Roth 401k Overview

A Roth 401k is a special form of a traditional 401(k); however, there is one key difference in the tax treatment applied to both. A traditional 401k allows for the contribution of pre tax dollars into a retirement account while the Roth 401k allows employees to contribute after tax dollars to this account. The tax benefits of a Roth 401k are realized when distributions are made at retirement; as long as the rules are followed, no taxes will be withheld from the distributions that are made. This is the opposite of a traditional 401k in which taxes are paid when distributions are made at a retirement age.

52-Week Low

The 52-Week Low is a rolling count of the low of the stock over the past 52 weeks.  This of course translates into the yearly low for the stock.  Both fundamental analysts and technical analysts pay close attention to the 52-week low.  This represents a bearish move in the stock.  Some traders utilize a trading strategy where if a stock makes a new 52-week low, the stock should be sold.  The assumption is that the stock will continue lower over the short-term and losses could accelerate.  On the flip side, some speculators will use the 52-week low as a place to buy the stock.  This is due to the fact that a test of a 52-week low will generally produce a news event, thus increasing the public’s fear of the stock.  This increase distaste produces the necessary volume required in order for professional traders to be able to accumulate a large number of shares.  Many large data providers such as Yahoo Finance and Bloomberg will provide a

52-Week High

The 52-Week high is a rolling count of the high of the stock over the past 52 weeks.  This of course translates into the yearly high for the stock.  Both fundamental analysts and technical analysts pay close attention to the 52-week high.  This represents a bullish move in the stock.  Some traders utilize a trading strategy where if a stock makes a new 52-week high, the stock should be purchased.  The assumption is that the stock will continue higher over the short-term and quick profits can be made with ease.  On the flip side, some speculators will use the 52-week high as a place to unload shares.  This is due to the fact that a test of a 52-week high will generally produce a news even, thus increasing the public’s interest.  This increase interest produces the necessary volume required in order for professional traders to unload their shares.  Many large data providers such as Yahoo Finance and Bloomberg will provide a list of stoc

Form 10-Q Overview

The Form 10-Q is submitted by public companies quarterly as required by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The 10-Q contains financial statements that have not been audited , which provide insight into a company’s financial health throughout the course of the year. Firms are required to disclose the financial statements, management guidance and significant milestones achieved by the corporation. These events can include new product releases and stock events. The 10-Q provides a forward looking assessment of a company’s potential growth. This assists investors in estimating the potential growth of a company over the near future. The 10-Q has gain more popularity over the recent years as a result of ENRON and MCI falsifying there quarterly reports in order to retain investors. It is critical that quarterly statements are done properly, as they can result in restatements.

Form 10-K Overview

The form 10-k is a summary of a company’s performance over a year.  The report must be filed within 60 days after the end of the fiscal year.  Law by the U.S.

Thank God i was able to close out the week on a strong note.  There is no more empty feeling than going into the weekend down for the day and or week.  I was able to avoid both of these today by finishing up a $274.  The key to today's victory is that I was able to rebound from yesterday's debacle and not let bad habits sink in.  Today I was able to make a decent return without ever using more than 11k per play.  At this point we are in the game of perfecting our trading strategies and growing the account.  I have the rest of my adult life to become "Scarface" in the market.  Right now it's about discipline and preservation of capital. 

So today I lost a little over $500 bucks.  So for the month, I'm down about $300 bucks. Funny thing is all of this loss came from one stock.  It just got away from me.  There are going to be days like this and I don't care who you are, every once in awhile you will take a hit.  This isn't going to work for me as I need to make money in order to survive.  I haven't had a losing month since '07 and I don't plan on starting in May.  The rest of this month will be termed project salvation.  I am going to salvage this month and turn it into something special.  As Denzel said in Man on Fire..."I'm going to take you apart piece by piece." 

So here are my goals. 

1. Finish up for the remaining three weeks in May 
2. Hit a thousand dollars per week
3. Stay Focused

Good Luck Trading

Today was a good day; I put on 3 trades with 2 winners and 1 loss. A few good things about today; the most important was that I took my loss fast and prevented a small loss from getting large. My two winners were sizeable; however, we could have had more. I want to be clear, there is a clear distinction between greed and letting your profits run. I have a system to keep me in trending winners and I need to let it stop me out rather than using my instinct to do that. Instinct is not a bad thing but there is a saying that is very appropriate here, "If it aint broke, don't fix it". I need to let my system take me out of my trades. Lets go over a few of them:

The below video is of my 5/7 JCOM morning breakout trade. We have been working on developing sound money making rules for trading and JCOM is a clear example of this system in real-time. JCOM had all green bars in the morning prior to retesting the high for the day. This gave us confidence in a long position, as odds where in our favor that the stock would not only test its morning high, but likely push through it.

The key to day trading, which I have to remind myself everyday, is that less is more. The clip is roughly 3 minutes and I hope you find it helpful.

Good Luck Trading

Featured Day Trade of the Day

Solid day for me in the market.   This morning started out flat, and I was tempted to just pass on the morning setups, but I gave it a go.  My first play of the day was J2 Global Communications (JCOM).   The stock was up strongly on the 5-minute chart.  Come to think of it, it didn’t have one red bar.  I was able to sell out of the stock right before the morning reversal came into play, which sent the stock down about 6% at the time of this write-up.  See the chart below.

JCOM Breakout Trade