I believe in order to lay a solid foundation for successful trading, there are three basic fundamentals you must adhere to. The first is knowledge. There are only three things really that separate us from an expert. Training and experience comes after knowledge. Knowledge comes first, and expertise is accomplished through experience and constant training. So, how knowledgeable are you? Let us assume that you have some knowledge or you wouldn’t be researching the market. Do you know the difference between day trading and swing trading? To me there is a major difference. Many so-called experts lump all online traders into the bag of day trading. For the sophisticated observer it is plain to see the obvious differences. A day trader rides the rush of the asset, while a swing trader diagnosis the trends and holds onto it as long as the momentum last. Knowing these subtle nuances will determine what kind of software you need.
Training encompasses a lot of different meanings. For our purposes I want to address technical analysis. I strongly feel any trader not taking advantage of the immense knowledge gained from technical charts is wasting time and money. Of course the fundamentals are important. They are much more important to the investor than the trader, however. A company’s financials don’t matter a great deal if you are planning on dumping the asset in a few minutes, a day, or a week. If there was any news about the company’s financials, believe me you would see it reflected on the technical charts.
Use Software for Your Advantage
A Solid Platform to Build Your Wealth
Now based upon the idea that my assumptions are accurate, and you are still with me, as far as software platforms, the following suggestions I strongly feel are necessary for any software to be useful.
1. It must be able to offer live streaming technical data. (Otherwise the program is merely educational)
2. The platform should defiantly include candlestick charting.
3. Visually it has to be large enough for all the data to be seen easily. (Many of the online brokerage’s technical data is to small to be useful)
4. It must be cost effective. (Most good systems can be purchased for between one to two hundred dollars)
More on Candlestick Charting
A Candle Burns Bright in Your Future
For those of you not yet familiar with candlestick charting, I will
try to give a brief but accurate explanation. The Chinese invented the market concept, and the Japanese perfected charting techniques with the use of the candlesticks. It is easy to understand this complex system, if we simply break it down to the ticks on the chart you follow every day. We know that the lower tick is where the stock opened and the higher is where it closed. Now if we made the two lines parallel and connected them, what would we have? A candle. However, during that movement, the stock might have gone lower or higher then where it opened or closed, so our candle has formed a tail and a wick. Is it starting to make a little sense to you? Can you see the advantage of knowing this information, for getting in and out, and setting a stop loss?
Take these examples:
1. Lets assume a stock opens twenty cents higher than it closed yesterday. It later closes ten cents higher than that. Should we get in? Not necessarily. Because as the candlestick showed us, even though it had a thirty-cent swing from the day before, a long wick was created. This meant that it went even higher then it eventually settled on. That tells us that the pressure to go higher wasn’t strong enough. We will put it on our watch list, and keep a keen eye on it.
2.A few days passes with similar results. Suddenly there is a break in the resistance. The stock has formed a candlestick with a long tail. What does this convey? We might put a buy signal for a couple of cents higher than it has previously gone, because the long tail tells us that the bulls are ready to take over.
3. Ideally you want to wait for clusters to form. Of course the greatest indicator is a long candle. One that opens and closes with hardly any wick or tail.
This synopsis could have very easily taken place over a few hours rather than days, if you were day trading, for example. There are many “characters” in candlestick charting, and those who master reading them become successful.
If you can acquire software that gives you even the slightest edge in your favor, it is well worth the Investment. I don’t profess to being an expert, but I do know of some. I obviously don’t have the time to go into all the details now, but at my site Market Mentalist you will find all you need to know about investing online. There is access to some of the top trading systems available including software, books, newsletters, and Forums. Whether you are an inquisitive novice or a seasoned pro Market Mentalist offers the online investment resource you just might be seeking. More at articlesbase.com
Training encompasses a lot of different meanings. For our purposes I want to address technical analysis. I strongly feel any trader not taking advantage of the immense knowledge gained from technical charts is wasting time and money. Of course the fundamentals are important. They are much more important to the investor than the trader, however. A company’s financials don’t matter a great deal if you are planning on dumping the asset in a few minutes, a day, or a week. If there was any news about the company’s financials, believe me you would see it reflected on the technical charts.
Use Software for Your Advantage
A Solid Platform to Build Your Wealth
Now based upon the idea that my assumptions are accurate, and you are still with me, as far as software platforms, the following suggestions I strongly feel are necessary for any software to be useful.
1. It must be able to offer live streaming technical data. (Otherwise the program is merely educational)
2. The platform should defiantly include candlestick charting.
3. Visually it has to be large enough for all the data to be seen easily. (Many of the online brokerage’s technical data is to small to be useful)
4. It must be cost effective. (Most good systems can be purchased for between one to two hundred dollars)
More on Candlestick Charting
A Candle Burns Bright in Your Future
For those of you not yet familiar with candlestick charting, I will
try to give a brief but accurate explanation. The Chinese invented the market concept, and the Japanese perfected charting techniques with the use of the candlesticks. It is easy to understand this complex system, if we simply break it down to the ticks on the chart you follow every day. We know that the lower tick is where the stock opened and the higher is where it closed. Now if we made the two lines parallel and connected them, what would we have? A candle. However, during that movement, the stock might have gone lower or higher then where it opened or closed, so our candle has formed a tail and a wick. Is it starting to make a little sense to you? Can you see the advantage of knowing this information, for getting in and out, and setting a stop loss?
Take these examples:
1. Lets assume a stock opens twenty cents higher than it closed yesterday. It later closes ten cents higher than that. Should we get in? Not necessarily. Because as the candlestick showed us, even though it had a thirty-cent swing from the day before, a long wick was created. This meant that it went even higher then it eventually settled on. That tells us that the pressure to go higher wasn’t strong enough. We will put it on our watch list, and keep a keen eye on it.
2.A few days passes with similar results. Suddenly there is a break in the resistance. The stock has formed a candlestick with a long tail. What does this convey? We might put a buy signal for a couple of cents higher than it has previously gone, because the long tail tells us that the bulls are ready to take over.
3. Ideally you want to wait for clusters to form. Of course the greatest indicator is a long candle. One that opens and closes with hardly any wick or tail.
This synopsis could have very easily taken place over a few hours rather than days, if you were day trading, for example. There are many “characters” in candlestick charting, and those who master reading them become successful.
If you can acquire software that gives you even the slightest edge in your favor, it is well worth the Investment. I don’t profess to being an expert, but I do know of some. I obviously don’t have the time to go into all the details now, but at my site Market Mentalist you will find all you need to know about investing online. There is access to some of the top trading systems available including software, books, newsletters, and Forums. Whether you are an inquisitive novice or a seasoned pro Market Mentalist offers the online investment resource you just might be seeking. More at articlesbase.com
