Bulls To Bears: Top 25 Stock Trading Tips To Triumph

In this session of our Blog, we've boiled down some of our most trusted and crucial trade practices into 25 tips that we think will help to make you a better stock trader/investor.

Successful traders have to move fast, but they don't have to think fast. Why? Because they've developed a trading strategies in advance, along with the discipline to stick to that strategy. It is important to follow your formula closely rather than try to chase profits.

There's a mantra among day traders: "Plan your trades, then trade your plan."

Stock and Options Trading are both difficult to master, requiring time, skill and discipline. Many of those who try it fail. But the tips and guideline we have described below can help you create a profitable trading strategy, and with enough practice and consistency,  you can greatly improve your chances of beating the odds in a bull or a bear market.

Again, We are in the process of creating a wealth of new resources and tools to help you take advantage of this historic time in the stock market.

At Bulls to Bears, our followers come to our blogs to learn the skills of trading and then they join our cutting edge advisory service to find the stock situations which they should be acting upon.

So, when placing your trades consider these top 25 Trading tips as a guideline to help you in you quest in becoming the best trader you can be: 

• Tip  1: Bulls, Bears Make Money, Pigs Get Slaughtered
  It's essential for all traders to know when to take some off the table. 
• Tip  2: It's OK to Pay the Taxes
  Stop fearing the tax man and start fearing the loss man because gains can be fleeting. 
• Tip  3: Don't Buy All at Once
  To maximize your profits, stage your buys, work your orders and try to get the best price over time.
• Tip  4: Buy Damaged Stocks, Not Damaged Companies
  There are no refunds on Wall Street, so do your research and focus your trades on damaged stocks rather than companies.
• Tip  5: Diversify to Control Risk
  If you control the downside and diversify your holdings, the upside will take care of itself.
• Tip  6: Do Your Stock Homework
  Before you buy any stock, it's important to research all aspects of the company.
• Tip 7: No One Made a Dime by Panicking
  There will always be a better time to leave the table, so it is best to avoid the fleeing masses.
• Tip  8: Buy Best-of-Breed Companies
  Investing in the more expensive stock is invariably worth it because you get piece of mind.
• Tip  9: Defend Some Stocks, Not All
  When trading gets tough, pick your favorite stocks and defend only those.
• Tip  10: Bad Buys Won't Become Takeovers
  Bad companies never get bids, so it's the good fundamentals you need to focus on.
• Tip  11: Don't Own Too Many Names
  It can be constraining, but it's better to have a few positions you know well and like.
• Tip 12: Cash Is for Winners
  If you don't like the market or have anything compelling to buy, it's never wrong to go with cash.
• Tip  13: No Woulda, Shoulda, Couldas When Trading
  This damaging emotion is destructive to the positive mindset needed to make investment decisions.
• Tip  14: Expect, Don't Fear Corrections
  It is not always clear when a correction will strike, so expect and be prepared for one at all times.
• Tip  15: Don't Forget Bonds
  It's important to watch more than stocks, and bonds are stocks' direct competition.
• Tip  16: Never Subsidize Losers With Winners
  Any trader stuck in this position would do well to sell sinking stocks and wait a day.
• Tip  17: Check Hope at the Door
  Hope is emotion, pure and simple, and trading is not a game of emotion.
• Tip  18: Be Flexible
  Recognize and be open to the unexpected shifts in the market because business, by nature, is dynamic, not static.
• Tip  19: When the Chiefs Retreat, So Should You
  High-level executives don't quit a company for personal reasons, so that is a sign something is wrong.
• Tip 20: Giving Up on Value Is a Sin
  If you don't have patience, think about letting someone who does run your money.
• Tip 21: Be a TV Critic
  Accept that what you hear on television is probably right, but no more than that.
• Tip  22: Wait 30 Days After Pre-announcements
  Preannouncements signal ongoing weakness, wait 30 days to see if anything has gotten better before you pull the trigger to buy.
• Tip  23: Beware of Wall Street Hype
  Never underestimate the promotion machine because analysts get behind stocks and can keep them propelled in an up direction well beyond reason.
• Tip 24: Explain Your Picks
  

  Buying stocks is a solitary event, too solitary in fact, so always make sure you can articulate your reasoning behind your trade. 
• Tip 25: There's A Great Stock Trade Somewhere
  

  It's OK if you have to work hard to find a good trade, just don't default to what's in bear mode because you are time-constrained or intellectually lazy.

