Introduce Yourself Here - Don't Be Shy!!

[SIUYA 11]

Hi. I'm a former financial advisor/planner for A.G. Edwards and LPL. Recently retired and am interested in finding out if I can adapt my old fundamental value philosophy to a value/momentum philosophy. I'm not interested in day trading but would like to shorten my holding periods by focusing on stocks that have intrinsic value and have begun to exhibit changes in momentum. I am primarily a "long" investor but would also like to learn more about trading in down markets too.

 

welcome....first suggestion is as a longer term investor, dont get too caught up with a lot of discussions that are short term focused....very different mindset.

 

at a guess you will have to focus a lot on money management as often the best fundamental values are found in unloved downward trending instruments, and these can remain unloved for large periods of time - so you need to work out how to stay solvent.

Alternatively by applying virtually any simple momentum type indicators (longer term moving averages, donchian breakouts) over those instruments that form the subset of undervalued and now trending instruments will also work with less worry.....let the market also agree with your ideas of value

As a longer term investor and a financial adviser you would also understand the best thing you can do is probably wait for the market to trend as well - for stocks are notoriously highly correlated.

When it comes to trading in down markets - particularly when it comes to stocks personally I have found that the best trades are to sell the short term rallies, selling breakdowns in stocks tends to hurt a little more as the majority of stock investors are long only and look to buy dips which then cause breaks to be more short lived and subject to the so called short covering rallies...otherwise the general principles still apply

[thalestrader 14]

Hi. I'm a former financial advisor/planner for A.G. Edwards and LPL. Recently retired and am interested in finding out if I can adapt my old fundamental value philosophy to a value/momentum philosophy. I'm not interested in day trading but would like to shorten my holding periods by focusing on stocks that have intrinsic value and have begun to exhibit changes in momentum. I am primarily a "long" investor but would also like to learn more about trading in down markets too.

 

I would suggest that Nicolas Darvas's How I Made $2,000,000 in the Stock Market and William O'Neil's How to Make Money in Stocks, and in that order, would be two great books with which to start. Both can be thought of as value/momentum traders. Both look for strong technical (momentum) action by the stocks of fundamentally strong companies.

 

If you are primarily a long investor, I would also sugest that you remain so until you become more comfortable with a "trading" as opposed to a "buy and hold forever" type strategy. This means you want to be in cash during a down market, rather than short, and only be long when the market is in a confirmed uptrend. Of course, that is somewhat easier said than done, so again, I suggest you read those two books.

 

Best Wishes,

 

Thales

[rbizllc 10]

Thanks to all 3 of you (Thales, SIUYA & Tradewinds) for your suggestions. I'm really looking forward to this phase of my investing career. I've been investing for 37 years and I first got in as a 2nd lieutenant in the Marine Corps in 1974. The Dow was just in the process of bottoming in late 1974 and I could've thrown darts at the Wall Street Journal and found profitable stocks. Over the years I've beaten the averages with a value philosophy that saw me buy beaten down stocks at a discount with a 3-5 year horizon and usually a goal of at least a double in total return. The first decade of this century (2000-2010) has been tough but of course late 2008-early 2009 saw a lot of "can't miss" stocks at bargain prices. When the Dow was below 7000 it was another period like 1974. Now it's tougher. I've got to learn to read stocks that are demonstrating momentum in what may be a fairly sideways market. I'm looking forward to the journey.

[tburd 10]

Hello! I'm another new guy that is learning about day trading. At this point I have the most interest in trading Euro futures, second I've looked at the Emini futures. FOREX also looks interesting, but to this point I haven't tried it. I'm doing some paper trading and I have purchased some courses from Top Dog Trading. Since looking into this I get all of the emails promising wealth, easy pips, and stuff telling me that all I have to do is buy their program and I'll be a great trader. I liked Top Dog because they don't use the hype. I feel that I have the mindset to do this - I'm patient and I think that I can keep my emotions in check. I'm not in this to get rich but would be happy with 100 to 200 a day. How do I sound?

