Biggest Loss:  AMZN Call – $5K to $100 (basically 100%)

Biggest Gain: ENPH shares – initial buy (4/20)  $37.41, current avg $51.84, current price $181.39 = 249.92%

Greatest words ever written/spoken – the main tenet of the Swing. It is in this method that you are “bullish”. When you buy a stock/name, you do so because you clearly believe its price/value will go up – this is simply because price increases due to buying. Thus, as price rises, in order to affirm that you are a bull, technically you should be buying on the way up. If you buy a stock and sell it on the same day, you are not bullish on that name, & it is false to say so. A bear can also wield the Swing, but his/hers can only reach 0 – the true Swing is infinite. 

Understanding price charts, price action, the basics of technical analysis, etc. is very much the crux of the Way, especially if you are of the Retail. Charting upgrades your ‘play’ from simple gambling to ‘intelligent’ game-planning – instead of buying & hoping/wishing for the best, you buy confidently based off the potential you have assessed beforehand. It is said that these stocks/names are “more than just lines on a chart”. This is very much true – however, the chart can help one somewhat discern the history/health of its corresponding company. At times when discussing a company, one of the first things commented on is the price history of its stock. The chart itself is seen as a form of advertisement, enticing investors & traders alike to buy. In this day & age of trading, it is almost impossible not to utilize price charts when developing any strategy or even anticipating the strategy of others, friend & foe alike. In all, your goal is to determine your signal to buy & your signal to sell. It all begins and ends with the Chart.

Success is defined as “the accomplishment of an aim or purpose.” The way to success in the Market as a trader is to win consistently. In order to win, there must exist a target/goal or (dare I say) even a game. If there is a game, you must learn rules & constraints. Within these constraints, experience must be gained through application & method testing in order to learn how to consistently attain your desirable results. If you lack any of these things – which also include purpose and/or the Spirit of ‘winning’ – given the vastness, uncertainty, & irrationality of the Market, it will be difficult to attain great success & big money.

“There is timing in everything. Timing in strategy cannot be mastered without a great deal of practice. Timing is important in dancing and pipe or string music, for they are in rhythm only if timing is good. Timing and rhythm are also involved in the military arts: shooting bows and guns, and riding horses. In all skills and abilities, there is timing… There is timing in the whole life of the warrior: in his thriving and declining, in his harmony and discord. Similarly, there is timing in the Way of the merchant, in the rise and fall of capital. All things entail rising and falling timing. You must be able to discern this. 

In strategy, there are various timing considerations. From the outset, you must know the applicable timing and the inapplicable timing... and from among the large and small things, and the fast and slow timings, find the relevant timing – first seeing the distance timing and the background timing (SPY, QQQ, etc.). It is especially important to know the background timing, otherwise your strategy will become uncertain…… If there is a Way involving the Spirit of not being defeated, to help oneself and gain honour, it is the Way of strategy.”   - Miyamoto Musashi, 1645.

Believe in Yourself.

You can make more money than you believe you can in any given amount of time – but in order to do so, you must set your heart on strategy and earnestly stick to the Way. Stay open-minded, use your Eye, and share what you absorb at all times. Gradually the money will come, & almost instinctively. So will your method of preparation, and of course your chart-reading capability. Be Humble but Stay Chiseled. You must be able to trust your own reasoning & decisions, and this is hard to do if you follow others. However, it does always pay to have a good sense of community. Do right & kill everything. You can achieve all that you want and more.

 

“Spectate or Make a Move… Hesitate or Regulate… it’s on you.”   - Prodigy (RIP)

“I am a Trader… it is my business to Know.”  - Larry Livingston, 1923.