Michael looks at staggering stops and position weights to increase the likelihood of profit on the trade. Many regular readers will know I’m a fan of staggering stops in volatile markets. The beauty of staggering stops is that by splitting the position into mini positions, you can widen part of your stop without taking on […]
Michael takes a look at the week as well as the AIM market index. This week there were plenty of trading opportunities (none taken by me as I was away). It’s very much a trader’s market at the moment, and many stocks are reporting, missing, and getting crucified. That was the case for newly listed […]
Michael takes a look at profit warnings and how to play these with several examples. Profit warnings are appearing on an almost daily basis. Despite two years of a grinding bear market, there are still companies out there that have yet to be beaten down. Stocks falling 40 percent or more on the […]
Michael looks at two examples of high-beta stocks offering news to trade. For anyone wanting to trade intraday then high beta stocks – stocks that move more than the market – are ideal stocks to trade. Especially when it comes to news that can move those stocks. Here are some examples this week. Gulf Keystone […]
The market saw a boom in new listings in 2020 and 2021 as companies were greedy to slurp on the capital market teat that provided fertile ground for rocketing IPOs. Companies would list and there would be a huge secondary market in order to lap up the stock and push the price to closing highs. […]
Michael looks at the first two hours of the trading day and how to view potential mispricing. The hour between 8am and 9am is just as important to the intraday trader as 7am to 8am. Whilst 7am to 8am is the time to meticulously work through RNSs and come up with a shortlist to dig […]
In this article Michael Taylor looks at the trading impact of rumours, overloads and spikes from Social Media. What to be aware of and how to navigate them to your advantage. The influence of social media platforms on various aspects of our lives is undeniable. One area where this impact has been particularly pronounced is […]
Michael looks at 7 more of the greatest trades of all time. In my last article, we looked at the best trades you’ve never heard of. And now that’ve read it, you have heard of them. But here are seven more… 1. John Templeton’s World War II capitulation trade Back in 1939, Germany invaded Poland […]
In this article, Michael looks at some of the greatest trades in history. The markets have always offered opportunities for those who either do the work and think differently. Most of my trades are systematic, however, every now and again opportunities open up. It’s important to log your trades in a trading journal (I am […]
In this article, Michael looks at the importance of checking RNSs when management thinks you’re not looking. Last Friday was a nice summer evening (at least it was for me, I can’t assume that it was for you), and a company decided to slip out an RNS at 17:56. The market has been shut for […]
Michael talks shorting and specifically – using this weeks news story on Ocado as an example – when the shorters get squeezed. Let’s be honest. Everyone loves a short squeeze. Unless, of course, you’re the shorter being squeezed. Then it’s like being nailed to a chair that’s set on fire. But shorting is an active […]
In this article, Michael looks at two of the best trades of the 20th Century by Sir John Templeton. Sir John Templeton was an American-born British investor, philanthropist, and fund manager. He was born in 1912 in Tennessee in the United States and passed away in 2008 in Nassau, Bahamas. American-born British because he gave […]
Michael looks at the overall market and another intraday play in this article. AI will be the growth driver for the next bull run. At least that’s what everyone is saying. Here’s Nvidia’s chart. The stock gapped up more than 25% on earnings. Not something you see on mega caps every day. Or even every […]
I’m often asked about my strategies on intraday trading. Intraday trading is fun but incredibly difficult. And whilst it often looks cool in films with all the screens and flashing lights and plenty of action, the reality is somewhat different. The failure rate of intraday traders (individuals who engage in short-term trading within a single […]
I’ve written extensively about breakouts. Breakouts are a popular strategy used by traders in the financial markets. It involves identifying a price level at which the market is expected to break out from its current range, and then entering a trade when that level is breached. Why does this work? Because the price breakout from […]
Michael looks at the indices after a spate of bank collapses that rocked financial markets. Worries about contagion and banks failing caused the markets to take a lurch downwards. Or did they? Am I making it up after the fact? The truth is nobody ever knows and it’s easy to say why something moved after […]
Consider Wandisco. It’s a software company that specialises in providing data management and replication services for businesses. The company was founded in 2005 and is headquartered in San Ramon, California, with additional offices in the UK, India, and Poland. Wandisco was listed on the London Stock Exchange’s AIM market in 2012 and has been a […]
