Stock Trading System Loss Prevention

By Maclin Vestor

There are some people who can buy a stock with the intention of holding it for years and years. If this is you, you look at a lower stock price as an opportunity to get it cheaper, or on sale. While this may work for some, people often times under estimate the risk of supposed blue chip companies losing very significant amounts. See GM, AIG, Ford, Merrill Lynch, Lehman Brothers or Citibank as a few examples.

Perhaps one of the worst things about it is, not only individuals make this mistake, but these mistakes are even made by the rating agencies that are made up of groups of intelligent men and women working together for the sole purpose of rating stocks.

Now if you understand the risks, you know how to read financial statements, and you invest in stocks with dividends to ensure there is no accounting fraud and company actually has money it says it does as it pays out regularly, and you still realize that a solid company could still potentially become irrelevant due to breakthrough technology, illegal activities, or sudden loss of capital, overnight, then go ahead and continue to invest this way. In fact, this is one of the things that Warren Buffet loves doing, investing in companies in a time of maximum fear that he believes has a margin of safety.

However, the average trader just doesn't have the patience to own a stock for Warren Buffet's favorite holding time... forever. The average trader doesn't even hold stock for longer than 6 months let along decades.

If you are unable to continue to buy a stock lower and have the patience to hold on forever, and analyze a company with great detail before continuing to do this, then you must have some margin of safty in another way. Perhaps one of the best ways to do this is to cut your losses short. This will prevent you from incurring large losses, and will allow you to use your money towards a more profitable investment.

It's very easy for people to not realize their mistakes and miss out on the information that they are wrong. In fact, it is a self defense mechanism in our brains to defend our existing beliefs, even if we are shown all the evidence in the world against it. Rather than defend some idea that a stock will go up even when it's gone down, it's better to just cut losses short. You can make it a rule to sell the next trading day after a stock closes 8% below your purchase price. Rather than defend your stock, you can instead defend your trading system. Now if short term stocks seem to be bouncing just below 8% then climbing afterward, you will know that your system works so you will ignore any occasional losses that will happen, since you will have faith in your system of good money management, proper exit strategy and other important factors.

If you fail to cut losses short, you can often time lose far more than you set out for, which will not only hurt your portfolio, but it will also prevent you from being able to invest as much, and your ability to earn from future investments will be hinder more than it should be. Therefore, you must cut your losses short if you expect to make money in stocks and prevent yourself from incurring losses you are unable to manage. - 23222

About the Author:

Maclin Vestor teaches about financial information and advice. You can even learn about finance, money management, and figuring out finance at his System Trading | Stocks Trading Systems blog.

Bankruptcy Advice That Anyone Can Use

By Emma Elvie

Whenever we are struggling with our finances we all become paranoid because it is difficult to even think clearly. If you have found yourself in this position and are looking for some bankruptcy advice then you have come to the right place. We want to provide you with some bankruptcy advice that will hopefully help you get on the right track. Now by no means am I a bankruptcy attorney; all I can share is my personal bankruptcy experience with you to help you get over this difficult time in your life.

One of the worst things that anyone can do in this situation is begin to be hard on themselves. I know that any time we are dealing with finances it can be an emotional issue; however you have to remember that people make mistakes.

One of the best things that you can do if you are facing financial ruin is to speak to a bankruptcy attorney. As humans we never want to face defeat; however this is the best way to get rid of all that emotional turmoil and fix the situation. Trying to hide your financial worries will only cause you to continue to stress and will only make matters worse.

You have to be honest with yourself about your situation; take the time to sit down and find out what caused this problem in the first place. We all hear it all the time about people losing their jobs after they have worked for a company for several years. well unfortunately today is not the time nor the day to rely completely on a company for all your income.

Take the time to sit down and create a family budget if you do not currently have one. This will help you from spending more money than you bring in; I discover when I was filing my personal bankruptcy that when I was able to cut down my living expenses it was a huge relief. It will even help you even if you are not facing bankruptcy you may find yourself with more money at the end of each month.

Stop by and visit the site below for more information about filing bankruptcy advice. We have taken the time to help you find some great resources and valuable tips and advice that everyone can use to get out from under all that debt. - 23222

About the Author:

Filing Bankrupt What You Should Know! Can I File Bankruptcy

What is the Real Effect of Borrowing and Printing Money - But Not Letting People Get to It?

By Paul Kluskowski

Seems like there is a river of money flowing and headed for the falls. Hundreds of billions for corporate welfare. Short term interest rates at record lows. Mortgage rates are still better than any time over the past 30 years.

But foreclosures keep rising and folks just keep going broke. Why should this be happening? Is it not true that cash is being pumped into the economy?

The money rain has been torrential but the banks built a dam and the level is rising dangerously. To be sure, there are some leaks here and there but the watchkeepers are sleeping through the alarms. When it finally breaks the overflow is going to be inflation that rivals developing nations. And it is going to go over a Niagara Falls into an abyss of future obligation.

Look closely at the consequences of near 10 per cent unemployment (double that if you use the statistical methods prior to the Clinton administration) and you will see that they are breathtaking. Assets and cash flow are seriously deflated because the capitalist engine is nearly out of gas. Unemployment is nearly 10% and underemployment of skilled workers just trying to survive is higher than ever. President Carter's economy and the Great Depression are the closest comparisons.

Every state government and most large cities are struggling to stay afloat. Temporary shutdowns, IOU's, and tax hikes - which as you know is counter productive in a recession are rampant. Even the security of working for the government at any level except the federal, is no longer the cushy job it once was.

