How To Be A Trader - Part 1

Today’s guest is Markus Heitkoetter, CEO of Rockwell Trading and author of “The Complete Guide to Day Trading.”  Today Markus is going to share with you Part 1 in a series of articles on what he believes it takes to be a trader.

According to Google, "how to be a trader" is one of the most active search terms. It seems that these days many people are interested in becoming a trader.

But what does it take to become a trader? What are the steps?

In this article series you will learn how to be a trader. Continue reading "How To Be A Trader - Part 1"

POLL: LinkedIn...Could-a, Would-a, Should-a?

Wait a minute...is it 2011 or 1999? LinkedIn's (LNKD) IPO was originally priced at $45. However, it opened at $83 yesterday morning and was at $90 in no time (where it remained for most of the morning). It sky rocketed to $120 later on, and then dipped to a closing of nearly $95!

At $90 per share, LinkedIn would be valued at $8.5 billion...one of the largest tech IPOs since Google (GOOG) in 2004. If you were to factor those numbers in for your calculations, LinkedIn is trading at nearly 570 times last year's earnings! This adds some controversy over the worthiness of its current price tag considering that LinkedIn valued itself at a mere $2.32 a share in the spring of 2009.

Which brings us to the question:

Do you think that LinkedIn is worth it's hype?

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MarketClub TV (4/21/11)

First off, I want to congratulate Wayne Byron on his free one year membership to MarketClub. Although Wayne is already a current member, he will receive an additional year free to his membership.

Now down to business. The dollar hit a new low today. If you watched my afternoon update, you know that gold hit our predicted level of 1,500. Still not as strong as silver, but what's next for gold?

I also talk about "stops" in tonight's video. Whether it be in regards to percentage, the dollar, or our very own trade triangles, you don't want to miss it.

You may not want to rush into google, but you will have to tune in to find out why.

Also, Cal from Toronto has a great question that we discuss. I look forward to hearing your questions next Thursday on MarketClub TV!

Click here to view MarketClub’s full Livestream library

Every success,
Adam

Is now the time for a bear market rally?

I've been in contact and reading the blog Psychologyofthecall.com for a few months now and from what I've read they seem to be on top of a number of issues. I asked them to answer one question for me...Is now the time for a bear market rally? Here's their answer:

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The ongoing global financial crisis has made perma bears look like geniuses, yet the Psychology of the Call team (POTC) senses the imminent appearance of a bear market rally for four good reasons.

1) President elect Obama's first speech and chief of staff pick, Mr. Rom Emanuel, were very bearish for the market; we are confident both of those negativities will change soon. POTC believes Mr. Obama's goal in the coming days and weeks will be to do everything popular to be re-elected to a second term in just four short years. He understands that half of U.S. citizens are in some way affected by the mayhem of the recent sell off; Americans expect transparent leadership and policies now.

It's that second pivotal term where Presidents are more inclined to show their true colors, especially in terms of openly hell bent left or right policy. We remain confident and are prepared for a lag effect Thanksgiving Obama rally to begin this week, as his centrist appointments and policies begin leaking through hedge fund insiders. We are not waiting for New Year to enter long positions, as that seems to be the easiest and most ‘herdish’ trade today: we remain forward thinking contrarians and are going long the S&P emini contracts into Thursday's death spike.

We believe President elect Obama will appoint some Wall Street friendly names to his first administration, doing so to satisfy his political appetite to win that critical no holds barred second term in 2012.

Yet, if he chooses to select only hard line left wingers, the market will not rally. After witnessing the extremely well planned and hard fought victory, we would be shocked to see a concentrated (leftist) cabinet:. We are confident that will not occur.

2) The pressure from Warren Buffett on President elect Obama to call for a change in mark to market accounting from the SEC, or announce a huge infrastructure stimulus plan plays a factor in our short term bullish call as well.

Berkshire Hathaway just reported a horrible quarter, and even if Buffett is okay with paying higher taxes, we know he does not want to see his almost perfect legacy wither, wilt, and die in his waning years.
Other recent Buffett investments in Goldman Sachs (GS) and General Electric (GE) have underperformed as well, and both of those companies will survive this wickedly panicked market.

3) The financial sector could begin to stabilize as it shrinks. The S&P is heavily weighted with oversold financials.  Approximately 20% of the S&P value lies in financials, so be cautious. Regional banks could begin bouncing with 50%+ buy-out premiums. Rumors abound that Citigroup (C) is very close to bidding for a regional bank with government TARP money.
Story here

This would ignite a type of forest fire under financials, forcing many perma bears to cover their seemingly bullet proof short positions.

We will take advantage of what we view as monopoly money about to be used to boost stocks like Regions Financial (RF) and/or Suntrust Bank (STI).

4) Intel's (INTC) (see MarketClub's latest prediction here, ed note) report of lowering numbers after hours creates the perfect set-up for hedge funds to close or enter new positions before they step foot on Capital Hill, Thursday. Please remember these managers are either long, short, or in cash at this point, so we expect the INTC news to shake out the wounded, weak, and desperate long herd, and flush out the dynamic kings of cash, specifically Steven Cohen and Paul Jones: Story here

These managers are patiently waiting to take over your shares when your fear factor boils over Thursday, turning their greed gauge on auto pilot in search of inexpensive generals. Will you allow them that satisfaction?

Four examples of best-in-breed generals at these levels are: Apple (AAPL), America Movil (AMX), Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME), and Google (GOOG).

POTC feels the S&P index could settle above 1,000 by Thanksgiving, and as the bear rally gains momentum from one or two other positive developments mentioned above, then 1,100 on the S&P could well be reached before we wish you a Happy New Year.

Psychologyofthecall.com

Trader's Blog First Ever CONTEST!

We've all been there....looking at a chart a year later and saying to ourselves "WHY, OH WHY, didn't I just pull the trigger!?!?!" The chart shows us the sad truth that if only we would have gotten long, we would have had 500% returns, an island in Fiji, and 6 cars!

But we didn't...

We here at The Trader's Blog, would like to know what trade would have been your best...if only you would have taken it? Did you see something special in Google at 100.00 in 2004? Was Spot Gold primed at 256 in 2001? What made you stay out of Wheat around the 500.00 mark? Whatever your story we want to hear about it!

We'll be giving away an Apple iTouch!

How you enter:

Comment today and tell us what that trade would have been...and what you would have bought with the returns!! Here are some trades that we in the office wished we would have done:

Bob F. "I wish I would have gotten long USO February of 2007, when Crude just started to move!"

Melissa P. "Playing the AMEX_SKF which is an ultra short financial ETF around April when Bear's crashed."

Lindsay T. "Shorted NASDAQ_TRMP on our last monthly Trade Triangle at 16.51 in January of this year...that would have been huge!"

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Here are the details:

1. This contest open for 2 WEEKS!

2. Winner will be picked randomly by software to remove human errors.

3. One entry per person!

4. Winner will be contacted via email.

5. No wrong answers, participation counts as an entry.

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iTouch and Apple are a registered trademark of Apple, Inc. All rights reserved. INO.com is not partner with Apple for this contest and do not hold any type of partnership.