Bulls To Bears: Dangerous Day Trading

So, you want to DAY TRADE STOCKS??? We'll, that is a TERRIBLE IDEA!

We are constantly asked by people, why don’t you teach any day trading techniques? In response, we decided to dedicate this blog to the adrenaline fueled world of day trading.

(First, let's begin with the definition of day trading: The buying and selling of securities within the same trading day.)

Many of those who participate in day trading cite the following as reasons why they like to day trade:

• Less Risk: they contend that since they are exposed to positions for shorter periods of time they are at less risk.
• Better Cash Flow: proponents of day trading say that by locking in profits you get better cash flow from your investments.
• Faster way to make money: day traders make money in the day. They lock in their profits while long term and swing traders must wait for their profits. 

Now if this is what you think, then I have bad news for you. The odds of your success to enter into and exit out of a trade with a profit, within a 7.5 hour trading session is stacked against you!

No one starts day trading to lose any money; people only do it if they think they can make money. Yet about 95% of people who attempt day trading will lose their money. Day trading has between a 5% to a 30% statistical chance of success according to market observers and financial specialists. Even the North American Securities Administrators Association (NASAA) has reported in their findings that over 70% of stock day traders lose all their capital through day trading. Something is going on there!

Why do so many people lose money when it looks so easy? We will tell you... You see everything happens for a reason... Sometimes that reason is... you're in over your head and make bad decisions!

The Stock market is composed entirely of other people that are trying to make money, or fend off losses (hedgers). These people who are very good at trading, are looking to take advantage of some of the orders which are placed by inexperienced traders at bad prices, that experienced traders think are good entries or exits. Usually those people are the ones that are going to be right, and the monies of the inexperienced day trader will be transferred to the more experienced traders account.

Again, this is coming from our own 100 years of combined experience working on Wall Street, our teachings and our investing experiences. We ASSURE you that the odds of Day Trading a Stock for your success is stacked very heavily against you. The system is practically rigged to encourage you to gamble and lose your money, and you’d be a fool to ignore our warnings signs and continue on that journey.

If we didn't know any better, a point could be made for Day Trading. The problem is that this is one of those things that looks great on paper, but doesn’t work in the real world. Here is our response to those that point in the favor or day trading for profits, and we added a few of our observations for your consideration:

• Less Risk: day trading involves split second decisions. While you are exposed to risk for a shorter period, that risk is dramatically greater.
• Better Cash Flow: day traders who say they lock in their profits are just deluding themselves. While they do close all their positions in a single day, their results are measured on a cumulative basis. Think of it as the guy who goes to Vegas 20 times and tells you about the one time that he won. How about the other 19 times?
• Faster profits: this is a fallacy because the potential gain you can make in an single day is limited. Even if you catch a big move, most of the time it is small compared to a stocks short term to near term moves.
• Commissions: day traders tend to make a lot of trades. The cost of these trades even when run through sever discount brokers adds up quickly. I worked as a professional day trader and paid only pennies per share in commission. Many months my commissions ate up a substantial portion of the gains I made.
•  Methodology: most day traders are using market news as the basis of the reason they are trading a position. This means they are literally guessing as to why they are in a position. It is like riding a wild bull and you are hoping to hold on and get off with a gain.
• Time and energy commitment: day trading takes a lot of energy. You must be watching the screen always. It is a split second instant decision making activity. Most people do not have the time or energy to commit to day trading. If you don’t, you put yourself in great peril.
• Record keeping and Accounting: to keep things on the up and up you must create and maintain meticulous records of your activity. The IRS demands this. If you let this slip for even a few days you can get in major trouble and must spend a large amount of time sorting it out.

Active Day Trading is an enticing model. It promises investors the world, and while some may make some money, the studies show the risks typically outweigh the benefits.

If making money trading the stock market is a goal for you? Then day trading is not for you. Despite all the newest marvels and technological advances and algorithms, YOU do not have the expertise to outpace the stock market ALONE. You just can’t do it. And, if you think machines can replace a seasoned level 3 trader and the market makers? Then, we have a bridge to sell you.

