategy.com

The Stock Market Doesnt Care if You are a Beginner?. Get Prepared to Succeed at Trading

Stock trading remains a very competitive field and the stock market doesn't care if you are an experienced stock trader or an aspiring one. The rules and the trading opportunities are the same for all of us, so either youre going to make money when you pick a stock and make a trade, or you are going to lose some of it in favor of the more seasoned traders.

As an online stock trader your homework is all about studying and testing different online trading strategies that can help you take advantage of stocks and at the same time protect your profits. Just always keep in mind that a good stock trading strategy is simple and practical. Complicated stock systems will always make you slow in your decision making process or confuse you from the start.

There are some very good sites on the web where you can access practical stock trading strategies that are easy to implement. One of those sites is Stress Free Traders http://www.stressfreetraders.com

They focus on momentum stock trading strategies that can help you identify and handle hot stocks while reducing your trading risk.

All in all, online stock trading is all about picking the best stock opportunities and following your buy and sell signals with ease and simplicity. Once you learn to master your trading decisions, you can aspire to produce consistent profitable results.

Learn how to stock trade in a practical way at Stress Free Traders http://www.stressfreetraders.com

StressFreeTraders.com helps day traders from any part of the world how to pick and trade stocks to maximize profits.

So, What is This Stock Market Thing Anyway?

We've all heard of the stock market and probably have a general idea of what it is and how it works either from high school economics classes, television financial reports, and the countless film depictions of what happens on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. But how does it really work and what is meant by "playing the stock market?"

The Stock Market in a Nutshell

Companies sell shares of stock as a means of raising capital. For example, let's say that the XYZ corporation, makers of the finest whatsidoos and thingamabobs in the country, wants to open a new factory. Doing so will require a hundred million dollars. The company can get a loan from a bank, but it would wind up in debt. So, instead of borrowing, it decides to offer additional shares of stock. As investors purchase the stock they are giving the company the capital it needs to do business. In return the stockholders actually own a part of the company and have some say in its activities. If XYZ does well in the thingamabob market, its stock will raise in value as more people will want to have a piece of XYZ for themselves. If it doesn't do so well (maybe it gets undersold by the Ichi Nee company, a Japanese conglomerate that has found a way to make smaller, cheaper thingamabobs), less investors will buy the stock, current stockholders may try to sell, and the value of the stock drops. The price of individual stocks will rise and fall several times a day. The price for a certain stock you may see on the evening news for any particular company represents where the stock was valued at the end of the business day. It will also tell you whether that price rose or fell from the previous day. It can be enough to make an investor tear his hair out. Didn't you ever wonder why nearly all economists are bald?

"Playing" the Stock Market

You may have heard people refer to "playing" the stock market as if it were all a big game of Monopoly. This is an adequate term because that's exactly what some people do, but the game is more like Roulette ? sometimes of the Russian variety. People who "play" the market typically invest for short periods of time in the hopes to get a quick return. They will buy some stock, wait fro the price to go up, then sell right away and invest in another stock and await the next profit. They may do this several times a day in some cases as prices fluctuate. This can be a very risky way to behave because a lot of money can be lost, but a lot can be earned as well. It's almost like a trip to Vegas without Wayne Newton.

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Is the Stock Market for You?

Many people would like to diversify their portfolios to expand their holdings. Making it big in the stock market has been a dream for many people who want to strike it rich. Many movies and books have been made portraying the ins and outs of the stock market, for some, dealing with the stock market can be very complex and complicated. There are many things needed to be understood and learned. In this article, a short overview will be provided to better understand the stock market and see the stock market is an option you would like to try.

When the stock market is concerned, you will hear terms such as stock options, stock index futures, convertibles and such. This could be quite confusing to the greenhorn but for some this is what they breathe day in and day out. To begin with, the stock market is the venue where publicly open company stocks are traded, bought and sold. The term stock market deals with all the stocks being traded all over the world. Most countries have their own stock market where in they deal with the financial instruments their country has. For example, in the United States, there is the NYSE, NASDAQ and Amex stock. Large companies though have been known to be traded in many places.

From the start, stock markets could be traded on the "trading floors" of a stock exchange where people would shout their tradings. As the market grew larger with more companies going public and with the availability of the internet, the stock market tradings can be done electronically online. Here, the prices of the shares of each company can be seen if any changes happen real time. All business dealings with the stock exchange and the brokers can be done even if they are not on the floors of the stock exchange.

Anyone can invest in the stock market. Before, individuals such as businessmen and people with money to invest dominated the stock market investors, now, large corporations and companies have become buyers and sellers. These "institutional" investors have increased the stock market making it a very good investment. Takeovers and merges have been a deciding factor in the rise and fall of the stock prices for these companies. Generally, investors can buy shares of the companies that have been opened to the public for trading. These shares represent a portion of the company and investors are called stockholders. These means that they own part of the company. The prices are determined by the growth of the company and their profits and success or by its losses as well. The movements of the prices of the stocks of company can be seen on stock market indices. Stock markets have stock market indices to provide that all important information of the price movement to the brokers and the investors.

Many people consider the stock market to be a very risky venture. As the prices drop and rise, your investment is on a roller coaster ride. There is no guarantee that the value of your stocks will go up. This is especially on cases stocks of companies that are just starting, but with the higher risk comes the bigger payoff. If the company makes it big you make a big profit. Stocks for starting companies are low and when it becomes a success, the prices will rise up. Large and well established companies and corporations have better chances with having their stocks growing.

