Why  I  Work  Sat/Sun

I follow Mr. Steve Burns of  'newtradereu.com'.  He tweeted the following yesterday and I retweeted it for my followers on my tweeter account @spotlightamin.  You should follow me as well as Mr. Steve Burns on tweeter.   We share a lot of good content on tweeter daily.  His tweet explains why I choose to trade and invest in Growth Stocks.  It takes a lot of discipline and focus to analyze the market every week.  It takes a lot of work to identify the stocks that are leading the market.  It takes even more work to decide:

• What to Buy ?
• When to Buy ?
• When to Sell ?
• How to Scale up with follow up buys ?
• How to Scale down with trailing stops ?
• How to mitigate Risk ?
• How to Stay in Tune with the Market ?

It's all worth it 

Mr. Steve Burns tweet:

Trading is a job. It's not passive income BUT, it's a job where:

You have no employees.

No boss.

No customers.

Location independent.

You get uncapped & exponentially growing salary.

Worth it?

Only if you're willing to endure the long & painful learning curve.

-@LoneStockTrader

Mentoring  Program

I shall be opening up a few slots in September in my Mentoring Program.  June and July training slots were very quickly snapped up and both of these months provided lots of opportunities for some quick profits in the market.  I will make a spot or two available in August if you are serious about speeding up your learning curve.  We have already attained  +26.60%  gain with the leading growth stock index $QQQ year to date.  Historically our best quarter is from October thru Dec.  It's quite possible that we could have an additional  +13%  gain in the next 5 months.  Now is an ideal time to learn to trade and invest utilizing growth stock strategies of IBD(Investors Business Daily).  

Schedule a  FREE  30 minutes of  "Discovery Call"  with us and investigate how our program can help you learn the basics of reading the Stock Charts:

• How to find the winning Growth Stocks?
• How to Buy the Stocks Right?
• How to Sell the stocks Right?
• How to TIME the market?
• How to protect and harvest your profits? 

Contact us at:

investorspotlight@gmail.com

Happy Trading!

Amin

$CYBR  Outperformed  Growth  Stock  Index  by  +50%

"Worthwhile things are not built in short periods of time. They come from a consistent series of actions"

By Angela Kelly, soccer player/coach

How I traded $CYBR  since the  "Follow Thru"  day of January 7th  following the IBD rules of:

• Timing the market (must buy something on a "Follow Thru" day).
• Scaling into position as the stock makes gains of  +3%  to +5% (Buying High and Selling Higher).
• Staying in tune with the market (keeping track of the  "distribution days"  and the market pulse).
• Observing the 20 day sma(simple moving average) and its divergence from the 50 day sma (extended stocks).
• Observing the  "8 Week Hold Rule".

For study purposes, let's assume an investment of $10,000 investment in a stock at a time.  Following are the results of this winning stock that I had originally mentioned in my blog on March 31st (it's archived and can be accessed with a FREE subscription ... investorspotlight.blogspot.com)

1. Jan 7th  "Follow Thru"  day entry at $69.82 (143 shares)
2. Jan 16th scale in a 2nd position  at $80.75 since the initial entry was  +14%  within 7 days (123 shares).
3. Feb 13th take 1/2 of the position off to avoid a nasty earnings surprise the following day (133 shares at $87.79).
4. Feb 15th re-enter with $11676.07 (114 shares at $102.34). Stock surged during earnings and reached +20% within 2 weeks triggering the 8 week hold rule.  Plan to hold this stock through May 1st for more gains.
5. Mar 11th scale in a 3rd position at $107.65 (92 shares).
6. May 13th take 1/2 of the total position off to avoid a nasty earnings surprise the following day (169 shares at $123.35)
7. May 15th reenter the day after the earnings report with $20,846.15 (171 shares at $121.54)
8. June 10th  "Follow Thru"  day entry with a 4th position at $130.60 (76 shares)
9. July 18th scale in a 5th position at  $136.50 (73 shares)

