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Monday, August 31, 2009

ANATOMY OF A WINNING DAY TRADE



Both these trades were taken today at the ART OF TRADING SERVICE.
THE ONLY PATTERN YOU NEED TO KNOW TO BANK SERIOUS COINS IN THE STOCK MARKETS. I SINCERELY BELIEVE THAT!

Sunday, August 30, 2009

71% Return In 5 Months Of Live Trading

Check out the trading performance here: http://artoftrading.net/performance

16 UP weeks with only 4 small down weeks!!

"Having a Great time with your service and making good money. I like your specific entry and exit points. Since I work full time I can't always execute your trades in a timely manner so sometimes will have to pass and sometimes will have to exit prior to your signal.
I've tried to learn TA for years but it takes talent and skill that I do not have. Thanks for sharing your expertise with others."
V.C.


Much more than trading alerts: I want to teach you!

TRY IT OUT FOR 14 DAYS FREE AND SEE FOR YOURSELF WHAT CURRENT MEMBERS ARE TALKING ABOUT!!

Saturday, August 29, 2009

Setups To Watch Next Week


Art Of Trading Service Performance For Week 20

Here's this week's performance. It was a spotty week with a weak start but a decent finish. Lack of focus which lead to simple basic mistakes. I am going to make some minor adjustments in the discipline and focus department ahead of next week. My goal is less trading but with more HIGH PROBABILITY trades and timing. We made 11 trades: 2 STILL OPEN. 5 Losing trades and 4 Winners. I know i can do much better and i will strive to achieve that next week!


LONG/SHRT Symbol Entry Price Exit Price % Profit/Loss
Holding Period








LONG AGO 20 19.5 -2.5
day trade
LONG LPX 6.7 6.76 0.9
day trade








LONG AIG 34.28 33.9 -1.11
day trade
LONG SPPI 7.5 7.75 3.33
swing trade
LONG STEC 39.55 38.4 -2.91
swing trade
LONG SOA 11.4 11.15 -2.19
swing trade








LONG SOMX 3 2.79 -3.5
day trade half size
LONG FRE 2.16 2.23 1.62
day trade half size








LONG INCY 6.67
STILL OPEN
swing trade
LONG SVA 6.37 6.54 1.35
day trade half size
LONG BCRX 12.75
STILL OPEN
swing trade half size

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

The MOST Important Trading Lesson You Will Ever Need

For my good and for YOUR good, i am not gonna trade today. Clearly Mr. Market has a vendetta against me and doesn't wanna give me anything this week. 7 trades: 5 losses and 2 wins. ALL the setups i think about taking did phenomenally well and the ones that i actually took either treaded water or downright stopped out for losses. I am taking small losses but these small losses do add up and as a result i will ONLY trade with HALF SIZE, until i manage to get my groove back. SO PLEASE NOTE, FROM NOW ON ANY ALERT YOU GET FROM ME, IF YOU DECIDE TO FOLLOW, PLEASE USE HALF OR 1/3 OF YOUR NORMAL POSITION SIZE UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE. I am 100% confident, i will get back my winning ways but in the mean time, it's about bad streak management. In other words, MUCH SMALLER SIZE in trades and SAFER STOCKS. You might see stocks like IBM, CAT or JPM (instead of SOMX, BCRX or SPPI) in my alerts now if you see any alerts at all.

Look, as a trader there will be times when stuff doesn;t go your way and nothing works and i personally have seen these times many many times and know that these times is just like when you are flying in an air plane and you go thru a zone of turbulence. The air plane pilot knows that turbulence is a temperary thing (it's scary, frustrating and it seems like it will never end) and it's about riding thru it but it also needs to be respected and manage thru the zone of turbulence so that when you come out on the other side, you will still be in good enough shape and to ride out smoother times later.

Guys, i am telling you right now, if you are here to learn how to trade then what you are seeing right now, will be the some of the most valuable lesson you will ever learn.

WRITE THIS DOWN SOMEWHERE:

TRADING IS ALL ABOUT MANAGING WINNING AND LOSING STREAKS. THAT'S WHAT TRADING IS ALL ABOUT. THINK ABOUT THESE WORDS I JUST WROTE. TRADING IS ALL ABOUT MANAGING WINNING AND LOSING STREAKS.

The way you mentally handle bad streaks and the actions you take following bad streaks is what successful trading is all about. When you are making good trades and every trade is a winner, LIFE IS GOOD and trading is fun as your piggy bank get bigger BUT how DO YOU handle when the coin flips?? Personally, I TRY(i know it's hard) and stay AS POSITIVE as possible and i try to put things in perspective(i know this is a temperary setback in my trading and every trader goes thru it). I also take proactive action. Go back and read that SOMX trade alert email again and you will notice my tone of voice: It was a tone of caution and i urged to take half positions because i was NOT TRADING WELL LATELY.
How many of you keep trading with BIG or NORMAL SIZE knowing fully well, you are not trading well?? be honest.

This is a classic example of what i do when i am trading poorly, i will trade as little as possible and use much smaller size UNTIL I REBUILD back my winning rhythm. I know i will eventaully but in the mean time, IT'S ALL ABOUT BAD STREAK MANAGEMENT. This is the MOST important trading lesson i have talked about in the 20 weeks of ART OF TRADING service history. Save this email please and re-read over and over again. It took me years of heart ache and pain to realzie what it mentioned in this email.

see you guys tomorrow.

High Probability Setup: SOMX


i deem this a high probability chart and has a good chance of success. will watch it and might issue an alert. History doesn't repeat but it rhyms, SOMX has a habit of exploding once it sees a breakout with volume. see chart.

Why Are We Trading This??


Choppy markets are a trader's WORST enemy. As traders we live for trends. Random, choppy price action leads to severe emotional decision making and hurts ALL traders in my humble opinion. Gonna sit this mess out until some more eye pleasing charts come back.

Monday, August 24, 2009

Sunday, August 23, 2009

72.7% Return In 19 Weeks of Live Trading

Check out the trading performance here: http://artoftrading.net/performance

16 UP weeks with only 3 small down weeks!!

"Hi Stu

You are a total inspiration mate. I've learnt as much if not more from
you this week than any other.

I follow a few traders and some I just hate as they never admit to
losing anything. I pretty quickly stop following them.

Have a good rest mate. We'll rinse the market next week!

All the Best

Stuart"



Much more than trading alerts: I want to teach you!

TRY IT OUT FOR 14 DAYS FREE AND SEE FOR YOURSELF WHAT CURRENT MEMBERS ARE TALKING ABOUT!!

Saturday, August 22, 2009

12 Weeks Ago

That was the last time, i took four bad trades in a row.


I spoiled you guys with win after win for 12 weeks in a row with tiny minimal losses. :-) I FULLY intend on bringing you guys and myself top notch ideas, but this week clearly i have a monkey on my back. I am proud of one thing tho and it took me YEARS to get to this point: I kept my losing trades to an absolute minimum without throwing reckless trade after trade trying to recoup losses and i even took all of tuesday and friday off. I realized that i was NOT "feeling" it this week. I ONLY took 4 four trades and kept losses super tight. Compare these four trades to other weeks where we average 11 trades a week. That's 3 times less than the average, ALL because i noticed that i was sucking this week. There are weeks where we ALL WILL SUCK. We are in the 'human being business' and we will ALL make mistakes at some point. Don't be too fooled with fancy computers, cutting edge software and cool trading lingo, in the end human beings make trading decisions and we will ALL make mistakes. The traders that will survive in the long run are the traders are admitting to themselves that they making mistakes and quickly taking action to secure their accounts.
No room to be reckless in trading.

Anyway:

This week i am 0-4. Four trades and four losses. Here they are:

LONG/SHRT Symbol Entry Price Exit Price % Profit/Loss Holding Period






LONG VNO 54.4 54 -0.74 day trade
LONG DAN 4.93 4.86 -1.42 day trade
LONG GMCR 56.95 56.14 -1.42 day trade






LONG RDN 8.82 8.55 -3.06 day trade


I am calling it a week and yes, that means that in 19 weeks of Art Of Trading history, this will be my 3rd losing week with 16 winning weeks. I am very proud of this and i FULLY intend on continuing to keep this going!! I am going to take off today and tomorrow. If you are new to this service, this week was a bad week to join. HA! But i hope that you ALL are getting something positive from this service and what i am trying to do here. Trying to make YOU a better trader.

I will still be here to answer any of your questions but do not expect any alerts from me today as i ride out thru this trading mental block.

good luck!! much love!

Friday, August 21, 2009

Watch This Chart Closely


The UUP has been moving inversely to the SPX lately and i'd watch this chart closely.

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Eerie Feeling Lurking



This week's behavior in the market is leaving me with a very strange and eerie feeling(in my opinion at least). It feels like a big event is lurking. The only question is will it catch the bulls or the bears by surprise??

Art Cashin Feels The Same Way Maybe? Listen to this video and you decide. I personally do not believe that the rally off the march lows is over but i am ALL for a little bull cage rattling!! But i'll let the charts make the ultimate decision.

trade em smart.

Monday, August 17, 2009

What Now??

Well, reviewing the closing charts on many stocks, it sure looks like the easiest way to make money today was to come into today with open short positions. Because once the indexes gapped down, they pretty much chopped sideways all day. Today's move, not just on the indexes but on many stocks i follow has created big gaping holes in the charts and has caused a lot of damage. These will be hard obstacles to overcome for the bulls. I think short term the bears are in control here and we still have room to drop some more. I am very excited about this as i believe we will see a solid buying opportunity in time but for now, my focus will be on shorts and bounce plays. I have some key stocks that i will be watching tomorrow for potential bounce plays and i deem these as high likely likelihood for bounce ONLY if we open lower in these names: LINTA, GMCR, EJ. These stocks, i am hoping they open lower tomorrow morning.
I do not believe that the bull run is over but i am hoping many people believe it is!!

Sunday, August 16, 2009

74.3% Return In 18 Consecutive Weeks Of LIVE REAL TIME Trading!

Check out the trading performance here: http://artoftrading.net/performance

16 UP weeks with only 2 small down weeks!!

"I am really impressed by your quick alerts with appropriate stops.

Also it is great to read intra-day comments/trend from you which helps understand market direction.

You have won a long term loyal member in me !!! Thanks again."



Much more than trading alerts: I want to teach you!


TRY IT OUT FOR 14 DAYS FREE AND SEE FOR YOURSELF WHAT CURRENT MEMBERS ARE TALKING ABOUT!!

Art Of Trading Service Performance For Week 18

If you followed all these alerts and followed them, then you would have seen a gain this week. But to be honest, i am not very pleased with my performance this week. I know i can do much better and deliver much better results for myself and you guys.


LONG/SHRT Symbol Entry Price Exit Price % Profit/Loss Holding Period






LONG WYNN 59.45 58.55 -1.51 day trade
LONG UTA 15.12 15.13 0.07 day trade
LONG CGA 13.73 13.29 -3.2 day trade
LONG AGM 8.4 8.95 6.55 day trade
LONG TAM 14.03 14.43 2.85 swing trade






SHORT PALM 13.02 12.44 4.45 swing trade
SHORT RIMM 71.66 72.7 -1.45 swing trade
SHORT FCX 64 64.85 -1.33 swing trade






LONG MEE 29.65 30.04 1.32 day trade
LONG MMR 7.85 8.03 2.29 day trade
LONG MMR 8.15 7.7 -5.52 swing trade


Thursday, August 13, 2009

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Momo Trading: How, Why and When?




i get that question a lot and doing a video on it would the best way to explain it but my video/screen capture is not working right so i will have to put in writing for now...

Everyday: during the market open and after the market close: I visit finviz.com

Great website to scan for new stocks and you can give it various criteria to scan. and it's free!


First thing i like to look at is the HEAT MAP: http://finviz.com/map.ashx?t=sec

This will give me a good visual of what is happening in the market. LOts of green(like today for example) and i wanna focus on LONGS, lots of red and in general, i wanna focus on SHORTS.

After getting a good idea of the HEAT MAP, then i click on 'SCREENER' then i go to: SIGNAL drop down menu and scroll to NEW HIGHS and also TOP GAINERS.

The screen will refresh and you will see a bunch of symbols at the bottom of teh page. Move your mouse over each symbol and you see a chart that pops up. Then you need your pattern spotting skills. This is the hardest part of the whole process as it requires some expereince but if you practice long enough, it should come naturally.

What i like to see are:
1. strong volume moves with stocks hovering near their highs of the day(indicating strength).
2. i see to see stocks breaking our or about to break out above a recent consolidation period.
3. a stock that is basing, about to breakout from a solid long base or has already broken out from a base.

I will then visually guage the location of the breakouts. i wanna see moves that are not very extended. Stocks that breakout with strong volume, rarely just show one day of gains and just die. they will show gains and many times, they rest for a day or two and then attack again, stocks stocks attack over and over again.

You do NOT need to trade the big movers the same day you find them, what i usually do is track them for a few days and watch for a nice easy entry on a breakout thru resistance, a bull flag breakout, a narrow range or inside day breakout, or a falling wedge breakout. That's a great tip guys, track the big movers today in hopes of getting in them at a better entry in a few days from now. that's key.

For momentum trading, always be aware of the float, number of shares outstanding, less shjares outstanding(i.e recent IPOs), the more likely the stocks are easily moved either via new buyers of the shares of via short squeeze, where shorts will cover in desperation and at any price creating massive green spikes(momo trading).

Momentum(momo) trading is chasing fast movers. Hyper movers are stocks like: HGSI, JAZZ, GMCR, WYNN.

strong momo is visually seen as long candles with increasing volume. several long candles(up or down) and you are likely seeing momo. see WYNN chart attached.

HGSI chart attached shows what a base looks like or what basing patterns i like to look for: wedges, flags triangles and pennants. I deem these to be the most reliable.

