Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Convert Leads Into A Great Income Source

You know what qualified sales leads are, but if you asked your sales account managers and corporate executives, would they have the same definition of a qualified lead? Do you, as a life insurance broker, have an internet presence to grab your share of the life insurance sales leads? If not, your competitors are taking business that you, yourself, could be getting.
Most big, best in class companies in many industries have now gone to an inside sales function whose job it is to qualify and continue to nurture leads forward, until they're ready for the involvement of outside or field sales.
If your business-to-business marketing-for-leads program is to succeed, marketing, sales and corporate management need to share a unified definition of qualified sales leads.
Whatever the source, you are now the proud owner of a stream of (hopefully) qualified sales leads, unfortunately our experience is that this is just the beginning and on its own it does not mean that this will automatically translate into sales
So, remember this the next time you have the opportunity to purchase B2B sales leads: B2B sales leads are worth more than you realize
Not only could you receive organic search visitors to your site but to receive more sales leads, you could advertise in the sponsored results of search engines.
You can use the internet to generate online interior design leads.
It really is that easy to generate engineering sales leads for yourself.

But don't despair as it is quite easy to generate stock broker leads via the internet.
Life Insurance Leads provides detailed information on Life Insurance Leads, Life Insurance Sales Leads, Free Life Insurance Leads, Exclusive Life Insurance Leads and more.
Refer to this checklist of questions to guide the development or improvement of your company’s sales lead management programs and processes and you’ll have the best chance of being successful.
If you are a loan officer or mortgage broker, and you are obtaining leads from a mortgage lead provider, it is important that you get the best return on your investment that you possibly can.
Steer clear of the mortgage lead companies that purchase their leads from third party vendors and than sell them to loan officers at a profit.
If a mortgage lead company is buying their leads in bulk from a third party company and selling them to loan officers at a profit, than that lead company is doing what is known as recycling leads.
If a lead company is obtaining leads through third party vendors, than they are recycling leads.
If a lead company is obtaining their leads from sites they own and operate on their own, than chances are you will be receiving a good quality lead.

If the lead company does not own and operate the sites they obtain their leads from, than keep going until you find one that does.
Also, find out how the mortgage lead companies obtain their leads.
If you do decide to go with a mortgage lead company, look for the mortgage lead companies that sell their leads in “real time,” this way you will be receiving fresh leads, and you will be able to count on their quality.



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Do You Listen To The Real Estate Investing Mentors?

Names like Robert Kiyosaki, Ken McElroy and Donald Trump tend to make it into our pop-culture. Even people who don't exactly know Robert Kiyosaki's name recognize “the Rich Dad, Poor Dad” book-series. But Trump? Most Everyone knows of him. They know he owns a LOT of investment properties. People really don't know, however, how much they are similar to someone like Mr.Trump or Rich Dad.

The only real difference between people like Robert Kiyosaki and the average American is that he has made the time to learn about investing in real estate. Of course, Kiyosaki may have grown up investigating the various parts of real estate, just as another guy may have grown up investigating the various elements of football or perhaps his favorite style of music. These mentors realized that learning about buying real estate is a perfectly reasonable accomplishment for a reasonably intelligent person to set out and do. All you have to do is understand what you need to know and take action.

The Rich Dad series helps you do just that.

You must learn the process of buying real estate as an investment property, a how the whole thing works. You need to understand that it is necessary some basic accounting and finance, and familiarize yourself with property law. You don't have to learn a lot, just enough to be conversant with your accountant and your attorney. After learning how to read the language of real estate, so to speak, it is then time to study the markets. It is extreamly important that you learn how to research and keep on top of the investment property markets that hold your interest.

Then there is the business of the negotiation and knowing what to do to make sure that you get all the information on an investment property that you need to make an intelligent decision – even information that the seller may be withholding. The experienced investor gets this information by making sure to check out the property his or herself, and by bringing along the member(s) of the team of experts he will have hired. This team are your “extra sensory receptors”. They will see the things that you may miss and they will give you valuable feedback.

The newbie investor has to know how valuable an asset this team is, so he won't attempt to invest without them.

These are the things that the real estate investing gurus know. It is a process that they have mastered. Of course, they have practiced that process so many times that it has become 2nd nature for them. But it is something that almost anyone can learn.

And that is the only difference between the experts and someone like you is that the gurus understand how do-able a thing buying investment property actually is.

Robert Kiyosaki is a man who seized an investment opportunity when he saw it. The son of an educator, he could have grown up believing that his destiny was to spend his life as a “wage slave”. In his Rich Dad series, he writes that his father was an extremely book-smart man, but he referred to him as his “poor dad.” The opportunity Robert saw was that of listening to the rich father of his friend, who advised him a better financial future lay ahead for him if he simply got into real estate investing. He took this advice from his “rich dad” to heart and began studying how to do it.

He is still learning it today. All the gurus are, because property investing is an ever-changing discipline. The markets are like liquid, and tend not to stay put. All it takes to become rich is to simply sit down and learn how it is done. All you need is the will to study.




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Diversify Your Portfolio Easily With Mutual Funds

If you are new to investing, you may have heard of mutual funds but do not know exactly what they are or how to select the right one. A mutual fund is a collective investment security, and there are many different types. It may consist of a mix of several different types of investment vehicles, such as stocks, bonds, or derivatives, or it may consist of nothing but stocks that are part of a certain sector of the economy, or it could be just bonds.

For example, there are mutual funds that consist of nothing but technology stocks. There are also funds that are comprised of stocks that have a similar market capitalization (such as mid-cap funds, large-cap funds, or small-cap funds). And some might contain several different types of securities (such as stocks, bonds, etc.) that all fall within the same risk classification (high-risk, medium-risk, low-risk).

Just like stocks, mutual funds have a price per share, also known as the Net Asset Value (NAV). The NAV is calculated by dividing the total value of the fund divided by the number of shares outstanding. As with stocks, the price fluctuates on a daily basis and it can be sold just like any other security.

When deciding what fund to invest in, you need to consider your investment goals. Are you looking for long-term capital appreciation, or would you prefer to receive immediate income from your investment? You also need to evaluate your risk tolerance. Are you willing to take a chance on a speculative fund to potentially receive a better return, or is capital preservation a high priority?