Currently there are 5 positions totaling  $49710.31 of investment.  Total value at Fridays close is  $66,335.40  for a gain of  +33.44%  in 29 weeks.  Concentrating your portfolio into just a few winning leading stocks is the way to dramatically increase the size of your portfolio.  Diversifying is not the way to do it but concentrating to just a few stocks is.  $QQQ  the leading Growth Stock index is  +22%  and  $SPY  the proxy for general market performance is +17.60%  since the  "Follow Thru"  day of January 7th.  $CYBR  out performed the  $QQQ  by +50% and the  $SPY  by a whopping  +100%. 

Follow  the  Institutions

"You can't go by how you feel in the market. The only  thing that works well is to let the market indexes tell you when it's time to enter and exit. Never fight the market - it's bigger than you are."

By Mr. William J. O'Neil (Founder of Investor's Business Daily)

I have consistently expressed my views that it's the big institutions like the pension funds, mutual funds, hedge funds and professional money managers that account for the bulk of the daily trading volume in the stock market.  They account for over 75% of the total volume traded every day.  Lot of this is done with the aid of computers that are programmed with algorithmic trading modules.  We as retail traders and investors have to learn to interpret stock charts to evaluate the foot prints left by them in the market.  

There is a lot of noise in the media on a daily basis.  Lately we keep hearing of the inverted yield curve n how it's a precursor to the recession that will follow.  Some in media spout out that the transport sector and retail sector have to be uptrending for this market to continue on the bullish trend.  There is also scary tactics used to rile up the retail investors that the small cap index $RUT is not showing the bullish strength to confirm the present bullish trend.  It's best to look at the data and let our decisions be data driven instead.

Looking over the market data and the performance of the 3 major indexes and the 9 sectors of the market, here are the results of the performance since the lows attained on Dec 24th 2018:

Indexes:

1. $DJI      ... + 25%
2. $SPY    ... + 29%  
3. $QQQ   ... + 35%  

Sectors:

1. $XLK   ... + 41% (Technology)
2. $XLY   ... + 35% (Consumer Discretionary)
3. $XLI    ... + 30% (Industrials)
4. $XLF   ... + 27% (Financials)
5. $XLB   ... + 24% (Materials)
6. $XLP   ... + 23% (Staples)
7. $XLE   ... + 20% (Energy)
8. $XLU   ... +18% (Utilities)
9. $XLV   ... +15% (Health Care)

Historical  Perspective

The 3 indexes that I monitor - $DJI, $SPY and the $QQ are highly correlated.  Leading index is the Growth Stock index $QQQ.  We had a bull market from 1994 to 1999 during which time the small cap index $RUT was lagging the $SPY and the $NASDAQ.  Transport sector did only +69% while the  $SPY gained +215% and the  $NASDAQ  gained a whopping +423% within those 6 years.  $QQQ a Growth stock index that I monitor pretty much mirrored the performance of the $NASDAQ.

As retail traders and investors, we have to look at the market in an unbiased and an open mind.  It's best to look at the data that the stock charts and indexes provide us on a daily basis.  It reflects exactly what the institutions are doing.  Currently we have only 5 distribution daays between the $SPY and the $NADAQ.  For the last 2 weeks, the 20 day sma(simple moving average) has crossed over the 50 day sma in a distinct bullish move sloping upwards.  All the 3 indexes have cleared the long term resistance and the sideways consolidation of 17 months we had with the $DJI.  Longer the market continues to move up away from the long term resistance, greater the likelihood of the market to continue to making higher highs.  We have 10% of the $SPY companies reporting earnings this coming week.  This will be the week to see what stocks are breaking out.  That will give us the confirmation of where the institutions are deploying their capital.     

