In todays age of electronic trading, there really isn't a good reason to avoid the use of an automated stop for capital preservation. It drives me nuts when I here people say (something along the lines of), "I don't use open stop orders because MM's can see them and will manipulate the pps to take them out in order to load up on cheap shares or profit or whatever!" This statement doesn't bother me because it's not true (it very well could be), it bothers me because it's completely avoidable......

My postings and blogging have been light lately because I have spent much time dabbling in real estate. I will get back to that later down this page.

Taking Profits
I have preached for quite some time to lock in profits when a stock rises above the upper bollinger band. This is how I play all of my stocks unless this there is warning signs that dictate I take profits sooner. When I am in doubt I will take 1/2 out and that is on a break out scenario. Either way the principle...

I've noticed quite a few chart patterns being mislabeled here, descending triangles being called pennants for example, so I decided to write up a quick lesson with the aid of Stockcharts.com. Mislabeling chart patterns is very common among newer traders, myself included, so this is to help clear up any misconceptions about them. This won't cover every chart pattern, but will cover the main ones.

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Are you upside down on your portfolio since the markets melted down or just have a stock or two that took a dive. If that fits your situation you are not alone as a high percentage of investor/traders are in the same boat. We could analyze what went wrong but instead lets try to fix the problem and turn your losses into profit. In order to accomplish this goal you will need a plan and I will offer what has worked for me. It comes with some risk but I will try to trim the risk down to a comfort zone....

That was an impressive move we just saw on the Euro, thanks to some intervention from the ECB, the EURUSD pair just moved from 4yr lows +200pips to 1.2351.

If you dont trade forex, that is a really big move in a very short amount of time.



Since the markets are watching the Euro for direction, if they can move the Euro like this, the markets may follow.

Tail wagging the dog?...