If capital preservation is your goal, then you should consider a mutual fund that consists of low risk equities and conservative bond and money market instruments. If you want a mix of investments, then you should look for a balanced fund. If you want explosive capital appreciation, then you should consider a high-risk common stock or high-yielding bond fund.

They are different than stocks when it comes to fees and expenses. As with stocks, funds are subject to capital gains taxes. But a fund is sometimes subject to a front-end and/or back-end load. If there is a front-end load, that means that a percentage of the initial investment is automatically deducted to pay for commissions to the fund. If there is a back-end load, the investor must pay a fee when the security is sold.

Also, there is a 12b-1 fee that is often deducted to pay for advertising expenses incurred for the marketing of the fund to the public. Sometimes there is no 12b-1 fee, it depends. Investors might be unaware of the 12b-1 fee because it is sometimes deducted from the share price, so in a way, it is an invisible fee.

I hope this introduction to mutual funds will help you make some decisions regarding your investments. There are literally thousands of different funds available, and brokerage houses often have their own set of funds that they create for sale to their customers. Talk to your broker and see if he or she can help you identify the best investment vehicle for you. Just make sure you review the fee structure of the mutual fund you are interested in before you invest.



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Diversify Your Portfolio Easily With Mutual Funds

If you are new to investing, you may have heard of mutual funds but do not know exactly what they are or how to select the right one. A mutual fund is a collective investment security, and there are many different types. It may consist of a mix of several different types of investment vehicles, such as stocks, bonds, or derivatives, or it may consist of nothing but stocks that are part of a certain sector of the economy, or it could be just bonds.

For example, there are mutual funds that consist of nothing but technology stocks. There are also funds that are comprised of stocks that have a similar market capitalization (such as mid-cap funds, large-cap funds, or small-cap funds). And some might contain several different types of securities (such as stocks, bonds, etc.) that all fall within the same risk classification (high-risk, medium-risk, low-risk).

Just like stocks, mutual funds have a price per share, also known as the Net Asset Value (NAV). The NAV is calculated by dividing the total value of the fund divided by the number of shares outstanding. As with stocks, the price fluctuates on a daily basis and it can be sold just like any other security.

When deciding what fund to invest in, you need to consider your investment goals. Are you looking for long-term capital appreciation, or would you prefer to receive immediate income from your investment? You also need to evaluate your risk tolerance. Are you willing to take a chance on a speculative fund to potentially receive a better return, or is capital preservation a high priority?

If capital preservation is your goal, then you should consider a mutual fund that consists of low risk equities and conservative bond and money market instruments. If you want a mix of investments, then you should look for a balanced fund. If you want explosive capital appreciation, then you should consider a high-risk common stock or high-yielding bond fund.

They are different than stocks when it comes to fees and expenses. As with stocks, funds are subject to capital gains taxes. But a fund is sometimes subject to a front-end and/or back-end load. If there is a front-end load, that means that a percentage of the initial investment is automatically deducted to pay for commissions to the fund. If there is a back-end load, the investor must pay a fee when the security is sold.

Also, there is a 12b-1 fee that is often deducted to pay for advertising expenses incurred for the marketing of the fund to the public. Sometimes there is no 12b-1 fee, it depends. Investors might be unaware of the 12b-1 fee because it is sometimes deducted from the share price, so in a way, it is an invisible fee.

I hope this introduction to mutual funds will help you make some decisions regarding your investments. There are literally thousands of different funds available, and brokerage houses often have their own set of funds that they create for sale to their customers. Talk to your broker and see if he or she can help you identify the best investment vehicle for you. Just make sure you review the fee structure of the mutual fund you are interested in before you invest.




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Are Your Bonds Really Risk Free?

If you are new to investing perhaps you are not familiar with bonds. Before you get started, you need to understand some of the risks associated with bond investing. Most people assume that all interest-bearing securities are completely risk free, but this is not the case. Even if you know a lot about investing, you may not be aware of some of the risk characteristics associated with bonds.

The most important thing to take into account is the interest rate. The Federal Reserve (also known as the Fed) meets every 6-8 weeks to evaluate the health of the economy. At each meeting, the Fed renders a decision regarding interest rates.

If inflation is rising, the Fed will need to raise interest rates to tighten the money supply. If inflation is moderate or contained, the Fed will likely leave rates unchanged. However, if the economy is slowing down and there is very little inflation or maybe even deflation, then the Fed might decide to reduce interest rates to create a stimulus for economic growth.

The reason why you need to consider present and future interest rate levels is because as interest rates increase, bond prices go down, and vice versa. If you are able to hold your bond until maturity, then interest rate movements do not really matter, because you will redeem the principal upon redemption. But often, investors have to cash out their bonds well before the maturity date. If interest rates have moved up since you purchased the bond, and you sell it prior to maturity, then the bond will be worth less than your initial investment.

You should also be aware of the claim status of the bond you are buying. Claim status refers to your ability to liquidate your investment in the event the bond issuer goes bankrupt. If you are buying a government bond, such as a Treasury Bill, claim status is irrelevant, because the odds of the Federal Government going bankrupt are slim and none.

If you are buying a corporate bond, however, there is always a chance that the issuer could go out of business. In the event of liquidation, bondholders are given priority over stockholders. However, there are often different classes of bondholders. Senior note holders can often claim against certain kinds of physical collateral in the event of bankruptcy, such as equipment (computers, machines, etc.). Regular bondholders can not always claim against physically collateral, and are next in line after the senior note holders.

Next, you should always check the three main features of the bond you are buying; the coupon rate, the maturity date, and the call provisions. The coupon rate is the interest rate. Most bonds pay an interest rate semiannually or annually. The maturity date is the date that the bond will be redeemed by the issuer; simply put, the maturity date is when the company must pay back to you the principal you loaned to them. The call provisions are the rights of the issuer to buy back your bond prior to maturity. Some bonds are non-callable, while others are callable, meaning that the company can buy your bond back before maturity, usually at a higher price than what you paid.

Finally, you should also understand that if economic conditions become more favorable after you a buy a bond, and interest rates start to go down again, the issuer will likely issue a lot more bonds to take advantage of the low interest rates, and will use the proceeds to try to buy back any callable bonds it issued previously. So, when interest rates go down, there is an increasing likelihood that your bond will be redeemed prior to maturity, if in fact the bond is callable.

