Excerpt from this weekend's newsletter

The best opportunity of the day came as a long with FSLR base and break towards 200 (mentioned in Thursday newsletter). FSLR gave a lot of hints before she took off that she was going to run: she was acting strong all morning, never giving up her gap even when the Nasdaq started getting hit after the open. One of the reasons we love FSLR so much as a trading stock is because she telegraphs her moves so well before-hand.

Ideal entry was on the base and break lift-off with volume from 194 with fills around 195 or up to even 195.5 (with a 1 point or less stop -- at this point she either had to go immediately or would have been sold-off).

Another reason you should have been stalking FSLR before the break-out was the 2 day chart. Our readers know that we always have an intraday chart (1 day/3 min), 2 day chart (5 min), 10 day chart (30 min or 60 min), and daily chart open on each stock (they are linked so as you change one ticker, they all change over to the new ticker).

Notice how FSLR gapped up but stopped just under the previous day's high. A gap-up and basing under the previous day's high, with a daily number above and good volume and relative strength all constitute the stock communicating to you her intentions of wanting to make a serious run. We actually made a mistake in her because we were too eager. We were so sure about FSLR making a run that we bought her early before the breakout (193.5) and were later stopped out. It wasn't too smart but at least the second time we were patient and bought her on the base and break. This is a common mistake -- when one really wants in a stock one often jumps the gun. Instead (and here we are also repeating the lesson to ourselves) be patient and wait for the set-up.

Overall November has been a tricky trading environment for our type of trading, as it often is with trend changes. Most likely things will get easier as the market settles down and picks a direction, be it up or down.

Have Vision

As we have written in the past, our preferred time-frame is the 3 minute chart. We like using the 3 minute time-frame because we feel that it’s easier to spot volume spikes and base and break patterns than in longer time-frames. However, what is sometimes quite difficult, even after you have traded for years, is to see beyond the next tick, and having such a fast time-frame can sometimes make one too focussed on the immediate future. This is the reason we like having the 10day / 30 minute chart and a 3 month daily chart synched with the main 3 minute chart. Therefore, every time we switch the 3 minute chart to another stock, all charts change over. Nothing beats the 3 min chart for entry, but having the daily chart beside you reminds you of the bigger picture.

Sometimes, for specific reasons, you believe a stock will go in a certain direction. However, you can find no decent entry point (i.e. there is no base or any familiar pattern). What do you do? Have vision. Find a spot, enter fewer shares (due to wider stop), set a reasonable stop, and just leave the trade alone. More often than not, these are the most successful, most satisfying trades of them all. First, it’s a very good feeling having a plan and seeing it through. And second, it keeps you from overtrading.

One of the most important stages of the evolution of the trader is from the gung-ho newbie who just shoots and blasts away constantly during the day, and the more contemplative experienced trader who sits on the trade and lets the trade unfold towards the target.

Go beyond the next tick.

Spreading the Love

Aside from the usual suspects (Ugly, MtM, Jamie, etc) here are seven sites that have our attention:

Downtown Trader, as always, offers good chart commentary on a nightly basis. We like going through his charts because he has a somewhat different style than we do -- and we find the exposure to his method educational.

A lot of stocks we like to trade are actually IBD stocks (explosive earnings growth + sector leadership = momentum). Check out StockBee's site; he often has insightful articles about the IBD method, including this one.

Keep an eye on KnightTrader during the day; they have a great eye for what's moving and when new issues pop-up on the radar, they often appear on the site.

The new Timothy Sykes site has an excellent list of blogs worth exploring.

22dollars often has smart commentary/insight. We're hoping the author will update the site more frequently (but who are we to say that as we have been quite lazy with updating our own blog for a long time now).

Two excellent swing-trade sites are The Market Speculator and Chris Perruna; both traders use daily charts and are often involved in the same stocks we are, but with longer time-frames.

