Email-Bag

From time to time I will be dipping into my emails to publicly respond on topics that may be of general interest or utility. All names (except mine) are removed, so as not to discourage future emails.

Do you do much trading in the pre-market or after-market?

Not so much these days, although I used to trade both pre and after markets. it's just too much effort and very tricky with lower liquidity. I had about an equal number of wins and losses, so instead of trying to perfect it, I just stayed with regular hours trading.

I am also a retired lawyer and have been long NNVC, SYBD, CTGI, et.al. for some time. Most of my trades are long-term. Your reference to day-trading interests me since most short term traders do not seem to do well. If you have a stock blog to which I could subscribe please let me know.

My only blog is the free AllAllan blog which you have already found. No subscription necessary. As for day-trading, I have my own unique trading system that I have been trading since 2003 with consistent success. It is by its very nature very time sensitive, so it does not lend itself to a subscription service or a blog.

I read Paradigm by R. Taylor some many moons ago and also, in searching for feedback, bumped into your blog report on him. Initially it seemed that you were also impressed with his timing. Have you had cause to revise your opinions on him and his methodology?

I stand by my earlier statements about Paradigm and Taylor, but I really don't trade the cycles much. My own trading methodology doesn't rely on market direction at all, so I just don't use market timing anymore.

I notice some people have had great success with the CANSLIM method.What is your opinion of it?

Pretty good, general guide, not the holy grail but a great way to structure an approach to stock selection.

How does one go about investing in hedge funds? Can anyone invest? Is it like a mutual fund?

Because of the nature of private funds, it is generally required that investors be "Accredited Investors" as defined by Rule 501 of Section D of the Securities Act of 1933. In short, an individual would be considered, "Accredited" if they have a net worth that exceeds $1 million dollars at the time of purchase, or, has individual net income of $200,000 in each of the two most recent years.

I recently stumbled onto your site by mistake a week or so ago while trying to find the name of a stock that Mr Navellier was touting in an effort to sell one of his services. I must say, I am awed by your insight and ability to communicate in order for folks to understand this stuff. I love it. I’m a real novice at this and am trying to understand the technical aspect of it. I guess that’s why I’m fascinated by your info as it not only provides information but also some explanation and analysis.

If I understand your writings, you are primary a trader and do very little “holding”. Like I said, I just started reading your blog (what a word) and have tried to read some of your historical writings. My primary purpose for writing this is to say thank you for doing what you do. My hope is to build a foundation of knowledge so when I retire I can devote more quality time to this. My work is quite demanding but with 4 years to go, I have to stick it out. Hopefully, along the way, I can make a little additional money to help out the cause. Sorry for the rambling message. I just felt compelled to write and say thanks!!!

You made my day!

[Below is a composite of multiple emails, the most common question that I get]

I was also wondering if you have any favorite websites or resources you use to do analysis on companies or specific industries and what about charting, what software do you use?

I use two websites exclusively for charting. My nightly scans are done at Market Club as well as my initial charts. When I find a stock I like at Market Club, I will take a look at the same stock at Stockcharts.com. I know what I am looking for and if I see it at both sites, I know it's there. As for fundamental analysis and resources, I am all over the place. First stop is always at Yahoo Finance for basic financial analysis. I like to also go to the company's own website where some of the very best fundamental data can be found. Just reading a years worth of press releases often provides valuable insight into the company. Finally, I have some specialized sources, some free, some subscription based, that cover unique aspects of trading. Most of these sources I have not disclosed to the public. I have developed some proprietary trading routines based on these unique sites and I am not ready to just give them away.

As far a software goes, I have tried quite a few over the years, but none better then the charts I make at Market Club and StockCharts.com.  Other then those two, probably the best stand alone trading software I ever used is Advanced Get.  It pretty much guided me through the final five years of the 90's.  Now it has become part of E-Signal and tied into their data feed.  In a sense, by "improving" it through years of updates, it has become a fairly complicated work and unfortunately, more subjective with each new update.  Nonetheless, the patterns I learned from Advanced Get are still with me and many of my charting skills are based in concepts I learned using A-Get.  But instead of getting more complicated and more subjective, my approach to TA has gotten more basic and much more objective.  I've certainly posted enough charts here in the past few months to pass a lot of what I do along to readers.  It's not exactly brain surgery.

I just noticed on this list of top 100 stock message blogs, you are now at #90. Very Impressive!!!!

http://www.instantbull.com/blogs_technorati.htm

Looks like they missed, by about 89 slots.

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And a big B-B-B-Booyah right back at you, Jim. I can tell your writing style anywhere.