Seasoned traders use many methods of analysis to see the trend of the growth of the company and their valuation. This way they can predict if the price of the stocks will go down or up. This movement of the price will determine whether they want to buy or sell the stock of a certain company. This will also determine the dividends the stock will pay. Dividends are the payment each stockholder receives from the profit of the company where he has invested in. Every year, the net profit of the company is divided among the shares of stocks existing.

While the stock market can be a bit intimidating, it is also a good place to invest your money. Like any business, the risk is always present. But with a good stockbroker, the stock market can be very profitable.

For more information on the stock market please visit the stock market resource center.

KISS Formula

There are formulas for just about everything, but it has been shown that the simpler the formula or method of doing a particular task the better it works. It has evolved down to KISS ? Keep It Simple Stupid.

This also applies to trading in the stock market. There are literally hundreds of formulas, both technical and fundamental that are easily available to investors. Each trader has his own method he uses. Every professional trader on the floor of the stock exchange has his own variation on some major proven formula. The more skilled he becomes with it the more he feels it is the best one.

Sometimes it takes years for a trader to settle on one method or group of methods that he uses to signal buys and sells. It took me many years to find that technical group that worked for me when I was an exchange member.

For some it evolves into long term trading and for others it can be buying and selling in a matter of minutes. The time period is not important. The method is. Even as a floor trader on the commodity exchange I had only two criteria I watched before entering into any position.

All professional traders and investors are aware of the single most important fact and that is how much I am willing to lose before I exit this new position. Every KISS formula has an exit strategy. Every professional knows in advance how much he will allow himself to lose if he is wrong. The professional does not set a limit on the winning side of a trade only on the losing side.

Ask any full time professional and he will tell you if he is right 50% of the time he considers that to be phenomenal. When I was on the floor I was only right about 40% of the time, even about 20% and wrong about 40%. BUT I made $3.00 for every dollar I lost. Small losses and big winners are the key to success. This is the key to any profitable formula ? keeping the losses small.

When I see advertisements in the financial papers for methods claiming to be right 80%, 90% of the time I cringe. It just can't be. There is no trader I ever met who was that good and I have known some exceptional traders.

The major text on technical analysis is "Technical Analysis of Stock Trends" by Edwards and Magee now in the 17th printing of the Fifth Edition that lists multitudes of methods. They all work, but many are complicated. A magazine called Futures Truth analyses 200 commodity trading systems in each issue. Fundamental Theory is equally complex.

There are software programs that allow the investors to enter as many as 30 parameters. The more complex it is the less chance it has to work. And the biggest obstacle to any program is the trader himself. He cannot hesitate when a buy or sell signal is given.

Keep your formula simple and execute the signals. You can be a winner.

Al Thomas' book, "If It Doesn't Go Up, Don't Buy It!" has helped thousands of people make money and keep their profits with his simple 2-step method. Read the first chapter at http://www.mutualfundmagic.com and discover why he's the man that Wall Street does not want you to know.

Parachute Investing

Ever jumped out of an airplane? It's OK if you have on a parachute. Pretty dumb if you don't.

Every buy any stocks, mutual funds or Exchange Traded Funds? It's OK if you know how much you are willing to risk. Pretty dumb if you don't.

Parachute investing is buying an equity with a parachute so you won't risk all your money or, better yet, give back the profit you have made as the stock or fund went up and then goes down. If you bought that hummer at $12 per share and during the past couple of years seen it go up to $52 you don't want to give back that nice profit, do you? With a parachute you can save most of it. How?

When you invest in any stock of fund you must know how much you will risk before you buy it and how much of the profit you are willing to give back when it turns down. Take that beauty at $12. Instead of going up it went down. Are you willing to agonize as it drops to $5? If you had a parachute you would have jumped out of the plane before it crashed. If you had an exit strategy for your stock you would have sold it before you lost a big chunk of your cash.

The secret of a safe investment is an exit strategy. When you bought Mr. Twelve Dollars you shook hands and told him I'd like to be your friend, but if you change your name to Ten Dollars I am leaving. Maybe that that is not very nice, but nice doesn't cut it in the investment world.

Mr. Twelve Dollars said I am going up and I want you for my friend. Please follow me and if I falter you can leave and we will part friends. Now that makes sense. You trail along and after it goes to $52 it does falter. Do you know where you are going to leave or are you going to ride it go back down to $12? In other words do you have your parachute on?

That parachute is your continuing exit strategy that is in place every day. In the investment community it is called an open trailing stop loss order. Any broker can put this in place for you. You might be lucky enough to have a broker who knows where to place stops, but unfortunately there are not many of them.

The brokerage industry does not teach its employees (brokers) how to protect customers' money. If that is the case you might want to use the old standard 10% rule. Have the broker place an open stop every Friday at 10% of the closing price of that day as it closes higher. Never lower the stop loss. Brokers hate this as it makes them work, but that is what they are there for and that is how they earn their commissions.

With your parachute you can always protect your original cash purchase from a big loss and as your stock advances you can lock in profit as the stock advances.

Every investment should have a parachute.

Al Thomas' book, "If It Doesn't Go Up, Don't Buy It!" has helped thousands of people make money and keep their profits with his simple 2-step method. Read the first chapter at http://www.mutualfundmagic.com and discover why he's the man that Wall Street does not want you to know.