Whether you are a seasoned trader or a newbie in trading, you can trade independently, successfully and maximize your wealth with the help of our timely and robust advice.

 

If you haven’t done so already, make sure you sign up for our free mailing list here to make sure you get notified each time we update our blog. You will also get more trading tips, tricks and some other free stuff by subscribing.

Till next time... Happy Trading!

Bulls To Bears: Trading and Trumps Trade War

We are getting a lot of inquiries from our followers regarding the current “Trade War” situation currently going on with the Trump administration. We feel it is very important for our followers and subscribers to understand what is really going on here, and how it may impact their trading. 

 

First off, the trade war did not just start. If you look at the  current unfair tariffs that many other countries impose on U.S. goods and services you will see that there’s been a trade war being waged against the United States for a very long time. Just because our previously stupid leaders refused to do anything about it for such a  long  time doesn’t mean that this unjust situation didn’t already exist.

 

What is currently occurring today under President Trump is... WE ARE FINALLY FIGHTING BACK! 

 

In the end, the answer to this long time complicated problem is quite simple. Every single country in the world can pick what level of Tariffs the United States can apply to them. How you ask? Very simple, whatever level they want to pay, they must adjust the tariffs they charge on U.S. goods to whatever level they want to pay and we will meet them there. This is true open trade, which is what everyone on the left claims they want. 

 

So how will this affect your trading? Well those industries that are right in the cross hairs of the trade war are going to be affected. Some long term and some short term. For example, the Pork industry is one of the bigger ones. When the beginning overreaction occurs, prices of some stocks most likely will fall. When the dust clears there will be opportunities for those of us who choose to seize the day!

 

The United States is by far the largest economy in the world. We will not lose a trade war! These other countries eventually will concede. And, If they want 5% Tariffs on their Pork, they will put 5% on ours. The bottom line is that over the long term this will be very good for you and many of these industries.

 

The current Tariff imbalances are what killed and continues to choke certain industries. The recent action by the Trump administration revitalizes industries. However, it is very important for you to understand there will be a little pain in the beginning. You’ve heard the old trader saying and it should ring true in this case. “Short term pains for long term gains.” 

 

So, our advice is to stay strong, stay steady and take advantage of the current market opportunities. Continue to place your trades in the areas we are selecting. Embrace the volatility and some cheap stock prices.

Remember we are value contrarians. We buy when others are selling and sell when they start buying again. It is an age old, proven way to beat the market.

 

If you are an individual investor trading online, and you’re looking to pull some money out of the stock market, then you need Bulls to Bears in your trading realm. We will help you find those stocks that are undervalued and help you purchase them when their prices are low. We help our subscribers who follow our value investing strategy overcome whatever challenges the stock market is facing.

Another element of this contrarian value strategy is an avoidance of stocks that might be overvalued by the market to help protect the portfolio from the possibility of any downside risk associated with overvalued holdings.

If you still haven't done so? We would definitely recommend that you sign up to receive the BullsToBears.com Newsletter here and gain access to our exclusive tips, resources and tools to help you improve your trading success.

 

So, sign up today and we will work together to make some positive financial changes in your life.

 

Once again till next time... Happy Trading!

 

Bulls To Bears: Risk Management and Trading

You hear the term Risk Management being thrown around a lot lately. This is a complex and yet simple subject at the same time. From a trading perspective, we must all realize that when you are investing  in anything, especially stocks and options, there is a degree of risk and uncertainty.

Without that risk we all would be buying guaranteed government bonds. How much fun would that be? So, the riskier the stocks the higher potential rate of return.

Along with that potential upside you have that underlying and corresponding prospective of downside. It is therefore incumbent upon the trader to constantly monitor their level of risk involved in both an individual stock and in their overall investment portfolio.