Michael looks at what the recent all-time high in the FTSE 100 means for traders and two trade ideas On Wednesday the FTSE 100 hit a high of 8,002. This is an all-time high and the holders of blue chips and dividend stalwarts alike will have been cheering. All stocks have rallied in the last […]
Following on from my last article where I discussed intraday trading, it makes sense to write about swing trading. Intraday trading sounds glamorous and for this reason, it gets a lot more attention. Tell people you’re a day trader and people will hang onto your every word. But tell people you trade long-term trends and […]
Many people like the idea of day trading: being able to open and close a trade within a few minutes, banking a nice profit, and doing nothing for the rest of the day. Unfortunately, that’s all it is. An idea. The reality is somewhat different. Yes, you can close a trade in minutes (and even […]
Michael takes a look at some of the profit warnings announced in the last week and how they could’ve been avoided. It’s been a quiet week in the first trading week of 2023. But the profit warnings are out in force, with Bidstack, Angle, and Heiq all seeing a share price whack. Profit warnings are […]
2022 has been a whirlwind year. After 2020 and 2021, it was inevitable that we’d need to pay for the disruption Coronavirus caused. And John and I were saying it repeatedly on our podcast (which relaunches in the New Year!) – we just didn’t know when. After all, you could’ve sold and gone to cash […]
Another week passes and more takeover bids appear. This time for K3 Capital (K3C) and Crestchic (LOAD). And whilst takeovers are never terrible news, the majority of shareholders (at least the ones who voiced their sentiments on social media) appear to be disgruntled. This is because both the bid prices of the two companies in […]
It’s beginning to feel like we’re well into this bear market. Stocks are no longer looking like easy shorts. Many stocks have already bottomed and are trending upwards. As I said in my last article – I don’t know if this is the beginning of the new bull market. And I still don’t need to […]
Michael looks at the price action of the indices over the last few weeks and includes two potential breakout trades. US stocks had their second-best day in history this week. The indices have continued to rally since I last wrote two weeks ago. Many UK stocks have seen uplifts in their valuations too. The market […]
Michael looks at three features of new market leaders that will show themselves in the new early bull market. It’s goodbye Truss and hello Sunak. It was a success for the Daily Star’s lettuce and a brief rally with Sunak’s appointment. Markets have been anything and with the third Prime Minister of the year (and […]
Michael looks at several academic studies covering retail investors and what we can learn from them. We last looked at an academic article on trading in the summer of 2020. For a refresher, there were several findings. 1. “Retail investors tend to trade as contrarians after large earnings surprises, both positive and negative” Retail investors […]
Michael looks at The 90% Club from 2021 and how to avoid getting caught by overpriced IPOs. Warren Buffett doesn’t like IPOs. In fact, this is what he said about them: “An IPO is like a negotiated transaction – the seller chooses when to come public – and it’s unlikely to be a time that’s favourable to […]
In my last article, we looked at the first seven steps to profitability. We’ll continue where we left off: with the trading journal. 9. Check what happens after you close a trade to see if you’re leaving money on the table. Trading is about: Losing less from your losers Winning more from your winners Increasing […]
Michael outlines how to get to profitability as a trader in the first part of his 15-step walkthrough. Every trader’s ultimate goal is to be profitable. It’s a long journey which many fail. A statistic I display at the top of my trading course is that 90% of traders lose money (Barber, B.M., Lee, Y.-T., […]
Michael provides a breakdown on why cutting losses is crucial to scaling as a trader and two actionable steps to manage this Everyone pays lip service to risk management. However, it’s easy to move your stops “just this once”. Those three words are some of the most dangerous words in trading. If you move your […]
In this article, Michael looks at five different stocks and casts an eye over the charts. I recently wrote a Twitter thread where I gave my thoughts on several charts. Many said it was useful, so I thought an article where I do the same in a bit more detail may be of use in […]
We looked at five losing trader mistakes in my last article and this week we’ll cover five more. Being aware of mistakes can help you recognise the problems in your own trading. Once you’ve identified these you can then take steps to fix them. Let’s move on to number 6. 6. Getting emotional Emotions wreak […]
Following on from my last article on trading biases, this week I’ll be running through some of the biggest losing trader mistakes. I’ve made several of these in the past and it’s good to be aware of these so you can check if you’re falling into the traps. 1. Not having an edge Not having […]