R's and $

Thanks to the ongoing debate in the trading blogworld on how to track performance, be it R or $, we've received inquiries over the last year about what we use. When we first started trading, and for at least several years afterward (especially after any significant tweak to the system) we would log basically everything (how much we risked per trade relative to the profit made; absolute win/loss ratio, profit/loss, and intraday and daily charts of every trade). Now that we have just shy of a decade of trading experience under our belt, we just track monthly performance in terms of profit/loss, and numbers of trades.

We find the R/$ debate irrelevant -- both are important and new traders should log everything (and experienced traders should go back to logging everything when they make changes to their trading methodology). Who said you need to choose one over the other?

As an aside, we are going slightly stir-crazy with the lack of volume/set-ups in the market ... if any of you are feeling similar emotions, just know that we're in the same boat. Let's hope that with the FOMC meeting out of the way within 24hrs, trading will become more interesting.

Market Talk

It has been years since we saw such indiscriminate selling. These are the charts of 5 of the most important momentum leaders of this year (AAPL BIDU FSLR FWLT RIMM):

A couple of things to notice:

1. Even with all this selling, look how much they are up for the year!

2. It is going to take a long, long time to undo the damage of just these last 3 weeks of selling.

3. No real prediction other than when we see this kind of panic selling, usually it means we are at least close to a short term bottom. All we would be looking for at this point is a dead-cat bounce.

4. If you're a long-term investor just itching to pick up some beaten up names, our advice would be to start picking out some spots, but to not use much ammunition. These kind of down moves rarely end so quickly and we could be in for much more pain before this is over.

To all those starting out

We’ve written about this subject before but we get asked about this topic so often that we thought we’d broach it again.

There are days we can’t find absolutely anything to trade. No set-ups, no opportunities, just nothing. Other traders like us (break-out traders) usually find themselves in a similar situation. But then on that same day there are thousands of traders who find lots of opportunities, many who have great days and even some who have their best day ever. We’ve always said – there are literally thousands of different ways to make money in the stock market, pick one, and respect others. We love break-out trading; for us, it’s perfect, stress level is low (since the numbers come from the night before there’s no real-time pressure to find candidates), there are strict rules to function within (thus less emotional and small draw-downs) and circumscribed risk parameters (to avoid blow-ups). However, we know that some people find it too boring and prefer to find dozens or hundreds of intraday opportunities (scalpers) and who make a very good living from it. Others make their living swing-trading. Others swear by futures. In the end all that counts is whether you can earn a living from trading, that is, whether you can make consistent money from trading.

So how do you find a system that will make you consistent money? The only real answer is trial and error. Start small (give yourself a lot of room for error) and ask yourself what attracts you. Do you prefer to trade actively and make consistent scalps, taking fast money? (And yes, scalpers can make a hell of a lot of money: like anything else, profits add up very fast if you’re a good). If so, then just start reading about the subject, go to blogs where successful scalpers share their techniques: Richard and his host of writers have excellent information and videos at Move the Market.

Do you prefer to do your homework from the night (via daily charts) before or at least combine that with intraday scans? Then go read about how Jamie, Ugly, Tyro, TraderMike, Dave at StockTickr, and Bubs trade.

Do you prefer swing-trading? Spend some time with Chris Perruna, Kirk Report, Market Speculator, Taz Trader, Knight Trader, DownTown Trader, Stock Bee, Pinoy Trader, and Bull Trader.

Most likely none of these sites will give you exactly what you are looking for but they will give you different ideas about the different kinds of trading systems out there. See what attracts you (for example, you might love to add a bunch of technical indicators to your charts, or you might love to trade with paint bars) and then research it some more via books and forums. Should you join a service or subscribe to a newsletter? Possibly, as long as it is inexpensive, it might be a good way to expose you to different systems (for example if you want to do futures, then signing up for a service for a few months to learn from the moderators wouldn’t be a bad idea, as long as they charge a reasonable fee, which to us is anything under $100 a month). But do not sign up for the $5000 options course, or pay $800 a month for a service, or $2000 for a set of CDs. That money could be much better spent learning in the market itself.

