Monday

Market Direction for Today?

Markets Headed Down in the Short Term

The markets are headed down today says Oscar Carboni, and Apple is also headed further down, perhaps as low as 550 (not today). The charts look bearish as the S and P comes off a double top and other charts move down in their various parallel channels. Technical analysis is a very useful tool when it comes to trying to decide which way the stock markets are headed and one thing you can say about Oscar is that he ain't afraid to share his opinions!

Here's what he says about today's markets and why.


For futher information about technical analysis and understanding stock charts see here for the basics of stock charting or here for a cheap but well-reviewed ebook Jackass Investing: Don't do it. Profit from it. Take care and happy trading!

Online Trading Charts for Beginners

Online Trading for the Week Ahead

If you a beginner toonline trading or even an old hand, here are two very interesting videos from the old school chartist and Oscar Carboni, both in their own very different styles! OSC takes a look at the S+P and the Dow Transports and OC looks at the Dow Transports too. According to Dow Theory, the Dow Transports are a leading indicator, i.e. where the Dow Transport chart goes the rest of the market will soon follow. At the moment it looks like the Dow Transports have been heading down for a while but the rest of the market has yet to catch up. So Monday looks like a down day at least on the Dow, S+P and Nasdaq. Check out the videos to see what the charts are saying in more detail. Both the old school chartist and Oscar Carboni provide really interesting videos on a regular basis, I don't know where they get the energy from! But they are much appreciated for their time and effort. First up is the old school chartist ... hopefully

 
Second up, in a slightly different style is Oscar Carboni! ... a slight change of pace




For more info. on trend lines check out -Stock Charting Basics - for one easy to apply stock trading tip for beginners check out - stock trading tips for beginners

Thursday

Best Swing Trading Strategies?

How to Trade Stocks using Technical Analysis and Swing Trading Strategies


Check out this video from 'stock trading master', he shows a really interesting strategy based on technical analysis for swing trading, using a range of indicators to help you see when a stock has 'flushed out' and bottomed, and how you should get into the stock by buying in 3 separate trades. Understanding charts really forms part of the stock market basics and should be taught in school!

The trading indicators are :- the "flush" pattern, support and resistance areas, the oversold pattern, volume, market cap, the Beta, short interest, the catalyst, and the RSI. He explains what each of these means in the video.

This system is used by his 'mentor' JB who he highly recommends. I've never used JB's services so I can't say, but the part of the video where he explains the swing trading strategy is interesting.



Further reading : One Easy Stock Trading Strategy

How to Trade Stocks - Trend Lines

Stock Charting Basics - Trend Lines


If you are a beginner to stock trading then charts may seem a bit confusing, or even pointless, but it is very important to understand the basics about stock charts at least. In this video the old school chartist gives a very good explanation about trend lines, what they are and what they do and how you should use them. It really is aimed at the beginner to charting but very important nevertheless as trend lines are the foundation of stock trading using charts and some people make a good living using nothing more complicated than trend lines.



For one easy stock trading strategy using support and resistance lines see - Support and Resistance Video

Tuesday

Markets Traded in Favor of Big Guys?

Is the Stock Market Manipulated in Favor of the Big Guys?


If you are a 'little guy' trading stocks online then you need to  know that the market is not a level playing field, it is deliberately slanted in favor of the big institutional traders - so watch out and take a look at this video by the 'stock trading master' who explains what can happen in the last 5 minutes of trading and how you cannot possibly react fast enough to it. I would put a link to his blog- but he don't like links!



Trading for this week by the way is recommended to be on the sidelines - stay in cash - there is no trend worth trading

Further reading : http://www.howtotradestocks.co/2010/02/one-stock-trading-tip-for-beginners.html

Thursday

Stock Charts Say Watch Out

Day Trading Using Stock Charts - Video Tips


You can never have too much knowledge about stock charts and technical analysis if you are interested in learning about day or swing trading stocks. Oscar Carboni is an interesting guy who has 30 years' experience trading stocks, he doesn't always get it right, but as far as I have seen he does get it right more often than not. But at least he is always willing to step up to the cameras and tell people where he thinks the markets are headed, before the event, then you can judge for yourselves if you think he is worth following.

