Evaluating Picks from 2-16-10

Today lets hope for a follow through from yesterday, dow futures are up modestly this morning. The chart for the dow shows some momentum as it trades above the 13 day ema. and the 21 day ema, as I said yesterday this is what I was looking for.

Charting my stock picks from yesterday they all triggered. Here was the results

HCBK - Order for 1000 shares triggered at 13.27 closed at 13.41

IPG - Order for 1000 shares triggered at 6.82 closed at 6.87 - I am watching this one closely as it gaped up and many times when a stock gaps up it will retrace its gap the next day or so.

LEG - Wouldn't you know I identified this stock in yesterdays blog but did not put in an order for it, as I went with the other 2(IPG and HCBK) and of course that was the best performing stock of the day, I said in yesterdays blog that I felt there was a good opportunity if LEG crossed 18.87 and it did it closed at 19.39!! Oh well you can't buy them all. I hope someone following this blog got in and made money yesterday charting this stock.

I will be watching the stock markets closely today watching for follow through and momentum. Until tomorrow..............Happy Charting

Buying Opportunities 2-16-10

This morning I looked at the overseas market and they are pointing to a higher open for our major indices. Hopefully we will start a new uptrend today, I am looking for the markets to get on top of the 13 day moving avg. Here are the possible buying opportunities I identified.

HCBK(above)- I have placed an order to buy 1000shares on a move above13.27, notice trading above 13 and 21day avg. looking for follow through.

LEG below)- Here the stock is bouncing off support levels, I believe it will move back toward the avgs. I would be watching very closely as it does reach the avgs. to see if it will bounce back but there is profit to be taken in between. I would be looking at a buy here above 18.87,but again keep an eye out as it reaches the avgs.

IPG(right) -Trading with upward momentum and above the 13day ema(exponential moving avg), it is bouncing off support levels and looking for a follow through above the 21 day ema today. I have put in an order to buy 1000shares when it moves above 6.82

Remember charting stocks is not an exact science. I look at it as more of an art. Follow these charts and see how I do.

I may be in these stocks for a day or 10 it all depends on what the stock charts tell me.

Until tomorrow.... Happy Charting

Stock Market for Beginners

Since the markets are closed today in observance of Presidents day, I thought I would give some tips of how to get into and get yourself prepared to trade.

1st thing I did was get a good book on charting,( you can google info) get definitions of different charting tools and how they are suppose to work, I will not recommend any one specific because they are many good books, what I would recommend is don't buy one that is selling their specific system. Get one that talks about all the different charting tools and the different chart formations, along with support and resistance information. This will give you a good idea of what the world of charting stocks is all about.

2nd thing , START CHARTING(Freestockcharts.com is a very good site and its FREE) different stocks, apply some of the information that you researched, you will start to notice trends. Start out simple using moving averages(really that is all I use today) I do recommend the 13 day and 21 day exponential moving averages. Add some different tools and get use to the terminology. ALSO JOIN IN ON BLOGS LIKE THIS. It is a great way to talk and converse with everyday traders who will give you honest answers and share their experiences with you. Everyone can gain by doing this whether your a beginner or a more experienced trader. Remember you never quit learning!!

3rd Thing, Start to look at different discount brokerages. There are many good ones out there. I happen to like Scottrade it is only $7.00 per trade and it gives me the tools I am looking for, again do your own research on these. With most of them you can set up a practice trading account they will put play money in and you would trade with them as if it were real. This is a big help because it gets you use to how to place a trade correctly.

How Do I fund My Account When I have no Extra Money? This may be simpler than you think. Most discount brokers want somewhere around $500.00 to get started. You can start out by just sending them money when you have extra and use this time to practice while you are building up to meet their minimum amount to actually start trading. I started out with $2000.00 in my account. I got extra money from selling things I no longer used or wanted on ebay . You can have a garage sale( I used this method as well). See there are many ways to fund your account when you are ready to start trading REAL MONEY.

I hope you found this helpful, if you have any questions I would be happy to answer them, just send me a post. Until next time...

Happy Charting