[TimRacette 11]

tburd-- I think that's a great angle to come into trading with. I like currency futures because it trades in very wide ranges. The ES and TF are also good instruments but don't move as much as the Euro does.

[Lil Miss Markets 10]

Just wanted to check in and say hi! My name is Sara aka Lil Miss Markets and I love trading and doing commentary on markets. Looking to me new people!

[Tradewinds 12]

Looking to met new people!

 

Hello,

Have you been part of any forums before? What do you do commentary on?

[MadMarketScientist 11]

Just wanted to check in and say hi! My name is Sara aka Lil Miss Markets and I love trading and doing commentary on markets. Looking to me new people!

 

Hi Sara,

 

Nice to see traders of the fairer kind join us! Enjoy the forums and please post your commentaries.

 

thx

MMS

[Patuca 13]

Please do share your commentaries. It will be nice to have a lady talking here instead of all these grippy ole men/young men including myself. It looks like to me that with the right brainstuff women ought to be much better at discretionary training using the power of their intuition than us men. So welcome!

[almostbroke 10]

Good Morning from St.Louis!

ETF Trader here. Looking forward to learning and chatting with fellow investors here on the forum. I just wanted to stop by and introduce myself. Not sure how long I'll be here because my name is Almostbroke

[Tradewinds 12]

Good Morning from St.Louis!

ETF Trader here. Looking forward to learning and chatting with fellow investors here on the forum. I just wanted to stop by and introduce myself. Not sure how long I'll be here because my name is Almostbroke

 

If you are almost broke, then you don't have much time left. How close are you to perfecting your trading strategy? Do you have a way to measure the potential of your trading strategy? E.g. backtesting. Do you want to learn someone else's trading strategy?

 

This brings up an interesting issue. I would love to see Trader's Laboratory have a section on the site that rated different people's strategies. The rules would be that a member could only review another members trading strategy if they actually used it, and could post some trading history to indicate that they tried it.

 

The peer review would be voluntary, but for those who wanted to subject themselves to other people's review, it would provide a source for people to decide whether they wanted to follow another person's thread/strategy or not.

 

Of course there is the thread rating, which is also a good indicator.

[Lil Miss Markets 10]

Hello,

Have you been part of any forums before? What do you do commentary on?

 

Well I have been on a few different forums before but never on a Trader forum.I (personally) love to follow Metals, Currencies, and Grains. Through the website i follow everything.

[IBIZA 10]

Hi. I trade FX over several years.... trades are 1-3 days... now mainly EUR/USD, GBP/USD, EUR/GBP. Profitable, but not that fantastic... gave away profits from time to time by periodic crazy mistakes. Hope to hear from you guys. IBIZA

[Lil Miss Markets 10]

Hi everyone

Just wanted to introduce myself. My name is Sara and I love to trade (metals, energies, currencies) and do commentary on Market related news. Hoping to meet some nice people to talk markets with.

[TheNegotiator 13]

Hi Ibiza & LMM,

 

Great to have you guys here. Interesting to see you are both into fx. I'm sure we'll have some great discussions given the way the world is going! Also good to see you trade metals and energies LMM. You must get a pretty rounded view of the markets in general (although you probably should start trading equities and bonds too!).

[EAProgrammer 10]

David in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.

Trading Equities, Equity Options and FX for about 5 years.

[IBIZA 10]

Hi David.. I'm a newbie here too since y/day. Welcome

[TheNegotiator 13]

Hi David,

 

Welcome to TL. There's a wealth of knowledgeable people here so after 5 years of trading I'm sure you'll fit into that category!

[gabmus 10]

 

Hi my name is Gabindadde-Musoke but you may call me "Gabmus" in short. I have just joined up and am as green as you can get (without turning into a plant) about the trading as is done in these sites. I am, however, confident that I will be able to learn and catch up.