In this article, Michael looks at 8 trading biases and how to mitigate these. It’s comparable to a video game. You press certain buttons to make certain things happen because you want a certain result. The better you press the buttons, the higher your score. Only in this game, the score is not meaningless. It’s […]
In this article Michael Taylor looks at stocks that are trading near their lows and that could potentially fall further. He also uses the SharePad filter library to look for those that might break out including Wood Group plc, Softcat plc, Safestyle uk and Restaurant Group. The market today is different to the market of […]
Michael Taylor looks at one of the US’s trading greats Mark Minervini and what we can learn from his strategies. I wrote a few weeks ago about what traders can learn from Warren Buffett. This week I’ll take a look at one of the trading greats: Mark Minervini. Who is Mark Minervini? Mark Minervini is […]
Michael demonstrates how straightforward the new chat is and how SharePad chat has been designed to allow users to connect and share information with each other. The Chat feature has been significantly improved in recent weeks. SharePad has many successful and intelligent users (such as yourself), and this feature has been designed in order […]
Warren Buffet is one of the greatest investors of all time. He has acquired wealth through relatively simple investing rules and sticking with them. Investing is completely different to trading, but I’m always open to reading about others’ successes and learning from them. In this article, we’re going to explore some of Warren Buffett’s secrets. […]
In this article, Michael offers some thoughts on trading through a bear market and how to protect yourself. Technically, the FTSE 250 is in a bear market. The FTSE 100 is not. At the moment, neither are the Dow Jones and S&P 500 indices. What if we bounce back and continue the epic bull run […]
Michael introduces two new filters to get ahead in difficult times through advance notices of potential breakouts and breakdowns. It pays to be bullish. History has shown us that over a long enough period of time being bullish on stocks has been a winning strategy. Economies grow, new technologies are invented, and value is created. […]
Trader Michael Taylor looks at indices and the macroeconomic impacts on the market. It’s been another volatile few weeks in the market. The game has now changed, and players must adapt or see their money taken from them. Over the last ten years, private investors could get away without bothering themselves too much about macroeconomics. […]
Michael Taylor looks at three potential breakout plays in stocks that are holding up despite the adverse conditions. The market has been rotating heavily in last few weeks. Commodity prices have surged with spikes in gas, crude, and nickel. Nickel rose 100% in a single day due to a short seller getting squeezed. However, the […]
It’s always worth keeping an eye on the indices. They are the bellwether for the markets – whenever the Dow plunges or hits new highs then we always hear about it. However, there is also a disconnect between the indices and the overall market. One thing that I found a few weeks ago is that […]
It is harder for many private investors to wrap their head around this thought: buying a price only when the stock is higher. The natural instinct is to think that if the stock is lower now, then it can be bought now, and sold higher later. This does, after all, go with the old stock […]
As we roll into December, it’s inevitable that people start to look back on their year and how they’ve performed. We tend to look at the new year as a chance to improve bad habits and make changes. Gym owners across the country will be rubbing their hands in glee as people rush to join […]
It has been a turgid couple of months for small cap investors. Many stocks are well off their highs. There are no longer placings where investors can’t write tickets quick enough. The capital tap (for now) is no longer gushing and we’re seeing companies sell off as people become wary of a possible recession. At […]
I don’t trade indices as I much prefer equities – however one thing I learned from the pandemic is that instead of shorting 30-40 stocks, I could’ve easily boosted my returns by putting on an index short. Once you go above 20 shares, you start to significantly correlate the very index you’re trying to beat. […]
Breakouts are an excellent way to swing trade and profit from bull markets. I love breakouts because they’re a high probability pattern of continuation and also because it means that the price is rising. However, many people try strategies that that are inherently risky. Sadly, one private investor commented that they’d invested into a stock […]
I was at lunch this week with some trader friends, discussing the market and the various strategies you can use to make money. We came to the agreement that in the small caps space, having an informational edge is definitely an advantage. Knowing what you own and why you own it is one of Peter […]
The market has been risk-off in the last few weeks. Why? It’s anyone’s guess. The Talking Heads will say inflation, price of lumber rising, price of lumber falling, geopolitical tensions… If only they could tell us before the event instead of finding reasons for why things happened after the event.