Then slowly get your feet wet by starting with very small positions while at the same time keeping meticulous notes on your trades (StockTickr would come in very handy at this point). You will start to learn very fast at this point, (while still possibly losing money – that’s normal. Very few people start making money right from the start). You’ll learn what you can handle, and most importantly, what you can’t. From there it’s a slow learning curve ahead and with the right amount of discipline and work, in our opinion, trading is just like any other job, and most people can make a living out of it if they put in the hours, the sweat, and the blood (with the exception of people who just don’t have the temperament for it, be it lack of discipline, or no control over their emotions, even though we would argue that even these people could change if they wanted to enough).

You might blow through your initial account but slowly your consistency will improve and maybe a year after that you'll start eeking out some profits and be on your way to becoming a professional trader (and if you don't want to call yourself a trader, just call yourself a market liquidity provider). Within the first years there will be times when you feel depressed, unlucky, when you will question yourself, that's all normal and part of the process. Stay grounded, man up, and good luck.

Excerpt from today's newsletter

Brutal sell-off in the market today but interestingly enough, there were some excellent opportunities; From the Forming List, on the long side we had CROX GRMN, and on the short side on HANS GES TSL CBEY. CRDN unfortunately didn't wait and was a mess through 74. Overall though, this is a tough market which is melting down to a much greater degree than most expected. Dip-buyers have been roasted for the most part in the last few days and there is full-fledged panic in the air.

Having said that, there was some good action on earnings/news on leader stocks such as AAPL BIDU RVBD CMI. In our own personal trading we are taking profits fast, especially on the long side (a bit too fast as we left almost a point in CROX on the table!) and if something goes against us, we get out a.s.a.p. A gap-down opening and some more panic selling could be a short-term capitulation move that could possibly last for at least a few days.

This market is ripe for a bounce, but that being said: Don't anticipate, don't think, don't analyze, don't try to predict. Have your set-ups ready from the night before, set your alerts, and when you see a base and break under the number, or at the number, and volume is heavy, pull the trigger with a stop under the base (and always always obey your stop). Other than that, just sit on the side-line and wait for your number. It's fun to talk about what the market might or might not do, but let it be just that, fun talk. That's it. Predict all you want, but when it comes to trading, leave all the predictions to the side, and just obey your set-ups. We had expected some sort of bounce coming in today (oh so so wrong), but with the exception of CROX, all our trades were on the dark side.

Sounds simple, but we guarantee you that if more traders would follow the advice of just following their set-ups from the night before instead of jumping from one emotional intraday scalp to another, there would be a drastic reduction in burn-out and blow-out rates.

Link

Listen to the interview by one of our favorite blog writers, Knighttrader, who has probably the most important blog in break-out trading on the net.

Click on this link to go to the interview on Wall St Radio

Link

Listen to the interview by one of our favorite blog writers, Knighttrader, who has probably the most important blog in break-out trading on the net.

Click on this link to go to the interview on Wall St Radio

Excerpt from today's newsletter

We had one trigger on Friday and one loss as CMG just triggered the stop before reversing and running for the rest of the day.

CMG was a bit of a heartbreaker. She had been on our radar for days but when it was time to trigger, she had very little volume. This was for us what we call a "conviction trade" in that once she broke the base, even though volume was very light, we "knew" she would go. However, the volume was so light that the risk was quite high in case she reversed. How did we deal with the trade? We took a small position with fills around 83-83.1, with stop at ANY reversal back towards the base (82.7-82.8). If you think that a stock will go and the pattern is very good but you think that the volume might come in after the actual break (which unfortunately is relatively common) then maintain the same risk by lowering your position size, but give it a shot. Even a 1/3 or 1/4 position can give you profits and more importantly, it will give you practice and experience in the base and break pattern.

Should you have entered at 83.5? No -- the base was 82.8 and she was almost 1% away by that time. The only place to have bought the stock was on the breaking bar with fills around 83 (and thus 30 cent stop). Remember, it's not the alert price that's important, it's the break of the base UNDER the alert price that one has to buy (unless the set-up actually is AT the alert price and not under). The breaking bar of the base is the most important part of our system.

