THE GUN – TRADING TRIGGERS FOR THE COMING WEEK – CHARTS & *VIDEO*
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BREWING UP SOMETHING IN MY LAB
Zenpenny members already know that I try to bring as much value as possible to the table. I want to be sure all our members stay informed and never have any doubt in their mind as to lengths we are willing to go in the name of making sure what we are invested in has nothing but blue skies ahead. I want to bring the same value to our growing number of blog readers. Tomorrow I will be releasing some long and short plays to consider in the coming week. Undecided as to whether I will be doing it in video format or regular format. I think this is going to be a fantastic means of profiting in the markets, for those who are interested in short to intermediate term plays. THESE ARE NOT GOING TO BE MICRO-CAP PLAYS. I want that to be very clear. I reserve those investments for members only. These are going to be technical plays with the buy points, stop points etc. all diagrammed for you. It will not only be a learning experience for most, but a profitable experience for most as well. I think that even the most experienced of traders will learn a thing or two and come to appreciate this. And for newer traders, it will be a mind-blowing educational experience. Look for it on...
TOP 3 MOST POPULAR POSTS FROM THIS PAST WEEK
1. ALL PHASE 4 INVESTORS GATHER AROUND, I HAVE NEWS FOR YOU 2. SO, WHERE DID YOU GET YOUR DEGREE IN CURVE FITTING? 3. GOTTA "BORN TO LOSE"...
TOP 3 MOST POPULAR CHARTS FROM THIS PAST WEEK
1. BIDU - MONTHLY CHART 2/15 2. GSIG - DAILY CHART 2/15 3. NASDAQ COMP - MONTHLY CHART...
NOW OFFERING WATER AND FIRE
Membership that is. Due to demand from our readers, we are announcing a new level of membership that gives another option to those interested in joining Zenpenny. The new membership option is the "Water" level of membership. This is a very basic membership package that gives you access to our current research report, as well as a member video once a week. The "Fire" level of membership is the premium package that includes daily updates, thoughts, multiple videos per week and more. All levels of membership are backed by our incentive fee guarantee. Please visit our subscribe section for more...
BORING? YES! HOPELESS? NOT BY A LONG SHOT!
If our current portfolio was an entertainer, we would have been booed off stage and asked never to come back. Not because the performance was terrible, but rather due to the fact that the performance has been boring. We have seen our investment portfolio more or less meander sideways for the first month and a half of 2011. When sideways periods like this occur for a period of weeks or months, it's important to consider where the portfolio was prior. Analyzing a portfolio of stocks is really no different than analyzing an individual stock. Often times, the pattern you see in the behavior of the whole portfolio can tell you lots of things about where the portfolio is headed as a whole, similar to price patterns and technical analysis of individual stocks. Our portfolio, after bringing in triple digit percentage gains in only the last 6 months of 2010, has now gone sideways. It is literally scraping the top of its all time highs just a couple of percentage points away from a new high. While it has been a boring first month and a half of 2011, I can't think of a more bullish scenario for our portfolio over the long-term than this type of consolidation following such steep gains during the second half of 2011. Boring...yes. Hopeless, not by a long shot. Think we'll be seeing some upside here sooner rather than later. A sampling of our current portfolio can be viewed...
ALL PHASE 4 INVESTORS GATHER AROUND, I HAVE NEWS FOR YOU
This article also published on Fidelity.com, thestreet.com and minyanville.com There is a phenomenon that takes place during every single bull market cycle that exists. The phenomenon is firmly rooted in human psychology and behavior. It involves levels of comfort, confidence and elation. It almost always follows the same pattern and invariably ends the same way. The phenomenon I speak of involves bull market rallies and their tendency to shift through 4 different phases: 1. Phase 1 (very beginning of bull rally) - market participants are still licking their past wounds and are content to keep doing so. Most have made a vow to stick to bonds or real estate, swearing off stocks. Institutions allocate to equities very lightly. Wall Street as a whole is bearish and recommends the rest of the population be bearish as well. CNBC trots out one bear after another, as if you were watching the Russian Circus Network. 2. Phase 2 (early recognition of bull market) - market participants begin reading more about the markets and following developments more closely. Some even log into their accounts after months of turning a blind eye to their brokerage statements. Institutions begin increasing their allocation to equities, but stick with more conservative names. Wall Street is mostly bearish, although some are beginning to think the worst may be behind us. CNBC trots out the bears, with an occasional bull mixed between. The bullish pundits are only brave enough to recommend stocks such as JNJ, MSFT and PG. 3. Phase 3 (recognition of a bull market and belief in it) - market participants begin nibbling on stocks again. They are focused mainly on better known, more conservative names. Institutions ramp up the buying and are moving into more speculative names, mostly in technology. Wall Street comes alive with bullishness. Words or phrases like "optimistic", "cool", "great concept", "fantastic", and "I love" are being used more often. CNBC trots out a majority of bulls, with few bears. The bullish pundits begin shaking their tail feathers, and going out on a limb with ideas that involve technology. Concepts like "cloud computing" or "web 2.0" begin becoming catch phrases amongst the bullish guests. 4. Phase 4 (utter, complete and total confidence in the bull market) - market participants begin pushing all-in. They become very aggressive and move into high-beta technology names. These are names that they buy at Phase 4 of bull markets every single time. Institutions begin joining in and allocating their money into more and more aggressive names at the behest of upper-management who doesn't want their institution to fall behind the performance curve. Market participants have no tolerance for...