April is typically a strong month – perhaps because of all the tax-selling clearing and reducing sell pressure. New ISA money tends to enter the market too. Cash is a position, but many punters feel it burning a hole in their pockets and so tend to end up spending it.
I run my filter every week, usually on a Saturday morning. By running the filter every week, it allows five trading sessions to pass and therefore potentially offer up new stocks. Time is a trader’s greatest asset, and it makes no sense to run the filter every day when almost all of the stocks will be the same.
A few months ago, SharePad released a new feature called the Single Page. Learn to use it and maximise your productivity.
The breakout retest is a great way of trading a breakout if you missed the initial rally. We looked at how traders should look to play these and the importance of a well-timed buy.
Everyone likes a turnaround. This is because people like the idea of buying at the bottom and reaping the rewards.
However, trading turnarounds can take a lot of time. Businesses are often slow to change and it is not a quick process.
This article will show you how to trade some potential turnaround stocks and give you some pointers to look at next time you are considering trading a turnaround.
My last article detailed my new filter. If you missed it then you can read about it here. As discussed, this filter looks for stocks that are uptrending and are off their recent highs. It provides trading ideas that we can then dig further into. Here are some recent results. Calnex Solutions (CLX) Calnex is […]
I released a new filter several weeks ago. This was a new filter I was testing and mentioned this in my Investors Chronicle column. I’ve released it onto the library due to popular demand and in this article I’ll explain how to get the best out of this filter. First of all, you can find […]
The pharmaceuticals sector is another popular sector with private investors and retail traders. This is because the volatility is high and traders are often attracted to the blue-sky lottery ticket type stocks. The road for a junior pharmaceutical company is long and hard. First of all, drugs need to go through three phases of testing […]
The commodities sector is popular with private investors and retail traders. Life changing gains (and life changing losses) can be made on this sector. Back the right minor and you can see stocks appreciate in value several-fold, although the vast majority never amount to anything other than value destruction through endless placings. In this article […]
The automobile sector is not one I usually deal in. However, by using the RNS service each morning and sifting through company reports, it’s easy to keep on top of various sectors and how they’re performing. Customer spending has seen a large boom as people are restricted from going on holiday and eating out (aside […]
The hospitality sector has been smashed in recent months. This is for several reasons. Lower footfall in high streets, offices closed and the work from home trend, and finally because many were already being hit in the casual dining crisis that is far from over. In the aftermaths of the Great Financial Crisis restaurants boomed. […]
One of the effects on Coronavirus has been to crash the entire stock market only to see it recover strongly. However, the impact of Coronavirus for the private investor and retail trader has been huge. Social media has contributed to market inefficiency It is a widely held view that the internet has created a more […]
Spread betting is another way of buying and selling shares. Instead of buying the actual stock when we purchase through our broker, in spread betting we are literally placing a bet on the stock that it will either rise or fall as defined by the spread. The spread is the price to buy and the […]
Unless you’re an Instagram trader, set with a laptop by the pool and a Lamborghini in the background, everybody goes through rough patches in trading. It is a fact. So much of this business is uncertain, and ironically people want to get into trading for the ‘freedom’ it provides. But free we are not, and […]
One of the questions I’m frequently asked is how I structure my day. Time is a trader’s most important currency because sometimes it can be the first person eats, the second person goes hungry. Being alert and organised is the key to performing well. My day starts early compared to most at 04:45. Before I […]
We have covered many aspects of trading in previous articles, such as Why You Should Be Using R, Exit Strategies, and How To Avoid Blowing Your Account, and having had conversations with recent traders it is clear that knowing your market in what you trade is a necessary criterion. This article will introduce new traders […]
One of the many oft-repeated quotes around traders is that 90% of traders lose money. However, this depends on how one classifies a ‘trader’. Many people – and I can believe that it is 90%+ of people – lose money when they enter trading. But often newcomers aren’t coming into the market prepared. There’s a […]
