the Daily Note - That Reminds Me, Again...

Interesting that I wrote "Trade What You Know" just days ahead of the $LNKD IPO. I did not have it in mind when I wrote it, but time and again I'm reminded how relevant it is. This time just a week later, I refer to it once again in response to a comment I noticed on StockTwits.

Given enough experience traders one day realize that it matters not what others are saying, it is the movement of the stock that makes the market and determines its current value. There may be very valid arguments with opinions about one equity or another but what ultimately happens with that stock may be light years away different. Traders know that, investors may not.

We cannot know everything, but trusting in what others are saying or say they know, is a bit too much trust to give away to others. Yet, in order to participate in the markets and make gains, we all must put our trust into something; be it fundamental or technical analysis or be it our psychic sense, third eye or gut.

If you choose the former, and place trust into others, watch their actions because it's "Actions That Prove the Word". Be sure what they say and what they do has a record, not just analysis. Opinion is easy, risk is not. It is because I cannot be sure about other people's opinions, is why I like to read and form my own, based on what I may already know. In such a way was my first IPO: $EBAY

$EBAY was an unknown, except by those of us that used it. I was a user for nearly 2 years.
$NFLX was an unknown, except by those of us that used it. I was a user for nearly 2 years.
$OPEN was an unknown, except by those of us that used it. I was a user for nearly 2 years.

Each of the above had it's strong nay sayers, critics and short sellers. Each may be proven correct at times, often and eventually perhaps but The question always remains as to: "When?" Which brings us back to risk taking.

Risk is always helped by luck, timing and God's intervention but as I've mentioned before, watching what people do and not just what they say is your best gauge for success. So first do your own study and then if interested, watch what traders do.

I've know of LinkedIn's existence since 2004. I have a special antennae for these things? No, I was just doing a lot of news reporting, and well, you can guess. I know professionals who are listed and use it. So although I'm not a professional user, I know what it is from what I've seen it is a "Networking/Headhunting/Resume/Job Hunting/Self Publicity" site. People make real connections on it and to those of us that participated in the 1980's networking groups and gatherings know the value it can provide. It's just my opinion, but if you are a professional, recent college grad, any type of corporate phenomenon or wannabe, I suggest you sign on.

Will it be a trading/investing star like the others? I truly cannot predict. The future of $LNKD's success will lie in popularity to some extent and publicity in another. It is hard to sell corporate today as an important site for social media. $LNKD is more serious and not "sexy" or as fun loving as Twitter, or Facebook. Yet its unique quality is that it isn't either one of those. Whereas Twitter is a 140 letter sound bite and a quick message center, Facebook has fast become a political propagandists' activity moving paradise. You will learn much about people and the world on both and maybe both will get you somewhere, but will it land you a plum job? LinkedIn might.



Happy Trading, Living and Dancing
Anni



The Daily Pick - LNKD

©DayTrading with Anni 2011 All Rights Reserved

The Daily Note - Trust Your Plan

Never stop dancing, even if the weather changes and ruins your picnic. Keep to your plans and you'll always find joy in the day.

The most difficult part of the plan is to trust it. We have as traders often second guessed our plans only to say later how much we have "left on the table" or lament that we "sold too soon". There is only 2 reasons why that would happen. 1.) We did not have a complete plan with a definite target, and 2.) We did not trust the plan and changed our mind.

Once trades are planned, you may need to adjust for some unexpected changes that can be corrected, but once in the trade, it's best to trust the plan and let it unfold so it can come to fruition.

So the lesson in this picture is to trust your plan and the challenge is that you learn to trust it sooner than most of us so you will still be dancing when other have fled.


The Singing Butler by Jack Vettriano





Happy Trading, Living and Dancing
Anni


The Daily Pick - MCP

©DayTrading with Anni 2011 All Rights Reserved

The Daily Note - Trade What You Know

I credit Peter Lynch in turning on my "lightbulb" about the markets. It was my "aha" moment. I poured over many a prospectus, investement sheet in the reference section of the library about investing prior to reading his book,"Beating the Street" which I read at my favorite cafe in Santa Cruz, California. That is going back to 1994. I returned from teaching in Europe and was literally looking for something else to learn, study, do for the summer while waiting for my next teaching "gig". Needless to say I got struck and stuck although I had choices. I chose a totally different road to travel at that cafe; it's the moment I will never forget because from that moment on all the mystery fell away from investing for me.

I realized just how simple investing is because it's really not about the "best" "hottest" or the "greatest" but it's literally what is in your own neighborhood, no matter how large or small. Investing is what your interests are because that is where your knowledge is. Work, play, dine, shop. Everything you touch, do or use can be an investment. Look around you and wonder who invented that item you use and like so much, who or what company produces, delivers or manufactures what you take for granted but enjoy having in your life.