Today (Thursday 31 May) he says the charts are bearish and the market should head down (futures at the moment are indicating a move up at the opening) - mainly because of the bear flags all over the charts. His short-term target is is 1274 on the SnP about 40 points lower from where we are now, which is where the 200 day moving average is. Long-term (in a few months time) he says the markets will start heading back up as crude oil prices are falling which is a great stimulus for the worldwide economy. But he is a day trader (he closes all his trades before the markets close) so today he is shorting the market.

Here is his video for today - you can fast-forward the first 9 minutes !



For more details on using stock charts to make stock trading decisions see - swing trading tips

Monday

Stock Charting Tips for Beginners

Stock Charting for Dummies - Last Week and Next Week


The markets have been bearish recently for a variety of reasons, the euro, the Greeks, the Chinese etc... so what are they charts saying about where we are heading? First, on the SnP 1280 is a significant support line,if it goes under 1280 then we can expect it to head quite a lot further south.

However,the 'old school chartist' is quite optimistic as can be seen from this interest video below. Personally I am more negative but that may be just be negative nature and also because I'm hoping for stock prices to head lower so that I can buy them cheaper.

It is important for beginners to understand stock charts as the professionals use them to time their trades. So if you don't understand them then you are placing yourself at a disadvantage.

Chart analysis of last week and possible trend for next week


A couple of things to remember for short-term swing trading - don't buy a stock if the 5-day moving average is pointing down. And in swing trading you are looking for a profit of around 8 or 9% before selling up and moving on. It's all about risks and rewards, you need to ensure that your winners make more than your losers lose, so don't forget to sell if your trade moves down around 4%, don't hang on hoping it will bounce back, just get out and look for another one. For more details on swing trading see - swing trading tips

Friday

Stock Trading for Beginners Video

Stock Trading for Dummies Video


[UPDATE : Sunpeaks crashed 58% on the 18th - so well done and respect to Stock Trading Master for getting out when he did !! Check out the video to see why he sold]

Check out this excellent video from Stock Trading Master. It's quite long (30 minutes) but it's basically a free seminar on how to trade stocks. He sold his Sunpeaks Ventures stock for a 160% profit in 2 weeks. He explains how and why in his own inimitable style and also says why he has now moved out and got into Fonar.

He also gives some insights into his way of reading both the charts and the fundamentals of a company. If you trying to make money trading stocks then you can learn a lot from people like the stock trading master and the old school chartist who post their chart analysis free of charge on Youtube ! Isn't the Internet wonderful!? Now all we got to do is listen and learn (that's the hard part).



Further reading on charts for  dummies : http://www.howtotradestocks.co/2010/02/one-stock-trading-tip-for-beginners.html

Tuesday

Stock Trading for Beginners

Stock Markets for Dummies

Plenty of people think the stockmarkets are getting ahead of themselves (me included) and that the SnP needs to fall back to around 1275 - 1300. Here are the old school chartists thoughts on this idea. He is a good guy who tells it like he sees it and has plenty of experience in analyzing charts. So his videos are always full of useful information for people trying to learn about stock charts and trading the stock market.

Thursday

How to Trade Stocks using Charts

Investing in Stocks When You're a Beginner?


Trading or investing in stocks is not easy, fortunately there are good guys around like 'stock trading master' who are willing to give you a helping hand. In his latest youtube video he shows us a couple of 'killer' stock chart patterns that could be very profitable. Wouldn't it be nice if there were some stock chart patterns that could be guaranteed to make you money! How easy life would be.

It is important to understand stock charts if you want to be a stock trader. Professional traders know that already, some beginners to trading believe charts are hocus pocus, but they should think again and in the following video 'stock trading master' not only reveals some excellent charting patterns and indicators, he even explains why charts work. He also names a stock he thinks may double from where it is now! So check it out (it's only 10 minutes) and then do your own research!


For further information on stock trading using charts see stock charts for beginners

Monday

Investing in Stocks for Beginners

Online Stock Trading for Beginners

Is it time to get in the stock markets?
Could it be that the stock markets are finally turning enough to make them a less risky investing environment ? The Old School Chartist seems to think so in his latest video and there is also evidence from the UK that the markets may be ready to move higher.