A few months ago, I wrote about how to optimise your news feed on ShareScope Pro. My suggestions to improve the news feed have been taken on board and are now available on SharePad too. In this article, I’ll show how you to set up your news feed in order to get the best out […]
A combination of market volatility and being locked in during lockdown has led to many turning their eye to getting involved in the stock market. The failure rate for traders is estimated to be around 90%, and many of the spread bet firms report that 70%+ of clients lose (the real figure I believe is […]
The market is moving with extreme volatility in recent weeks. This offers traders many opportunities to prosper and profit, but volatility is a double-edged sword. It can be your best friend one day and your worst enemy the next. Many traders love volatility when the trade is going in their favour, but struggle to deal […]
R is a component in trading that we use to define risk. It is a crucial aspect of trading systems and by thinking in terms of R we can improve our results. In this article I will introduce to you the concept of R and how to use it for your own trading. It is […]
“It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.” Whether or not you agree with Jane Austen’s opening line in Pride and Prejudice, by the end of this article I hope you will agree with my version. “It is a truth […]
In April 2017, I had a real nightmare. I had been trading full time on the market for four months and had had enormous success buying bubbley story stocks and riding them upwards. I was convinced that I knew what I was doing. I made all the classic mistakes of complacency, which turned into denial […]
In this article, I’ll show you how to clean up and manage your RNS feed by adding a filter and removing noise, colour coding your RNSs, and highlighting words and phrases within the stories itself. We’ll also get rid of all stocks without EPIC codes. The RNS feed is an important part of the screen […]
January was a good month, despite the FTSE 100 closing down nearly 3.5% and the outbreak on coronavirus soon to kill us all. Or is it? Well, it’s been declared a global health emergency by the World Health Organisation. But what seems likely is that the media has whipped up the story in order to […]
Taste the Feeling is a Coca-Cola slogan from 2016. I think it’s a very good, because Coca-Cola isn’t just a product. It’s a religion. The fervour seen during the launch of New Coke, launched in 1985, as a response to Pepsi’s taste tests showing consumers preferred a sweeter alternative, showed that it wasn’t about the […]
“Nature versus nurture” has been a debate that has raged for hundreds of years. Sir Francis Galton (pictured above), who was a Victorian era statistician and psychologist (amongst investor, explorer, and other disciplines) coined the phrase in his book Hereditary Genius. He had been influenced by Charles Darwin’s Origin of the Species, and so in […]
Warren Buffett is famous to have said “If a capitalist had been present at Kitty Hawk back in the early 1900s, he should have shot Orville Wright”. This is because the airline industry is deemed to have sucked huge amounts of money and destroyed shareholder value more than any other sector. But is that fair? […]
Cups and handles, and bowls, have been very popular with trend traders. These patterns can be powerful as they show sentiment of the stock gradually changing and buyers slowly overpowering suppliers of the stock. This is a classic cup and handle pattern. The cup is the deeper bowl, along with a handle which is the […]
With Debenhams going bang, the demise of Mothercare, and Carpetright finally succumbing to their challenges (Carpetright was taken over – but at a price only slightly higher than the all time low), the narrative of the high street being dead seems to be coming true with every new departure. Thomas Cook went bust a few […]
Support and resistance are two common concepts when it comes to technical analysis. They are the most basic but also the most important points when plotting levels on a chart. Technical analysis is a self-fulfilling prophecy as many traders and investors look at the same levels on charts, and therefore support becomes support because people […]
We briefly touched on technical analysis in my previous article ‘The Four Stages of a Stock’, and in this article I want to introduce some simple technical analysis components, which, if understood, can provide a lot of clarity on price action in the market. Candlesticks are said to have been invented by a Japanese rice […]
Although I am much more of a trader myself as I rely on trading profits to pay my bills, I do think investors have much to be gained learning from the art of short selling stocks. There are several reasons that will be explained in this article, but first it is important to understand what […]
Technical analysis is either loved or hated. Many people like to claim it as ‘voodoo’ and trying to predict the future, but the fact is that technical analysis is useful simply because everyone looks at the same charts and sees the same patterns. It becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. Those who do not bother to learn […]