It seems that it does not matter where you put your money. Though the free fall of real estate appears to have braked, homebuyers are still having a tough time getting mortgage money. And the equities market is still a roller coaster ride that is just too thrilling for many investors.

A delicious irony is apparent when you consider that the economies of Germany and France my be recovering faster than America. By any measure they have long been tipping to left with socialism being way more acceptible, for now at least, than the USA. And those cynical professional bond traders are saying that the Fed is ensuring low interest rates by cranking out more money to meet our mind boggling present and future political obligations.

So what do the bankers do? Well, it seems they have decided to keep the tax dollars given to crank up the economy and instead use them to buy other banks. Opportunity like that just does not come along very often for sure and when people don't have jobs and assets are depreciating why not?

The tragic consequence of all of this gross mismanagement is what third world countries usually experience - very, very high inflation. The government has borrowed to oblivion and the money is being printed with abandon. The banks must eventually let that money go. When is does we will be paying dearly. - 23222

About the Author:

My Market Friend is Paul Kluskowskis's blog. It is chock-a-block with current financial, economic, and market news. He is a financial manager at T/R Financial Management Group. He has been in the business for over 10 years and writes extensively with many articles and three ebooks to his credit. Paul also manages the PINGP Work Control Center Mgr at Xcel Energy. You can gethis financial servicesand newletter at My Market Friend

Decreased Volatility Breakout Strategy (Part III)

By Ahmad Hassam

Whether it is to the upside or the downside when you trade triangle breakouts ignore any first breakout attempts. Each triangle type has its own directional bias. Gather as much evidence as you can to support a particular breakout direction so as to minimize the risk of trading false breakouts. Get ready for a breakout when you have identified the triangle formation on either the daily or weekly chart. There can be three possible cases when you try to trade the decreased volatility breakout strategy.

Possible Case No 1: Suppose the second breakout attempt is in the downside direction for the descending triangle. Similarly it is in the upside direction for an ascending triangle. In simple words, the second breakout attempt is in the direction expected of the triangle type. This breakout could signal either the continuation of the existing trend or the trend reversal. You should not forget to ignore the first breakout.

Place a stop buy order at least 10 pips above the horizontal resistance level to capture the potential upside breakout in case of an ascending triangle. Set profit target according to your time frame. Place a stop loss order 10 pips below the horizontal level of the triangle to protect against false breakout. You should make sure each side of the triangle gets touched two times at least.

In case of the descending triangle again make sure the triangle is touched two times before the breakout. Place a stop sell order 10 pips below the horizontal support level to capture the potential downside breakout. Place a stop loss order 10 pips above the horizontal support level.

Possiblity#2: Again ignore the first breakout attempt. The second breakout attempt is in the opposite direction of the expected triangle type breakout direction. In other words, the second breakout is in the downside in case of an ascending triangle and it is to the upside in case of the descending triangle.

In case of an ascending triangle, since the breakout direction is opposite to the most expected direction, cut the position size to half for this trade in order to reduce risk. Set stop sell order at least 10 pips below the upward sloping trendline in order to capture the expected downside breakout. Ignore the first breakout attempt and make sure the triangle is touched at least two times. Place the stop loss 10 pips below the breakout point.

Place a stop buy entry order at least 10 pips above the downward sloping trendline in order to capture the potential upside breakout in case of a descending triangle. Set your profit target in accordance with your time frame. Place stop loss 10 pips below the breaking point. Again reduce the position size to half in order to reduce risk.

Possibility No 3: There is an equal possibility of upside as well as the downside breakout in case of symmetrical triangles. Just follow the above guidelines and place stop buy entry order or the stop sell entry order 10 pips above the downward sloping trendline or 10 pips below the upward sloping trendline. Similarly set your stop loss orders. The decreased volatility breakout strategy works better when it is implemented on a daily or weekly chart. Dont use intraday charts on this strategy. - 23222

About the Author:

Mr. Ahmad Hassam is a Harvard University Graduate. He is interested in day trading stocks and currencies. Develop your own Forex Trading System. Learn Forex Trading !

Forex Strategies Are The Key To Profiting!

By Michael Allison

There are many Forex strategies out there. It's not likely they will tell you, but each trader has their own unique take on what to do and how they trade. Not everyone's technique and stile is the same but there are some common strategies out there.

In the past, those looking to profit from trading put their efforts into day trading of stocks. Most traders today realize that there is so much more profit potential in trading foreign currency than stocks.

One thing you can do is a Forex managed account. This will let people do the dirty work for you. You simply deposit your money into the account and a professional with make the bids for you. Since it is your money, you can withdrawal it at any time.

You can buy or rent some books and do the trades manually. This is how the big money makers do it. These guys are great about spotting trends in the market. They research the information from books and magazines they subscribe too. You can get book information from a lot of online retailers.

You can automate the process with a Forex automated robot. This is good strategy if you want to leave a program running day and night. If you're working or have some other job, a Forex robot might be good for you if you can't afford to open a managed account. There are robots out there that are associated to online brokers that you can start out with as little as a dollar!

You can also talk strategies with Forex chat rooms and message boards. These are meeting places for fellow traders who will talk shop with you and usually will give tips and heads up on things to bid for.

You just need to research a little bit to find some quality strategies. You can find many resources to help you with your trading strategies. It just takes a little work and effort! - 23222

About the Author:

Click Here to find out about Forex Managed Accounts.