There are multiple advantages to buying the break of the base instead of waiting for the actual alert price, an important one being that your stop is naturally lower. Thus, even though the stock fumbles around the number (which CMG, for example, did, and which technically triggered our 0.3% stop) you still can stay in and wait for the stock to consolidate without going negative (even though we always recommend selling at least a partial into the break-out). In good markets it often is advisable (as we write in the How to Use our Services) to sell 1/3 at 1%, 1/3 at 2% and either sellf rest into 3%, end of day, or make it a partial swing position by holding overnight (of course always know the earnings dates of your stock).

Remember, you don't always have to buy 2000 + shares of a stock to make money. Let's say you bought as we did at 83 (point A), with a stop on any reversal, but since the base was 82.7, that was the number that you believed would be your first fill, even if you tried to exit when the stock was at 82.9. At this stage of your trading career, you are only risking $200 per trade (something we recommend to new traders). Thus, you would have, for example 30-40 cent risk, which means you could buy around 600 shares in a gorgeous set-up but with miserable volume (if the volume had been higher, you could assume a tighter stop with less slippage). Thankfully she doesn't reverse and you sell first 1/3 of your position at 83.7 ($140 profit minus commission) at point B. You sell this first 1/3 to lock in some profits; we always sell partial into the break-out point if the stock is vertical by the time she hits it (and she was) and if we are wary (and we were because of the lack of volume).

Now you move your stop up to break-even and well above the base at 83 (point A) for the remaining 2/3 of the position (400 shares). The stock consolidates but you weather the storm easily since she doesn't come back to your stop (and you knew she would mess around the number since she's a NYSE stock with still mediocre volume). The stock breaks out into its second phase and you sell 1/3 at 85 ($400 profit minus commissions) at point C. You move up your stop for the last 1/3 of the position to 84.4 which represents the secondary base at point D. You can sell your last third at point E or hold overnight. Let's say you decided to liquidate the rest of the position because she still did not have great volume and you don't feel comfortable holding overnight. You sell your last 200 shares at 86 for another $600 profit. Therefore, you only bought 600 shares, with an initial risk of $200. Your profit, even considering how early you sold the first 1/3 of the position, was $1140 minus commissions: that's just under 6 times your initial risk.

Of course they don't always work out this well, but if you love the pattern, and if you have conviction but the ducks just haven't lined up (for example, missing volume) then take a shot, but a reduced shot. We're always telling you not to be trigger-happy, but sometimes it's probably just as important to remind you not to be trigger-shy, especially on "conviction trades".

Base and Break Pattern Illustrated

We wrote about the Base and Break pattern -- the key intraday set-up to our system-- in our last blog post. Today we wanted to illustrated it from an example from today's trading.

We listed CROX at 54 this weekend on our Forming List (this means that it had a potential trading spot at 54 on the daily chart).

Today it set-up in a very nice base and break pattern 10 cents below the pivot point of 54. We always tell our members that one of the absolute most important elements to becoming a successful trader is to keep your losses small. The base and break pattern by definition has very tight stops. In the following example, one would buy on the break of 53.9 (and the accompanying volume expansion -- remember you want overall high volume PLUS volume expansion at the key breaking point) with a stop at any reversal back into the base -- basically 53.85. This means that most likely you would have filled at 53.92-53.95 and would have had a stop under 10 cents. The target was a 1+% quick trade, meaning that your reward (50 cents +) greatly outweighs your risk (10 cents).

Base and Break Pattern

We received several e-mails asking us about the Base and Break Pattern that we mentioned in the March Review. We've mentioned this pattern numerous times in our blog (and in our website) and it is an integral part of our trading. In fact, all members automatically receive a comprehensive summary with 15 charts illustrating how this pattern works -- we don't want anyone trading our selections until they have been introduced to our terminology and our system.

