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: Macroeconomic factors on stocks

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.

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The Trader: Three breakouts in a weak market

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

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Is this a stock market crash? A look at the indices

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

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One commodity breakout

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

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looking back in the rear view mirror

The end of the year | Looking back on trades

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

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Sniper shorts

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

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The Trader: A look at the indices

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.

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trading trend

The Trader: 3 principles for trading on the stock market

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

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4 FTSE miners | Centamin, Fresnillo, Ferrexpo, Petropavlovsk

We looked at two potential stage 2 stocks a few weeks ago here. The issue with some AIM stocks is that they don’t offer the liquidity that some traders prefer. In this article, we’ll look at some FTSE miners that trade on both the FTSE 100 and FTSE 250 indices. These stocks are traded in

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Petroneft chart in SharePad

The Trader: Two potential early stage 2 stocks

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

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risk illustration

The Trader: Risk-off market

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.

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mpro5 is #notjustanapp

The Trader: More results from my filter

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.

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