A Few Strong Technical Signs
On Tuesday night (5/28/13), I wrote a blog post about how I lightened up my stock positions and reduced my market exposure. At the time, the S&P 500 was at 1660 and proceeded to drop over 60 points into last Thursday (6/6/13). I began to increase my exposure around these levels for the following reasons: 1) The 10-week moving average has been an area of strong support for the market all year so far. This [...]
Active Vs. Passive Management
My friend Josh Brown wrote a great blog post about active portfolio management. It sparked so many thoughts, so I'll try to sum them up in the following points: 1) I talk to many potential investors who ask me "why should I have an active strategy when the market is doing fine and keeps going up?" OF COURSE when the market goes straight up for 4 years, a buy and hold (passive) strategy works well. You'll [...]
7 Things You Need As A Trader
This is in no particular order, as they are ALL important. 1) Strategy - There are so many different strategies: value, growth, momentum, short selling, etc. Find one that fits your personality and do your best to master it. The fastest way to learn is to study success. In other words, find someone who is successful at the strategy you like, and then mimic them with your own style. Another key is to recognize when [...]
Extreme Fear
There is a phenomenon going on that I've never seen in my 17 years of trading: EXTREME FEAR. What makes it so strange to me is that it exists with people who are both in the market AND out of the market. I'll give you two examples: EXAMPLE #1 - I speak to many potential investors. It amazes me how many people have been in 80-90% cash for the past 3-5 years. They've missed out on [...]
VIDEO: Interview with J.C. Parets, CMT
Here is an interview with fund manager J.C. Parets (@allstarcharts on Twitter and StockTwits). J.C. is a Chartered Market Technician with a great eye for charts. In addition, he looks at all the Global Markets, so he has a great feel for what is happening worldwide. Enjoy the video! Follow me on Twitter @jfahmy Follow me on StockTwits @jfahmy
Don’t Trade If Your Head Is Not Clear
This past week or so has been great for momentum traders. It's finally nice to see growth stocks breakout consistently and move higher. I have a friend that I talk to regularly who trades similar to me. We exchange ideas, talk about charts, etc. Here's a quick story with a HUGE lesson behind it. About 10 days ago, my friend got into a big fight with his girlfriend. He was invested in the market, but [...]