Register for free to join our community of investors and share your ideas. You will also get access to streaming quotes, interactive charts, trades, portfolio, live options flow and more tools.
New Feature - Dynamic Scan Filters
Just a quick reminder: if you have not been receiving these "ESP Tip of the Week" newsletters you can view all of the back issues at the ESP resource page on our website.
Pristine ESP v4 is always being improved. Many of the changes are behind the scenes and you don't directly see the affect. This last improvement is one that you will love.
There are two types of windows in ESP. The Pristine Opportunity Scanner is a unique window and has many built in features. All the other windows are simply known as filter windows. They have a scan that is built into the window and it includes all the parameters of the search, including price and volume filters. For example, the gap windows in the 'premarket layout' are filter windows. You can see what any window is showing you by clicking on the 'filter info' button. Make sure your window is not in 'efficient' mode or you won't see the top line info. The 'efficient' button is on the bottom.
Read full article here http://bit.ly/YZJCBP
When to Trade What, Part 3 of 3
Good Morning All:
If the title sounds a little confusing, it was meant to. The issue to be discussed today is not just 'when' to trade. There are trades that can be done any time the market is trading. That does not mean that you should be trading all day long, it just means that the times you pick to trade can be any time, IF you know what to trade. This series of articles discusses this issue, and are geared toward the 'intraday trader', not the swing trader.
That was the opening paragraph the last two parts of this three part series. Last week we looked at the key morning reversal times, and began to discuss lunch. Today we will discuss lunch, and the afternoon reversals.
Lunch: Lunch can be a little tricky to pin point on some days. At its broadest moments, lunch begins after the 11:15 reversal time (remember, all times are ET, market time) ends the move, and can last all the way until the 2:15 reversal time. This is what typically happens on sloppy, non-trending days. On nice trending days, lunch may be as short as 12:00 until the 1:30 reversal time. The most precise reversal times over the lunch period are 1:30, and 2:15 (2:15-2:30 range on most days). Below is a typical day.
Read full article here http://bit.ly/TQQf4t
Turning Education and Its Application into Money
The greatest reward of educating is seeing a student use what was taught like a pro. This week I'm going to show you a trade that a student took on Friday and posted with multiple time frames with his entry, stop-loss and management of the trade. I believe that you'll find this to be a great lesson and an example of how you too can do this with a Pristine trading education.
The trade was posted at the Pristine Facebook Group where Pristine educators often post charts of trades done in one of the Pristine chat rooms as a lesson. Students also share their stock, Forex or futures trades with the charts. When I saw the chart and notes posted, I could tell that the student must have taken not only the Trading the Pristine Method (TPM). He must have also taken Advanced Gap Strategies (AGS) and Advanced Management Strategies (AMS). The AGS and AMS classes build on TPM. You'll see how in the chart and my explanation.
The trade posted was a Tier 2 gap setup in the stock of Hewlett Packard symbol HPQ. Gap trade setups are ranked in the AGS class based on the criteria of each tier. Each tire suggesting the odds of follow through. As you will see, HPQ gapped above a multiple week consolidation. Based on that consolidation/resting period, it supported a bias that HPQ should move higher. That was the starting point or a bias for the trade; however, it does not tell you how to enter or manage the potential trade.
Read full article here http://bit.ly/WWfrJW
Personal Responsibility and Decision-Making
You find a near perfect Pristine Buy Setup, meeting all the requirements of your trading plan, and devise a plan to trade it. Now the stock is at your established entry price, you click on the buy button, and it’s done! You just bought yourself a position in XYZ. Whatever outcome is produced by this position should be considered your responsibility. Both a positive or negative one. But this isn’t always the case.
Our culture has suffered from a loss of the personal responsibility values that built it. These days, an individual walks into a McDonalds and after getting fat due to the excessive consumption of burgers, sues the company for making him fat. It’s the old “the devil made me do it” rationale. But we have to understand that every action, even the decision not to-do something, is made by the individual out of free will.
When an individual considers taking some course of action, he will compare the perceived positives and negatives of taking such action, and if the positives outweigh the negatives, he’ll proceed with it. This same rationale can be applied to trading. When you take a position, it should be because the probable positives of taking such a position outweigh the potential negatives (High odds).
Read more here http://bit.ly/11KJ3dK
Using the Movers Window
In this weekly tip I am going to take a look at the 'Movers' window that can be found on the pre-loaded layout called the 'Trader 2 Layout'. This window can also be easily created as it is simply a watchlist with several useful columns.
The columns at the top can be changed by right clicking (see previous 'Tip of the Week' regarding column layouts) and you will find a whole variety of columns that can be added. It is also easy to remove a column, and they can be dragged back and forth. You can sort by any column by clicking on the heading. If you click again, it reverse sorts.
Read full article here http://bit.ly/YZJCBP
Market Monitoring Tools
Just a quick reminder: if you have not been receiving these "ESP Tip of the Week" newsletters you can view all of the back issues at the ESP resource page on our website.
In this weekly tip I am going to talk about some miscellaneous features that many traders appreciate but sometimes do not notice. You can view most of these features from the Launchpad under the "Market Monitoring Tools" section.
The first two are very basic features which many traders may find more convenient to occasionally pop them up in ESP rather than to take up space in their trading platform. These features are the "Indices" link and also the "Internals" link. You can see samples of these in the picture below.
Read full article here http://bit.ly/YZJCBP
When to Trade What, Part 2 of 3
Good Morning All:
If the title sounds a little confusing, it was meant to. The issue to be discussed today, is not just 'when' to trade. There are trades that can be done any time the market is trading. That does not mean that you should be trading all day long, it just means that the times you pick to trade can be any time, IF you know what to trade. That is the point of this article.
That was the opening paragraph last week in part one of this three part series. In the last letter we looked at some 'pre market' organization, and we discussed the first reversal time, 9:35 (all times are Eastern, New York, 'market' time). We then mentioned the next two reversal times, 10:00 and 10:30. This week, we will talk about those two key times, as well as the beginning of the 'lunch hour'. Next week we will conclude with part three.
There are 9 micro reversal times. 4-5 of them are major and critical. Also, understanding HOW to use them and HOW they interact is imperative. Let's look at the morning reversals, 10:00 and 10:30: There is also a minor reversal time at 11:15. It is simply amazing how many traders do not use the reversal times to their advantage. This probably spawns from the fact that many traders do not even know or understand them. If you are one of those traders, you are going to learn something that will change your trading career in the next couple of paragraphs. A picture says a thousand words, so look at the charts below.
Read full article here http://bit.ly/TQQf4t
The trend is clearly up and the internals have not signaled a warning of a intermediate-term concern yet. However, what would shock traders in the short-term? That would be a gap or close below the Thursday's Bottoming Tail (BT) bar. Set an alert there.
If you have taken the Advance Technical Strategies course or in our Prop Program, remember we have coaching after the close this Tuesday!
PRISTINE – A Trading Style, Often Imitated, But NEVER Matched!
There are so many technical analysis tools and indicators used to determine trend changes. They all over-complicate what is so simple to determine. If a low in a series of higher highs and higher lows is violated, the trend is not longer up and vice-verse. It's that simple.
However, the trend has not changed from up to down yet It's just not up now since it doesn't meet the definition of an uptrend. Common sense, right? That being said, sometimes an event happens that strongly signals a change of trend. This chart shows that event and the difference between overcoming two swing highs. One is that event and one isn't.
Pristine - A Trading Style, Often Imitated, But Never Matched!
Using Relative Strength in Trading
Trading is one of the most fascinating, challenging and rewarding businesses on earth. Very simply, we are looking for price patterns that have high odds of follow through, then we look to the market internals to see if it makes sense to enter a bullish or bearish trade and, if acceptable, we calculate share size per our Trading Plan, enter the trade and then enter "management mode." When looking for stocks to trade in a particular sector, it is best to trade the cleanest patterns that are showing relative strength for longs (relative weakness for shorts).
Read more here! http://bit.ly/11KJ3dK
Working with Symbols
Just a quick reminder: if you have not been receiving these "ESP Tip of the Week" newsletters you can view all of the back issues at the ESP resource page on our website.
In this weekly tip I am going to talk about three things. First, how to take a list of symbols (2 or 5,000) from your trading platform or from the internet, and turn that list of symbols into a watchlist that can be used by ESP. Second, I am going to show you how to create a customized list of symbols in ESP to use as your universe or sub-universe and send that to your trading platform. Finally, I am going to show you how to handle symbols that you do not want to show up in ESP, even though you have set your filters to your liking
First, let's talk about getting a list of symbols into ESP to use as a watchlist or as your scanning universe. From the Launchpad, simply click on "New Watchlist" and type the name you would like for the new watchlist into the "Input" box that appears.