The basic point of the pattern is this: most traders trade either off the daily chart, 2-10 day chart, or from intraday patterns. What we realized some years ago was that we could increase our win rate by combining the daily and the intraday chart: this means that we trade the daily numbers, but only if the intraday also sets-up in a recognizable pattern. The base and break pattern is simply a type of consolidation-break pattern (with a number of key nuances in regards to for example how a stock approaches the top of the base before break-out) that we spotted some years ago and which we have been working on especially in the last few years .

We realized that it has a very high win rate when combined with a daily pivot and volume and have been attempting to perfect it ever since. A good number of traders use some form of consolidation break pattern for trading, and some traders use similar patterns simply on an intraday level with no regard to the daily chart -- we don't really recommend this but once in a while, especially in gap-up situations, the set-up and volume are so overwhelming, that it's worth a try -- however, for us, these are rare cases (probably once a month).

As always, there are literally thousands of ways to make money in the market and we have respect for all of them. As a new trader what you have to do is to find a system with which you have found success and which seems to fit your personality and then start the process of making the system yours. This is exactly what we did with break-out trading -- a system that has been around as long as the market has-- we started working with it, adapting it, and slowly changing it until we molded it into something that we felt was ours.

Theory versus Execution

One of our members, N.S., wrote to us today; he's a young guy we like very much. He's relatively new to trading, but he has an incredible dedication to learning and evolving, and he's smart, picking up things very fast. We have a lot of faith in him and believe that in a couple years he will make a very good professional trader.

He wrote to us today about a trade he took. He was very upset because he didn't follow the rules he knew so well and froze when the stock hit his mental stop and kept diving and diving. Finally, he couldn't stand it anymore and sold near the low of the day, just before the stock bounced again. How many of us have done that early in our career? We'd venture to say all of us.

His entry was excellent -- it was off a stock with a good daily chart, from a solid pattern, and the stock was printing decent volume at the time. However, and this has been happening often in this market, the volume on the break of the intraday consolidation did not come through, as the buyers were just not interested. His original stop was around a dime, and the stock went up a dime before it reversed -- at that time his stop should have been moved up (and he knows that) for a loss of probably a nickel -- very small to say the least. His exit though -- now that's the problem. Have you ever noticed that often the times that you blow your stop are on trades that immediately reverse? It seems to be much easier to obey a stop on a stock has been above the number for a few hours or even 30 minutes, but when a stock reverses on one immediately-- that's the most dangerous time and new traders can often find themselves just watching the stock go through the stop and not pushing the sell button. There's something about losing money instantly that is especially irritating, like you didn't even get your money's worth out of the trade, not even any entertainment value! Awareness is everything and if you are aware that your weakness is not obeying your stops on trades that immediately reverse, you can tell yourself that before every trade -- OK, sometimes I freeze on immediate reversals, I know this, and I'm going to make sure it doesn't happen. This, in our opinion, is the best solution for this problem. Awareness of the problem, and recognition of this before entry of every trade (especially in markets like this which are not particularly favorable to momentum trading).

This kid, N.S., knows the theory very well -- and he has soaked up everything we have taught him. But the execution takes a long time to master -- the reason we have faith in him is that he learns from every mistake. We told him today that once you enter a position, then stop thinking. You know where the potential profit exit and the stop are before you enter, you know what to look for, and you know what to do. From here on, you're a machine. It's not easy, but we are firm believers that anyone who is willing to learn, and has true discipline and dedication, can become a good, consistent, professional trader.

Four Categories of Trading

There are literally thousands of ways to make money in the market and in this post, we will be covering only four methods. However, that being said, these four methods do count for a good percentage of trading methodologies currently in practice. Our apologies in advance if we have mis-labeled a blogger or if we have made an error of omission.

We personally partake in #1 and once in a while in #2. We do not trade in methods #3 or #4.