Nonetheless, you will still hear people brag about how they made money on a particular stock. Perhaps they’ll brag about the money they just made today? Then the very next day when the market is off they lose money and blame the stock market.

To sum it up, while day trading has an allure to it, it is not for most people. It certainly is not for the average trader. Traders should focus on short term swing or trend trading if you are looking to have winners that are dramatically larger than your losers. Trading should become an enjoyable experience. Day trading for profits is a very high stressful environment and should be left to the professionals with Big Pockets. Swing Trading and Trend Trading over the short term is far less demanding. It’s the better choice for those who want to try their hand at trading without becoming totally overwhelmed.

It is important for anyone interested in trading stocks to develop a strong fundamental understanding of how the financial markets work and the most important characteristics of various trading strategies. Bulls To Bears members are consistently telling us about the positive influence our short term trading programs has on their portfolios.

Need help finding the perfect trading program to pair with your Stock Market Trading? Get Bulls To Bears's FREE newsletter today and get a better understanding of short to Intermediate Term Trading. Once you learn to invest with us, you will begin to act with confidence and set yourself on a path to trading success. Come and see why some of our members are netting returns that would make many top traders salivate.

Till next time... Happy Trading from BullsToBears.com!

Bulls To Bears: Trend Trading Results For Bulls and Bears Alike

Trend Trading is all about being able to read market sentiment and the balance between bulls and bears. Understanding why a trend is gaining or losing momentum is very important if you are trying to make decisions about whether support and resistance levels are likely to hold or break down, whether a trend will continue, or if a reversal can be anticipated.

 

The trading tips we are sharing are not a standalone system, but they should build as a cornerstone of any trend trading methodology. The structure of a trends movements consists of alternating spikes (advances) and pullbacks (corrections), which respectively end with the Highs and Lows. Highs and Lows can be called trend points and without a clear definition and understanding of every stage of the movements, often enough confusion could  arise, especially for inexperienced traders.

 

Let’s start with some basic terms:

• Trends – this is the direction of the predominant movement of the price of a currency pair. Trends are ascending (bullish), descending (bearish) and lateral (flat). With an uptrend, the next High and Low in the chart should be higher than the previous one, with a downtrend, the next Low and High in the chart should be lower than the previous ones.
• Flat Market –  is a lateral movement in which new Highs and Lows do not go beyond the previous High or Low.
• Impulse – move in the direction of the trend.
• Correction – the movement of prices in the opposite direction to the trend. In this case, the correction should not exceed the previous High or Low, except for a false breakdown situation.
• Trend Reversal– is a change in the direction of the prevailing price movement. 

The whole goal of trend trading is to identify when a trend begins so you can capture gains within that investments trend. Technical Analysis is often used in conjunction to assist traders on when to take advantage of the current trend in a particular stock to help improve their returns. Day trading involves specifics that are different than the typical trend trading investment strategies. (we will visit this subject of day trading, the pros and cons, again later in another blog...)

 

The difference between the price target and the entry price is approximately the reward of the trade. The difference between the entry price and the stop out price is the approximately your risk. New investors, when you’re determining whether it’s worthwhile to enter into a trade, consider using a 2-to-1 as a minimum reward risk ratio. Your potential profit should be at least twice as much as your potential loss. If the ratio is higher than that, the trade is considered to be better; if it’s lower it is considered to be worse.

 

Through our 25+ years experience in trading, we have discovered that when it comes to identifying the trend of  the market, there’s no magic secret. Becoming a successful trader takes time and dedication. However,  learning professional grade investing skills that Bullstobears.com teaches its members can have a life changing effects. If you're ready to put in the work and learn, we can show you how you can make money consistently in any market, whether it's going up (bullish), down (bearish) or sideways (flat). Choosing the right trading method for you comes first. Perfecting it is the art of and trader. And mentoring you to becoming a successful trading artist is our lifelong endeavor.

