STOCKS & COMMODITIES magazine. The Traders' Magazine
Request Information
From Advertisers
Traders.com
Stocks &
Commodities

  • Subscribers' Area
  • Current Issue

  •    - Opening Position
       - Letters to S&C
       - Traders' Tips
       - Futures Liquidity
       - News & Products
       - Books
       - Cover Art

  • Free Articles
  • Article Abstracts
    1996-Present
  • Complete Articles
    1982-Present
  • Novice Traders' Notebook
  • Glossary
  • Subscribe
  • Renew
  • Free Trial
  • Search
  • Working
    Money
    Traders.com
    Advantage
    Traders'
    Resource
    Online Store
    Message Boards
    Article Code
    Free Newsletter
    Products
    Search
    Help
    Subscribe
    Renew
    Contact Us
    Home

    Enter search terms:


    Products
    Small Book Image for Store.Traders.comStore.Traders.com
    Purchase past articles on hundreds of topics, along with software, books, and magazine subscriptions over a secure web connection. Click Here

     
    Search Products:

    @ Online Store!
    S&C Magazine Subscriber Login
    S&C Free Trial Issue
    S&C Volume Books
    S&C Magazine
    S&C on DVD
    Software
    Articles
    FREE ARTICLES! (while they last)
    Suri Duddella Notes
    Elwave 9.0
    Bennett McDowell
    VisualTrader 4.0
    Forex Volatility Patterns
    Stock Trading Success
    Market Dynamics
    Bill And Justine Williams
    StrategyDesk
    Profiting From The Gartley
    Elwave 8
    Steve Nison's Profiting In ...
    Best Choice Software
    High Growth Stock Investor
    Daytrading With TheStockBandit ...
    The Trading Plan
    Support & Resistance ...
    eSignal 10 and Advanced GET ...
    Buying Straddles
    NeuroShell Trader 5
    GTS Pro
    Between Price And Volume
    Point & Figure for Forex
    Direct Pro
    A Window to Our Workshop
    Profitunity Home Study Course
    Adrienne Toghraie
    MultiCharts 2 (Part 2)
    MESA8
    MultiCharts 2 (Part 1)
    C. Kirk of TheKirkReport.com
    StrataSearch 3.0
    IBFX-GPS
    Random Walk Trading
    OmniTrader
    Traders' Resource
    Advisory Services
    Books
    Brokerage
    Consultants
    Courses & Seminars
    Data Services
    Exchanges
    Hardware
    Mutual Funds
    Online Trading Services
    Publications & Newsletters
    Software
    Trading Systems

    Information Directory
    S&C Tour
    S&C Magazine
    Resources
    Products
    Subscribe
    This Month's Issue
    Home | S&C Magazine | Working Money | Traders' Resource | Message-Boards | Store


    OPENING POSITION May 1999   

     

    Picture this: On a Wednesday sometime, you're sifting through your mail, and as you're throwing out the usual junk ads and flyers, you notice a simple but elegant postcard, addressed to you, that's touting a stock. It catches your eye because it's more like an invitation than anything else, with formal, engraved lettering on the cream-colored card. There's no offer to sell you anything, just a curt statement, a straightforward recommendation to buy a stock on the close this coming Friday and to sell on the close the following Friday.

    Of course, you don't take any action but you are curious, so you keep the card. The following Friday, you turn to the financial pages and discover that this postcard invitation to make money was a great call. The stock rallied for the week with a $20 gain. Okay, you say, but...

    The following Wednesday, another postcard arrives in the mail. It's in the same style, with the air of a simple invitation. There's a recommendation to trade a different stock this time. The instructions are the same, to buy on the close on Friday and sell out the following Friday. You wait and see, and it turns out once again that this trade, too, was a nice gain of $15 a share for the week. You're still not convinced: No big deal, you think, it's just the bull market.

    The following Wednesday you find a third card, except this time the recommendation is for a short sale on Friday. As you ponder this recommendation over the weekend, you consider that if this tipster makes money both ways, then maybe this is for real. Sure enough, the stock drops out of bed the following week, losing $30 a share. The business news pundits attribute the fall to profit-taking after a recent runup in the stock.

    Now you're more than a little intrigued; in fact, you find yourself checking out the mailbox on Wednesday, hoping to find another postcard. Sure enough, there is. Again, the recommendation is the same strategy, to place the trade on Friday and exit on the following Friday. You're not a fool, so you're not going to chance any money -- not yet -- but each day, you check the Internet for quotes and any news that might move the stock. Wow! The stock takes off, climbing $50 for the week on a surprise earnings announcement. The tipster's trading is now four for four, and if you had been trading just 100 shares, your take would have been $11,500.

    You're on the edge of your seat until Wednesday. The mail arrives with the same-style postcard, with the same invitation to buy a stock on Friday and sell the following Friday. You do some research on the company and decide that this is a stock you would buy anyway, so what the heck, you go for it. Bingo! We have another winner as you pocket $18 per share, a $1,800 gain. That's five for five in a row! This is too easy, you think.

    The next Wednesday, you check the mail and find, instead of a postcard, an envelope with the invitation inside. This time, the invitation is to subscribe to an annual newsletter for $1,000 a year. The newsletter will give you the same exact Friday-to-Friday forecasts. You say to yourself: Had I placed the last five trades, and I knew ahead of time to take the trades, I'd already be up more than $13,000! What should you do? What would you do?

    Next month, I'll tell you what and why. In the meantime, trade well!


    Thom Hartle, Editor 
    Return to May 1999 Contents
    Technical Analysis, Inc.

    [Home | Working Money Magazine | S&C Magazine | Traders.com Advantage | Online Store]
    [Traders' Resource | Add a Product to Traders' Resource | Message Boards]
    [Subscribe/Renew | Free Trial Issue | Article Code | Search | Help Files]
    Departments: [Advertising | Editorial | Circulation | Employment | Contact Us]

    Copyright © 1996-2008 Technical Analysis, Inc. All rights reserved. Read our privacy statement.

    Technical Analysis, Inc.
    Subscribe! Free E-mail Newsletter.
    First: Last:
    E-mail: