Michael Taylor

Michael Taylor made the move to trading the stock market with his own capital on a full time basis in December 2016. As well as ShareScope, Michael contributes to Investors Chronicle and other online publications. He has also written a free book on getting started in the UK stock market, along with a stock trading handbook – both of which are available to download from his website at www.shiftingshares.com

I believe that anyone can learn to trade if they are able to remain objective and are willing to put the hours in. I lost a lot of money early on by not having a proper strategy and following the crowd. If you want to make money then you need to generate your own ideas – I use SharePad to find and plan my trades, and ShareScope to run on my trading screens.

The Trader: Your trading review

Michael suggests some ideas to look at in an annual trading review. Five years ago, we had no idea of what was about to come. Whispers of a new virus in December. Mildly interested chatter in January. Concern creeping in at the start of February, yet markets powered higher even though the virus swept into

Read More »

The Trader: Coin Euphoria

Michael looks at the recent cryptocurrency euphoria as well as two UK plays. Bitcoin has shot past $100,000. Its market cap now stands at nearly $2 trillion. Not bad for what is deemed a nothing asset by many. Dogecoin – a joke coin with no real tangible useful value and a picture of a cute

Read More »

The Trader: Jaguar’s Rebrand and Games Workshop

You’ve probably seen Jaguar’s new rebrand, which looks similar to a cosmetic or a fashion ad, without any mention of cars, and some vague slogans which mean little to anyone. Marketers worldwide have crowed about how “Jaguar has destroyed its brand” and that this is financial suicide. Maybe. But they missed the point. Jaguar barely

Read More »

The Trader: Discretionary v Systematic

There are two approaches to trading: discretionary and systematic. The former relies on the trader’s judgement to make decisions, whilst systematic follows a set of predefined rules. Both of these have merits and drawbacks, and it’s not untypical for traders to look down upon the other group as inferior. Which, given we’ve had the budget

Read More »

The Trader: Preparing for the Budget

Michael takes a look at some sectors that could be affected by the upcoming autumn budget. The budget day is going to be like a firehose of RNS announcements attached to your face. Lots of changes are going to be anticipated and there will be plenty of volatility. This volatility presents an opportunity (both for

Read More »

The Trader: Sharper Mind, Sharper Profits

Michael looks at the benefits of a sharper mind and how to cultivate an edge in trading. The difference between winners and losers is almost always the mindset. And yes, there are lots of other things that go into successful trading, such as knowledge, hard work, and the ability to learn quickly. But you can

Read More »

The Trader: The art of the flip

In this article, Michael looks at flipping direction and two trade ideas. It’s been a big week for volatility. China’s stimulus plan jumpstarted the resources sector and helped the luxury sector too. China’s slowdown in consumer spending has been responsible for a big part of the luxury slump, and sales collapsed in Mainland China for

Read More »

The Trader: Do sellers present opportunity

In this article, Michael assesses whether sellers present opportunities and a potential early stage two stock. I got asked this week about known sellers and if it is a good opportunity to buy a stock when there’s a seller. The reasoning behind this is that once the seller clears, sometimes there isn’t much of a

Read More »

The Trader: A brief fall and two trade ideas

In this article, Michael covers the recent stock market fall and two trade ideas. Two weeks ago stocks were tanking. This week stocks are up. If you were on holiday the last fortnight and didn’t bother checking the markets, then you might not have noticed anything was up. As I wrote in my Slack group

Read More »

The Trader: Delayed reactions present an opportunity

Michael looks at some of this week’s action and notes some commonalities between trades. Riddle me this… If the market is efficient, then why don’t prices gap up and open without moving? The simple answer is because the market isn’t efficient. In this basic assumption, we assume that all (or at least a big majority)

Read More »

The Trader: The damaging effects of loss

In this article, Michael looks at the effects of loss and the damage it can do to a trader’s P&L. Trump getting shot on Saturday saw several stocks and sectors move quickly. Overall, the market saw it as a positive. Not that he was shot, but because of his now significantly increased chances of winning.

Read More »

The Trader: AIM and share placings

In this article Michael looks at share placings and how to take advantage of them. Equity placements, also known as share placings, are a critical aspect of the financial markets. They are what you might call a necessary evil and are often used by companies to raise capital. That said, not all share placings are

Read More »