Trading Tools - an essay of sorts:
For the most part, a casual trading affliction can be supported online at no cost. Using websites like StockSmart, DailyQuotes, Quote.com, BigCharts, Silicon Investor, Yahoo and your online broker's resources one can obtain all the news, data, fundamental and rudimentary technical information you need to trade profitably. There are other sites available if one is more risk-adverse, such as Equity Trader, Vector Vest, and the plethora of newsletters available at a variety of sites. Now, assuming you want to discover your own stocks of potential value, you can invest in something like Telescan or StockWiz. Those two, by the way, are the two ends of the cost spectrum. Telescan is expensive, thorough, detailed, fast and complete. If you aren't trading full time, I would doubt you need this service yet. StockWiz is free, less complete, etc, but the monthly cost of downloads is about $10. They do use a non-standardized format though, so even though you could probably import it into MetaStock or Windows on Wall Street, it is not cross-platform compatible (which for us multiple OS users is a hassle).
Fundamental Analysis - First one needs to know what the fundamentals are and what to look for. What to look for is defined by one's objectives, trading style, frequency and availability of information. Casual users who want safer picks might just as well go to Vector Vest or Equity Trader. More rigorous traders might use them as confirmation. Professionals use it on occasion just because no one is ever wrong (or right) all the time. Plus, if you understand what they do and how to use them, it isn't the specific stock recommendations that are of value but the information there just beyond the words about where their feel is for that sector or sub-industry. But for the most part, the thing to understand and accomplish with FA is to be able to know what the numbers mean and what that relationship is to a stocks price performance for the period you wish to trade in. For me, the PE is worthless. For those doing earnings plays it isn't. I get this info online for free from several sites, but I only look at three things. What those three things are are immaterial to anyone who isn't trading exactly as I do.
Technical Analysis - several good packages out, and all of them have more indicators than anyone will ever use. Selecting and mentoring someone in TA is like teaching them to paint or write poetry...what do you want to paint? What form one uses for a poem is ancillary to the emotions one wishes to convey. Can one use TA effectively. Absolutely. Can it be disastrous? Absolutely. Is it predictive? No. One uses TA to historically understand the psychology of the market players for specific stocks, sub-industries and sectors against earnings, news, economic changes and other factors. One uses the underlying patterns developing in TA to become aware of potential price growth. Can one use TA just to make money without that awareness? Yes, but so can a handful of darts and the stock listings in the Sunday paper. Having said this, MetaStock is the best for the PC and ProTA isthe best for the Mac. And the REI for MSExcel is the best freeware <g>. To do TA effectively you will need the software and nightly downloads of Open/High/Low/Close and Volume from somewhere and the ability to get historical data for a couple of quarters of stocks you are interested in (any service provides both). prices vary. StockWiz seems the cheapest, but doesn't work for all TA packages. StockWiz itself provides some analytical tools however, and is great for a beginner.
Newsletters - You really don't want my daitribe on these. But ask yourself this: If one can make a lot of money in the market, why do they need to sell the information, since that is self-defeating unless they buy beforehand. I profit from the 'herds' inablity to sense the market's change and poor timing. To me, it is petty to single out the naive and inexperienced to profit from them. Financial spam.
Neural Nets - I use this because I can. I have been using them for a decade. It can't be taught in less than a couple of years. And, as a single source of information, is a unreliable as the others by themself.
Stock Theads (like SI) - Jenna's GEMS thread has lasted 7 months so far, with no sign of slowing. I think that is a world record. Maverick's was good for about 5, I think. The 56 Point TA thread is just starting. Couple a TA thread with a FA thread with a news/earnings/other factors thread to use them effectively. It doesn't matter if I or Jenna or Copia or AlienTech or Instock or anyone else profits. It only matter to you if you profit from it. And more importantly, it isn't what stocks you discover, it is what you discover about the markets and the people who trade them.
There is no oracle here or anywhere else. What will work for you is as dependent upon your perception, your methods, your objectives and your preferences as anything else. My tools work for me, because they fit the way I trade. I bought some, I made some, I borrowed some. Those tools change as my needs change. I cannot tell you what the set toolbox is that will work for you. That is something you have to discover. At the Oracle of Delphi, a person stood at the gate and asked each supplicant, "Why are you here?" The answer to that was more important than whatever wisdom they were seeking. This is a journey. A journey not a toward place, but of discovery and a time and way to live. I thank all of you for allowing me to share a portion of my journey with you.
lastshadow
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