You should invest in bonds. However, you should also take into account the risk factors we have covered. Your portfolio should contain a mix of corporate, federal, municipal, and even junk bonds (there is always a default risk associated with junk bonds, but they pay a huge interest rate). Talk to your broker about diversifying the kinds of bonds in your portfolio and you will reduce your overall risk and maximize your return.


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What is a Debt Consolidation Loan?

A debt consolidation loan can come in very handy for many consumers but these loans should be examined carefully before signing up for any. Like all financial instruments, this type of loan will have its benefits and its drawbacks. Let's look at a few of the more important issues concerning debt consolidation loans.

A debt consolidation loan is the replacement of multiple loans with a single loan. One of the benefits of a debt loan is that the borrower will often see a lower monthly payment and a longer repayment period. Here is a very simple example of how a consolidation loan might work out:

Let us assume that you have three outstanding loans. The monthly payments are: $75 for one loan, $100 for the second loan, and $125 for the third loan. On a monthly basis you are paying a total of $300 to cover all of the bills.

Using a consolidation loan the new lender would assume those bills for you and then invoice you one single bill per month. In this case, the one monthly payment might be $200, which saves you $100 per month. Keep in mind that as you pay less per month you may also have to pay longer. In other words, it may take quite a bit longer to pay off the full amount than it would if you were to continue paying the three payments separately.

When it comes to debt consolidation loans, consumers have many options and even some special options. Under the special options there are programs for consolidating student loans. With the cost of higher education becoming more expensive the vast majority of students require some type of financial aid. Student loans play a big part of that financing. As costs rise, however, most students and their families find that they need more than one student loan in order to pay the bills. When these separate loans are added up on a monthly basis they can become very expensive. Thankfully, there are many debt consolidation loan programs available for paying off student loans.

Consolidating credit card debt is another popular reason for using this type of loan. Many consumers are finding themselves in trouble with credit card bills that come into the home month after month. By using a consolidation loan, many credit card holders can reduce the amount of real cash that has to be sent out each month. For some individuals and families this is a very important benefit.

Debt consolidation loans have some drawbacks as well. They can be seen by some lenders as a warning sign that a prospective borrower is in trouble. Another drawback is that some debt consolidation lenders will ask that you put up collateral before they grant the loan. Not all lenders will ask this of you, but some may. A lot of whether or not collateral will be needed will depend on the amount of the outstanding loans as well as your own credit history.

Consumers can find a lot of solid information about the various debt consolidation loan programs available by doing some research on the Internet. Be sure to read the fine print before signing up for any program.



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Basic Principles of a Loan

Understanding the basic principles behind a loan can save new borrowers a lot of stress and make the borrowing process easier. This article will explore some of those loan basics.

A consumer loan is simply when a financial institution lends you money with the promise (from you) that you will repay the money. Most loan payments include both principal and interest.

Principle is the amount of money that you borrowed. Interest is the price paid for borrowing money; this is usually expressed as a percentage.

In an interest-only loan, the interest of the loan is paid off before the principal. It is important to understand this because many mortgages are interest-only loans. Using this kind of loan allows the lender to make a faster profit on the loan, and in return it also allows the lender to offer you lower interest rates.

Borrowers should understand that during the first years of an interest-only mortgage the entire monthly payment goes toward interest. Because of this there will be no decrease in the amount of the principle that was borrowed. In some cases, the initial interest-only payments are lower than the principal payments. This allows the borrower, who expects to earn more profit over time, to obtain a larger loan.

Variable Rates versus Fixed-Interest Rates

Aside from interest only loans, you may see offers for loans that are based on either variable rates or fixed rates. Credit cards generally use either the variable or fixed rates systems when calculating the interest.

Variable rate loans are based on the prime lending rate, and then some additional interest percentage is added in order to cover profits for the lender. Whenever the Federal Reserve raises interest rates, your bank will raise your interest as well. If the prime lending rate is low, variable rate loans and credit cards can be especially competitive with fixed rate loans.

Fixed rate loans and credit cards offer you guaranteed interest rates that do not fluctuate. You will know what your payments are each and every month based on the fixed rate percentage of the loan that you took out. This offers consumers more emotional security because they do not have to worry about their monthly bill increasing suddenly.

All borrowers should understand that variable rates are different than teaser rates. Teaser rates are temporary and last only for a limited time, usually three to six months. Once that period of time is over, the rate will go up and so will your monthly bill.

One of the most important principles behind a loan is establishing a good credit history. The fastest way to get a poor credit rating is to not pay your monthly bill or to be habitually late in paying your bill. These activities are usually reported to the three big credit reporting agencies and this information will stay on your credit history record for years to come. If you must take a loan out make sure that you can make the monthly payments on time.

If you have any questions about your loan or the interest that is being charged ask the credit person to explain it to you in detail. They are happy to do this. As a general rule, try to keep your non-mortgage debt payments below 10-15% of your monthly take home pay.


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What If I Miss a Home Loan Payment?

It is no secret that home loans will often last 30 years or more and that during that time anyone can face financial issues that may lead to missing a home loan payment. The first thing to do if you miss a home loan payment is to not panic. The second thing to do is to contact the lender as soon as possible.

Most lenders are not going to foreclose on your home if you miss one payment. They do, however, want to hear from you and they want to work out some payment options so that the delinquent payment will be met.

It is imperative that home owners understand that time is critical when payments are not sent in. The more payments you miss and the longer you wait before you contact the lender the fewer options you will have available. In some cases, if you ignore the lender for too long, foreclosure will be the only course of action that the lender can take. Do not let that happen to you.

You should also understand that missing one payment (in the home loan business, anyway) is not the same as missing two or more. Do the math. If you are behind in two payments, you are probably at least 60 days behind. Once a home loan becomes delinquent by at least 60 days the credit reporting people become involved, the lender becomes nervous, and you begin getting tons of mail and calls concerning the loan. Your name and address may be posted to publications that sell this type of information to third parties. It only goes down hill from here.

When you have to miss one payment on a home loan it should become your major goal to get that payment caught up as soon as possible. If you simply do not have cash coming in to pay the late payment (as well as the current payment) go to the lender and see if they can work something out with you. You might be surprised at how eager they can be to help. They may suggest that the payment be tacked on to the end of the loan or they may ask if you can pay the late payment in installation payments such as one-third of the late payment added to each of the next three monthly payments.