If you are looking for monster life changing investment returns in short periods of return, you better buckle up -  you're in for a very humbling, wild and bumpy ride.

Risk management for any average stock trader should involve the following foundation:

1·  GOALS - What are your goals? If you are swinging for the fences so be it. You will be buying volatile stocks that can move for or against you very quickly. If you are looking for steady better than market returns than you will need to be focusing on stocks that are larger, safer and more heavily traded and will probably move slower than the “home run” stocks. Usually, the added volatility in these stocks during uneasy times comes from the market sector they are in and not just from the individual stocks themselves.

2·  RISK - What are your risk tolerance levels? You must be honest with yourself and figure out how much white knuckle, nail biting stress you can stand. If you are naturally risk averse, you should not try to be a hero and play the market like it is Vegas.

3.  ALLOCATION -  What is your portfolio size? A trader must be cognizant of the size of the portfolio compared to the size of each position they take. This is the proverbial “don’t put all your eggs in one basket” scenario.

Every stock trader must know his overall Risk Management and he or she better be diligent at it! You should at the very minimum be practicing the following trade parameters:

·    Always set target price goals and stop losses

·    Always use actual stop loss orders

·    Keep each position no more that 10% to 15% of your portfolio

·    In general it is better to trade stocks that have strong volume

·    Avoid sectors that seem to be just fads and short term plays

·    Be careful around known news events like the release of earnings

·    Look for undervalued situations that have been unfairly treated by the market. These have small downsides and large upside potential

(This blog is just a primer on the subject of Risk Management. We will continue to expand upon the subject in future blogs.)

Remember, it is important to understand the importance that Risk management is and that its the heart of the Bulls to Bears trading program. Our approach is intended to reduce your exposure to any unnecessary risks. Our investment team focuses on traditional investments, and we do not risk heavy losses by trying to chase very high returns. Bulls To Bears was designed to help you make informed investment decisions, weighing potential returns against the realistic potential for loss.

With the choice of the Bulls to Bears trading program, you can choose the amount of risk you feel comfortable with for a given return. Your Bulls To Bears representative will help you pick which stocks are best for your portfolio, based on your individual circumstances and suitability.

Effective risk management can be very beneficial to investors, and more particularly helpful to those nearing retirement age. This blog has been written with individual, private investors in mind. It aims to provide you with some information about investment risks in general, as well as to provide insight how these risks are managed within our program.

We provide investment ideas and trading solutions to our clients across the globe. Our breadth of investment capabilities are extensive and among the most innovative within the market. Diversification is another way of managing the risk associated with trading. It involves spreading your money across different asset classes and investments, so as to potentially limit the impact of negative events that impact any one asset class or investment.

Diversifying across asset classes may protect you against underperformance in any one asset class. Your asset allocation will reflect how cautious or aggressive your investment strategy needs to be.

Bulls To Bears trading signals and buy and sell alerts are sent direct to our members; via email fax or phone. Experience for yourself how we can help you to narrow your focus onto what we believe to be better trade setups. These positions are hand selected to give you not only a better probability of success but often better percentage gains.

BullsToBears.com has what you need. Take advantage of our FREE 14 DAY TRIAL today. Stop spending so much time trying to figure out what stocks to trade.  We’ve got that covered.

 

Also, get Free access to our FREE TRADING NEWSLETTER and discover further tip's on how you can reduce your downside risk,  know when to add to better positions (based on information that we provide for you) and start locking in more profits.

So, try us now for Free! We look forward to seeing you soon!

 

That's all for now. Till next time... Happy Trading!

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!

Bulls To Bears: Good Traders Vs. Good Stock Pickers

As we have mentioned previously in this blog, trading stocks is a skill. It is not luck, or chance or some type of alchemy. If you learn the skills and practice them, you can be a good trader. What do we mean when we say Trader? We mean that you are someone who can consistently extract profits from the stock market.

To do this requires you to master two sets of skills. The first is the ability to trade the stocks. This skill is a combination of learning the rules of the game and then being able to follow the rules. It also involves learning the various tools that you have at your disposal to do this. This includes learning how to read charts, examine volume indicators and get a “feel” for the market action. 

