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Now before you start saying: “But Joe, you recently put out a blog post talking about why you continue to sit out,” keep one thing in mind…MY OPINION OF THE MARKET CHANGES FREQUENTLY. Why? Because the market is extremely dynamic and can change its character very quickly. You have to be open-minded and flexible. Being stubborn and sticking to an opinion gets you nowhere, especially when the market is proving you wrong. That is why I run screens and go through approximately 1,000 stocks every night. It’s the only true way I know how to evaluate the market’s overall health. When I find an abundance of setups, I feel more positive about the market. When the ideas dry up, I become more defensive.

Last week, I started to find a few decent setups. The end result: I took profits on some stocks ($V $MA $CMG $HANS) and got stopped out of a few others ($BIDU $ACTG $WYNN). I took quick profits because I don’t trust the market yet, and I took small losses because my number one rule is to protect my portfolio. The bottom line: I made very little progress, further telling me the market is not ready to start a SUSTAINABLE uptrend yet.

I realize that many big caps are holding up well ($AAPL $AMZN $GMCR $PCLN), however, as we start to bottom, I would prefer to see leadership broaden out. Currently, it seems very narrow to me. In other words, everyone’s watching the same 5-10 stocks! Historically, that does not bode well for the market.

Wednesday morning (9/21/11), I returned to a 100% cash position when my trading instincts told me to be defensive. As a result, I dodged the subsequent decline on Wednesday afternoon. Going forward, I feel the market needs more time to correct before we will see a sustainable advance. My advice is to remain cautious and keep positions light if you trade. An even better suggestion is to simply sit out, as traders tend to get “chopped up” during these volatile times.

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1) I am finding very few quality setups. Many of the stocks I got stopped out of recently have traded lower, and most of the stocks on my watch list have failed to breakout…all these observations make me cautious for now.

2) When I tweeted these thoughts earlier, many people responded: “You’re in the wrong stocks.” I realize that a few stocks such as $AAPL $GOOG $BIDU $PCLN $LULU $AMZN $GMCR are acting well, but the leadership seems to be narrowing.

3) The narrow leadership reminds me of Sept/Oct 2007 when the market was being driven higher by 3 stocks: $AAPL $GOOG and $RIMM. I’m not saying that we are topping here, but I would prefer to see more “broad-based” participation. In addition, most of the big cap stocks mentioned above are getting “later-stage” in their moves and are extended from proper buy points. Keep in mind that I look for the best “low-risk, quality setups” that I can find.

4) The debt ceiling issue is not a factor in my stock trading. Why? Because after it’s done, the media will find something else to scare us. Remember Egypt, Greece, Libya, the earthquake in Japan, all the nuclear waste that was headed our way, Italy, Greece again, etc. That’s why I pay attention to the price action of stocks and ignore the news.

5) I always keep an open mind and realize that my analysis can be wrong. Therefore, I constantly maintain a watch list of quality stocks. If they begin to act better, I will be ready to pounce on the long side. For now, I remain in 100% cash. If I’m wrong, I’m not worried because I can always get back in.

I suggest being a little defensive and trading lighter-than-normal positions until conditions improve. Keep in mind that I trade with an EXTREMELY defensive posture and I use tighter stops than most traders. I live by the Paul Tudor Jones quote: “Play great defense, not great offense.” Although the major averages are holding up well, my trading instincts are telling me to be defensive for now.

$AAPL $AMZN $BIDU $DIA $GMCR $GOOG $IWM $LULU $PCLN $QQQ $RIMM $SPY

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1) Don’t marry ANY stock because at the end of the day, they ALL disappoint. Trust me, if you don’t know this, study history or you will learn the hard way.

2) I have no problem riding trends and trading stocks all the way up. In fact, one of my favorite quotes is: “Just when you think a stock can’t go higher, it usually does.” What I do have a problem with is when people say: “I am NEVER, EVER selling the stock!” People said the same thing about the big cap tech stocks in the late 1990′s ($DELL $CSCO $INTC $WCOM $MSFT $EMC $YHOO), and rode them all the way up…only to ride them all the way down.