If your financial problem is more long term, you may want to talk to the lender about refinancing. Sometimes you can refinance to a mortgage that has lower monthly payments. This is not always possible, but if it is possible it may make it easier to make future payments on your home.

Of the many options that you have, all of them are going to lessen in value and usefulness the longer you wait before contacting your lender. Remember, once your payment becomes delinquent by 60 days, your options are severely reduced. When the delinquency hits 90 days you may have very few (if any) options left. Most of these problems can be avoided if you simply contact the lender as soon as possible and be willing to work with the lender to make up the missed payment or payments.




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How To Use A Secured Credit Card

A secured card is a credit card that requires you to deposit a certain amount of money into a savings account, money market account, or certificate of deposit. The minimum amount usually ranges between $200 and $500 but this will vary from one company to another. Your deposit is considered your security and some card issuers will even allow the deposit to earn interest.

The amount that you deposit into the account is your credit limit. You should understand that sometimes the limit will be for the full amount that you put into the account but with some companies your limit may be a percentage of the total amount that you deposited.

A secured credit card is not a debit card. This is important to understand because if full payments are not made each month, interest will be charged on the outstanding balance.

Who should consider using secured credit cards?

If you have no credit history at all, using a secured credit card can be a good way to begin establishing your credit. Many young people who are just starting out may choose this as an option.

If you have bad credit, you may wish to use a secured credit card to help you improve your credit score. In addition, a secured credit card may be the only source you will have for obtaining a credit card. There are some transactions that require the use of a credit card. This might include car rentals or hotel reservations. If you need to make those types of transactions and cannot get an unsecured credit card, this might be the only way you can get a true credit card.

What to look for in a secured credit card:

Interest Rate: Do not be fooled into thinking that because you have no credit history or a bad credit report that you have to settle for exorbitant interest rates. Make it a point to shop around for the lowest rates that you qualify for before you apply for a secured credit card.

Fees: Pay close attention to any fees that will be charged to you or to your account once it is opened. There are some companies that will charge ridiculously high fees that will reduce your initial deposit before you even use the card. Stay away from those companies. Look for companies that have no fees whatsoever or for those companies that charge a small one-time fee to set up the account. Annual fees for attractive secured cards typically range from $20-$35.

Scams: It is sad to say that there are companies out there who are in the business of ripping people off. They prey on the vulnerability of those who may be in a credit crunch. Some of the things they do include promises of getting you "quick credit" for a price. Another popular scam is to ask you to call a 900 phone number for "secrets" to getting a credit card or credit repair. Your phone company will charge you a high rate for using a 900 number and you never get the information that was offered.

The best advice to avoid secured credit card scams is that if it sounds too good to be true it is. Use your common sense and do not be taken by these crooks.

Credit Improvement Issues: Even with a very good payment history on your secured card it can takes many months before you begin to see improvement in your credit record. You have to be patient when repairing bad credit. You also have to be smart. Make sure that the company that issues the secured credit card to you will report your good payment history to the three big credit reporting agencies. Not all companies report and if they do not report you are simply wasting your time.




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Easy To Follow & Profitable FOREX Signaling Service

Needless to say, a large number of individual investors have jumped into the FOREX trading business and are busy making profits online while trading from their personal computers. In fact, you can also start trading in FOREX through one of the many easy to follow & profitable FOREX signaling services that are available on line.

A number of FOREX brokers and traders are offering individuals trading platforms through their online trading portals that combine FOREX signaling services along with trading options. You can become a member of one of these easy to follow & profitable FOREX signaling services and starts making money through FOREX trading. However, it is advised that you try to gain some background knowledge and information about FOREX trading and signal interpretation and action before putting loads of your hard earned money into FOREX trading, for while the profits in this business can be humungous, the losses can also be devastating. As a beginner, you should first find a FOREX signaling and trading platform that you understand well and start trading with small amounts, gradually increasing your risks as you understand the market better.

the best easy to follow and profitable FOREX signaling services is www.prosignal-forex.com . These services are easy to understand for beginners and show real and honest results. No matter what service you use, you should try to learn as much about the trade as possible so that you understand the nuances of signaling. Another thing to keep in mind is to try out a service before signing up. Most portals allow users a demo or free use of their service for a certain period of time when they can decide whether they want to sign up or not. Sign up with a service only when you get the hang of it and when you are sure that you can handle your transactions well. It is a good idea to begin your subscription when the month begins, so that you can compare your results with that posted by the service that you are using. And even if you think that you do understand everything, it is a good idea to play safe with small sums of money till you start making constant profits.




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Pay Your Next Holidays with BetterTrades

If you visit a mall or retail store these days you will be bombarded by hoards of frantic shoppers. People are expected to pay as much, or more, on gifts this year than they did last year. This creates wonderful opportunites for traders! Find and trade those retail stocks that will see the biggest benefit from holiday shoppers and you can pay for your holiday gifts from these trades.

Not all retail stocks are worth trading. Some are slow moving and will not give you the returns that make the trade worthwhile. The retail stocks you want to trade are those with a lot of volume and enough buying interest that they will move as we head into the heavy buying season.

I determine which retail stocks to trade by going into the Stock Sector Tree in Trade Navigator. The Stock Sector Tree lists the sectors, sub-sectors and the stocks within each sub-sector.

View BetterTrades Stock Sector Tree

As you can see above, there are 25 sectors in total and the Retail sector is comprised of the following eight sub-sectors:

Apparel Retail Technology Retail
Department and Discount Retail Specialty Retail
Drugs Retail Catalog and Mail Order Retail
Grocery Retail Home Improvement Retail

These retail sub-sectors contain about 236 stocks. Since I am trying to take advantage of holiday gift buying I focus on five sub-sectors; the Apparel, Department and Discount Retail, Technology, Specialty and Catalog sub-sectors. I want to find the best stocks to trade within each of these five sub-sectors. I do this by sorting the stocks within each sub-sector by volume dollars in descending order. This means that the stocks with the highest volume dollars are at the top of my list. And those stocks with the highest volume dollars are easily traded with a proven technical analysis system.

From early October to mid December I look through my five retail sub-sectors to find the stocks that are moving during the holiday season. As you see below in the Department and Discount sub-sector, KMart (KMRT), WalMart (WMT), Sears (S), Target (TGT) Kohls (KSS), and Federated Department Stores (FD) have the highest volume dollars.