In the video below OSC points out that the S and P moved up last week in a strong move above resistance - the next target is 1380, but bear in mind that there could be a backtest of the support at around 1332 and the latest move up needs to stay above the 1330 - 1332 area for 2 days to be confirmed, the backtest could possibly take place today (Monday), - OSC also mentions two particular US stocks US Steel and Caterpillar as being stocks to watch.

The OSC's charting videos are really worth a watch, whether you are a beginner to investing or not.



As for the UK, a contributor to investment site the Motley Fool points out that the FTSE is just 2% away from 6,000 and that if it gets above 6,000 he will be a buyer not a seller.

The FTSE has a lot of history with the 6,000 level - it went above 6,000 back in 1997 before falling back. During the dotcom boom in 1999/2000 it got back above 6,000 rising to 6951 before crashing back to 3287 (I remember it well, I was a beginner to investing then and very painful it was, particularly as tech stocks crashed even more - 90%, 99% and 100% being quite common i.e. if you were holding the baby when the music stopped then by March 2003 you were wiped out or worse).

The FTSE recovered after the crash, particularly banks, as people rotated out of flaky dotcom tech stocks into the stable blue chips, high-quality, reliable dividend paying unsinkable proper stocks - i.e. banks. Bank shares in the UK tripled between 2003 and 2007 and lots of people felt very clever and smug that they had got out of the dotcoms into something with staying power, but in 2007 the unthinkable happened and the unsinkable sank ! Banks slumped around 90% just like the dotcom rubbish had !

The FTSE collapsed again, from 6,732 on 15 June 2007 back down to 3,461 on 9 March 2009 (a bit like snakes and ladders really), fortunately for me I had been out of the market for a long time as I had been watching the banking charts and they were awful! I could hardly believe what I was looking at but it turned out that the charts were right ! And the bankers were wrong.

Take a close look at this chart of the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) - it was one of the biggest banks in the world.


If you are beginner to investing then take particular note of the red line. The red line is the 200 day moving average - when a stock price moves below the 200 day moving average it is a bad sign and you should sell or stay out. RBS went through the 200 day m.a. first, then went through the 400 day and the 800 day. It seemed very odd to me at the time and I refused to buy any banking stocks despite people telling me they were 'as safe as houses' (which, ironically, turned out to be true !). It fell from 700p down to a low which I think was 12p ! It is now still only 28p. (They have just recently had a 1 for 10 stock consolidation, which means they multiply the price of the stock by 10 and divide the number of  shares you have by 10 - which means that everything is exactly the same as before except the share price is ten times higher. This is a purely psychological measure, as RBS was fed up of having its share price at 20p - they much prefer to see it at 200p as it doesn't look so much like a penny stock, but of course nothing has changed.

However, now in 2012 the market is trading on a P/E of just over 10 - one third of what it was in 2000.

Quantitative easing is helping drive the markets higher but, says the Motley Fool, there is something more fundamental driving them i.e. profits and rising dividends. Incredible as it may seem, with unemployment at record highs, profits and dividends are doing fine !

In the UK, AstraZeneca (AZN) and BT (BT-A) have announced decent profits due to deleveraging, cost-cutting and lower input prices.

Results will be announced this week from BP, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) and Reckitt Benckiser (RB).

So, again according to the MF, the rational response when we get above 6,000 mark, will be to look for bargains, and buy them.

In fact, I might start taking a closer look at the markets again as we approach the 6,000 level, but I will still be wary of what is happening in Greece and the Eurozone in general.

For further info. on investing in stocks  for beginners see - stock charts for beginners

Thursday

Stock Tips for Beginners?

Stock Trading Tips for Dummies


Self-styled stock trading master Lance Jepsen (Jepson ?) just made 450% on a trade, which made him a profit of $4K in 4 days - hats off ! In truth he got a bit lucky when Roche made a hostile takeover bid for Illumina but he does point out that genome mapping is a hot sector to be in at the moment. After his Illumina success he has moved into Life Sciences (LIFE) - buying options. Options are not exactly what you could call stock tips for beginners but it is worth taking a good look at Life Sciences nevertheless as they are making breakthroughs in genome mapping, so it could turn out to be one of the best stocks to trade given that the sector is currently hot. Stock trading master's video is over at youtube here - http://youtu.be/5nIlat1RxG4 -

I know nothing about genomes but here is a picture of an artist's impression of one !

