Nice Chart

[nsu1997]

SPY….diversified basket of 500 companies with trading volume exceeding 222 million shares on Friday:

http://barchart.com/etf/vleaders.php

The problem with stocks is you don't have much control.

With the above type of trading volume…..control is handed to you….in the form of extreme liquidity.

Deadbeat tenant…..60 days...
Deadbeat position….3 seconds…

Even buying a so-called undervalued stock is still just speculation...it could still go down based on something totally unrelated to it being undervalued.

http://stockcharts.com/h-sc/ui?s=XLE&p=W&st=2007-05-08&en=(today)&id=p91781783537

In October 2010 the energy sector, (XLE), came up against it’s 200 day MA….In December 2010 it showed signs of moving well past it…

In your words….that’s called exploiting a trend.

-Mike

I was a finance major in college. One of the first things they taught us was "past performance is no indication of future results." With that in mind, like Bluemoon said which way are they going tomorrow? Where will they be in a week, month, etc? No one knows. I completely understand riding the winners and cutting the dogs quickly...completely understand trends, MAs, instant liquidity...but at the end of the day it's all total speculation.

I also don't know anyone who's got rich buying or trading stocks, but I know several rich real estate investors. Glad you've been able to make things work out for yourself though...sounds like you really know your stuff.

[fdjake]

There are a number of ways to make money in stocks.....I personally know of 2 broad strategies that I have SEEN work.

The one I use involves KNOWING WHEN NOT TO PLAY......and knowing when it's WORTH playing.
I don't use charts to attempt to predict future price movements.  I watch ECONOMIC CYCLES and I understand what industries are affected by those cycles.  Recessions and Expansions occur over and over, watching for these events and understanding how they create opportunity can make you a FORTUNE.

The key to this method is the WAITING......Sometimes I do NOTHING for YEARS.....Literally NOTHING if I don't CLEARLY SEE real opportunity.  I MISS a lot of investment opportunity because of this....BUT...My money is ALWAYS making money in other areas (like real estate) and because I'm not always "playing" my loses have been very small compared to gains.  Certain carefully selected Stocks have added HUGE NUMBERS to my net worth over the years.

I STAY OUT OF THE CASINO unless the card count is in my favor.

Mike swings the odds in his favor by using STRICT TRADING RULES and not breaking them......EVER!!!
If you have the discipline to do this....You can make money.....BUT....Very few people have what it takes to FOLLOW the RULES.

Mike didn't trade a DIME of REAL MONEY for Y E A R S..........Y E A R S......THAT my friends is DISCIPLINE......he could have thrown money at trades he saw over and over make money.....He didn't.....He stuck to his PLAN and waited until he was comfortable with his trading knowledge and system.  Then he started slowly.

I can't tell you how hard that is.....Watching money making trades OVER and OVER but understanding you still need to learn and WAIT.

It can be done.....BUT...the ODDS do not favor this stategy because most HUMANS feel the need to SCREW AROUND WITH THE RULES!!!

I firmly believe that you need to find a STYLE of investing that works for YOU....I've tried many different ways over the years.  What WORKED for me was knowing when NOT to PLAY.....I WAIT for situations to line up.....For things to get way, way, way out of whack.....At that point I can step in with a large amount of capital and make all the waiting pay off.  Then I pull my money off the table and buy and sell real estate while waiting for the next opportunity.  This is the way "I" invest....I'm not saying it's the ONLY WAY to do it....

But it works for me and has added HUGE $$$$ to my net worth!

[allagash]

I firmly believe that you need to find a STYLE of investing that works for YOU....I've tried many different ways over the years.  What WORKED for me was knowing when NOT to PLAY.....I WAIT for situations to line up.....

very well put....

my style is much different than yours....but what isn't different....is having the patience and discipline.....to wait for things to line up....it's critical.

for my, (much shorter), time frame....last week presented some very good opportunities....here's a few:

a) VIX, (fear factor index), went a bit haywire....[VXX]
b) Silver imploded.......[SLV]
c) as did crude.....[USO]
d) and the green back, (US Dollar), actually rallied very well....[UUP]

Speculation?

 

I think Probabilities is a much better word.

With good tools...and the knowledge of their usage...it's like night vision goggles.

That said....a very tedious and frustrating learning curve......lmfao.

I make no pretense about my trading....but I am very confident that my skill set is well adapted to what is required.

-Mike
btw....Hoosier....have you ever considered a Custard Stand?
I'm not  (ing)

a very nice seasonal cash cow you could open next year, (May 2012)...if you buy the equipment and storefront right, (cheap).

[Hoosier4life2005]

Hmm.. are you making fun of me? lol

[allagash]

not at all....

now is the time to start building up those multiple streams of income....

-Mike

[Hoosier4life2005]

Wasnt sure if you were being serious or not... selling hotdogs.. lolz.

Also, allagash, you gonna answer me PM?  Wasnt sure if you forgot. No rush.

[allagash]

did.

-Mike
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAazMPimWiI&playnext=1&list=PL986814B51EFBA3F5