Read full article now! http://bit.ly/YZJCBP
When to Trade What, Part 1 of 3
The comment above said that trades can be done any time of the day, does that mean even lunch? Yes. While it is often much discussed 'not' to trade lunch, part of that statement is left off. Do not trade lunch, unless you know how to trade it. Lunch is the time when many traders get into trouble, because they do not realize that many things will not act the same during lunch as they do during 'non-lunch' times.
The first issue to consider is the volatility and target expectations. If you could give a 'volatility rating' to the market, or stocks in general, it would look like this. If things move '1' during lunch, they move '3' between 2:15 and close, and move '5' between open and noon. If you do not realize this, targets will be unrealistic and lead to frustration.
Before Open: So how do you focus your time? For many people, the time spent between 8:30 and 9:30 may be the most productive (all times are Eastern, New York, market time). Preparing your watchlist, forming a gap list, and starting a market bias can be key to how your day goes.
Read more here! http://bit.ly/TQQf4t
Would You Buy a Stock With a Chart Like This?
In this Chart of the Week (COTW), I want to show why one trader who is focused on swing-trading would never consider buying and another that is focused on intra-day trading would. However, both traders would initially view the chart as bearish and both may have it on their watch list for a short sale the next day.
In the above daily chart, we see a stock that has broken down under Major Support (MS), the 20-MA and the 200-MA. While the stock did form a Bottom Tail (BT) on the break lower, it never was able to trade above that high for several days. Over those days of basing, the stock formed two Topping Tails (TT) as buyers tried to get the stock above the 200-MA. With the formation of the last TT the price action did suggest that the stock would move lower and possibly the next trading day. For that reason, both the swing-trader and the intra-day trader would have a bearish view.
Based on what had occurred at this point, the swing-trader would never consider buying stock with a chart like this the next day regardless of what it did at the open. However, the intraday trader having an understanding of gaps, multiple time frames as well as how bearish traders have become trapped would be willing to buy the stock in the short-term under the right conditions. Let's look at what it at the open and did happen.
Read full article here: http://bit.ly/WWfrJW
Ready- FIRE- Aim
Have you ever been excited about a new experience? Maybe heading to the golf course for the first time or going to the go-kart track to show your stuff? Do you remember the butterflies and excitement building inside as you near this new experience? It's common to have such exhilaration when a new experience arises.
Just imagine with me for a moment, that you were going to have some weekend fun with the family at the go-kart track. As you seat yourself into the kart your smile is ear to ear. You feel the butterflies fluttering as you rev the gas getting ready for this experience. Prior to taking off, you glimpse over and notice your family giving you the thumbs up, chanting things like go dad, you can do it, you can take these guys, show them who's boss. Suddenly you realize your eyebrows are lowering, your smile moves to a determined grit and you now have something to prove. This is not a fish story about the one that got away; you have a live audience!
This friendly little driving around the track has escalated to the Daytona 500, so it seems. You move onto the track with fierce determination and no experience I might add. That's ok, how hard can it be, I drive to and from work every day and have never had so much as a fender bender. You move around the track like you're the only one there and suddenly you get squeezed out and your kart slams into the tires. As if that is not enough, you get rear ended from another kart. That actually hurt. With pride on the line, you immediately get back into action only to have a similar experience. This one could leave a mark! Now intimated by this new adventure and in a great deal of pain, you finish your ride and force your smile every time you near your rooting family with the bulk of your thoughts concentrating on when this ride will be over.
Read full article here http://bit.ly/11KJ3dK
Basics of the Bond Markets
The markets, no matter if you consider only those based in the USA or worldwide, don't act as purely separate entities. The belief that one market is a separate being that's never affected by developments in other markets is a naive idea that doesn't hold water when analyzed from either the technical or the fundamental optic. When money gets out of the US stock markets, it doesn't go beneath the mattresses of traders (no matter what they might say). It will go into other markets, such as the fixed income market (bonds), commodities, or currencies. Thus, a basic comprehension of the way the markets function will allow us to better analyze from a purely technical standpoint the odds of a market moving in a certain direction, and might point to opportunity in certain market sectors. We'll analyze today the bond market and the way they interrelate, and their repercussions in the process of price formation in the stock market.
The bond market that we'll refer to is the US Treasury Bond market. US treasury bonds are issued by the US Government to finance its diverse expenditures. These bonds are "zero coupon". This means that they don't pay a regular quarterly interest "coupon". Instead, they are placed at a "discount" to their face value. Suppose for simplicity reasons that the US Treasury was placing a one year "bond" that would yield 3% at expiration. In order to "pay" the interest rate, the treasury will place a $1,000 bond (face value) at a price of $970. Then, at the expiration date (1 year), it would redeem the bond for its face value. Thus, the holder would receive $30 additional to what it paid for the bond, which would equal a yield of 3%. From this explanation, we conclude that the yield to price relation of these bonds is an inverse one. When the prices of these bonds rise (more demand than supply), yields decline and vice versa. Traders often look at specific expirations, for clues as to the market's expectations in regards to interest rates, and as a way to analyze the flows of funds in this market. The most popular expirations for traders purposes are the 10 Year Bond (Realtick® symbol is $TNX.X) and the 30 year ($TYX.X).
Read more here! http://bit.ly/11KJ3dK
Using ETFs
Just a quick reminder: if you have not been receiving these "ESP Tip of the Week" newsletters you can view all of the back issues at the ESP resource page on our website.
"ETF" stand for Exchange Traded Fund and many traders use them to represent various areas or sectors of the market. There are literally hundreds of them and they are growing every day and they can be used not only to analyze, but also can be traded directly. Common ones you may already know include the QQQ and the SPY which are the ETF's for the NASDAQ 100 and the S&P 500.
There are two ways that you can use these using Pristine ESP. The first way is by using the condensed list that has become the "Pristine Sector" list in the Watchlist Manager. The second way is to use the total list which can be accessed by clicking on "ETF View" on the main Launchpad.
Read full article here: http://bit.ly/YZJCBP
TIME IS ALMOST UP!
Support Pristine Trading Today!
VOTE HERE! http://bit.ly/UmLb6n
Some Not So Obvious Signs of Change
If you're not aware that the markets have been going higher and nearing all-time highs, you must not have a television. Finally, the media has noticed the bull market that started from the 2009 crash low. Now, that drop and low was about as ugly as it gets and of course, we really didn't know that it was 'the low" until a bit later. However, the markets have been going up for just over four years and the media is just getting excited!
The saying, "Better late than never" doesn't always apply when it comes to the markets. With the markets late typically means losing money, but can it be different this time? I am seeing some not so obvious signs of change that could be signaling that this market has a way to go in the long-term.
There has been a huge amount of money pumped into the system to hold off recession, deflation and bankruptcy of countries. We can logically assume that the equity markets believe that it has worked since most are at or nearing all-time highs. However, the fact that interest rates have been in a decline for years tells us there has been little demand for that money for business investment (higher risk, higher rewards). Rather, a lot of that money has been going buying bonds (low risk, low reward), which causes interest rates to drop. During times of economic expansion the demand for money increases (borrowing) and interest rates rise. The charts are starting to point to this.
The above being said, long-term interest rates have been in an overall downtrend since the early 1980s. However, during times of an improving economy those interest rates have risen within that very long-term downtrend. So interest rate movement up and down is relative to this.
Read Full Article Here: http://bit.ly/WWfrJW
Swing Scanning After Hours
Just a quick reminder: if you have not been receiving these "ESP Tip of the Weeks" you can view all of the back issues at the ESP resource page on our website.
Every day at exactly 4 o'clock when the regular stock market hours come to an end, the Pristine ESP Opportunity Scanner displays all of the "swing trading" scans. These are all of the Pristine proprietary strategies that you have selected under the "Pristine Scans" menu tab, based on the daily timeframe. They show up with the time 16:05 so that you know these are the scans based on the daily chart and as of the close of that day's trading.
Any time you open the ESP scanner after the close of business, the scans will appear with the time designation 16.05. If you are doing your swing scanning the morning of the following day, you need to know that sometime overnight ESP "resets" itself and goes to the next day. Do not worry because your swing scans are not lost. You simply need to go to the menu button and select "data" which will allow you to go back to the prior days data to see not only the swing trading scans but also any other intraday scans you want to review.
Read full article here: http://bit.ly/YZJCBP
Looking good to move higher.
The Caterpillar watch I posted on January 10th is moving higher. Friday was a pro-gap up that pulled back to Minor Support (mS) and a retest of that low. It doesn’t get much better.
The Gap class is coming up at the beginning of February. You can view the video that provides at overview of the class http://pristine.com/online-trading-video-tours.aspx
Also, please vote for Pristine at the www.TraderPlanet.com awards for chat room and course.
Trading Pitfalls to AVOID!
Trading today is more popular than ever. Countless individuals flock each year to the markets, hoping to make large amounts of money, many attracted by misleading commercials promising simplicity and easy access to riches. Many of these aspiring traders fail. In as much as we would like to think that each individual commits different and very particular mistakes in his quest for success, my experience as both a trader and Pristine Certified Trainer (PCT) has shown me that most traders typically fall prey to the same problems and mistakes. The following are just but some of the typical ones:
Lack of a Trading Plan. Most traders lack a well conceived plan to trade the markets, and most mistakes committed by them can be summed up in this category. The lack of a decent plan means that the trader won't know which "events" to focus on, the rules to trade those events, money management rules, etc. Typical mistakes such as not taking stops and overtrading can be attributed to this problem.
Read full article here: http://bit.ly/11KJ3dK
Using and Creating Layouts in Pristine ESP
Just a quick reminder: if you have not been receiving these "ESP Tip of the Weeks" you can view back issues at the ESP resource page on our website.
ESP is very simple to install and begin using. It comes preconfigured with four layouts that you can begin using immediately. When you first install ESP, the Launchpad is the only thing you will see.
Read full article here: http://bit.ly/YZJCBP
A Simple Method for Market Timing
Market timing can be made complex or simple. I have studied many methods and definitely found the simple approach the way to go. Those studies were a quest for finding that method and what works for timing and what doesn't? What you'll find surprising is that the typical tools used by the majority do not work. I know you're interested in what does and I'll show you.
Before we review what to use, let's review some of the methods often talked about to determine market turns. Almost all of them will give a signal after a turn of some form has already happened. For example, the break of an uptrend trend line will signal a violation of the uptrend since prices have already moved lower. However, haven't you see uptrend lines broken that were followed by an almost immediate reversal back up in the direction of the trend? I have many times and found them inaccurate.
Let's think about the use of a trend line. An uptrend line is drawn by "connecting the dots" and is supposed to show you a support line that is projected into the future. If that line is violated, it signals the end of that uptrend. Why should that be the case though? Can you really locate significant reference points of support by drawing lines on a chart? How do you know you are connecting the right dots? And since there are different points that the line can be connected to, should you draw from all of them? And, what if those lines intersect, does that make for a more significant support point? And then, what if you change the time frame from a daily one to a weekly one? Doing that has now changed the "dots" to connect to. Are the lines in the weekly time frame more significant than those in the daily time frame? Getting complicated and confusing isn't it?
What about moving averages as a market timing guide? Okay, which one should be used? Is a break of the 50-day moving average a trend violation? How about the 100-day? Surely the break of the 200-day moving average would be bearish. However, by the time prices made it below the 200-day moving average the trend would have been violated long ago.
There are also moving average crossovers. Again, which moving averages should be used? The 5-MA crossing the 20-MA is a popular combination. Then there is the "Golden Cross" of the 50-MA crossing the 200-MA. Golden cross sounds impressive. Then of course, there is the question of what type of moving average to use. Simple, exponential, weighted and there are others, even optimized. The combinations are endless.
Read full article here! http://bit.ly/WWfrJW
The Need to Be Right
Good Morning All:
"Amateur traders want to be right; professional traders want to make money."
Today's topic reflects off the very true and powerful quote above. Many of these Monday Morning 'Eyes' editions are technical ones with charts and lots of markings on the charts. However, many of the best ones are just words. They are comments on 'soft' topics, such as the topic today.
The Need to Be Right
If you are in the stages of learning to trade, you will become a compilation of all those from whom you learned. You will become your own unique breed of trader. We all come to the table with certain expectations and beliefs. We all come with some emotional baggage. We all learn from reading, studying websites, and other traders. Some informally, some by paying for education in the form of trading rooms, seminars and mentors. Every time you learn something, it adds to your experience as a trader. Eventually you become the sum of all you have learned. Even if you have a mentor you have tried to emulate, you will never be exactly like your mentor. You will be unique.
However, while no two traders are identical, most successful traders do share some common characteristics. Most have learned the value of a trading plan. Most have learned the need for stops. Most have learned many other disciplines that have I have addressed in a previous weeks of "Eyes". It takes many a long time to understand the subject of this article. That subject is, the belief traders have that they need to be "right".
The topic is a simple one. Yet it eludes many traders. It seems only obvious that if we want to be successful, we need to be right in our underlying assumptions in our trades. If we want to trade stocks, we should focus on being 'right' about the direction stocks are going. Correct? Well, not really.
Read full article here: http://bit.ly/TQQf4t
Using the Real Time News Feature in Pristine ESP
Just a quick reminder: if you have not been receiving these "ESP Tip of the Week" newsletters you can view all of the back issues at the ESP resource page on our website.
One of the features you may not be aware of is that ESP has a built-in real-time news feature. If you look toward the middle of the Launchpad you will see a section that has four ways to look at news.
Clicking on any one of these four links will open a different window. You may open them spontaneously in any layout to take a quick look at news, or you may add any one of these windows to one of your current layouts and have it be a permanent part of your screen.
Shown below, the first and most common window is the "Live Streaming News". It allows you to see headlines as the news is released.
Read full article here: http://bit.ly/YZJCBP
Four Things That Will Change Your Trading Career:
Part Four of Four
Good Morning All:
In the last issue, I gave you part three of a four part series. This series is a set of exact steps that will help you tremendously if you have the technical knowledge, but cannot seem to turn the corner on making good profits. There are four things that you can do that I feel will 'dramatically change your trading career'. The results will be immediate, every week, and this will be item number four.
It should be stated again, that if you do not have the technical expertise, you are not at the level that these comments will help. If you do not know how to look at a chart, no amount of refining will help you. Where do you get this expertise? There is no better place than our famous Trading the Pristine Method Seminar.
After a long time of working with many traders, one discovers that there are certain truths that cannot be denied. There are four things that are done so consistently wrong by new, and even fairly experienced traders, that each of these mistakes results in bad trades 90% of the time for most traders. If traders would simply follow these four rules, they would eliminate most of their losing trades. The fourth rule does not really fall into this "90%" category, but is perhaps the most important, and is the subject of today's discussion.
It is time for the fourth and final rule of this series. As we have mentioned in the introductory paragraph of each of these four lessons, this is not really a 'new' rule. However, the first three rules are ineffective and worthless if you do not know the fourth rule. The fourth rule is to simply follow up to make sure that you are doing each of the first three rules properly.
Now, DO NOT stop reading this and say, 'yea, yea, follow up, I know'. There is an exact procedure that must be followed. When this is followed, traders are always shocked and amazed at the results.
1. Print out the chart for the relevant time frame(s) for the trade you took. If it was a five minute Pristine Buy Setup, print the five minute chart.
Read more here! http://bit.ly/TQQf4t
Are you a Binge Trader?
Think about that for a moment. Have you heard the phrase "Binge Eating". What does that really mean?
A Binge Eater is compulsive and acts on current emotion. They typically eat way too much and way to fast. Before their stomach has a chance to report to their brain that they are full, it's far too late. The damage is done and they can expect a time of misery from over indulging.
Traders at times experience a taste of this. They over trade and then find themselves with a negative P&L. How hard is it to stop trading if you are 3 wins and no losses? Pretty easy! On the contrary, how hard it is to stop trading when you are batting 0% for the day? For most it is very difficult. The lack of discipline and thirsting for gains often lead to Binge trading.
It would be nice if we could program our trading platform to automatically shut down when certain criteria is met. If you are profitable a certain amount of money then your platform shuts down. If you are losing a certain amount of money your platform shuts down. You get the picture.
So how do Binge Eaters cure this obsession? They seek consoling and direction. They are taught how to view food differently than they have before. Once they accept this is a problem and they begin to see food in a different light, the healing begins. It doesn't happen in one session, it happens with a consistent focused effort.
For traders it might be a good idea to speak with professionals and let them help you see candles and chart patterns in a different light. Once you begin to understand this, a more professional trader will appear.
Read more here! http://bit.ly/11KJ3dK
Using Pristine ESP
Just a quick reminder: if you have not been receiving these "ESP Tip of the Week" newsletters you can view all of the back issues at the ESP resource page on our website.
Pristine ESP is a stock screener/scanner that is not only extremely simple to use and to set up, but also delivers very powerful scans. One of the most powerful and useful scan windows is the proprietary "Pristine Opportunity Scanner". This window provides scans for all of the Pristine Proprietary Strategies and can be set to search all timeframes as well as all stocks in the market.
Leaving all the parameters set as wide as possible will deliver a great number of scan results. ESP is relatively picky, but also does not want to exclude possible setups that a variety of traders could find interesting. Leaving everything turned "on" in ESP will deliver between 2 to 3 hits on every strategy every 5 minutes. This may not sound like a lot, but will add up by the end of the day.
Good trading involves looking for specific setups that you know and understand. This is true in developing your trading plan, and should also be true in using a scanner. While ESP can find "everything", it is better to set ESP up to find things that you actually want to find. The first thing to do is to set the "stock types" setting to only look for the types of securities you actually trade.
Read more here! http://bit.ly/YZJCBP
Four Things That Will Change Your Trading Career: Part Three of Four
Here is the third rule, and the subject of this lesson. Traders should always follow the power of the market (or an individual stock). When the market or stock is having a bullish day, the daily bar is green, and the intraday trends are up, buy pullbacks; do not play short. When the market or stock is having a bearish day, the daily bar is red, and the intraday trends are down, short the rallies; do not buy the pullbacks.
This sounds simple, yet this rule actually addresses the number one mistake traders make in selecting plays. Most traders, especially newer traders, try to short strong stocks, or buy weak stocks. They try to 'short the top', or 'buy the bottom'. They may not even realize they have the problem. Most issues like this are not discovered unless the trader takes overt action to find the problem.
Why would so many traders pick up such a bad habit? The answer is simple; it is the same problem that causes so many traders to not trade the way they want to trade. Psychological issues step in and cause the trader to trade improperly. Catching a bottom or a top in a stock makes a trader fell like a 'hero' when right. And, if they do get an occasional trade correct, that is all they remember. They forget the dozens of losses it took to get the one winner, and remember only the glory of 'shorting that one at its high'.
There is a strategy for shorting a strong stock, or buying a weak stock, but it is only used when the stock goes 'climactic'. Unfortunately, this play seems to be difficult for most traders to recognize, and requires patience, something most new traders do not have. Below is an example. Would you short this pattern as a 'climactic sell setup' (CSS)?
Read more here! http://bit.ly/TQQf4t
You Can Trade Anything - With the Right Method
In this Chart of the Week (COTW), I am going to show you a few Pristine Trading concepts taught in Trading the Pristine Method®. The instrument used in irrelevant, since you can trade anything with the right method. However, this tradable instrument has recently turned up from a long-term downtrend and has the potential to be a huge winner in 2013.
The breakdown in September was followed by a 100% retracement of that breakdown. This is the typical price action at the start of a bottom. This was followed by a retest of the low and while this is also a 100% retracement lower, it's what often happens during a bottom process. Pristine Tip: 100 % retracements of an advance are acceptable during a bottoming process; however, it's a sign of weakness in an uptrend.
In November, there was a strong rally that created a Pristine Price Void (PPV). Creating a PPV below is bullish, but it also opens the potential for a sizable pullback. Pristine Tip: The strongest of trends do not pullback, they create new support. This is what happened as prices moved sideways into the rising 20-MA. The breakout above resistance (red line) stalled and a Money Bar (MB) setup for formed that signed a Measured Move (MM) higher. The current Topping Tail (TT) is far from the 20-MA and suggests a pullback within the uptrend.
The bottom process actually started at the beginning of 2012. Let's review how that happened. We see the shakeout early in the year that was following by a strong rally. That rally created a large PPV below. The pullback to Minor Support (ms), retest and next shakeout formed a higher low. When the rally from that low occurred, we see that a Red Bar Ignored (RBI) formed, which is the sign of bulls being in control. As prices reached resistance it's expected that selling will increase. However, the price action at that resistance was the tipoff of more buying to come. Pristine Tip: Bottoming Tails (BT) at resistance signal that buyers are stepping up on dips and still in control.
Read full article here: http://bit.ly/WWfrJW
Building Confidence
Your level of confidence (not arrogance) as a trader will have a huge positive impact on your success. The more confident you are the less time you will spend on second guessing your decisions. The more confident you are the more positive energy you will focus toward your desired outcome.
Confidence is based on two things; what you do and who you are. When a trade stops for a loss your confidence becomes rattled. This is because confidence is based on what you do. When confidence is based on who you are and your ability as a trader, one who is prepared for all outcomes whether a loss or a profit, then you are consistent with yourself no matter what the result. You will feel confident because you took the loss as intended or because you closed with a profit. You will choose correctly in either scenario! This is because confidence is based on you.
Each time you correctly make a decision in trading whether it is for a loss or gain, the more confident you will become with your ability to act accordingly to the current market situation in a manner that is appropriate.
Read full article here: http://bit.ly/11KJ3dK
Using the Pre Market Layout
Just a quick reminder: if you have not been receiving these "ESP Tip of the Week" newsletters you can view all of the back issues at the ESP resource page on our website.
Pristine ESP is so simple and easy to get started with that you will be up and running and using it effectively within 5 minutes after you download it. One of the reasons is because it comes with four preconfigured layouts that you can open immediately after downloading ESP. You may use these layouts as they are, or save them under your own name and change them as you desire. One of the layouts is the "Pristine Premarket Layout". It is designed for the active day trader who wants to study previous day's charts, the morning gap list, and perhaps look up news on some of the key stocks that morning.
When you start pristine ESP, the Launchpad opens on your desktop. Simply go to the "Layout Manager" area and select the Pristine Premarket Layout.
Read full article here! http://bit.ly/YZJCBP
Trading Less and Achieving More
Many of you know that I have a background in Stock Car racing. The more I think about it, the more I see similarities that racing and trading the markets have in common. Particularly that they both require intense focus.
I was thinking back on my racing days and I remembered a statement that my crew chief made to me. That statement not only gave me the edge in racing but virtually in every other venture that I was a part of. Are you ready for that magic set of words? Well, I think it would be prudent for me to explain a few things first.
You see, in racing, you are rewarded for being fast, having cautious aggressiveness and being the most consistent; in addition, everything is measured in fractions of seconds.... In some cases the decisions you make, or don't make for that matter, could injure you or even worse, could be fatal. When you hear these words that I am going to share with you, it may not make sense at first but experienced individuals know how important this is. OKAY, are you ready?
My crew chief said to me, "Jeff, if you want to go fast you have to slow way down." Now you can just imagine the confusion on my face when I was told this. I think my exact response was, "Huh?" He went on to explain to me that to be fast, you need to slow down in the corners so that you can set up the car for the exit. Most people drive off in a corner and man handle the car and as a result, they have a poor exit. By simply rolling into the corner rather than driving 100% into the corner, you will have more momentum in the majority of the track, which is in the straight away. I finally began to understand this concept and since then, I have applied it to many things in my life.
So, here is the big question... How does this apply to trading the markets? Many people that are embarking on a new career want the experience of success," YESTERDAY"! They "rev up" their trading account and go full-speed into the corner not giving any consideration to consistency. They don't even know what their car has under the hood. They start buying and selling stocks as if they were selling tickets to a Broadway show. No strategy, no plan, just pure adrenalin and emotion.
Read full article here: http://bit.ly/11KJ3dK
Using the Streaming Filter
Just a quick reminder: If you have not been receiving these "ESP Tip of the Week" newsletters you can view all of the back issues at the ESP resource page on our website.
This week's tip shows you how to use the Streaming Filter to create quick and easy scans that you can add to existing layouts or to create custom watchlists. Pristine ESP comes loaded with layouts so that you can get up and running quickly and easily and does not need any customization for most users. However, you may desire to create your own custom watchlists or to run quick scans on your watchlists by using the Streaming Filter. Go to the Launchpad and click on the "Streaming Filter" link. The streaming filter will open.
Click on the top radio dial called "Custom Filters" and a whole page of options will open on the right-hand side. Make sure the window is expanded large enough to see all of the options. Begin by first checking off the appropriate categories under the "Select Markets" and the "Stock Types" options. From there you may simply begin checking off the filtered items and fill in the appropriate numbers that you want to see created in your watchlist. For example, let us say you want to create a universe of all stocks between $2 and $100 with a five day average volume of at least 750,000 shares. Remember to select the appropriate options under the "Select Markets" and "Stock Types" buttons. Your screen will look like below.
From there you may hit "get results" to view the watchlist you have created. If you want to save this as your permanent "Universe" simply click on the save button and name the scan "Universe". It will then be saved under the "My Saved Filters" panel. You may then recall them at any time you like.
Read full article here: http://bit.ly/YZJCBP
Four Things That Will Change Your Trading Career: Part Two of Four
Here is the second rule, and the subject of this lesson. Traders should ONLY take trades that exactly fit the parameters outlined in their trading plan. It sounds simple, but again the facts behind this are staggering.
Of the four 'secrets', this one is the easiest to describe, and really requires no technical expertise, just discipline. However, it is arguably the one that costs most traders the most money.
Having a trading plan is simply the most important step to trading. It is the only concept that has a 100% correlation with success. 100% of successful traders use trading plans. 100% of traders who do not have plans fail. What more needs to be said? Unfortunately, there is still great aversion to having a trading plan. Here is the pattern that usually happens.
First, traders simply leave a seminar or training course and sit in front of the market with the intention of 'developing' a plan over the first few days. The trials and tribulations of trading, combined with the huge dislike for the 'work' of writing a plan keeps 80% of the traders from ever beginning to write one. Of those that begin to write one, 80% never finish, or they do finish a plan that is so poor and vague it cannot be used. Of those that do finish a reasonable plan, as bizarre as it sound, 80% of those never use it. Of those that use it, 80% never follow up properly to see if they are truly following them, or if they are effective. Where are you in this process? No. Stop. Really; go back and answer that honestly. WHERE are you in this process?
Read more here! http://bit.ly/TQQf4t
A Look Back at a the 2009 Low and COTW
This week's Chart of the Week (COTW) is a reprint from April 13th 2009. In it is an overview of some of what Pristine Trained Traders (PTT) are taught about the proper mindset for technical trading. Also is the analysis and charts of multiple time frames at that time as a PTT would do it. It setup a bias to follow for the coming days and weeks. If you were a reader at that time it guided you well.
Pristine Traded Traders (PTT) view the interaction between buyers and sellers through recognizable price patterns that signal who is in control or who is taking control. This starts with an individual candlestick, then another and another. This Bar-by-Bar analysis as I have named it continues until a pattern forms that provides a clear message for the PTT. I developed Bar-by-Bar analysis years ago as a way to say objective once in a trade and to also stay focused when not in one. This analysis once taught keeps the PTT in the moment, not stuck in the past analysis or projecting the future, which of course can never be known.
Technical Traders look at past chart patterns to predict the direction of future ones that have not yet developed. Of course, the future patterns cannot be known and a problem starts when traders imagine future patterns in their mind and what they think will form (as they see it), if the trade is profitable. If the imagined pattern does not develop traders can become conflicted. No one knows how the next bar or bars will form. The trade can go in the direction thought, but prices can do that in unimagined ways. Pristine Tip: Projecting the future beyond the current pattern's message limits possibilities.
This is where rationalization starts about the present and all sorts of problems begin for traders. The worst of those problems is not adhering to a stop-loss. Why take a stop-loss when this was not part of the future pattern imagined? This trader is in disbelief of what is, cannot except the moment and is looking for any reason for the trade to be working, even though it is not. Another trader imagines being stopped out and quickly closes a trade for a small gain or loss, but the current pattern has not signaled that there is anything wrong with this trade.
In both examples, the traders were not focus on the present. Price patterns can develop in endless ways and once you are in a trade there is no point imagining what isn't there. PTTs have tools like Bar-by-Bar analysis to keep them in alignment with what is. Traders must have confidence in a method used and a trading plan to use that method.
Where patterns form in relation to prior support, resistance, what is the prevailing trend, the length of retracements, analysis of multiple time frames being aligned or not, whether relative strength or weakness has been shown, volume analysis and current market internals all are considered. The more of these that are aligned together, the greater the odds of a successful trade. Knowing how to interpret it all, in a systematic way is what makes up the Pristine Method® Seminars.
Following it the analysis and charts from 2009.
Read more here! http://bit.ly/WWfrJW
Recourses Available to ESP Users
Just a quick reminder: if you have not been receiving these "ESP Tip of the Week" newsletters you can view all of the back issues at the ESP resource page on our website.
This week's tip is to make sure you are aware of the various resources that are available to you as a Pristine ESP user. Pristine ESP is so easy to use that accessing this very powerful stock screener does not even need any explanation at all. You begin using the product by simply signing up for a one week trial by supplying your name and e-mail on our website. (If these links do not take you there, simply go to our home page, services, stock screener). You will receive an e-mail with download instructions and a short letter of explanation regarding how to use ESP. From that point we tell people that you will be using ESP effectively within 5 minutes. To make sure that everyone has a full understanding of all of the features of ESP, we have a resource center. Here you will find the following things to make sure you understand all of the features of ESP, including some of the more advanced options you can do with this product.
Read full article here: http://bit.ly/YZJCBP
Sponsored by http://www.Mastertrader.com
A Step Back From the Day-to-Day
As we near the end of the year, here is a look at the long-term to put the short-term gyrations in perspective. For the very bullish case, you want to see the markets consolidate at the top of the range. That is likely to be months. Pullbacks ideally hold the area of first support. A move to the area of second support makes the bullish case very questionable and would at least suggest a much longer period of consolidation. For the ultra-bearish, a clear break below last support, and tent-housing communities could be high-end living for many.
Read full article here http://bit.ly/WWfrJW
Four Things That Will Change Your Trading Career: Part One of Four
Here is the first rule, and the subject of this lesson. New traders are often so bad at managing trades, that their results would be incredibly improved by not managing at all. If you do not manage, it means you let your trade play out until it hits the target(s), or stops out. Nothing else. This is called 'all or nothing' trading.
There are various ways to manage trades. Management should be a detailed part of your trading plan. Many do not even consider 'all or nothing', an option. Many management systems can work beautifully. So what is the problem that makes it the case that traders are better off doing 'nothing'? The problem is that traders do not FOLLOW them. Due to the emotions of trading, traders find excuses to override them. Most new trader's goals are to lock in small profits to avoid losses at all costs, and they change their management in the middle of the trade. Do you do this? There is a 90% chance you do.
Here is how to find out. Go BACK in your records (do not do this going forward, it will not work) and take your last 20 trades and write down your entry, stop, target, and actual exit. Now go back to the chart, and see what would have happened if you did not manage the trade. Simply see if you hit the stop or the target first. Make a new column on your sheet and write this down. Then figure the profit for the 'new' column called 'all or nothing'. If the trade stopped, you lose your risk amount, whatever it is. If you hit a target, you may have a gain that is multiple times your loss (if you didn't have a target, figure what would have happened just holding to the end of the day). Compare which way you would have made more money, and be sitting down when you do this. Feel free to email your results to paul@pristine.com. By the way, if you feel like you really are 'getting' the concepts of trading, and you find you have good chart reading abilities and you have more winners that losers, but your account is not growing, you are going to be in this category.
This works, because many good plays get to very nice targets. However, if the trader is not in the trade, they never make the big money. Many traders get in the habit of taking normal losses (they have learned to follow stops) but they take small gains. It is hard to make money like this. Below is the five minute chart of ZQK, with an inset of the daily chart.
Read full article here http://bit.ly/TQQf4t
Trading: Trend Following vs. Counter-Trend
If there's one trading dilemma that tends to inspire the most heated discussions among professionals and novices alike, it would have to be the one dealing with the decision to trade "with the trend" or "against the trend". Countless books have been written on the subject, and although there are no definitive answers, I've decided to set the record straight in regards to the realities of these two approaches and the proper way to handle each.
First of all, let's define these two approaches for greater clarity. For our purposes, we'll consider "trend following" any strategy looking to take advantage of a directional move in the context of an existing trend within the timeframe in question. This requires that we make sure that there is an existing trend and then looking for tradable patterns to take advantage of a continuation of said trend. Technical traders learn to recognize the parameters that define a trend, and then look to "cherry pick" among the healthiest trends available (Ref. Trading the Pristine Method® (TPM) and Advanced Technical Strategies (ATS) seminars). On the other hand, "counter-trend" strategies revolve around taking advantage of perceived "excesses" in the directional move of a trend, looking to capture the retracements toward some form of "median" or "support/resistance" area. Although I'm obviously biased toward one of these styles (Trend following), allow me to discuss the pros and cons of each and the way to use each style to obtain the best results within a given trading environment.