 

Gabmus

[hapa.trader 10]

Hello TL

 

New to the game and eager to learn! I've only just begun this venture in the world of being an active trader (since May 2011) and am enjoying soaking up knowledge through great websites like TL

 

I am only paper trading for the time being while I learn tech analysis, strategies and most important DISCIPLINE and risk management

[alokkelkar 10]

Hi everybody,

 

This is Alok. I am from India. Want to trade, but do not know of trading lingo well. I think I should learn about trend analysis and reading charts... various patterns. But do not know how to start.

 

I hope, I will get some basics here.

 

Cheers,

Alok

[Tradewinds 12]

Hi everybody,

 

This is Alok. I am from India. Want to trade, but do not know of trading lingo well. I think I should learn about trend analysis and reading charts... various patterns. But do not know how to start.

 

I hope, I will get some basics here.

 

Cheers,

Alok

 

The investment industry will state countless times that trading is risky, and you will need to sign statements acknowledging that you understand the risk. But you will never read what the failure rate is. Brokers will tell you it's risky, but they won't ever tell you what the failure rate is. Most traders believe that the failure rate is over 90% percent, and it will take you years to figure out what you are doing. So, that's the first thing you need to know, if you don't already.

 

Traders base their trade signals on various things:

 

• Price Alone - "Price is King!"
  
• Candlestick Patterns
  
• Moving Average Trend lines
  
• Volume
  
• Volume Profile
  
• Support and Resistance
  
• Level II Quotes and Order Flow
  
• Market Internals
  
• News Releases
  

 

You need to decide what you think is the best, or the best combination. I'm not going to state my preference, because everyone will tell you something different. And I'm not going to judge which is superior or not. I have my opinion, but I can't prove it.

 

You should get a general overall view of different trading methods before you spend a lot of time and money dedicated to something you might decide is worthless a year from now.

 

Some people will tell you that you can not predict price from price. That's partly true, it's partly not true.

 

Then there are issues of:

 

• Risk Management
  
• Money Management
  
• Order Management
  
• Leverage
  

 

If you run across a trading term that you don't know, you can look at a site like this:

 

Investopedia.com - Your Source For Investing Education

 

You can learn chart patterns from someone else, or you can look for your own chart patterns. You should have a way to back-test your chart patterns. Not that backtesting is the answer, but it will at least tell you if you are very, very wrong.

[cash123 10]

Sawatee krap TL

 

My hello is Thai as I'm retired there now.I've been constructing a home in central Thailand

and recently completed this project.Now without the time contraints, I would like to

again trade the equity markets.

 

I was a floor trader for 20+ years in the infamous Vancouver Stoch Exchange, I've been

retired for 5 years.My style then was a frontrunner (only kidding).Successful floortrading

required discipline and money management,so those attributes are engrained.

 

My style now i guess would labeled as a position trader, entering stocks reversing of off ytd lows. I'm going to paper trade for awhile to gain some confidence in my setups.

 

Stocks upticking for three days after bottoming AND having at least halved pricewise

in the last 3 months look promising. Look VALV.USBI,SCEI,KNDI,NEWN,GRO

 

Exit strategy,scaling,trailing profit stops are areas I need help in for as a floor trader

i was constantly rebalancing and clipping markets..a completely different animal.

 

As I look about here, I feel so under qualified to post anything...sure glad I found this

site...learning is my priority.

[TheNegotiator 13]

Hi cash123,

 

Welcome to TL! Thanks for the Thai hello! I'm sure you'll learn a great amount here at TL. At least have some great conversations! You must have some great stories from the pit to tell...

 

You're definitely right about electronic trading being a different game. Everything has to go out the window. At least initially. The other thing is that I think there are definitely some significant differences since the 5 years have passed since your retirement. Market phase, Central Bank intervention, crazy algo's to name but a few.

 

Maybe you could start a thread about your journey from floor to electronic trader...

[TheNegotiator 13]

Welcome gabmus & hapa.trader!

 

Lots of things to see at TL. Great knowledge is to be found, but try to participate. That's the key.

 

As far as trading goes, you must try to learn as openly as possible. Observe yourself as much as you observe the markets.

 

Good luck!