Trading
Nuggets
Wake up and Smell the Coffee...
by Mike Mc Mahon of TradingAcademy.com
I occasionally need to take my students
by the ears and shake them. Recently, I was asked if it
was time to get back into a stock. I asked “why”?
The reply was cause for me to re-double our efforts to
connect with all of you. The reply, “ ‘Coke
was raised to Overweight’ by the Analysts”.
This really gave me pause. OTA has been striving to “shine
the light of day” on the entire system. To open everybody’s
eyes, ears and minds to the fact that Wall Street and
its Analysts really don’t care about you. They really
have only their interest at heart. MLCO settled for $100,000,000.00
last Summer, another gaggle settled for 1.4 Billion (Yes,
with a “B”) this Spring without having to admit
guilt. Why would anybody listen? Well, we can’t blame
the people who have not had the education, but one of
my own?!?!? So, back to basics.
The only person in the world that deserves your trust
is You (and Your Mother – maybe). You need to take
control of your money – if, and only if, you know
what you are doing. If you do not, then do not risk your
money in the market! Nobody out there cares if you make
money or not. They only care if “they” make
money or not.
If they tell you “it’s a good buy”, who
are you talking too – A Buyer or a Seller? It does
not matter whether they are your best friend or your friendly
Wall St Analyst – they have an ax to grind – it
just ain’t your “ax” that’ll get sharpened.
There are good Analysts and there are bad Analysts. You
need to be a good analyst, yourself. There are a number
of very good “Stock Pick” newsletters/chatrooms
out there. The problem with relying on someone else is
that you become lazy, you become dependent. If you are
successful in your trading endeavors, if your discipline
is tight as a drum, then you can afford to use other people’s
thoughts or ideas to add to your success. But first, you
must make sure that you Could (and Can) do the “work”
that is necessary for your success and have proven it
to yourself – nobody else.
If Trading/Investing were about listening
to everybody’s opinion, then “everybody”
would be rich. Unfortunately, most of the populace listen
too much and do not “do enough”. By “doing
the work”, you learn to trust yourself. By “doing
the work”, you have only you to blame.
The “blame game” is another pitfall –
“It’s not my fault, they lied to me” –
“I would have made a million if they had done their
analysis better”. Hey, it your money, it’s your
decision – not their fault that they were trying
to make a living.
If you decide to listen, then check it out before you
put hard earned money at risk on others’ work. This
assumes (never a good thing) you know how to “check
it out”. If the idea is based on charts, well, go
look at the chart and “see” what they saw. Once
you are able to do that, then you really don’t need
them anymore- do you? Do the work and become free.
Ultimately, you must have an education – through
a school like OTA or through the School of Hard-Knocks
(very expensive schooling!) – to intelligently pursue
a business, trading or otherwise. You cannot make money
in this market without the knowledge. If you want others
to handle your trades, then you need to have the knowledge
to see that they are doing it right. If you want complete
control, you must know what you are doing to see that
you are doing it right.
Stop looking for the easy road – it is really very
bumpy, has some large ruts – and as we have all found
out, there may be bandits lurking on that road. “Stick
‘em up, Pardner!” or “Buy ‘em up,
Pardner” – is there much difference? You had
better learn...
Article by Mike Mc Mahon,
Lead Instructor - OTA
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This article is copyrighted by Online Trading Academy
and is reprinted with permission here. Reprints allowed
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