The Bottom Line: When Trend Trading or Swing Trading, a good trader can stack the odds of making a successful trade in his or her favor. As we mentioned previously trading is an art, which means that it is both craft and science and requires a lot of practice to develop consistency and profitability trading stocks.

Online Trader’s sign up today for our 14 Day FREE Trial offer at BullsToBears.com and learn about our time tested and unique investment strategies.

Also, we invite you to become a better trader and subscribe to our FREE newsletter here for exclusive information to help you make money in today's turbulent market place.  Join our newsletter and learn our exact trading strategies, receive new posts and benefit from our ongoing mentoring within our private community.

 

Till next time… Happy Trading from Bulls To Bears!

Bulls To Bears: Contrarian Value Stock Trading For Success

I saw a very interesting interview recently from CNBC with legendary investor Leon Cooperman. Leon is a billionaire hedge fund manager from NYC. He manages around $4B and most of it is his own money. Leon was born of a poor family and grew up in the South Bronx. If you are not from NYC and don’t know the "South Bronx" it is a very poor, tough crime ridden area. It has gotten a little better in recent years but for a long time it resembled a war zone and not part of the greatest city in the world.

What interested me the most in this interview was the fact that his investing philosophy very much resembled our philosophy here at bulls to bears. Specifically, he said “I look for mis-priced assets. There is no stock up without an explanation and there is no stock that is down without an explanation. It’s my job to figure out whether the explanation holds water”.

Contrarian trading involves going against the herd in your trades. A contrarian trader is doing the opposite from most other traders and is, in fact, betting against the masses in order to profit from it.

This is exactly a like minded philosophy here at Bulls To Bears. We might look at a stock and say “it was $50 two months ago and now its $15. It may be a good buy and needs a closer look. Not because of the huge price drop. It may be a good buy because the price drop was created by circumstances that do not necessarily warrant this type of price action. Traders are very fickle and run for the hills at the smell of trouble. Once this starts you get everyone following. This is the heard mentality in action.

It is our job to find those stocks that are still the same good to great companies but panic selling by misinformed market participants has cause a major price move that “doesn’t hold water”. Once we find these, the ability to trade and make money on these is easy. But it takes a lot of homework and due diligence to find them. That’s what we do. That’s what we get paid for.

Recognizing the sentiment that drives trends and the indicators that signal their end is useful for traders of all shapes and sizes, whether you are a committed contrarian investor, someone who dabbles in the occasional contrarian trade or a seasoned bull or bear who acknowledges that all good things must eventually come to an end.

This is yet another way in which contrarian traders can predict market tops and bottoms. If you ask yourself when the market is the most bullish or bearish, the answer to that question should be that the market is the most bullish at the top and most bearish at the bottom.

Some of the most successful traders are contrarians and some of the greatest and most famous trades in history were the result of taking big bets against the market when everyone else was absolutely sure that the current trend would continue.

Keep in mind. Markets tend to follow the prevailing trend until it exhausts itself, and because of this, the one most important factor in placing contrarian trades is that the trader has to time the reversal with precision in order to take a successful counter-trend position.

It’s been reported and no surprise to us that over 95% of traders lose money in the long run. Why? When you realize that a lot of traders are taught and follow the same principles of analysis. They read the same books and follow the same philosophy, and they stick to the same rules for risk and money management. Ultimately, most times they all get the same results in their trading.

This is where contrarian traders have a distinct edge over most stock traders. If you want to excel at contrarian trading, you have to defy that very instinct of going where everyone else is going and start to think independently no matter how counter-intuitive that may seem.

Check out the full video interview with Leon at the link here: VIEW LEON COOPERMAN VIDEO

Also, you can learn more information about our contrarian trading methods and our stock trading strategies on our website at BullsToBears.com. Also there you'll find a 14 day FREE trial so you can take advantage of some ready to advance trades on underpriced assets like Leon is talking about.

If you haven't done so: Join our Free newsletter here so you don't miss our blog updates or any valuable stock trading information.

Till Next time... Happy Trading!