View BetterTrades Stocks

I review each of the five sub-sectors and pull out the top five or six stocks within each sub-sector and create a retail watch list of stocks. I then apply my technical analysis trading system to determine when then best buying opportunities present themselves.

Try this easy way to find the strongest retail stocks to trade. And while you do your holiday shopping you can smile knowing your trades on the retail sector are paying for your gifts!

If you would like to learn more about technical analysis and profitable entry and exit points, join me in one of my free online trading seminars or come see me live in my informative and exciting two days seminar "Technically Speaking". Hope to see you soon!



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Should You Honestly Consider No Credit Check Loan Finance?

Getting a loan may seem a pointless task if you have bad credit or debts. If you do have a poor credit record, then a loan without credit checks could seem to be the best thing to help you get the loan you desire. The fact is that no credit check loans are often not easy to find. An additional problem is that there are many people out there who will promise much but then actually give you very little, especially when it comes to no credit check loans. In the case of loans without credit checks then, it might be a good idea to do some research prior to committing to a particular loan deal.

It is quite apparent why many people with a bad credit history would want a no credit check loan: if a potential lender does not look at credit scores then no applicant would ever be perceived as "risky". So in the case of loans without credit checks, financial organisations just consider that EVERY loan seeker has bad credit and so generally demand that the loan contract be co-signed and they will generally charge the applicant a higher rate of interest. Any lender will of course be aware that applicants who do not want a credit check run upon them will usually have a bad credit score: if a borrower didn't have bad credit, wisdom would tell them to look for a cheaper deal with more favourable conditions. But, a no credit check lender will generally specify fairly high interest rates with a shorter repayment period built in. They will likely also need full knowledge of your financial picture (i.e. income and expenses) in order to determine if you will actually meet the loan repayments.

Varieties of No Credit Check Loan

Payday loans are a common kind of no credit check finance. Payday loans are most often considered to be a very short term loan arrangement as they are, effectively, loan advances made against your monthly pay. The payday lenders will look at a pre-defined number of your backdated pay statements, so they can identify the amount of money they are prepared to lend you. A payday loan is normally expensive as the APR charged in this type of arrangement can be relatively high.

No Credit Check Loans: The Things to Look Out For

If you are considering a specific no credit check lender company, there are a few points you should consider:

1) Make sure that you do not take the product offered by the first broker you find,
2) Make an effort to identify as many no credit check loan deals as possible to see which one has the best terms,
3) Do not forget that a no credit check loan will probably not be cheap, so make sure that you do not lie about your salary and expenses to be certain you can afford to repay the loan,
4) If you have good credit history, you ought not consider a no credit check loan.

The reality is that loans without credit checks have significantly aided many people with bad credit to get over the handicaps associated with trying to acquire a loan. However they actually come at a price, consequently you must respect the penalties that go with defaulting on the monthly payments of any no credit check loan commitment. To ensure you are a well informed consumer, be certain that you understand the conditions of any no credit check loan arrangement you are applying for... and always read the fine print.




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How to Start Doing Better Trades?

At first it may appear this newsletter is for new traders, but it is perfect for seasoned traders that are struggling. After trading and teaching students how to trade for over 8 years, I have learned that we can cycle in and out of trading patterns. What seems to happen is we get excited about learning so many new things in the market (such as numerous technical indicators), that we can begin to over-analyze our trades. It is so easy to do. So easy that we forget how simple and important just plain old basics are. BUY LOW - SELL HIGH! Then we start slipping and miss reasonable entries or stay too long in a trade. Whether you are new, or you just need to get back to the basics, this newsletter is intended to help you get back on track.

Just a few days ago in Chicago, as I was teaching a live class, a student asked me where do I start? I could see the frantic look on her face, and I can remember feeling exactly that way when I first started trading. When I began trading in the late 90's, I had never even been on the internet, much less did I know the lingo of the stock market or how to look at charts. Being a retired accountant gave me no benefit at all. I was totally clueless about the stock market until I took classes to learn - just like many of you are doing right now. As a matter of fact, I still take classes every year, just like I had to do in my accounting practice to keep up my current skills. The market is constantly changing and we must stay on top of these changes to be a successful trader.

First off, it is the basics that are the most important. Simple things done over and over again that make the slight edge happen - that thin line between success and failure in the stock market is a very thin line. This should give you hope if you can be consistent and follow a proven plan. It took me about four and a half years to fine tune and learn this. After thousands of students asking me repeated questions I recorded my DVD series called it 40 CENTS TO FINANCIAL FREEDOM to give you many hours of visuals you could watch again until you get this under your belt. Rather than take many years to get to this level, you can be there in a week if you take the time to study this series.

In my LEAPS series I teach you a system to give you a back-up brain and trade from alerts. This stops you from thinking, which often messes up many good trades! Instead you just follow a proven written plan with ease and stop the guesswork. Don't be like most people and revert to trading without a written plan.

Since one big issue that comes up over and over again (not just new students but also many seasoned traders) is how do I know where to get in? I would like to visually give you a tour on this.

Let's start with the visual of how to select a stock to play the upside:

First, I look for a big name company (usually trades 1 million shares or more a day) that is done falling and just ready to go up. The reason I prefer to trade larger companies is that they tend to follow predictable patterns since so many people are trading the stock.

I am looking for that first bounce up off support by a doji or an open candlestick.

View Better Trade Chart

The picture below shows an open and a closed candlestick. If you review it for a moment, you can see the hollow one is closing higher than it opens. The filled-in one is closing lower than it opened. I played a little game to trick myself into learning these by pretending the hollow one was full of helium and going up, and the filled-in one was heavy so it was falling.

View BetterTrades Chart

Here is a picture of CECO. It showed a sign of being done two days ago on this chart and confirmed it intra-day (the last candlestick) so today was a good time to enter the trade to the upside. This is a perfect entry because you have a lot of room for it to move up, versus trying to enter the trade in the middle of a roll. I don't like only getting to profit from half of a trade being left. I like the whole movement in front of me so there is a lot of money for the making.

View CECO Chart

Now let's look at a visual of how to select a stock to play the downside:

Again, look for a big name company (usually trades 1 million shares or more a day) that is done going up and looks ready to go down. I am looking for that first bounce down off of resistance by a doji or a closed candlestick.