The second set of skills you need are the ability to pick high probability stock plays. This skill involves more of the “heavy lifting” of trading. It involves continually monitoring multitudes of stocks. You must do your due diligence on these stocks and come up with solid reasons not only to buy them, but to buy them now. It also involves tracking the indexes that have an influence on the individual potential trades. In all, there is a tremendous amount of work that goes into being a good or even great stock picker

Here at Bulls to Bears we have a two-pronged approach to trading. We are going to try to use our blog and our newsletter to teach you how to be a good trader. It is free because the large amount of work including learning is incumbent upon you. Also, we know that if you do become a good trader, it makes our products more effective in your hands. It allows you to apply what we give you to make money for yourself and your family. 

The second part of our approach is our stock recommendation service. This you do have to pay for. Why? Because this is where we must do the heavy lifting. We must do the hundreds of hours of due diligence. We must track hundreds of stocks and indexes. We have the burden of finding the high probability situations so our clients can focus on what they need to do: learning to become good traders.

If you look closely at many highly successful stock traders, they all posses similar mindsets that separates them from the rest of the herd. Below we have listed a dozen unmistakable skills-sets that the most successful traders possess, that most people don't understand.  They tend to:

1. Keep Emotions in check. - good traders understand how their emotions can influence their trading performance. balance and temper thoughts and emotions.

2. Being confidence - change is all around us, not just in the markets; it’s always happening and there’s no controlling it. Good traders know that and are better at adapting to change, rather than resisting it

3. Mistakes, although uncomfortable - don’t punish yourself and others for them, good traders take responsibility for their every action in the markets and their focus on optimistic growth

4. Appreciate other people’s successes - Trading is a tough profession. Losses and drawdowns are challenging periods that cause many to break. Good traders never compare their own results with others. They don’t feel as though other people’s success somehow diminishes their own achievements. Losers think like that, and in return, losses and disappointments is what they keep reaping in their lives.

5. Sticking to the rules. - Good traders make decisions with relative ease because they understand their rules and what they are trading and looking for in the markets. They do not let other people’s opinions affect their judgment. They’ve learned to trust their own - essentially catching their own fish. 

6. Focus on sharpening your skills, rather than showing them off. - some people seek validation or recognition from other traders on Social Medias (especially twitter) for the trades they take, good traders are less concerned about gaining recognition. Instead, they’re intrinsically motivated to become better.

7. View trading losses as opportunities for growth. - Good traders don’t waste time feeling sorry for themselves, they make good traders grow better.

8. Practice delayed gratification. - great traders view their trading goals as a marathon, not a sprint. They’re willing to tolerate short-term pain when it can provide long-term gain.

9. Bounce back from failure - Good traders don’t view failure as the end of the road. Instead, they use potential failures as opportunities to refocus and gain new knowledge and adopt new behaviors that will increase their chances of success in the future.

10. Express gratitude - Rather than exclaim you need more, good traders take whatever the markets are offering them in the moment however small the gains are. If they followed their plan to the letter, then what should or could have been doesn’t matter.

11. Focus on what you can control - Good traders are effective in the markets for the mere reason that they devote their resources to that which they can control - and this does not include controlling the markets but their own behavior.

12. Be open to learning - Learning is a paramount and an important tool and an ongoing quest for great traders.

We stress that you don't just practice good trades, practice good trading skills! Bulls to Bears uses a developed hybrid approach of both technical and fundamental trading disciplines to come up with a majority of our stock picks. In doing so we have developed a tremendous track record. Our service is literally designed so you can earn, while you learn. Use our stocks picks to make money and at the same time you are practicing and learning the skills needed to becoming a great trader. Think of it as a work study program for Stock Trading.

If you didn’t recognize yourself in any of those 12 statements above, rest assured, you can develop these qualities in record time. For starters, I suggest getting our investment newsletter here.

In the end it will boil all down to one key quality and that is behavioral change and we can help you with that too!

Bulls To Bears: Being Coachable - Your Money or Your Ego?

