My thoughts on the expo:
I thought the overall experience was worthwhile. I went in 2004, and seen a lot of the same companies, most of them very reputable. I got a lot of goodies, from shirts, to clocks, pens, free food and even a California orange from OCS <bg>. Of them Ihub T-shirts were the best, imo. They were packaged into a dollar sign- about the size of a hand, so compact and "marketable", lol.
I didn't attend as many seminars as last time, as I was there more to meet/greet other Ihubbers, and VMCers. I think that was a success, only wish more would have made it. A lot of last minute cancellations of folks I really was hoping to meet.
I visited a lot of the booths, and talked to a lot of folks about market direction. Most see a downtrend going into and probably through 2008, so, probably going to be a rough year to be long on stocks, imo. But- everyone seemed to think commodities would do well. I have a ton of books, magizines and pamplets to go through, as I didn't take the time to read them while in Vegas, duh!
Of the seminars I did attend- 3 seems worth mentioning.
Toni Hansen's position trading has a five block approach to identify pattern set ups. She does not use most technical indicators that the average person uses, and sticks to price and volume only. She stated the other stuff is clutter. The 5 blocks: Pace/momentum (comparing price moves over time), Volume (shows emotional commitment), Support/resistance levels (basic tops and bottoms with light volume), trend (uses elliot waves), and corrections (seasonality). Based on my take, this would probably work best for bottom feeding type trades. She looks for a slowing of volume near a bottom, watches for a elliot wave pattern, then starts position into the trade. Also mentions was going to a long time chart (monthly), and working to a shorter time (daily or smaller) to help see the overall pattern. This is different than I do, but makes sense. Once she takes a position, she expects the move to equal the first wave by point spread. Example- a move from 20 to 22, would be $2, so the next wave should at least equal that. Scanning techniques: 52 week high/lows, 2 month high/lows, tradeideas.com, prophet.net, and teechart 207 by worden.
Robert Deal covered sectors, and I found him to be well worth listening to. 80% of good trades are found in the right sector, so starting with the good sector, means you have a better chance to make money on any stock within that sector. I think their is a lot of truth in this, as I have been in a good stock, that continued to get pounded, only to see later that sector get "noticed", and all the stocks started rising, regardless of fundamentals. I may end up buying his book, so I can study his stuff more. Talked about managing risk, different trading vehicles, shorter trading times. Interesting thing- he uses a 12/20/50 EMA and 12 period bollingers instead of 20 day, and looks for a 3-5 trade, with a maximum 14 days. Stated if it takes longer than that, means the trade is souring. I liked his quote: "you trade on news, you lose", lol. A lot of techniques stuff, so if interested in more, google him.
Craig Shipmen of Worden brothers displayed an awesome platform for breaking down sectors. I'm emailing the company to get his notes, most was way to technicial for me, but I was impressed. If interested email support@worden.com and ask for the notes
The last one I went to was with Fidelity. The speaker was John Gagliardi, and he gave a presentation on the ABCs of ETFs using the Fidelity system. Amazing stuff on how their program break down the research and screeners to fit your needs. One of the things I got out of it- look at top to botom cycles lasting 1000 days. Example- housing took a downturn earlier this year, so that sector will probably be out of favor for 3 years. You can apply this to any sector (therefore, any ETF) to find the best places to look for a safer trade.
If you have never attended a Trader's Expo, and are a active trader, I would highly recommend going to one. Take the time to get all the information possible, sort through it- apply the things that fit your trading style, and get to see how others are playing the market. I would not recommend jumping into the hard sells you will be exposed to, but listen to the vibes, and determine if the presenters offer something you could use in your trader tool chest. If nothing else- meet with follow traders and have a good time- get a T-shirt, lol.
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