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The Elephant by Al Thomas

Four blind men were asked to give a description of an elephant. They had not seen one or ever encountered such a beast. One grabbed hold of its tail. Another put his arms around a leg. The third gripped its trunk and the fourth walked into the side. The description given by each one was correct and accurate except it did not describe the elephant's true form. Each man was right and each man was wrong.

Emotional Trading by Al Thomas

The single most expensive stock market trades are those made with emotions, but, of course, you are not an emotional trader are you? Before you bought that stock, mutual fund or Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) you did your research to be sure that what you were buying would return a good profit over the long haul. You bought it and over time you look at it less and less.

Eternal Sunshine by Al Thomas

There is a current movie entitled “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind”. It is about a man who has had a painful love affair and will do anything to rid his mind of those pain thoughts of a former love. He sees an advertisement that offers just such a service. It seems his former lover has the exact thoughts and she goes through the same treatment. Guess what? They meet again, do not recognize each other, and fall in love again.

Keep Your Profits by Al Thomas

It looks like we have now entered a new bull phase in the stock market and I have a question for you. Will you give back the profits that you make this time as you did in 2000? You sure don’t want to, but you are not going to get any help from your broker.

Inverted Interest Rates by Al Thomas

Inverted interest rates? What’s that? Who cares? Even if you don’t understand what Mr. Greenspan is saying (and almost nobody does) it is important to you because it could mean you might lose you job next year or have to cut back on some of the things you want to acquire.

Investment Clubs by Al Thomas

Because you don't feel too sure about which stock or mutual fund to buy you decide to become a member of an investment club. Each of the members contribute a certain amount of money each month and then meet to decide what to buy or sell.

It Can't Be Done by Al Thomas

Wouldn’t it be nice if you were only in the stock market when it was going up and have everything transferred to cash while it is going down? It is called ‘market timing’ and your broker or financial planner will tell you “it can’t be done”. What that person just told you is he doesn’t know how to do it. He doesn’t know his job.

Stock Market Insanity by Al Thomas

Let’s first define insanity. It is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. And that is what most investors do and they can’t understand why they are not able to make money in the stock market.

It's A Bull, It's A Bear, It's Suptertrader! by Al Thomas

The higher the market goes the more confusing are the "experts". In the September 14 issue of Investor's Business Daily newspaper we find the great prognosticators such as:

Intervention by Al Thomas

Intervention. Now don't let that big word scare you. The talking heads on TV have been discussing it all week because the major banks of the world are going to "prop up" the Euro.

Is Your Garage Full Of Junk? by Al Thomas

I have a 2-car garage. There are nice shelves on one side and a good practical workbench with a vice on the other side. Plenty of room for 2 cars yet I have to be careful when I pull in so I won't run over stuff stacked on each side. Sound familiar?

It's A Duck by Al Thomas

If it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck and looks like a duck it must be a duck. In the stock market if there are more buyers than sellers, more stocks are going up than down and the trend of the general market is higher it must be a bull.

It's Better by Al Thomas

Question: How does it get better when it gets worse? Last week we had a jobs report from Washington that there were fewer jobs created than they had anticipated, but the stock market took that as good news and the DOW had a strong rally. WOW! The bad news somehow turned into good news because the unemployment rate dropped one tenth of one percent.

Market Globalization by Al Thomas

Just 30 years ago the stock market was a shadow of what it is today. There were many fewer shareholders and the daily volume was a fraction of what it is at present. No one thought you would every be able to trade a billion or more shares in one day. Of course that was in the old days when they had tickers and the word digital was something you did with your fingers.

Market Timing by Al Thomas

Every broker and financial planner will tell you that you cannot time the stock market. I saw John Bogle, the great seer of Vanguard, on CNBC saying it can’t be done. Of course, it is easy to understand why he and every other mutual fund manager would say that as they would have a problem managing huge inflows and outflows of money and he was buying and holding during the 18-year bull from 1982 to 2000.

Momentum by Al Thomas

Momentum - the only easy way I know to make consistent profits in the market and I was a floor trader for 17 years.