If you decide to trade momo, then you need to forget about watching the percentage gains figures. If a stock that is up 20% on the day scares you, then momo trading is not for you. momo traders do not care about the percentage gains, they just watch the action or movement of the stock. How many times during this rally have you seen a stock that is up 20%, close up 40-50% or more?? happens every single day. Once a short squeeze happens in stocks with low floats for what ever reason, the shorts wanna get out at any price and prices can zoom much higher than most wanna believe(AIG as a perfect exaple the other day, was up 60% on the day, that's shorts wanting to get the F%*K out and momo traders pressing the buy buttons, creating a short squeeze and momo run that left many of us in shock.

short squeezes or momo runs happen on all time frames and even in penny stocks( see RAS chart attached).

With momo trading, you wanna buy high and sell higher, ALWAYS placing and executing around reasonable stops however!
The very first thing you need to look when monitoring whether to get into a momo run or not, is the VOLUME!!
Volumeis the fuel that drives stocks, no volume then you are stuck in choppy, shaky stocks that will deliver poor results as they are hard to read and trust. When you are scaning and you see big volume and stocks moving near thir highs of the day or the morning, then watch these very closely, as they are teh best candidates. BIg volume equals more 'predictable' moves.

If you are trading momo, then you worst enemy is CHOPPY MARKET conditions: narrow ranged or low volume days, stocks are a recipe for disaster. AVOID these at all costs. monday and tuesday of this week as a perfect example.

always, be aware of the which stocks are the most heavily shorted, watch volume, watch for pattern breakouts or base breakouts or breakout from small consolidations.

hope this helps.

Monday, August 10, 2009

DO NOT IGNORE THIS CHART



GS is the ultmiate leading stock and it appears to be topping out. This is a first early warning sign for the bulls. Doesn't mean the bulls are done but it just warns to trade longs with caution. Don't get complacent.

Sunday, August 9, 2009

Thursday, August 6, 2009

73.2% Return In 17 Consecutive Weeks Of LIVE REAL TIME Trading!

Check out the trading performance here: http://artoftrading.net/performance

15 UP weeks with only 2 small down weeks!!


"Stewie - I am starting to get the hang of this- thanks to you!

Still learning it all- thanks for the Accelerated Course- there is noooo way I could gain all this experience without you sharing yours. Thank you –your education and alerts are the best $50 per month I have ever spent!

Mike"



Much more than trading alerts: I want to teach you!

TRY IT OUT FOR 14 DAYS FREE AND SEE FOR YOURSELF WHAT CURRENT MEMBERS ARE TALKING ABOUT!!

Art Of Trading Service Performance For Week 17

Here's the trade performance for closed trades this week. It was a solid week but could have been way better. We had 9 trades, 7 winners and 2 tiny losers. The winning trades were big BUT could have been bigger with a little more greed on some of the trades :-)



LONG/SHRT Symbol Entry Price Exit Price % Profit/Loss Holding Period






LONG AEZS 2.5 2.76 10.4 swing trade
LONG WHR 57.4 57.55 0.26 swing trade






LONG RKT 45.4 45.09 -0.68 day trade
LONG ONTY 6.04 6.5 7.62 swing trade
LONG FIG 4.63 4.52 -2.38 swing trade






LONG MGM 7.96 8.3 4.27 day trade






LONG BX 13.6 14.25 4.78 day trade






LONG MTG 8.35 8.6 2.99 swing trade
LONG EVR 22.29 22.4 0.49 swing trade

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

Setups Worth Watching





ARM especially is a very high quality setup in my book.

Gut Feeling

For the first time in several weeks, i feel nervous being long here. That doesn't mean that the market cannot go higher but today and yesterday, i saw many hints that the bull run needs a little rest and perhaps all the excitement surrounding high and fast momentum trading will be what kick starts a much needed injection of fear and selling back into the market. Again, that doesn't mean we will selloff here, not at all but a little period of weakness just to stir the bull's pot a little bit to shake off the excesses.

Monday, August 3, 2009

Biotech Setups




Biotech stocks have been on fire lately. Here are some that could be setting up for a run soon.

Sunday, August 2, 2009

Setups To Watch Next Week





On every scan i have run over the past few days, i continue to see better looking long setups than short setups across most sectors. This is an inherently bullish sign and as long as this continues to be the case, then this market's least path of resistance is HIGHER.

Saturday, August 1, 2009

UP 66.3% in 16 Weeks Of Live Trading!

Check out the trading performance here: http://artoftrading.net/performance

14 UP weeks with only 2 small down weeks!!

"Stewie, just wanted to say thank you for all your emails! learning a lot from you. i have another subscription for 2 years(options) and have learned more from you then any others!"


Much more than trading alerts: I want to teach you!

TRY IT OUT FOR 14 DAYS FREE!!

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