1. Scan charts at night looking for bullish/bearish patterns on the daily chart. Make a list, set your alerts, and the next day enter according to these alerts. This is simple break-out trading and this is what we do day in and day out. To summarize this in one line: trading based on support and resistance on the daily chart. The nuanced part comes in whether you take the trade or pass—and this is based on the intraday pattern, volume, market mood, et cetera. As far as we know, we practice this method, as well as Wall St. Warrior, Richard, DownTown Trader, Ugly, PinoyTrader, Tyro, Phileo, Bubs, Market Speculator, KnightTrader, and many others.

2. Repeat step #1 but also have a list of momentum stocks that are close to important spots, or which are trending in a clear direction. Use longer intraday time-frame for entry (for example, we use 10 day, 30 min or 10 day, 60 min while others prefer 5 day, 30 minute, et cetera). In terms of blog participants, basically same list as in #1.

3. Use a scanner to look for gap-ups/gap-downs with high volume and trade these stocks based purely on intraday patterns. This can be a successful method if one can come up with a sophisticated system for entry spots. In our opinion, this is the most difficult method to master as the decision process is more subtle, with more nuances and subjectivity than method #1 and #2. Candle-stick knowledge is a plus. Some successful participants of this method are Maoxian, Trader-X, Trader Mike, Estocastica, Trader Gav, Zoomie, Prospectus , Dave, and the promiscuous Ugly and Wall St Warrior who seem to partake in all three methods.

4. The last trading approximation really isn’t a method but it’s worth mentioning since probably most new traders enter trading via this methodology. No usage of daily charts, no usage of scanners, no real system: these traders often have a list of volatile stocks and look for intraday patterns to trade. These traders often hang out in large chat rooms, with hundreds of traders making different calls on anything that moves. They often buy/sell for very small moves, with a 1-1 risk/reward ratio. This isn’t really a system and this kind of scalping, in our opinion, has the lowest-win rate, and the highest burn-out rate. We know of no bloggers who would belong to this section.

We should actually include a miscellaneous section for Prop Firm traders who make money by trading literally thousands and thousands of shares every day. We do not know enough about their methodology to be able to summarize their way of trading -- however, we can say -- NYSE Trader does a great job consistently pulling in the money. (sorry dude if we have just mushed you -- don't worry, it shouldn't last for more than a few days).

Conclusion? As said, there are literally thousands of ways to make money in the market and what each individual has to do is to find their edge. However, in order to achieve the latter, one will require a disciplined system that can only come after a lot of pure, hard work. If you're lazy by nature, then trading might not be for you, and it might be best if you looked for a profession in the civil service (yes, yes, we're kidding, please no hate mail).

Volume Trumps Aesthetics

Here is a concise summary of how we trade:

Wait for solid patterns to develop on the daily chart and then add an alert in your platform. Next day, watch the stock for a good intraday pattern (very similar to the type of pattern one would look for on a daily chart, just on the intraday level) and high volume. If both conditions are met, then pull the trigger. If neither condition is met, pass.

But what if only one condition is met? Probably the biggest mistake we make as a group (and some of us are more guilty than others, but all three have to work on this) is that we simply pass on trades too often. We always want our stock to set-up in some good-looking pattern, be it a consolidation pattern, a semi-circle, always a pattern with some kind of symmetry. At least a few times a week one of our stocks hits our number with no real pattern, BUT with strong volume. More often than not we pass on the trade and the stock ultimately moves in the intended direction. This seems to be a constant source of loss of opportunity.

Volume trumps Aesthetics. This means that if your stock hits your number with high-volume, but has no clear intraday pattern, it probably is still best to trust the number, and give it a shot (caveat -- we are NOT talking about buying on top of a vertical spike, that will always be a No-No). We know this but for some reason we're very slow to act accordingly -- probably not because it's a habit that results in losses, but rather something that holds us back from greater profits, and since we do well enough with the current way of trading, we just can't get motivated enough to change this bias.

The inverse, by the way, meaning a pretty set-up but with low volume, is still an avoid with the only possible exception being the thin stock whose volume comes in after the actual break...but that's still a roll of the dice.

As a first step to modify our bad habit we have printed a sign for the office:

High Volume + Daily Number = Profits

Let's see if it works.