BEING CUTE WORKS IN HOLLYWOOD, BUT NOT ON WALL STREET
There are so many traders and investors out there who try to be cute with various strategies that make them feel as if they are the second coming of Paul Tudor Jones, Bruce Kovner or Paulson. When it comes down to it, if you want to invest in small to mega-cap stocks, it pays to look for those stocks who have the most momentum, relative strength or smoothest ascending channel and buy them at various opportunistic points. Those opportunistic points will come around every so often. They usually come in the following forms: 1. A perfect technical pattern. They come in various shapes and sizes. And they can leads to some decent profits, with minimal risk if you know where to lay your stops and what to look for once the move begins. 2. A dip. You want to buy the strongest names during the most recent rally whenever the market dips. Often times, people try to get wayyyy too fancy, and buy names that have some sort of value angle or future catalyst. Then when the rally resumes, they wonder why the market always seems to leave them behind. Don't be fancy...stick to the names that have worked in the past. I outlined five of them last night. 3. A catalyst. If there is one catalyst to play on a high-flying stock that is constantly hitting new multi-year highs, it would be earnings. Earnings rarely disappoint on these stocks. And often times, those names with the greatest level of doubt, will see the greatest spikes following earnings...think NFLX. A good number of shorts and skeptical bulls makes this type of play possible. Bottom line, focus on what's working...odds are that it will continue to work. Simple...just don't allow yourself to get in the...
5 STOCKS TO JUMP ON ONCE THIS MARKET CORRECTS
We're all waiting for it. This market correction that seems to never come. It will happen. The rebalancing of psychology, opinions and bid/offers is something very necessary even during the most powerful of bull markets. And guess what? When the correction does come it will probably scare most of you out of all the confidence and anticipation you now have regarding buying the next dip. The market will make it look as scary and ominous as possible in order to get the maximum number of participants on the wrong side of the ship before it releases its fart gun, knocking everyone on their respective arses. I'm the type of guy that likes to plan well ahead. For example, I already know that I will be playing poker on Friday night, going to Ikea on Saturday and playing tennis, as well as going to the gym on Sunday. Any deviation from the aforementioned plan makes me into sour grapes. Likewise, I have already put together my preferred list of stocks that one should buy on the next dip. Bear in mind, I just said stock that "one" should buy. It doesn't mean that I will be buying them, as I prefer my brand of investing and I'm sticking to it. Nevertheless, here are 5 names that you should be jumping all over on the next...
ATTACK OF THE 13F ZOMBIES
Every quarter of every year...about 45 days into the quarter, they appear. Mindless creatures that roam Wall Street looking for portfolios to emulate and fund managers to idolize. They latch onto the SEC Form 13F as if it was a document discovered right beside the Shroud of Turin, with the title "My Stock Picks For Years Zero and Beyond". Release of the SEC Form 13F (the quarterly filing by fund managers outlining their holdings) has become an event for traders. There are sites dedicated to tracking its contents, traders who have derived methods based around the document and news reports outlining what so and so or such and such have done in the recent quarter. When it comes down to it, having an investment strategy based upon 13F is idiocy in its finest form. It's another example of how the dislike of homework never leaves us, regardless of our age. It shows that the security of holding onto the hand of a figure you view as being profoundly wiser and infinitely more powerful than yourself is something that lingers within us for life. Here are the 3 most important reasons 13F investing sucks: 1. Hedging - there are a million ways in today's market of having a long position on your books, when you are in fact neutral or short. Whether you decide to short stock, short options etc. 2. Manipulation - the fund managers have caught on. They don't like being emulated....it distorts price action, makes things sloppy, causes erratic pot-heads to become your fellow shareholder. There are fund managers that will make a position look one way, when it is in fact, quite the opposite. 3. You - just because one guy trades a certain method and makes money, doesn't mean that it will work for you. If you haven't done your research and know little to nothing about the investment, as most who subscribe to this method will, then you are susceptible to being shaken out at the first sign of trouble. And then there is the issue of holding on too long, while your favorite fund manager is either selling or shorting the very same stock. These filings are delayed! Be original. Do your homework. Investing or trading the markets is like any other professional endeavor - those who work the hardest win. Those who attempt to take shortcuts or play a lazy game, end up on the sidelines wondering what went wrong. Don't be a 13F...