Moving Averages by Al Thomas

Every day on CNBC-TV they show a 200-day moving average line superimposed on the stock price history. It seems they give great credence to this manufactured line as it represents 10 months of price action. What is it? Does it really mean anything?

Market Psychology by Al Thomas

Today we are inundated with tons of information about the economy, stocks, government agencies and foreign governments. They show us charts and graphs of the increase⁄decrease in oil production over the last 5 years, the amount of maple syrup produced in Vermont for the past century, the time it takes to bounce a signal off the moon and all kinds of other nonsense that we can live without. The talking heads on the investment programs, both radio and TV, tell us how this is going to affect the price of certain stocks and the market in general. Well, maybe.

Market Timing? by Al Thomas

The recent criminal fiasco in the mutual fund industry is being used by Wall Street to persuade investors that market timing is a bad thing. The late trading by Janus, Bank America and several other well known mutual funds is falsely being called market timing.

More Window Dressing by Al Thomas

Two weeks ago I wrote about what the Securities and Exchange Commission was doing to regulate the mutual fund industry to help the small investor, the “poor folks”. It really added up to zero. Now the SEC is going to make new regulations for hedge funds to protect the rich folks. And it is more window dressing. In fact, it looks downright stupid. When I say rich folks it is because in order to qualify to invest in a hedge fund you must have assets of one million dollars and income of $200,000 per year for a single person and $300,000 for a couple.

Market Success by Al Thomas

Who are the successful investors? There are those who follow the advice of their brokers and financial planners or those who choose to use their own good judgment? If you care to compare the results of the past 4 years from 2000 to now I believe you will see who as done the best job.

Mindset by Al Thomas

In 1960 an engineer working for a watch company in Switzerland discovered that a small crystal would vibrate at a constant rate. He found this was so accurate that it could be used to calibrate time so he took it to company management and said it would make an entirely new kind of watch that had no springs and no gears. They could not imagine who would want such a thing. Swiss watches dominated world commerce. “Why change?”, they said. The bosses did not even bother to patent it.

Mousetrap by Al Thomas

The spring-loaded rat catcher is the ultimate low-tech device invented more than 100 years ago and remains the best demouser in the world. It is so simple anyone can master it and best of all you can keep on using it year in and year out. It always works.

Don't Spend Another Dollar on Business 'Opportunities' Until You Read This by Michael S.L. Bombard

It seems like almost everyone wants to make money on the Internet. However, with so many options available - most being difficult or time consuming - many people never realize that dream. This article opens their eyes to a another option, one that's exciting, proven, practical and profitable.

Shorting Stocks – The Basics, Part I of II by Chris Perruna

This article explains the basic understanding into the process of shorting stocks. Part I of II, article II in this series gets into some examples.

Shorting Stocks – The Basics, Part II of II by Chris Perruna

This article (the second part of a two-part series) explains the basics of shorting stocks by providing an example and covering most aspects into placing and closing the trade. Part I of this short series on shorting deals with the basic understanding into the process of shorting stocks.

Trading as a Business by Joe Ross

Starting off your futures and options trading experience with unrealistic expectations inevitably will lead to frustration and disappointment. It's better to face reality now. It will make life as a trader easier down the road. Here are just a few facts to dispel those unrealistic expectations.

Bollinger Bands Strategies by Steven T. Ng

Bollinger Bands are technical indicators used to time volatility and stock price movement. This article discusses how to use this strategy.

Peer Groups by Al Thomas

Whenever I see mutual fund comparisons in the trade publications and in the financial section of the newspaper they almost always mention a specific fund and tell you how good it is in relation to its peer group. A peer group is a specialized sector of mutual funds that all invest in about the same type of stocks or areas of the world or size of companies or some such categorization. Does this help you make money?

Why This Bear? by Al Thomas

People are constantly asking me why is the stock market going down. What is causing this bear market? It is relatively simple so don't ask an economist. He will give you a 200-page answer that is undecipherable. Can you understand Mr. Greenspan?