TGIF

(since so many blogs now are offering hot chick pxs to get reader's attention, we thought we'd go out on a limb too and offer some risqué content)

It's been a bit of a crazy week full of head-fakes and false break-outs. Between the three of us, we've traded only 6 times, average, this whole week but it feels like 600 (we don't know how scalpers do it day in, day out). If you want some examples of break-out failures this week check out charts of the Nasdaq, S&P, Homies (HGX), GS, and dozens more. With this kind of whip-sawing around, we're only day-trading these days with an empty swing account.

We made one trade today and spend the rest of the day catching up on our Blog reading. We're behind on our schedule so most of the following will be old news for faithful blog readers, but if you haven't already, check out

a post of collective wisdom on trading via Charles
Trin Talk from Richard
The always interesting StockTickr interviews, this one with DownTown Trader
If you're in or interested in entering a Prop Firm, you should read Ugly's post, as well as the relevant links

and an interesting site that's new to us called StockPickr

plus of course other posts coming from our colleagues listed in the Blogroll.

Blogs of interest

We have mentioned a number of blogs that we read in our previous posts and in our StockTickr interview . Aside from the usual suspects, here are some other ones definitely worth checking out -- most of you know them already -- but we've never actually acknowledged the following in any of our posts.

StockBee -- A smart guy who is very much on top of the IBD scene

StockTrading101-- Good overall summary of the day and some great technical analysis on charts

Chris Perruna -- Very good technical and fundamental analysis on some of our favorite momentum stocks

Wallstreetfighter -- when you need a break and a laugh, it's a great place to go. We should probably add some kind of semi-R rating for this site. Well, not really, but it's not exactly your usual stock trading fare....

Visual Trader -- this is the sister site to KnightTrader, one of our favorite sites. This one is geared towards lower-priced stocks.

IceColdStocks -- a very popular site featuring stock commentary on podcasts

TazTrader -- Good over-all commentary; geared more for swing-traders and valuable information for those of you interested in candlestick patterns.

Recent Issues

On our day off today we have been going through our master list of stocks; this is the list that we flip through each night, looking for possibly daily set-ups. This master list is dynamic and often has deletions and additions. Here are some new issues that we have added to our list over the last 6 months. Active traders will know most of these stocks. However, just in case you're missing a few....

DIVX EDU EFUT FFHL HLYS HMIN IPGP JCG MPEL NMX OMTR OPTM OSIR PNSN PWE RVBD SNCR VSE


Aside from the rather large Master List we have a mini-List which holds, in our opinion, the stocks that we need to pay attention to the most during the day. Our mini-list right now consists of:

Most important of all: NYX ICE MA BIDU GOOG RIMM AAPL AKAM HANS

ACOR AMAG ATHR ATI BRCM BSTE CAAS CAL CCOI CENX CEO CHAP CHDX CHL CME CNS CRDN CRM CROX CTRP CTSH DAKT DLB EDU EFUT FFHL FMCN FORM FSYS FWLT GES GFIG GHDX GLDN GMKT GRMN GROW GS GYMB HLYS HMIN ILMN INFY IPGP IPSU ISE ISRG JOYG JSDA JST LFC LIFC LRCX MBT MEND MFW MNST MPEL MR MSTR NCTY NDAQ NFLX NHWK NIHD NMX NRPH NTES NTGR NTRI NUE NVDA NVEC OEH OMCL OMG PCU PNSN PNTR POT PSUN RMBS RS RTI RVBD SHLD SNCR SNDK SPWR STLD STP SVVS SWN TEX TGEN TIE TS UA UAPH VIP VLO VOL WFR WYNN X ZOLL

Some good reading

Some good reading and reminders from seasoned trader Charles Kirk (we're not calling you old Charles, just experienced....)

My New Year's Resolutions

Trading Resolutions: Part II

What are some HCPG resolutions? We're not really into resolutions but if we had any, they probably would be best summed up by --- more exercise, less pizza.