Where  are  we  Headed

Lately when I talk to people while I am walking in the neighbourhood or when I am making a presentation to investors groups, there is a hesitation on the part of the investors to be involved in the market.  I hear all kinds of reasons from them not to be in the market when the market is at an all time high.  I shall leave you with the following quote from Mr. William J. O'Neil:

"The hard - to - believe Great Paradox in the stock market is: What seems too high and risky to the majority usually goes higher eventually, and what seems low and cheap usually goes lower." 

Happy Trading!

Amin

Dow  Heading  to  30,000 by  Year  End

"What we learn from history is that people don't learn from history"

Mr. Warren Buffett

This is what I had written in my blog post exactly a year ago on July 8th:

"Market conditions have improved dramatically since Thursday June 28th.  Market is very efficient and all the news you hear on a daily basis about the North Korean rocket man, tariffs, interest rate hikes by the central banks of US/Euro Zone/Japan or the disruption of oil supplies and immigration reforms or the knee jerk reaction with every tweet that Mr. Trump discharges is all priced in with every stock.  I have often said that the market does not have any political bias or leanings towards any religion.  Markets don't really care for your opinions or your prayers either.  It is best to tune out all the noise in the market and just look at the data to guide your decisions.  Paying too much attention to every tick in the market and looking over your positions too closely on the computer is futile.  I can assure you, that will not move the stock and will only get you frustrated." 

Nothing has changed

Last year, $NASDAQ was  + 11%  during the first half of of the year.  This year, results are even better than last year as shown below:

• $DJI      ... + 16%
• $SPY    ... + 20%
• $QQQ   ... + 25%

Mr. Ryan Detrick of LPLA Financial had tweeted last week shedding some light on the historical performance of the market.  He tweeted:

"Past 3 times $SPY was  +15%  halfway through the year, final 6 months did really well".

He also stated:

"Past 10 years, July has been the strongest month for  $SPY"

You don't hear this on TV or print media.  All we hear is that this bull market has gone on too long and we have a yield curve inversion.  There is talk about the recession and the fact that earnings are going to be disappointing.  

Nonsense

I would just like to remind all my readers that in July of 2017 as well as July of 2018, we had a  "Follow thru"  day in early July and the market began to post higher highs in the weeks and months to follow.  That's what the recent history suggests.  We have been in a sideways market for the past 17 months with the  $SPY  and  $QQQ.  $DJI  has been in the sideways market for the last 10 months.  As of a a week ago, all the 3 major indexes have their 20 day sma(simple moving average) heading up and crossed over the 50 day sma.  That's a very bullish move.  They are all printing their all time highs now and there is very little overhead supply of seller now.  Longer the market moves sideways now, higher the likely hood of the the market forming a new base to propel us higher.

That's the data

No one can predict what the market will do on any given day.  Looking over the data and the recent historical performance of the 3 indexes, it's quite feasible for the market to make another  +10%  or more of the gains in the next 6 months.  4th quarter is our strongest quarter historically.  Looking over the data for the past 50 years, the last quarter median performance has been  +4.52%.  DOW  printing 30,000 by year end is quite feasible. 

Happy Trading!

Amin 

Don't  Listen  to  the  GURUS  on  Media

"What we learn from history is that people don't learn from history"

 Mr. Warren Buffett 

It was the summer of 2016 and I had just come back from the 2 week cruise in the Mediterranean.  I mistakenly turned on the news on tv.  Brexit was all that they were talking about and every well known hedge fund managers were spouting their opinions on CNBC or CNN or Yahoo finance.  One would have thought that the stock market was capitulating.   

Non Sense !

One lesson that I have learnt is that my opinion or politics really doesn't matter in the market.  Market tends to fool the majority and that includes the professional money managers and hedge fund managers.  Market is a collective of all the buyers and sellers.  Stock charts will reflect the price and the volume of shares changing hands every day in the market.  Ultimately, that is what really matters. 