Trend-following styles base their approach on a simple principle: The trend displays the direction of the group in control (Buyers or sellers) and thus, trend-following traders will want to take positions using reliable patterns to try and take advantage of this potential continuation of the current direction, at least until the trend changes. These traders have developed "objective" ways to define a trend, its quality and odds of continuation. The idea is a rather simple one...trend-followers want to swim with the current. Whenever there's an established trend, the group in control (buyers for uptrends and sellers for downtrends) tends to push prices in the direction of the trend, at least until the imbalance of supply/demand created ceases to exist. Such imbalances create "momentum" that helps them achieve larger moves when they're right. How long can any given trend last? That's anyone's guess, although the analysis of supply/demand levels (Ref. title="technical trading"Pristine's ATS seminar) can sometimes help determine that with great precision. There will be a time when trading in the direction of a given trend becomes higher risk, because the trend could be "extended" or nearing support/resistance areas. In the end, these traders will have confidence in the trend at hand as long as the objective conditions that created and fuel the trend remain in place, looking to trade the patterns included in their respective Trading Plans within the trend. When said trend changes, they'll reevaluate the trading direction and use a new set of tactics better suited to the new trend.
Counter-trend traders try to capitalize from those "retracements" toward the median price that typically take place within a trend. If you take any given chart displaying a decent trend, you'll notice that these "retracement" moves do happen, but when compared with the usual moves in the direction of a trend, they tend to be smaller in size and shorter in time. Execution also tends to be an issue when dealing with "counter-trend" trades, as the act of swimming "against the current" makes for greater levels of "slippage" when stops are hit (In many cases the "stop" of a counter-trend trader will be the entry signal of a trend-follower" and since the trend is in the opposite direction...). That's not to say they're not tradable, but the clues mentioned above should set the stage for the way in which a Pristine Trained Trader should normally handle these (Usually as short-term "scalp" trades instead of looking for holding periods similar to those that usually are expected when taking a "trend-following" position). The Pristine Method® seminar series teaches traders very specific parameters to trade some of these "counter-trend" events, looking for just those with the greater odds of producing a decent move.
In the end, I'm a trend-following trader for most of my trades, looking to focus on the direction created by the stronger group of traders. Then I'll apply the strategies I learned in my Pristine education to profit from these trends, and when the trend changes I'll have the necessary objectivity to change with it. That's the professional way.
Also, Pristine has been nominated for the Trader Planet STAR Award in the categories of Best Trading Course and Best Live Trading Room. We need your vote. Please go to http://www.traderplanet.com/l/9Kc and vote. You can vote everyday!
Trade Well!
Jeff Yates
Contributing Editor
Interactive Trading Room Moderator
Gap and Intra-Day Trading Specialist
Instructor and Traders Coach
Pristine Capital Holdings, Inc.
1-800-340-6477
http://www.Pristine.com
Trading Lesson of the Week
A free Pristine service published every Thursday
Sponsored by http://www.Mastertrader.com
Trade it Short!
Pristine Facebook Group Post
http://www.facebook.com/groups/69054992817/
Sponsored by http://www.Mastertrader.com
With the bias from the higher time frames confirming patterns should be traded short. However, if you missed the move from the high point you can take a PSS or an M-top that creates resistance. Also, if a Money Bar setup formed right after the breakdown take it.
All the best,
Pristine Capital Holdings, Inc.
1-800-340-6477
Counselor@Pristine.com
http://www.Pristine.com
Pristine – A trading style often imitated, But NEVER matched
Pristine Facebook Group
http://www.facebook.com/groups/69054992817/
Pristine Facebook Page
http://www.facebook.com/PristineOnlineTrading
Using Settings in ESP
Just a quick reminder: if you have not been receiving these "ESP Tip of the Week" newsletters you can view all of the back issues at the ESP resource page on our website.
This week's tip is about the settings that are available for any window in Pristine ESP. The settings option is the little "wrench" icon at the bottom of any ESP scanning window. Below is using an example from the Pristine Opportunity Scanner.
First of all it should be noted that every different type of window has its own settings but that those settings will apply to every window of the same type. For example, one type of window is the Pristine ESP 4 Opportunity Scanner. When you click on the settings for that window, it affects only that type of window but will affect all instances of that window. The same is true for any of the other windows; such as those created with the filter builder, as a watchlist, or the market view style of windows.
Although each type of window has its own settings, the settings manager looks the same for all. Note that you can also access each of the unique window setting directly through the settings manage through the pull down buttons at the top.
Below that you may click on the first tab which is labeled "settings". Here you can play with the various settings to change the color and overall appearance of the windows. You may add tones, borders, and assign the coloring of symbols as you choose. This is also where you can make the election to have ESP "beep" whenever new symbols are updated to the scans.
Note that the settings manager for the Pristine ESP 4 Opportunity Scanner does not allow a change in the background or ticker symbol color schemes because it is preconfigured to color code to the various Pristine patterns.
By clicking on the second tab labeled "fonts", you may change the fonts used, the size of the font, and the size of the cells that surround them.
Using the smallest font size and smaller cell padding allows you to fit a lot of information into the window as long as it remains readable to you. If you have more room or want to see larger font sizes you may choose to do so.
Note also that the settings manager supersedes layout manager. In other words, when you change settings they will remain in effect for all layouts as if they had been saved to the layout. If you move to a new layout and wish I to have the settings return, you must go back to the settings manager.
Look for more exciting tips in next week's "Pristine ESP Stock Screener Trading Tips". Click here to check out the other resources available to you when using Pristine ESP on our website . You can learn more about ESP or take a free trial by clicking on the link on the right side of this page. Also, do not forget to attend the free ESP training class every Wednesday at two o'clock.
Pristine Capital Holdings, Inc.
1-800-340-6477
Counselor@Pristine.com
http://www.Pristine.com
Pristine – A trading style often imitated, But NEVER matched
Pristine ESP Stock Screener Trading Tips
A free Pristine service published every Wednesday
Sponsored by http://www.Mastertrader.com
Right Clicking on a Symbol
Just a quick reminder: if you have not been receiving these "ESP Tip of the Week" newsletters you can view all of the back issues at the ESP resource page on our website.
This week's tip is about the options available to you when you "right click" on a symbol in any list in Pristine ESP.
When you right-click you will have a context menu pop-up similar to the one below.
The top three options are not active currently, nor will they be in the immediate future. This is for the possibility of linking order execution to your platform.
The next option is "Add to Watchlist" and it allows you to take the current symbol and add it to anyone of your existing watchlists. This will add it to one of the built-in watchlist, or to a watchlist you have created. The option below that is greyed out and again is under future development.
Next you will see the option to "Add Banned List". Sometimes you will run across a symbol that you never want to see again. Perhaps you imported a larger watchlist, but want to remove some of the symbols. Perhaps you have a stock you simply do not like and you never want to see again. The most common reason will be when stocks get bought out and for a long period of time they continue to trade at a fixed price.
Check out the chart of MITI (at the time you read this it may no longer be a valid symbol). It was bought out and gapped way up and is simply going dead sideways on the daily chart. This is a symbol you would very likely never trade, so you can "add it to the banned list" and you will never see it again. If you need to view or reset the banned list, you can do that with the next option.
The next three options simply allow you to select the symbol, or all symbols in the list. The reason you would want to select all the symbols in the list is so that you can export them to a text or Excel document. The export feature is the last option in this context menu.
Look for more exciting tips in next week's "Pristine ESP Stock Screener Trading Tips". Make sure to check out the other resources available to you when using Pristine ESP on our website. You can take a free trial of ESP. Also, do not forget to attend the free ESP training class every Wednesday at two o'clock.
Pristine Capital Holdings, Inc.
1-800-340-6477
Counselor@Pristine.com
http://www.Pristine.com
Pristine – A trading style often imitated, But NEVER matched
Pristine ESP Stock Screener Trading Tips
A free Pristine service published every Wednesday
Sponsored by http://www.Mastertrader.com
Right Clicking on a Symbol
Just a quick reminder: if you have not been receiving these "ESP Tip of the Week" newsletters you can view all of the back issues at the ESP resource page on our website.
This week's tip is about the options available to you when you "right click" on a symbol in any list in Pristine ESP.