What is a genome?
They will be big in both a scientific and business sense - so there is money to be made.
Of more interest in a general sense to beginners to online stock trading is 'old school chartist's' latest video about where the markets might be headed. Basically he says we are in a 'rising wedge' pattern and that this is usually bearish so we could be headed for a pullback, but we might get up to the top of the wedge around 1340 on the S+P.

Lots of useful info. on how to analyse stock charts again. If you are a beginner to stock trading then you really need to understand at least a minimum about stock charting



For information on basic investing using stock charts see the most basic tip in - Basic Investing in Stocks for Beginners

Sunday

Stock Markets Next Week

Stock Market Trading Strategies for Next Week


Fascinating insights into what the stock markets may do this week and how the stock market works, in 'stock trading master' stock market report in his video (scroll down for the video). Lots of uptrends and strong uptrends for the first time in months. Lots of 'resurrection crosses' (a good sign - and also known as 'golden crosses') - when a shorter moving average crosses over a longer moving average on the way up.

Whether you're a total beginner to stocks and shares or an experienced online stock trading professional the 'master' is a good mentor and his videos are always full of useful information and an indication of which stocks, commodities or indices to buy.

The major stock market indices have broken out above their October 2011 highs. The S&P 500 has a Resurrection Cross with the 50 day moving average moving above the 200 day moving average.

Institutional traders were buying across all sectors last week, - this can be seen by the TICK closing at 835 (explained in the video).

The strongest sectors for institutional traders were Energy +2.28% and Technology +2.17%



So hats off to the stock trading master for all the priceless information he shares, there are many online stock trading courses that don't do such a good job of teaching beginners what to look out for when trading stocks. If you are looking to learn about the stock market and stock charts then you would do well to check out his videos.

Don't forget also our old friend Warren Buffett - his stock trading strategies are somewhat different and in fact he is not a stock trader as such, but a long-term investor and it was in this capacity that he was busy buying $750 million worth of the UK firm Tesco last week, after the share price slumped 20% in one day. Tesco is the largest retailer in the UK and always makes money, so WB helped himself to a chunk at knock-down prices. The price could fall another 6 or 7% but even at current prices it looks like a bargain. UPDATE : The recent Tesco trading update (June 2012) was very lacklustre - so I persoanlly expect to see a slump down to around 270p at some point, at which point it wil be even mor einteresting than it is at present (stuck around 300p).

See also - One Easy Stock Trading Strategy for How to Trade Stocks

Friday

Warren Buffett Buys Tesco Shares

Warren Buffett Likes Tesco


Tesco is the UK's biggest retailer with around 30% of the market, but surprisingly it has just had its worst Christmas for decades. As a result the share price slumped 19% on January 12. This raised eyebrows, as many people thought the fall was overdone. One of those who sniffed a bargain was billionaire long-term stocks investor Warren Buffett. Many people watch Warren Buffett's stocks and shares dealings very closely and indulge in what is referred to as coat-tailing i.e. buying what Buffett buys.

Tesco 10 Year Chart with 200 day moving average



Tesco 1 Year Chart with 50 and 200 day moving averages

After the shock announcement from Tesco, Mr Buffett decided to invest a further 480 million UKP in the company (750 million USD), increasing his stake from 3.21% to 5.08%. He made the move on January 13 the day after Tesco's anouncement.

Mr Buffett is of course a long-term investor and is notorious for not trying to time the market, so there is nothing to say that Tesco won't fall further, but if it does then it is quite possible that Mr Buffett will merely buy some more. He loves stable companies that make a profit and pay dividends. He also likes to hang on to his buys for a very long-time.

Some of the directors of Tesco have also been buying. Ken Hydon, Non Executive Director, bought 30,000 shares on 18 January at 320p per share. The Director now holds 60,093 shares representing 0.00% of the shares in issue.

Richard Broadbent, Chairman, bought 30,149 shares on 12 January at 330p.

Not big buys but better than nothing.

Personally I am waiting off to see if the price will fall back even further to around 270p :-)