Hard to be a trader if you have a full time job. You have to expect to sacrifice a lot of the gains, convenience, etc. I spend so many hours preparing the watch lists and checking the plays that I know everything there is to know about that particular stock. When you are the 'author' of course you do better than the pupil who is reading your book and learning the course. When a stock triggers a buy it is good until the trend reverses, it is assumed it is a buy and in the morning the trend should continue but it could also abate. There is no way anyone can be certain a triggered buy will actually last long. Ours last a little longer than most. WE don't scalp for a 1/2 point.
My conditions are such that there is no way you would even want to emulate them. I wasn't kidding with the amount of time I am spend on the computer, researching trading, that is why I really need SI or I'd be alone and bored all day. I have missed out on fun. You can't compare someone who spends about 17 hours a day doing this including one day on the weekend to someone with a full time job in another field. You don't have the computer set up I have or the 3 sets of streaming quotes. You are not up every single night until 3 and and 4 am.
When you prepare a earnings calendar that takes from 2 1/2 to 3 hours after sifting through 12 to 22 pages full of stocks in long neverending columns, you get to really know your stock by the time it is filtered and selected. When you add even further analysis on the newsletter a few days later, including more charts and fundamentals it is even more emblazoned in my head. I set up alerts for every stock before hand. I couldn't go out today when I saw what was happening with the market, stops are not always enough.
I post my losses most of the time unless the stock stagnates and days later I just sell after it evokes no more interest. Like when I was just stopped out of CNTO for 2 1/2 points, what would be the sense in posting that? OR from time to time a stock I'm holding gets downgraded and I'm out 3 or 4 points in one swoop like in ETEK but then it comes back a few days later. Its not simple as it looks. (I don't even think it looks simple).. I also don't use margin and trade with a extremely comfortable size portfolio so I can buy just about what I want, its easier.
If I had left the house today I would have probably lost more money. There is no one I know that puts the amount of work I do into this whole trading endeavor, both my own trading and Market Gems. That's a fact. But there are people who are fortunate and have all the conveniences for trading and others that are very constrained.
When I didn't have market gems and I was working I barely made any money at all trading..so I understand.
Why then do I work this hard. 2 reasons: The money is excellent, surpassing my goals for the year tenfold, both the trading and the Market Gems business, and you must know by now I love the trading, the research, everything. When I have this perfected to my satisfaction, with our own server, and we are up and running another 6 months, I'll be cutting down on my own trading, by about 75% that's the only way I could keep up this pace.
I'd be moving more into the teachng phase and working up Market Gems to a 'one stop' spot for traders. and setting up a real time trading room where I would not be trading myself so I would be freer and 'distractions' would no longer be a problem.
Its gotten even worse, for part timers because there are sometimes so much profit to take that we don't hold more than 1 or 2 days that explains why we are force sometimes to become daytraders. and yes, the stocks do move quickly especially the telecom, media and tech and internet stocks. So you are moving in a fast motion, whereas 3 years ago the pace was more predictable, steady.
I post the 'buy triggers' in the morning and they are pretty clear.. but invariably 1/2 hour later would probably be too late to get into the stock and definitely not for the same gains. When I post that a stock like say VRTY is a buy it's usually 1/2 to 1 1/2 point higher than the historical close (depending on the price of the stock)..
But if you are not there how can you know? Every hour it was up another point.. And how would we handle a stock like SWS that is up 6 or more almost daily, or INSP that gaps up 20 points on a good report, or how about today when TUTS was up 37%. Or when my LCOS, that was up 7 most of the day started to move down and I did all I could to save some of the large profit? Or yesterday when the market was down 200 points and in a few minutes it was back again. Everything is moving faster, you have to pay more attention. I don't accept any phone calls during the day all. I can't get distracted for even 5 minutes.
You have unfortunately entered the electronic trading arena, where everything is quicker, demand for quickest trade execution is imperative. Analysis and stock selection web sites pop up and not too many really put that much of an effort into making it conducive to learning. That is something that Market Gems does make the effort to do. And what's worse is that the stocks are even more volatile now as the nets are making incredible gains, only trailing somewhat are the telecoms, media, communications and select tech stocks.
I have often come onto the thread with very nice stocks like KBL or BEN or ZQK or FDC but they are met with ennui from the traders, they like the SWS and NITE and the MFNX's.. Just listen to them on the thread all day. I tried to 'sell' them on FBN, SFDS,RSE,MRD, AEIC or VSH but there were no real interest there. They like NITE, DELL, ABOV,NTBK and VSTR etc. Can you blame them?
Too many traders are not utilizing the awesome power correctly. They don't want to invest the few years it takes to learn to be a trader but tend to jump right in.
I still say you should be looking at the newsletter and waiting for the stocks to report and then buy a select few of them. I have been helping subscriber who are professionals in other fields into stocks like ADLAC, INTU, HLIT, ENTU, ETEK, VRTY, KSWS,GALT, GEOC,WCOM,CMTO, NXTR, MMCN, CCMC, ZQK, CREE,TWSTY,TWTR,PWJ,QWST, NXLK but only for a few weeks at a time and only very select internet stocks..
Most of market gemmers are the silent majority and are trading full or at least part time, I've spoken or e-mailed hundreds of them. Some are even stock brokers and individual investors.
I'll write you some more on the subject a little later on. I can do this now because short of watching my few option positions in the morning I'll be away most of tomorrow with my son who is off from school. |