When you right-click you will have a context menu pop-up similar to the one below.
The top three options are not active currently, nor will they be in the immediate future. This is for the possibility of linking order execution to your platform.
The next option is "Add to Watchlist" and it allows you to take the current symbol and add it to anyone of your existing watchlists. This will add it to one of the built-in watchlist, or to a watchlist you have created. The option below that is greyed out and again is under future development.
Next you will see the option to "Add Banned List". Sometimes you will run across a symbol that you never want to see again. Perhaps you imported a larger watchlist, but want to remove some of the symbols. Perhaps you have a stock you simply do not like and you never want to see again. The most common reason will be when stocks get bought out and for a long period of time they continue to trade at a fixed price.
Check out the chart of MITI (at the time you read this it may no longer be a valid symbol). It was bought out and gapped way up and is simply going dead sideways on the daily chart. This is a symbol you would very likely never trade, so you can "add it to the banned list" and you will never see it again. If you need to view or reset the banned list, you can do that with the next option.
The next three options simply allow you to select the symbol, or all symbols in the list. The reason you would want to select all the symbols in the list is so that you can export them to a text or Excel document. The export feature is the last option in this context menu.
Look for more exciting tips in next week's "Pristine ESP Stock Screener Trading Tips". Make sure to check out the other resources available to you when using Pristine ESP on our website. You can take a free trial of ESP. Also, do not forget to attend the free ESP training class every Wednesday at two o'clock.
Pristine Capital Holdings, Inc.
1-800-340-6477
Counselor@Pristine.com
http://www.Pristine.com
Pristine – A trading style often imitated, But NEVER matched
Pristine ESP Stock Screener Trading Tips
A free Pristine service published every Wednesday
Sponsored by http://www.Mastertrader.com
Sometimes it's So Easy to Make Money
While there are many concepts and nuances to be learned to be a complete technical trader and/or investor, there are a few basic criteria that if followed can make making money easy or relatively easier. Of course, this requires having the patience and discipline to wait for these high probability setups to occur. Can you do it? I will show an example of what to look for. Then it's up to you.
In the weekly chart of Google (GOOG), prices broke above price resistance with strong momentum. This was followed by the first pullback after that strength to Minor Support (mS). As a general rule, the first pullback to mS after a strong momentum break above resistance will always be buyable. This is based on the basic concept that resistance once broken will become support.
This area of mS is where we know buyers will be. Now we wait to see the price action of that actually happening in this time frame and the daily time frame. This concept can be used in a combination of lower time frames as well. It also applies to any tradable instrument; that being Forex, E-minis, Commodities.
The basics covered - Prices have made a strong move above price resistance and we wait for the first pullback to mS where buyers are. Then wait for confirming price action in that area.
Moving down to the daily time frame, GOOG was not looking bullish at all before the turn. However, realize that the lower time frame never looks bullish when the higher time frame is pulling back to mS. For example, if you saw the EUR/USD currency pair in a 60-min. uptrend that was pulling back to mS, the 5-min. time frame would be in a downtrend. The expectation is that the lower time frame is going to turn in the area of mS in the higher time frame. Now wait for confirming the price action in the lower time frame before taking a position.
As GOOG moved into the mS area shown on the weekly time frame, the confirming price action began (in this time frame) with a gap higher and then a strong close into resistance. Here is where it gets interesting and it will become obvious if the big money buyers are continuing to step up. We want to see that big green bar's low and ideally its mid-point defended by the buyers.
While the buy signal candle came five days later, it could have come after only two days. There is no set number and this is where our Bar by Bar analysis concept comes in to tell us when GOOG will move. Bar by Bar analysis combines each new bar's meaning within the context of our bigger picture analysis. One bar can be meaningless in of itself, but when combined with our bias and the other bars, it's a powerful concept.
The basics covered - While our lower time frame is moving down, the higher time frame area of mS is where prices should produce the price action that confirms that area and reversal of some type happens. Reversals can happening in many ways, so do not be set on it having to happen in "your way." Once the action occurs find an entry signal using Bar by Bar analysis.
I have shown you the basics of what to look for in those easy money situations using two time frames; I used the weekly and daily. We can also take that bias into the intra-day time frames as I explained above with EUR/USD, but it could be anything. Now, let's look at some detail that occurred on the 60-Min. of GOOG that showed the "early turn" and a couple of Pristine concepts to understand the price action of the turn.
As GOOG was trending lower into the area of mS on the weekly time frame a 60-Min. bearish Wide Range Bar (-WRB) formed accompanied with a huge volume spike. That's a bearish event, but remember this was right into the weekly mS! That was followed by a stall and bullish Wide Range Bar (+WRB), that's a very bullish group of events that started the early turn.
Pristine Tip: That 3-bar reversal was the Bottoming Tail (BT) on the daily time frame. The Advanced Candlestick reader understands how different arrangements of candles can mean the same thing in the same time frame and/or different time frames. Names of candlesticks are meaningless and are more likely to confuse traders that use them or worse by causing avoidable losses and/or missed opportunities.
Once GOOG gapped up and ran higher a Pristine Price Void (PPV) was created. In other words, there was now no price support below for traders to bid at. Support would need to be "created" for traders to bid at. Creating support and resistance is a powerful concept used by Pristine Traded Traders (PTT) to see where the big money is entering prior to existing support or resistance. Pristine Tip: Strong upward price moves often do not pullback to support, they create it.
With the bias from the time frames shown above, intra-day traders could move to lower time frames of their choice to find confirming buy setups to enter. At this point, this is still the case.
Side note, while I have used a 20-MA on all time frames. It has no relevance to being actual support, resistance or the trend. It is simply a "visual aid" to speed the analysis once understood.
This coming week, we will have our Holiday Party Free Workshop on Thursday December 6th. In the workshop, I'll explain my journey to understanding price action and how to use it without indicators, drawn lines of any type or other noise on the chart. Stop in for a gift of a couple of educational hours with us. We'll also be giving away a seminar package and other gifts.
Talk there!
Pristine Capital Holdings, Inc.
1-800-340-6477
Counselor@Pristine.com
http://www.Pristine.com
Pristine – A trading style often imitated, But NEVER matched
Chart of the Week
A free Pristine service published on select Mondays
Sponsored by http://www.Mastertrader.com
What Causes Failure? Part Three of Three
Good Morning All:
Over the years, I have written many articles; hundreds, maybe even thousands if you include partial repeats and every short lesson. Sometimes the lesson is a partial re-write, or a new take, or a new way to explain or organize the information.
While there are many summaries out there on various topics, and while the topics on this lesson may be found somewhere else, I began a three part series two weeks ago answering a very direct question: What causes failure in trading? This has been a no-nonsense, nuts and bolts look at the question, not a philosophical dissertation. Two weeks ago I discussed 'discipline' as the first true reason for failure. Last week I discussed reason number two; the inability to focus. Today I will discuss the third reason, which will end this series. There may be other reasons, but these are the top three. To clarify again, most people actually fail because they do not get an education. However, that is a decision that people consciously make. I want to discuss why the people who really try, can still fail.
What Causes Failure? Part Three of Three
Reason number three is the inability for traders to plan and follow up. This is a fairly broad topic, I agree. However, it has to be in there as one of the top three. Again, these three are not in any particular order. Yes, all of these topics are somewhat interrelated. Many may argue that this one is the most important. But what good is a plan, if you do not have the discipline to follow it in the first place? What good is a plan, if it is so expansive no one can review it accurately to see if it was followed?
When I talk about planning, I am not talking about planning with a small letter 'p'. I am not talking about preparing a watchlist for the day, or checking the earnings schedule. I am talking about planning the a big letter 'P'. I am talking about the Trading Plan. When I talk about a Trading Plan, I mean a very detailed plan or what you are allowed to trade every day, when and how you trade it, how you enter, how you mange, when you can change it, what strategies, and all the money management rules. This is not a 'cut and paste' from TPM or ATS. It is a well-planned version or what YOU are going to do every day, after acquiring all that knowledge from TPM and/or ATS. To make this simple, if you day trade without a trading plan you follow religiously every day, you WILL fail. You 'may' survive as a swing trader, depending on your background. We teach and coach Trading Plans primarily in Our Trading and Dynamic Labs. They are talked about in TPM and ATS and heavily discussed in HSTB also.
The other half of this third reason for failure is the inability to follow up. No Trading Plan is worth anything if it is not followed. Many traders have plans, but they sit in drawers. We teach a variety of methods of follow up that include printing charts, trading logs, and eliminating mistakes. Without these methods, there is little value to a trading plan.