Knowing and bringing things into perspective that basically revealed to me the truth behind the "American Dream". Its simplicity and its brilliance all at the same time. You don't have to be rich beyond your wildest dreams, you just have to be interested in what is happening around you and be willing to work your own magic into it.

So, no matter where you are starting from, and how much you have, remember that what you know will allow you to find places for your funds. It's really the best way to start, and rest assured that as your interests grow, so will your ability to invest in them.



Happy Trading, Living and Dancing
Anni

The Daily Pick - AMZN


©DayTrading with Anni 2011 All Rights Reserved

The Daily Note - Trading with the Energy

I like to trade while playing music because it moves me from within and if I cannot find a correct match, I prefer to be in total silence, where muses will find me instead. Either way, I tap into what I call the Universe or Universal Consciousness where all energy flows to and from.

Energy flows in/out and all around us. It's being generated by thought. But we not only generate energy, we all gather and process it prior to releasing it back into the Universe via an expression. Our expression is in the form of the way we move, the way we talk, the way we act and the way we create and the way we think. Energy needs expression or it becomes nervous energy instead, which has a totally different feel. Nervous energy is disruptive because it cannot flow. Energy needs to flow much like the ocean, in waves, and dissipate back into the Universe via an expression. No matter what you do, you dissipate energy back into the Universe and you cannot help but be part of the wave pattern.

Trading charts illustrate the energy flow and they create the patterns of thought that traders have. In order to best understand it, it is best that you tune into it, much like you tune into music. In this way you can best anticipate it's flow and be able to tell the difference between nervous energy from the clear flowing; the bottleneck created by the debris of indecision and the smooth even movement of the consensus which is reached by traders tapping into the energy flow rather than fighting it. It's like riding the waves, being in the "zone" or like moving to the music with no thought involved because you are involved with your whole body and soul. There is no separateness in a perfect trade, there is just the feeling of being at one with the trade.

If you'd like to learn more about this style, come in and join me while I trade via the Special Trial.



Happy Trading, Living and Dancing
Anni

The Daily Pick - AGQ

©DayTrading with Anni 2011 All Rights Reserved

the Daily Note - What's in a Name?

Indeed Shakespeare wrote: "A rose by any other name would smell as sweet." Well on Sunday we had a sweet victory on the announcement that Osama Bin Laden was killed in a raid executed by the Navy Seals. Upon the news the futures market went ballistic and I saw as high as +120 on the YM.

Prior to that news, silver futures plummeted 13% as CME boosted required margin. Gold followed suit but only slightly and the dollar strengthened as the oil dropped. All these were big news before the Osama Bin Laden's death announcement but it became exciting when silver dropped with barely a trace.

But we all know that Osama's death has nothing to do with reality in the world markets, so then we must ask ourselves what caused the earth to move? Sell in May; or perhaps something totally different?

Euphoria is a simple diversion from reality. The feeling is good and people wish to get lost in it because the alternative is not very palatable, what ever it may be. The reality that we are ever growing our debt, that we have increasing daily living expenses at the grocer and the pump, or that our dollars will not last as long as we have planned and even the thought that we are not able to enjoy the fruits of our labor as much because we cannot afford it, sends many of us to seek other ways to feel that all is not lost. So if we find solution and hope in the equities, commodities,and currency markets then that is where we'll go. Many who cannot see any way of increasing their worth via savings and have not much hope in real estate, are now flocking into the markets. All that cash that was for long talked about is now entering a market that is already frothing from over a two year rise... or shall we say high rise. The more wishing to occupy it, the more they will pay for the privileged of doing business.

It is the common sense of free markets: supply and demand. It would have its own checks and balances if it were not manipulated. But what if the supply in the "supply/demand" markets has been set askew and what if the demand is forced and unreal? What if like with Bin Laden we do not take this "threat" seriously either.

Drastic or otherwise, there will be a turning point perhaps most won't foresee. Much like the airplanes into the World Trade Center.

At first, we stared incredulous. Then we denied it could happen on purpose, then we cheered on the rescuers to save those who were trapped but in the end, no one foresaw the collapse and utter total destruction of such terrific monuments of man's achievement.

Will there be such a parallel in the markets? I hope not. I hope we all get out of this burning tower before we get ruined. But we can only do so with a dose of reality and not while we are in a euphoric state. We can only survive if we quit dreaming that the more debt we accumulate the easier the drop will be. If we don't, then we'll have to look and ask ourselves, who will be the firemen sent in for the rescue, how many will be sacrificed and what will the name be of the one we'll blame for it all?



Happy Trading, Living and Dancing
Anni


The Daily Pick - AGQ


©DayTrading with Anni 2011 All Rights Reserved