Here is a picture of YHOO. It showed a sign of being done falling today with the filled-in candlestick. If it confirms it tomorrow by continuing to fall you can jump in and trade the downside. Another perfect entry because you have a lot of room for it to move down, versus trying to enter the trade in the middle of a roll.

View YHOO Chart

DRAWING SUPPORT & RESISTANCE

The best way to get comfortable drawing support and resistance is to just pick one or two stocks to practice with. Put the chart in a line chart like the chart below. On Trade Navigator just press the "B" key until you see the pattern below.

Look for the chart to hit a line three times to be a serious enough of a stopping place to be considered support or resistance. The hits can be on either side of the line. The line can be horizontal or diagonal. Just play and erase if the line does not work. After about 30 minutes practice on a few charts you will get better.

Click to View Chart

Once you have your chart in the line chart just draw lines until you see three distinct hits at a support or resistance. The line can be horizontal or diagonal (downtrend or uptrend). If you do not see three hits on that line then keep trying.

I do sometimes give in if it looks so distinct and only has one or two hits, and I open it up to candlesticks, (again just select "B" on trade navigator to return to candlesticks) and I accept it if it has three hits on that line by the open, close, high or low of any day. This is my second favorite. The line chart is my first since those prices are more accurate.

I hope this helps you look at charts better. Using this information should allow you to get better at drawing support & resistance lines, as well as to allow you to enter trades at the beginning, giving you a lot more potential for your trade to make money.





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Selecting The Right Option for Better Trades

In the last three newsletters in this series (first, second, third) we explored five of the eight essential elements you need to consider when purchasing options. In this newsletter we will take a look at the sixth element . . . Open Interest.

Below is a list of the eight essential elements to consider when purchasing options:

1. Option Month - what month should your option expire
2. Strike Price - what is the best choice
3. Delta - what delta should you consider
4. Time Value - how much time value should you pay
5. Bid & Ask - How much should the spread be
6. Open Interest - is open interest important, what is the requirement
7. Money Management - how much to put in one trade
8. Graceful Exits - if the trade does not go the way you hoped

OPEN INTEREST

Open Interest seems like a simple concept but it has power! Bottom line, if the open interest on the contract that you want to trade is low you will probably have a hard time getting filled and it will almost be impossible to get the option on sale by placing an order in the spread.

What is Open Interest

Open interest is the number of open trades on an option contract for a specific strike and month, since the birth of that option. The open interest will not be reduced until a closing trade is executed on that option month and strike price.

Trades that add to the OPEN INTEREST are:

1. BUYS TO OPEN and
2. SELLS TO OPEN

Trades that reduce the OPEN INTEREST are:

1. BUYS TO CLOSE and
2. SELLS TO CLOSE

OPEN INTEREST versus VOLUME:

Open Interest is compiled by adding together opening trades and subtracting closing trades to come up with a daily balance. The daily balance of the open interest is then carried forward to the next day, and that day's opening and closing trades are added and subtracted, keeping a running total.

Volume, on the other hand, adds all opening and closing trades together for a particular day. It does not matter if the trade is an open or a close, it all gets added together. At the start of the next day, the previous days volume number is discarded and the volume computation starts again at zero.

RULES FOR OPEN INTEREST:

I do not like to trade options that have an OPEN INTERST lower than 100 contracts. That is my bare minimum to to enter a trade. Even if I am SELLING TO OPEN a trade, such as writing a covered call, I still want to see the 100 contract minimum. This is because I might decide to BUY TO CLOSE that trade and when I do I don't want to be the only one trading with the market makers. If there is less than 100 contracts in the open interest the market makers tend to get GREEDY and it is hard to get a fill at a decent price.

I actually LOVE to see thousands in the OPEN INTEREST, because the market makers become kind and the BID x ASK spreads end up very small. When there is a large open interest the market makers are also more likely to fill you in the spread and it makes for a nice wholesale entry and exit into and out of a trade.

Bottom line, if your OPEN INTEREST is low, less than 100, skip the trade. If it is over 100 then you are okay. When you have a choice between two options that are over 100 contracts but one is in the thousands or just much larger - I prefer to use the larger one for ease of entry and exit and a better chance of getting a sale price on the option by placing an order in the spread.

NEXT NEWSLETTER… we will cover MONEY MANAGEMENT!

For more successful trading tips and techniques, check out one of my free webshops! Sign up at www.DarleneNelson.com



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The Cheltenham and Gloucester Building Society

The C&G is a commercial lender in the UK, that specializes in savings plans and mortgages: the C&G is the country's third largest mortgage arranger. But, before it became a major lender, the Cheltenham and Gloucester was a building society, created in the 1850s. Like the majority building societies of the time, the Cheltenham & Gloucester Building Society strove to help local citizens buy their homes.

At the end of the 19th Century, many mutual building societies closed shop once their original members had accomplished their goal – owning a property. In contrast, the Cheltenham & Gloucester became a permanent building society, accepting new members in order to aid them to achieve the goal of house ownership as well. The building society continued in this form for a hundred and fifty years before it demutualized in 1995. The C&G became a part of the Lloyds TSB Group, giving dividends to its stakeholders and opening up a new area of sales. It took literally a couple of months for Cheltenham & Gloucester remortgage and mortgage deals to be available in each branch of Lloyds Bank in the whole of the United Kingdom.

Cheltenham and Gloucester Mortgages

As discussed previously, the Cheltenham & Gloucester concentrates principally on mortgage and savings products. Cheltenham & Gloucester mortgage loans are available to people who are purchasing a new home, as well as those who currently have a agreement with another lender and would like to switch. You can obtain a Cheltenham & Gloucester mortage at a fixed rate or a variable one; dependent upon your financial situation. Fixed rate mortgages allow you to keep the same rate of interest for seven years, irrespective of the general decreases in interest rates. This gives you a fixed of the terms of the fixed rate. A tracker mortgage follow the decreases in interest rates, giving you the chance to possibly pay less over time. In each case, you are able to borrow between £25k and £1million, depending on your financial situation and needs.

Existing members of the company can get a C&G remortgage, swapping their present loan to fit their new situation. Members can decide to borrow a larger amount, or, if their existing mortgage scheme is about to end, find a Cheltenham & Gloucester remortgage that is more appropriate for them. Members in this situation might like to communicate with the C&G and think through their options with an authorised agent from the building society. When the new scheme is selected, Cheltenham and Gloucester remortgages can go into place as soon as the old scheme stops.