Closing Comments:
This is the end of this three part series. To be sure, the number one reason traders fail is they do not receive a quality education. That is what we do at Pristine, provide the best education in the business. What I wanted to address here is, even after the education, why do some still fail. Lack of discipline, lack of focus, and the failure to create a trading plan and to follow up to make sure those first three are in place. That sums it up. Do you have these three in place? Eliminate these three, and you will have an outstanding chance for success.
Pristine Capital Holdings, Inc.
1-800-340-6477
Counselor@Pristine.com
http://www.Pristine.com
Pristine – A trading style often imitated, But NEVER matched
The Eyes of a Pristine Trained Trader
A free Pristine service published every Monday
Sponsored by http://www.Mastertrader.com
Just Hit The Mouse!
Trading is one of the most fascinating, challenging and rewarding businesses on planet earth. But it perplexes me to hear the vast and varied vehement opinions from the bulls and bears in the media and elsewhere. Are they trying to talk themselves (and their followers) into being correct to save their ego - and wallet? Are they trying to become heroes by saying, in retrospect, that they "nailed" the market direction? (Note: you will only hear from that minority after the fact, with most disappearing into the night.)
The Pristine Trained Trader (PTT) focuses on the only thing that matters: objective candlestick price and volume data. Period. Pristine President and CEO Greg Capra, confidently and succinctly states it this way: "It is what it is. You must react to what is happening in the moment, or you will be trading in the past, in a 'mirage'."
Traders are bombarded daily with market opinion from a plethora of other traders, analysts, and commentators, all offering their opinions on stocks and market direction. And so many of these traders struggle with this deluge of information, trying often - in vain - to make an objective decision by processing massive amounts of subjective data. My approach is direct and simple: give me a compelling chart setup and sufficient liquidity, and I will trade anything that moves - just ask my students!
In the bigger scheme of things, the source of the news is irrelevant to me, unless, of course, it gives me insight into other stocks or sector plays.
The market offers tremendous opportunity for you to assert your views through money -- through your buy and sell orders. So when I hear these people touting their view and stocks, my immediate reaction is, "Blah, Blah, Blah. Just hit the mouse." Point your mouse to your order execution module in your trading platform and hit either the buy button or the sell button. That's it. If you think a financial instrument is going higher, buy it; if lower, short it. When all is said and done, price movement will dictate who made the correct choice.
Unfortunately, the financial markets are designed for only the minority to win consistently -- not the majority. The uneducated public is unfortunately part of the latter group. I want to be buying when my technical analysis shows that demand is overtaking supply with the larger time frames on major support. When the stock becomes well known after a robust rally, good company news, and even becomes the cover story on some business or financial publication, that is the time to sell at the first sign of slowing momentum.
I encourage you to attend any of the FREE workshops that interest you.
Hope to see you soon in our live interactive trading and education rooms or a workshop.
Jeff Yates
Contributing Editor
Interactive Trading Room Moderator
Gap and Intra-Day Trading Specialist
Instructor and Traders Coach
Pristine Capital Holdings, Inc.
1-800-340-6477
Counselor@Pristine.com
http://www.Pristine.com
Pristine – A trading style often imitated, But NEVER matched
Trading Lesson of the Week
A free Pristine service published every Thursday
Sponsored by http://Mastertrader.com
Right Clicking on a Symbol
Just a quick reminder: if you have not been receiving these "ESP Tip of the Week" newsletters you can view all of the back issues at the ESP resource page on our website.
This week's tip is about the options available to you when you "right click" on a symbol in any list in Pristine ESP.
When you right-click you will have a context menu pop-up similar to the one below.
The top three options are not active currently, nor will they be in the immediate future. This is for the possibility of linking order execution to your platform.
The next option is "Add to Watchlist" and it allows you to take the current symbol and add it to anyone of your existing watchlists. This will add it to one of the built-in watchlist, or to a watchlist you have created. The option below that is greyed out and again is under future development.
Next you will see the option to "Add Banned List". Sometimes you will run across a symbol that you never want to see again. Perhaps you imported a larger watchlist, but want to remove some of the symbols. Perhaps you have a stock you simply do not like and you never want to see again. The most common reason will be when stocks get bought out and for a long period of time they continue to trade at a fixed price.
Check out the chart of MITI (at the time you read this it may no longer be a valid symbol). It was bought out and gapped way up and is simply going dead sideways on the daily chart. This is a symbol you would very likely never trade, so you can "add it to the banned list" and you will never see it again. If you need to view or reset the banned list, you can do that with the next option.
The next three options simply allow you to select the symbol, or all symbols in the list. The reason you would want to select all the symbols in the list is so that you can export them to a text or Excel document. The export feature is the last option in this context menu.
Look for more exciting tips in next week's "Pristine ESP Stock Screener Trading Tips". Make sure to check out the other resources available to you when using Pristine ESP on our website. You can take a free trial of ESP. Also, do not forget to attend the free ESP training class every Wednesday at two o'clock.
Pristine Capital Holdings, Inc.
1-800-340-6477
Counselor@Pristine.com
http://www.Pristine.com
Pristine – A trading style often imitated, But NEVER matched
Pristine ESP Stock Screener Trading Tips
A free Pristine service published every Wednesday
Sponsored by http://www.Mastertrader.com
Good Morning All:
Over the years, I have written many articles. Hundreds, maybe even thousands if you include partial repeats and every short lesson. Sometimes the lesson is a partial re-write, or a new take, or a new way to explain or organize the information.
While there are many summaries out there on various topics, and while the topics on this lesson may be found somewhere else, I began last week answering a very direct question. What causes failure in trading? This will be a no-nonsense, nuts and bolts look at the question, not a philosophical dissertation. I will discuss the top three over three letters. Last week I discussed 'discipline'. Today I will discuss the second of the three reasons for failure. To clarify again, most people actually fail because they do not get an education. However, that is decision people make. I want to discuss why the people who really try, can still fail.
What Causes Failure? Part Two of Three
Last week I opened here telling you of an inescapable truth I discovered long ago. Everyone who enters trading is exactly the same, and stay the same for a long time. Reason number two for failure continues that tradition. Reason number two, is the lack of, or the inability to, focus.
Yes, all of these topics are somewhat interrelated. Nevertheless, they each also have their own merit. Discipline and lack of focus are not the same thing. You may not have focus due to a lack of discipline, but you may not have focus by design.
Many traders come to the market with the view that they have to become the master of all around them. They feel they need to learn about economic data, currency rates, foreign politics, and the list goes on. When traders learn technical analysis, the feel the need to put everything to use. I have seen trading plans that have 14 strategies spelled out for a new trader. Yet, all of that information is not going to change what a stock does that gaps over a red bar and pulls back to minor support. It will not change what happens to a stock that is in a perfect 15-minute uptrend. Take Trading the Pristine Method (TPM), or if you have, take Advanced Technical Strategies (2). Learn what is out there. Find what you love, become an expert.
We often make trading way more 'complicated' than it has to be. Yes, there is a lot to learn. But learn everything, then focus on one thing to make money. Maybe two. Maybe three someday. Learn them all at once, become an expert one at a time. It is no different from going to school. You need to learn math, language, and all that is taught. It prepares your brain to continue learning, and much of that information is needed. However, to make better than average money in the workplace, you have to specialize in one thing. To make big money, you have be an expert at one thing.
Closing Comments:
Perhaps you have read the book "Market Wizards" by Jack Schwager. You should take note of the point of the book. In this book, the author sets out to interview 25 successful traders to determine what they have in common. He wants to find out what strategy it is that they all do, or how the strategies are similar. He finds two things that all traders have in common. One of them, the one we care about, was that no two did anything remotely similar in strategy, however, they all focused on one unique thing, waited for it to happened, and did only that. Focus.
Pristine Capital Holdings, Inc.
1-800-340-6477
Counselor@Pristine.com
http://www.Pristine.com
Pristine – A trading style often imitated, But NEVER matched
The Eyes of a Pristine Trained Trader
A free Pristine service published every Monday
Sponsored by http://www.Mastertrader.com
Followers
|
3
|
Posters
|
|
Posts (Today)
|
0
|
Posts (Total)
|
125
|
Created
|
03/22/11
|
Type
|
Premium
|
Moderator Pristine Trading | |||
Assistants |
Volume | |
Day Range: | |
Bid Price | |
Ask Price | |
Last Trade Time: |