Bulls To Bears: Re-Introduction of Two Species Bulls and Bears

Bulls to Bears is an Independent Stock Research and Advisory Firm dedicated to the Independent investor. Bulls to Bears lives by the philosophy “everyone their own broker”. Our service grew out of the growing trend of individuals wanting to take control over their own financial destiny. Many of these investors had been burned by unscrupulous stockbrokers looking to “churn their accounts” for commission dollars. The advent of the discount broker and the use of the internet gave individuals the confidence to rely on their own talents to pick and execute winning stock trades. Unfortunately confidence quickly turned to dismay as those individual investors learned the reality of the perils of flying solo in the stock market. Bulls to Bears provided the perfect answer to the investor dilemma. Investors could get expert advice, but from a third party who’s compensation was not tied to the number of transactions the investor did. This third party objectivity gave the investors the confidence that our only motive was to bring them winning stock trades! This paper is going to explain our investment philosophy so you can further understand the true value of the experience and knowledge that Bulls to Bears provides its members.

Experience

For new investors, dabling in the stock market, it is like when first learning to ride a bicycle. It looks real simple when you watch someone do it. It is another thing to get on and start peddling. Most online traders are apprehensive in their trading. The reason for this is they are not in the market every day. An individual investor is never going to execute the number of trades that will give them the “street smart” confidence to execute their trades with the pinpoint precision that is necessary. This hesitant mind set leads to poor trading results and sometimes even disaster.

 

The staff at bulls to bears has a decades of trading experience. We are not hesitant in advising you to execute your trades. We have a tendancy to set very strict stop loss parameters to ensure you preserve your capital. We not only tell you what stock to buy, we tell you when you need to be selling to maximize each trade.

Market Wisdom

Most professional traders make money in the stock market because they develop a strong feel for the market. They also track each individual stock and get a feel for its trading behavior. Bulls to Bears closely tracks its recommendation to learn its behaviors. We track these stocks for months and in some cases years before they become a recommendation to our customers. These actions are what philosophers have spoken about for years. Having wisdom and not knowledge. Knowledge is information and wisdom is experience. The average individual investor can never get to this level because they just can’t spend enough time in the market. Bulls to Bears lives in the financial market place and we bring this wisdom to our clients.

Picking Our Stocks

We have found that the best trading situations are found in stocks that have fallen out of favor with the market. Many times this will be due to a general weakness in certain market sectors. For example technology stocks may be getting hammered as a group, but you will always find one or two stocks in that group that are doing well, but their stock prices are getting hammered like the rest of the group. These stocks are poised for strong upward movement when the pressure is off the group. These stocks usually at or below their book value and are in an oversold territory. Bulls to Bears tracks those sectors, identifies the “diamonds in the rough” and tracks them until they meet our investment criteria.

Stock Picking Goals

One goal is to make sure our clients do not fall into the heard mentality. i.e. Currently gold is the “flavor of month”. To us, this indicates that a bubble exists and there is great risk investing in situations tied to gold.

Another goal is to pick situations that will produce 10% to 15% gains in a months time frame. Day trading for the average individual is just gambling. Long term investing has proven to be perilous when the market hits a rough patches. By setting our goals realistically, we greatly increase our client’s chance of success. Many situations we recommend have potential to show a larger gains, but with proper money management 10% to 15% will provide a bankable differential from those positions that do not work out.

Conclusion

As time marches on, it is becoming more and more difficult for the individual investor to make money in the stock market. Program trading, institutional buyers and instant execution give the professionals an advantage over the individual online investor. Bulls to Bears “levels the playing field” for our clients. Our advantage comes from our market wisdom and our ability move very quickly. This is why we have our internal instant alert systems set up. If you are an individual investor trading with a discount broker you need Bulls to Bears in your trading arsenal. If you haven't done so yet? I would recommend that you sign up to receive BullsToBears.com's  FREE newsletter to get our exclusive financial educational tips, resources and tools on various financial matters to help you improve your financial well-being.

So, sign up today here and we will show you how to start making some positive financial changes in your life.

Till our next blog... Happy Trading!