3) Apple is a PHENOMENAL company with earnings and sales that are off the charts. However, it’s not exactly an undiscovered story! The company will grow its $100 billion in revenue next year, but it CANNOT sustain +80% sales growth. Again, it will grow, but the growth rate will eventually slow.

4) Don’t ever say “This time it’s different.” Those are very dangerous words.

5) Sorry for the reality check, but the current big cap growth stocks ($GOOG $PCLN etc.) will eventually become dead money…just like the prior big caps.

6) For those of you who think Apple is immune to a market selloff, let me remind you that it corrected -60% (from $200 down to $80) during the Bear Market of 2008.

7) I spoke to a few people today who have owned Apple since it traded in the single digits. I asked them when are they going to sell, and they replied: “NEVER!” This worries me because the same mentality that causes you to ride a stock up, also leads you to ride it down.

Again, I have absolutely nothing personal against Apple. I am simply trying to remind people to eventually think of an exit strategy or at least lock in SOME profits along the way up. You are more than welcome to send more hate mail, but it doesn’t matter because people are going to do whatever they want anyways. I sincerely hope you make a fortune with all your trades, just keep in mind that ALL stocks eventually disappoint, which is why you should NEVER marry a stock.

$AAPL $CSCO $DELL $EMC $GOOG $INTC $MSFT $PCLN $WCOM $YHOO

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So, I decided to change my approach. My new strategy would be to trade stocks ahead of key events, take advantage of any run anticipating the “rumor,” and sell the stock PRIOR to the “news.” Key events include earnings releases, shareholder meetings, analyst meetings, user conferences, and sometimes even economic reports. This theory obviously doesn’t work all the time, but it works consistently enough that I have added it to my arsenal of trading strategies.

A real-time example of this happened over the past 4 trading days. I bought $NFLX last Tuesday morning (4/19/11) and sold it Monday afternoon (4/25/11) prior to its earnings release (after Monday’s close). I made approximately 20 points on the trade. Here are some keys to this strategy:

1) DO YOUR HOMEWORK. Find out the EXACT date of the earnings/event. That’s the easy part.

2) CHOOSE STOCKS that are liquid, widely followed, and preferably highly shorted. For example, stocks such as $AAPL $NFLX $PCLN tend to run ahead of earnings reports, and if it’s a highly-shorted stock such as $OPEN $LULU $DECK, the shorts tend to cover prior to earnings.

3) FIND A LOW-RISK ENTRY POINT for your trade. This isn’t so easy as it took me years of trading to work on getting better entry points. In general, it helps to trade around strong technical support areas.

4) HAVE A LOSS CUTTING STRATEGY. No matter what your reasoning is for making a trade, ALWAYS USE STOPS! For example, I got into $NFLX around 233, my stop loss was 228, and my target was 250-255 (a 4R trade). If the trade didn’t work, I wasn’t going to force it or be stubborn about it. I was simply going to sell the stock. As Paul Tudor Jones says: “Play great defense, not great offense.”

5) STICK TO YOUR PLAN AND DON’T GET MARRIED TO THE TRADE. Whether the stock hits your target, your stop, or somewhere in between, don’t risk holding over the event. Simply move on with no regrets. In other words, if $NFLX goes up 30 points after its earnings, I don’t care! Too many times, technical traders start reading fundamental news to justify why they should hold over earnings. JUST MOVE ON TO THE NEXT ONE WITH NO REGRETS AND NO EMOTIONS!

One final point: This is one of many strategies that I use to trade AHEAD of earnings. Sometimes, I will hold a position OVER earnings, but I will save that topic for a future blog post. Again, the above strategies don’t work all time, but they are consistent enough to consider using as a trader.

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1) The higher volume recovery in the NASDAQ Composite.

2) The strong price action in some of the big caps: $PCLN $OPEN $CRM $WYNN $LVS

3) The solid breakouts in $ACOM and $BSQR

4) Additional stocks on my watch list.

Although I was a little cautious based on Tuesday’s action, Wednesday’s market showed strong signs of institutional support and that the uptrend remains intact. It also reminded me of a great quote: “It is OK to be wrong, but it’s not OK to STAY wrong.” In other words, it’s OK to form an opinion but ultimately, let the market prove you right or wrong and make the proper adjustments. Enjoy the video!