The C&G also offers specialised mortgage schemes for people people who wish to buy-to-

let. This

product allows borrowers to borrow up to a ceiling of eighty-five percent of the property's value. This amount drops to 65% in the case of new build appartments. Any one borrower may have as much as nine buy-to-let Cheltenham & Gloucester mortgages. However, the total permitted loan amount is £5m. To apply for this type of Cheltenham & Gloucester mortgage, you ought to have earnings of at least £25k per annum in non rental income, your property has to be professionally managed, and the property must be in a good state of repair without being divided into separate living units. 50% of your income from property may be also used to estimate how much you can borrow.




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Turning Point to Better Trades

Recently in a Denver LEAPS class, I was teaching some tips on drawing support and resistance and how to read some basic candlesticks patterns to fine tune an entry into a trade. I was explaining how I get great entries by using the prior days' low (for a down trade) and the prior days' high (for an up trade) to confirm the stock direction.

EXAMPLE OF PLAYING THE DOWNSIDE

If I want to play the downside, I would first look for the stock to be at resistance giving me a sign it is weak with a doji or a closed in candlestick. The next day if it breaks the low of the prior day I have confirmation the stock is truly falling so I can enter a trade to play the downside.

EXAMPLE OF PLAYING THE UPSIDE

If I want to play the upside, I would first look for the stock to be at support, giving me a sign it is strong with a doji or an open candlestick. The next day if it breaks the high of the prior day I have confirmation the stock is strong and really going up. I can now enter that trade today as soon as it breaks the high of yesterday.

The top three arrows point to a place near resistance where we see a doji or a closed candlestick telling us we may have found a turning point to play the downside off resistance. They are confirmed the next day with a sign to enter the trade to the downside when it broke through the low of the day before. Notice how these points are almost always the first bounce down from resistance. This is important.

The lower three points tell us the stock has hit a support (one is a lower support to the far right), and to look to play the upside. We got confirmation the next day, as it broke the high of the day before, that we could enter the trade to play the upside.

What I was explaining to my students was, to play down plays at resistance, if you wait
until the stock breaks below the low of last nights market close price the next day, then the confirmation is very strong that we have a stock starting to fall from resistance.

The first candlestick in the chart looks like a doji at resistance, but the next day the stock did not fall below the low of the first candlestick day. However, it gave us another doji (a second chance to try again) and the next day after that (3rd candlestick in the chart); it broke the low of the second doji and even the low of the first doji - a very strong indication of a follow through to fall to the downside. On the day of the third candlestick in the chart, you could have entered a play to the downside when it broke the low of day two.

The fifth candlestick gives us a sign the stock is done falling, and the next day it confirms it when it breaks the high of the fifth candlestick. At this point you can enter intra-day. If you are not watching intra-day charts, just set an alert for the high of the 5th candlestick day, to alert you that it is time to place the trade and have notes on that so the trade can go quickly. If you are trading with a full service broker you could let them know in the morning what trade you want to do so all you have to do next is call them to drop the order. If the alert does not go off you have no trade. I set alerts in Real Time Markets and I can also set an alert in Options Express which is my trading account but those alerts in optionsxpress are delayed a few minutes.

On the 13th candlestick we get another sign that the stock is done going up, and the next day when it breaks the low of the 13th day you could have entered to play the downside again. You could have set an alert the night before if it broke the low of the 13th candlestick to play the downside. If you had been playing the upside it is time to close that trade or write a covered call.

On the 21st candlestick we get a sign the stock is done falling again. It confirms it the next day as it breaks the high of the 21st day. Again, alerts help you set the perfect entry point to avoid missing a great trade.

On the 25th day we get a sign it is done going up, and it confirms it the next day when it breaks the low of the 25th day.

The second to the last candlestick on the chart gives us a sign the stock is done falling. It confirmed it the next day when it broke the high of the day before, telling you it is time to play the upside.

Looking for stocks hitting that first bounce down off resistance, or the first bounce up at support, then confirming it by using the high and low of the day before can give you some very sweet entries into a play! It gets you in at the beginning of a movement, which is the best way to trade. Confirmation of stock direction is very important and to me the only way to trade. It allows people who are not watching intra-day charts to enter great trades even at work!

For many hours of details and visuals of this and so much more, watch my 40 CENTS TO FINANCIAL FREEDOM DVD series. This shows you how I traded when I brought an account from $6,000 to $170,000 in 14 weeks - all kinds of secret tidbits to speed up your learning process by about 4.5 years, overnight. Why spend years getting to this point on your own when you can be up and running in a week! For questions on buying this series call 1-800-346-9039.

I wish you huge success trading, and I hope to meet you at one of my live classes soon!


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Strangles as Better Trades Earnings Opportunities

Earnings announcements create a problem for traders as we often see an overreaction to the announcement. This overreaction takes the form of an unusual amount of buying or selling pressure. Because most earnings are announced after the market has closed this buying or selling pressure builds up overnight and causes the stock to gap up or gap down. The stronger the buying or selling pressure the more the stock will gap.

Don't think you can guess which direction the stock will gap. Good earnings do not always equate to the stock moving higher and bad earnings do not always equate to the stock moving lower. This means that if you want to trade a stock over earnings you must be in a hedged play which means you are covered if the stock goes up or if the stock goes down.

My favorite hedged play is a simple strangle. In a strangle you buy an out of the money call and an out of the money put. You must do this when the options are cheap so the best time is near expiration. Always buy front (or current) month options on this trade. And you only want to do this on volatile stocks that may gap big when the earnings are announced. When the markets open after the announcement you want to sell both options to profit from the overnight gap. It is very likely that one option will be worthless, ie: the stock gaps up, you sell your calls at a profit and your puts are worthless. Hold onto those puts as sometime between now and options expiration the stock may fill the gap. Since you will have one side of this trade that goes against you it is critical that you do this strategy only on stocks that are more volatile and are likely to have significant moves.

Recently, in my trading seminars, my students and I planned out and entered two strangles, one on Apple (AAPL) and one on eBay (EBAY). The chart below shows how AAPL reacted to their earnings news. The entry to the trade was on January 12, 2005 when AAPL closed at $65.46. We bought ten contracts of the Jan. 70 calls and ten contracts of the Jan. 60 puts for a net debit of $1.90. The next morning AAPL gapped up and we sold our calls for $4.00 while the puts expired worthless. That netted us a profit of $2,100 overnight.