On July 5th 2016, IBD (Investors Business Daily) changed the market pulse to  "Market in Confirmed Uptrend".  It was a  "Follow Thru"  day.  It was time to start dipping your toes in the market at that time.  Best thing to do at that time was not to pay attention to what the so called  GURUS  were spouting in the media.  When I looked outside the window, I noticed the sky wasn't falling.  Most retail traders were just too scared to step back in the market.  We have been hearing in the media since summer of 2016 that this bull market has been in an uptrend for too long and that it cannot be sustained.

Non Sense !

Since the end of June 2016 to June of 2019, here are the results of the 3 major indexes that I follow.  They all show a strong correlations with each other.  That to me is the one of the best ways to gauge the performance of the market.

1. $SPY   ... + 41.78%  (General market performance).
2. $DJI     ... + 50.33%  (Big cap 30 Dow component).
3. $QQQ  ... + 77.41%  (Growth stock performance)

At this rate, one could have doubled their portfolio by being a passive investor of the  $QQQ  within the last 3 years.  Learning to read the stock and index charts is what it takes to profit in the stock market.

 Mentoring  Program

We have very limited number of slots available for the months of August and September in my Mentoring Program.  Historically our best quarters are the 4th quarter and the 1st quarter.  $QQQ  (Growth Stock Index)  has performed  +21.06%  year to date.  It's quite possible that we could do just as well in the next 6 months.  History suggests that the second half of the year tends to perform better than the first half of the year.  It's not a guarantee however.  Now is an ideal time to learn to trade and invest utilizing Growth Stock Strategies of IBD (Investors Business Daily).

Schedule a  FREE  30 minutes of  "Discovery Call"  with us and investigate how our program can help you learn the basics of reading Stock Charts.  Students that embarked on our program in 2016 have learnt to double their portfolios in the last 3 years.  

What are you waiting for?

Do not procrastinate !

Contact us at:

investorspotlight@gmail.com

Happy Trading!

Amin

How  to  Outperform  The  Market

I am a Growth Stock Investor and I follow Mr. William O'Neil's (founder of Investors Business Daily) methodology of trading Growth Stocks.    Studies by IBD has shown that Growth Stocks tend to perform  2 to 2.5 times   better than the average performance of the market, as measured by the performance of the $SPY.   My strategy involves:  

1. Buy  "High and Sell Higher".
2. Do not   "Buy and Hold".
3. Do not  "Buy Cheap Stocks".
4. Buy  "Right and Sell Right".
5. "Harvest Profits"  as the stock moves higher.  Sell into strength.
6. Use  "Trailing Stops"  to protect profits and mitigate losses.

Studies of IBD has shown that most growth stocks that are fundamentally and technically sound, tend to rise  +20%  to +25%  and than form another base.  Stocks will move sideways for a while to digest these gains before they start making another run higher.  This is the behaviour of the institutions on display.  They have to accumulate a large position in the stock of their choice and it takes them several weeks to accumulate their entire position.  For retail investors, it's quite OK to take these profits and and use the proceeds to invest in other growth stock. 

One of the emotions that we as retail investors have to constantly deal with is the GREED factor.  It's a euphoric feeling when the stock attains a profit of  +20%  to  +25%  within a couple of weeks or less.  Just accept the fact that as a retail investor, you will never sell your stock at the very top or for that matter buy it at the very bottom.  Learning to sell your stock into strength takes a lot of discipline.  Market will be volatile in 2019 and I just have to remind my readers that one of the biggest risk in 2019 is TIME.  The longer you have your stock position with profits in the market, greater the risk you are exposed to of the market retracing n giving up the profits on your stock.   

Market  Condition  

The  "Follow Thru"  day we had on June 7th is working out vey well for now.  We have only 1  "Distribution Day"   so far.  For now the institutions have chosen to continue to participate as buyers in the market.  For the month of May,  $SPY had retraced  -6.60%  and the  $QQQ  had retraced  - 8.81%.  We have made up all of those losses in the first 3 weeks of June so far.  June traditionally performs very poorly with just  +0.02%  gain  - looking over the average performance of  $SPY  over the last 50 years.  Thats is why I have often mentioned in my blogs not to listen to the tv or print media when they say  "Sell in May and go away".  Let the stock charts tell you the story instead.  In our  FREE  and an  OPEN  market system, laws of supply and demand work out very efficiently.