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This example applies to today’s stock market. Many people are expecting this rally to end any day now, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see the market “fool the majority” and continue higher over the next 3-6 months (with corrections along the way, of course). I’m not only basing this on psychology, but also on the strong market internals. I continue to observe a large number of stocks that are acting well. Specifically, stocks breaking out on strong volume and consolidating on lighter volume.

What amazes me is vast number of sectors represented by these stocks. Examples include: Semiconductors $CREE $AIXG $VECO, Restaurants $CMG $PNRA, Retail $LULU $DECK $SHOO, Machinery $DE $CMI $BUCY, China $BIDU $CTRP, Big Caps $AAPL $PCLN $AMZN, Biotech $DNDN $HGSI $JAZZ, Natural Gas $CLNE $WPRT. The scary thing is that I could keep giving more examples.

Bottom line: I still see healthy signs overall and I continue to recommend being invested in this market. Don’t forget to take profits on the way up keep and, as always, look to cut losses on your weakest performing stocks.

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First, I have to give credit to Jim Gobetz (@aiki14 on Twitter). In his Pre-Market Take on StockTwits TV Monday morning, he said to buy the open and that we would finish positive on the day. You know why that scenario made complete sense? Because as Jim said: “It was not the real popular opinion.” In fact, he said he took abuse for making that call. Congrats to Jim for making the contrarian call, and ultimately the correct one!

This morning reminded me of February 18, 2010. After the close that day, the Federal Reserve surprised the markets by raising the Discount Rate. I remember tweeting that: “One possibility is that the market shakes off the rate hike news and continues to show incredible resilience.” The same thing happened to me. I got angry emails and replies telling me that the market was going to crash. The next morning, the futures were barely down and the market finished strong that day. A very similar event happened this Sunday night. After the HealthCare Bill passed, everyone expected a huge market selloff. Once again, the futures were slightly down on Monday morning and the market proved its resilience by finishing strong!

I would like to stress 2 points: Don’t fight the tape and don’t think like the majority! We’ve had several excuses to selloff over the past 3-4 weeks but the market continues to march higher. Part of this resilience is due to the masses thinking this rally is going to end any day now. I still expect higher prices over the next 3-6 weeks, as the market will most likely continue to fool the majority.

Some stocks on my watch list include: $AAPL $PCLN $CERN $GMCR $VECO $BUCY $DNDN

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1) Stocks are acting very strong technically. Over the past 3-4 weeks, I have suggested to slowly scale into this market. The majority of stocks that I recommended have worked out well and they are now either barely correcting or they are pulling back orderly on light volume. Examples include $GMCR $ISRG $NETL $LULU $IPXL $NFLX $CLNE $ATHR $CAGC $BCSI.

2) The major indexes continue to climb on strong volume and consolidate on light volume, a positive sign in my view.

3) The big institutions continue to put money to work. If you are a large mutual fund or hedge fund, your universe of growth stocks is limited. In other words, you have to buy Big Cap stocks with liquidity. Even if you do not trade these names, it is worth observing them to see what the big boys are doing. The price action in $AAPL $ISRG $GOOG $BIDU $AMZN $PCLN $V $GS is very constructive. The majority of these stocks are breaking out or building new bases to possibly break out over the next 4-8 weeks.

4) The stocks that continue to show up on my fundamental and technical screens cover a wide range of sectors showing me that this recent rally is broad based. Examples include: Tech, Retail, Energy, Semis, Restaurants, etc.

5) Everyone seems to fall into one of two categories. They either hate this rally or they are a cautious bull. I would consider myself the latter. My point is that VERY FEW people are in the crazy bull camp and feel this market has any legs left in it. Keep in mind: “The markets tend to fool the majority.”

A word of caution: I realize the markets have had a nice run over the past few weeks. I am not saying to jump in right now if you are not invested because we could see a pullback. If you did get in recently, hopefully you have decent entry points on your stocks and you have “room” to let your winners ride. If you did not get in, don’t chase extended stocks but rather look to buy them on pullbacks to logical support areas. Overall, I remain positive on this market because of the strong signs listed above.

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