View Better Trades Chart

The setup for the EBAY strangle was similar to the AAPL strangle. EBAY was scheduled to announce earnings after the bell on Jan. 19, 2005. Near the end of the day on the 19th we bought ten contracts of the Jan. 105 calls and ten contracts of the Jan. 100 puts for a net debit of $3.40. EBAY closed on the 19th at $103.05. You can see on the chart below that EBAY gapped down an amazing 16.36 on the open. Obviously the 105 calls were worthless but the 100 puts had increased to $ 14.50. So that would have given us a profit of $11,100 if we had sold at the open.

http://www.bettertrades.com/btc/newsletter/images/mrk20050201-2.gif" target="_blank">View BetterTrades Chart

Generally you want to exit this trade in the first couple minutes of the market; however, having a thorough understanding of technical analysis may enable you to pull out even more profit by analyzing the intra-day chart. By using techniques taught in my Technically Speaking class we used the intra-day chart to stay in the trade as EBAY continued to drop after the open. We were able sell our puts for an extra 3.9 points for a total profit of $15,000 rather than the $11,100 if we had sold at the open.

The strangle is the safest way to make money over an earnings announcement when it is difficult to know which way the stock will move. Stick to some simple rules to maximize your profits. Use this strategy only on the most volatile stocks and keep the cost of the trade to a minimum by buying a very small amount of time. Then sell the profitable option at the open or use intra-day charts to remain in the trade as long as it is going in your direction.

There are still around 2,100 stocks left to announce earnings in February. Don't miss this opportunity to learn how to use the strangle. It is a valuable tool in the arsenal of the trader.

If you would like to learn more about technical analysis and profitable entry and exit points, join me in one of my free online trading seminars or come see me live in my informative and exciting two days seminar "Technically Speaking". Hope to see you soon!



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How to Confirm Trades to Make Better Trades

I have noticed an AMAZING number of students placing trades that have gone wrong and if they could have done what I call "A ROUND ROBIN" it likely could have prevented the cost. I would like to share what I do in my "ROUND ROBIN" before entering a new trade or deciding to exit an existing trade:

1. I prefer to look at both Micro and Macro (short-term and long-term) views of the stock. Sometimes if I am going to enter or exit a short-term trade it really makes a big difference to get out of the intra-day chart (micro-view) and go look at the bigger picture. I open a one month or longer chart (macro-view) to see the longer term trend. This sounds very simple and it is, but for some reason in the heat of the decision we feel so pressured that we tend to forget to look at the big picture. It is hard to see the forest from the trees so if you are looking at intra-day charts do yourself a favor and check what the actual trend is by looking at the daily charts too.

Recently I have seen a number of people buy calls at a double top in a down trending market and I am just amazed at their decision. It seems like these people are expecting the stock to defy the laws of gravity and principles of physics (what goes up, comes back down; what goes down, usually goes up). If they had done a "Round Robin" they would have been less likely to make such a self destructive high risk decision.

2. I like to confirm my decision with other indicators. For an intra-day view I like the TRIN and the TICK. Since I trade mostly NASDAQ stocks I use $NASTRIN and $NASTICK. These tell me some very important things:

TRIN: It is a short term trading indicator. Essentially this indicator is achieved by taking the advances to declines spread and dividing that by the volume of advances to declines*.

$1 or higher BEARISH
$.80 to $1 NEUTRAL, meaning it means nothing to me
$.80 or Lower BULLISH

*If you are a technically minded person you can calculate this indicator. It is a ratio calculated as follows. Using Nasdaq Index, complete this formula: ((# of advancing issues / # of declining issues) / (Total up volume / Total down volume)).

TICK: Gives me an idea if we are heading up or down in the short term*.

200+ BULLISH
+ 200 to - 200 NEUTRAL ZONE
200- BEARISH

*If you are a technically minded person you can calculate the TICK indicator by subtracting the number of stocks heading down from the number of stocks heading up.

COMPARE TRIN & TICK: At first look, notice that the two indicators are contrarians of each other. Which means that to be Bullish the TRIN will be moving lower and the TICK will be moving higher. To be Bearish the TRIN will be moving higher and the TICK will be moving lower.

On the TICK I like to draw support and resistance & look at it like a stock to see if the indicator is heading down or up at a given moment. It is the movement and direction of the movement that indicates the strength of the direction.

NOTE: I teach more detailed information on this in my QQQ class

3. Then I like to look at the market that the stock follows and confirm that the market is doing what the stock is doing (both are headed up, or down). The only exception is if news is causing my stock to go opposite of the market, then I discount the market direction.

To find out what market your stock actually follows overlay the market you think it follows on your stock (in the same chart).

In my charting program (Trade Navigator) you just press "C" and it will overlay it on top of the stock chart. You can then double click on the market ticker symbol to remove it from your chart.

Some stocks do not follow the market they are in. For example KKD used to follow the opposite of the NASDAQ but not the NYSE (if the NASDAQ was going up KKD would be moving down). MSFT is listed on both the DOW JONES 30 and the NASDAQ 100 but it tends to follow the NASDAQ more.

4. I now look back at the micro view of stock to confirm my decision before I jump in or out of a trade. It is always a good idea to check the news too. And always know the earnings date of your stock before you enter a trade.

ROUND ROBIN VIEW:

I always do the "ROUND ROBIN". It can sure save you from making the wrong trade, and entering or exiting to soon or too late a high percentage of the time.

It is always best to go with the trend, with an exception of doing a one day trade where you hope to be in and out in the same day. In that case you are playing support and resistance for the day and you can go against the longer-term trend during that time. You might consider using different views anyway. You could use 1-min, 5-min, and 1-hour charts.

If you have taken my QQQ class, remember to use the "Pivot Point" information in your decisions - it will prove to be invaluable, especially for short term trades.

Once you return to the MICRO View you will have completed the "Round Robin" process. It only takes a few moments, when you have practiced, and it's a quick way to check what is happening. The time you spend doing the "Round Robin" will be well spent because of the tremendous information and decision making value.

If you would like to learn more about my trading philosophy I invite you to attend my trading workshops in person or participate in my free online trading seminars.

Happy Trading... and by the way don't forget to check out tonight's online web class "UPCOMING POWER PROFIT PLAYS" where you will be spoon fed the hottest trades available.



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