Market has done very well so far for 2019.  $SPY  is  +16.35%  and  $QQQ  is  + 20.46%  year to date.  4th quarter is one of the best quarters traditionally.  No one can predict where the market will be by year end.  At the current rate, it's quite possible that we may end the year with:

• $SPY at 3300
• $QQQ at 220

The market just doesn't go straight up of course.  There will be retracement of  -10%  to  -20%  along the way just as we did  from October to Dec of 2018 and more recently in May of 2019.  Lots of leading Growth Stocks have already attained the profits of +20%  to  +25%.  This might be a good time to start harvesting partial profits in stocks that have done very well for you.  Earnings season can bring back the volatility in the market.  We have a slight reprieve for the next 2 weeks before some of the banks start the reporting their earning. 

Happy Trading!

Amin

YES ... You  Can  TIME  the  Market

I believe in simplicity in the market.  Too often we as traders and investors get too involved in analyzing all the politics and the news in the media.  It's good to remind ourselves that the market is a collective result of all the buyers and sellers in the market.  It's mostly institutions like hedge funds, mutual funds and pension funds that account for over 75% of the trading that occurs daily in the US stock markets.  Their market sentiments is what drives the markets.  When their sentiment changes from being a net seller (bearish) to a net buyer(bullish), it shows up in prices moving higher in higher volume of trading. 

Friday June 7th, the market staged a 4th day of rally during the week.  $QQQ  the leading growth stock index that I monitor, staged a  +6.5%  rally last week off the lows we had attained on the disastrous day we had in the market on Monday, the beginning of the week.  IBD(Investors Business Daily) changed the market pulse to  "Market in Confirmed Uptrend"  as of the market close on Friday.  That is the  "Follow Thru"  day we as retail traders ought to pay attention to.  That's the day the market sentiments of the institutions changed from the bearish camp to the bullish camp.  I have often said in my posts that we need to follow the lead of the institutions.   

Game  Plan

Monday morning one should have a list of stocks to make an intital purchase to test out the  "Follow Thru"  day.  Not all such days will materialize but history indicates that the leading stocks will quickly move up  +10%  to  +15%  within days or couple of weeks with a successful  "Follow Thru"  day.

1. Don't buy  CHEAP  stocks.  They are cheap because institutions do not want them.
2. Buy  HIGH  and sell  HIGER.  Institutions drive the price of the stock higher because they are accumulating a position in that stock.
3. Buy the  LEADING  stocks that are in the leading industry groups.  You only want the best of the best merchandize out there.
4. Look for stocks that are trading above the  20 day sma(simple moving average).  That indicates that the institutions are supporting them while the Indexes are still hovering around the  50 day sma. 
5. Look for stocks that are showing a rising  RS  line with a ratings above 94.  These are the stocks that are outshining the rest of the stocks in the stock market. 

Have a look at my blog post from last week (June 2nd blog post) to get some ideas on what sorts of stocks to generate to be worthy of finding a place on your Stock Watch List.

Mentoring  Program

I shall be opening up a few slots over the summer months (August and September only) in my Mentoring Program.  Summer months  are slow months usually in the market.  Historically our best quarter is from October thru Dec.  Now is an ideal time to learn to trade and invest utilizing growth stock strategies of IBD(Investors Business Daily).  

Schedule a  FREE  30 minutes of  "Discovery Call"  with us and investigate how our program can help you learn the basics of reading the Stock Charts:

• How to find the winning Growth Stocks?
• How to Buy the Stocks Right?
• How to Sell the stocks Right?
• How to TIME the market?
• How to protect and harvest your profits? 

Contact us at:

investorspotlight@gmail.com

Happy Trading!

Amin

,