 

When I first started trading stocks on Wall Street, the number one criteria firms used in their hiring was something called “coach-ability”. If you were not coachable, you were not getting a seat. These firms did not have the time or the patience to work with you unless you were going to listen and do the things you were told to do. There was nothing worse than some kid just coming out of school and acting like they knew more than you. In the stock trading world, it was a quick way to find yourself ejected from your seat and from the building.

The same thing applies to our business of training people to trade stocks. The only difference is that these people are now paying us for the knowledge. The problem is that since they are paying to teach them to trade stocks, they tend to feel they should have more say in the process. While that would be nice in a perfect world, it just doesn’t translate into the real world. So, in that vein, we thought we should lay out some of the “rules of the road” for getting the most out of the Bulls To Bears stock market training program. These are basically guidelines as to how to be a good student of the game. This blog is written with the intent of making you a better or even great stock trader. So here it goes. 

• Check your ego at the door: the stock trading principles we teach are based on long term trial and error. We made the mistakes so you don’t have to. These principles are tried and true. Don’t try to reinvent the wheel. It is truly better to be successful than “right”.
• Prepare like your financial life depended on it: it probably does. We give you the tools but you need to do your preparation work. Remember we can’t trade the stocks for you. All your good intentions can go right out the window by not applying the basics as taught.
• Be honest: with both yourself and with those training you to trade. Most people are not honest with themselves. They lie to themselves and then believe it! When you make, a mistake, admit it to yourself and learn from it. Radical honesty is a prescription for success when trading stocks.
• Adopt a mindset of self-accountability: when you get a good recommendation and you mess up the stock trade you must take responsibility for it. You can’t blame others. You can’t blame circumstances. You can’t blame the weather. Only by taking full responsibility will you start to adopt the mind set of an elite stock trader.
• Keep it light and have fun: if you are trading stocks correctly, you should be using position size and limit the number of positions to be in line with your financial resources and your current stock trading abilities. If you find yourself totally stressed out, you are doing something wrong. At that point cut back and get your fear under control and give us a call. 

Remember the old saying: And if you can’t keep your ego under control, it’s going to cost you a lot of money. 

 

A recent study suggests that Men tend to achieve lower returns than women. It's not because the ladies are better at stock traders. Rather, women are better at NOT picking more stocks than men. They have less of an ego and trade less frequently when the market makes bigger swings. As a result, ladies trade less, are more patient, saving money along the way on investment fees and boosting their overall returns.

Your great advantage as an investor is that you can be boring and trade frugally; rising slowly with the overall market and not wasting money on costly trading that tends to underperform the market.

 

Even us GREAT stock pickers occasionally get it wrong and issue a loser a “dog with fleas”. No one gets it right 100 percent of the time trading stocks and options. The trick is to know when to cut the losses instead of wishing for a turn around that might never come.

The biggest mistake a beginner investor can make with our program is not following through when the going gets tough. Many times when things get a little crazy in the market, as soon as the market moves bearishly they begin to start trading solo again, on their own impulse, to buying or selling when they don't need to do either. They forget our proven program in place and they revert to trades based on fear trading. Fear of losing money.

Now your ego prompts you into wanting revenge, because your losing, as if there were someone that you could ‘hurt back’ and it will then make you feel all better. Oddly enough, this sadly hurts only you, and not to fun for your ego either! So DON’T let your ego play tricks on you into ignoring your better judgment and doing things you later regret.

Be Coachable! Remember we are the professionals. Our collective has been doing this for decades for others. Bulls To Bears trading program offers a straightforward, very sensible way to get your trading working the way you’d like. If you want to know more about how to pick winning stocks, I recommend that you subscribe here to our newsletter. Everything you need to learn to begin your trading journey starts there. Take the information seriously and focus on learning.

When you begin with us and trade our stocks, focus on learning and understanding trading not on winning or trying to fast track your way to profits. Whether you’re a current Bulls to Bears member or not? or considering joining? We welcome all your feedback. Send us your comments at service@bullstobears.com.

As we have mentioned before, our goal is not to have you make great stock trades, it is to help you become a great stock trader. Till next time, be smart and have fun! As always, happy trading!