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: The Indices Revisited

In this article, Michael revisits the indices and looks at what they mean for traders. Almost all of the trades I do are specific to the chart and to that company itself. For example, a strong stock in a bear market will get bought, and a down-trending, stock-breaking support in a raging bull market will

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The Trader: Trades outside the RNS

Michael looks at trades that don’t come through the RNS yet can still be considered price-sensitive news. The RNS is one of the best place trades, whether the trades be Opening Drive scalps or swings. Setting up your own specific filters (or using mine) is another of the best places. Examples of places that are

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The Trader: Weekly Round-up

Michael looks at a roundup of the weekly news and highlights one stock to avoid. There’s been plenty of action this week. And perhaps sentiment for the UK market is on the mend? The news is full of articles sounding the alarm for the UK stock market. Peel Hunt’s chief Steven Fine said that there

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The Trader: Using technicals with fundamentals

You often hear of people who are staunchly for either technical or fundamental analysis. Chartists will sneer at those who read the financial statements because they have no predictor on price and fundamentalists will claim that chart-reading is kooky and for those who need to give their head a shake. I’ve never understood why these

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The Trader: Profit Warnings and Reactions

Michael looks at a profit warning and some reactions to the news. It’s been a busy week in the markets and about to get a lot busier as March brings a whole load of results and trading updates. Last week, we saw profit warnings from Halfords and FD Technologies, along with some ahead statements and

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The Trader: Two tech trend plays to watch

Are we in an early-stage bull market for small caps? Michael Taylor shares his experience on trend trading and how now could be a good time to get on board some trends early, taking a look at two potential examples in BKS and IGP. Intraday trading is fun. But it’s hard, most people fail, and

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The Trader: Trading external news events

In this article, Michael looks at trading external news events and opportunities that are set up as a result. External events that have an effect on a stock but are not directly news events from the stock can be hugely profitable. I talked about the Supreme Court of The United States’ decision to allow sports

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The Trader: Two potential breakout trades

Michael covers recent events and looks at two potential breakout trades. A lot has happened in the last two weeks. The US and the UK have attacked Iran-backed Houthi rebels. The SEC Twitter account got hacked and posted a tweet saying that the Bitcoin ETF had been approved. Then the Bitcoin ETF finally did get

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The Trader: Scanning the classic filter

Michael looks at some of the results from his classic filter to see if he can find potential trades. I’ve written about my 10% within 52-week highs filter twice, introducing it in May 2022 and again in February 2023. After a big market rally in November and December, there are going to be plenty of

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The Trader: Introducing my new filter

Michael explains his new filter and goes through some of the stocks it has provided. My 10% within 52-week highs filter is starting to pick up plenty of names. Does this mean the bull market is back? Well, not exactly. But it does mean that stocks are approaching their 1-year highs and threatening to either

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The Trader: Judging the news premium

Michael looks at assessing news premiums and news discounts with two recent examples. One question I’m often asked by clients is how do you gauge the news and what price to go within the uncrossing trade? Whilst much of trading can be systematic, such as following entries, stop losses, position sizing, and risk management, intraday

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The Trader: Position Weights

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

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