Why any financial collapse changes nothing for this trader


Lots of big important news out lately, but I'm not doing anything differently. Nor will I ever. Because I've matured enough over the past decade to sit, wait and strike only when I see all the variables aligned. And that time still is not upon us. By buying The Bear Stearns Companies Inc. (NYSE: BSC), JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) may or may not be getting a great deal, but I'm not smart, well-informed or interested enough to really care because there are still too many conflicting variables. I only care for ideal trading opportunities, of which there are none (for my style of trading).

Since January, I've been calling for a 10%+ market drop and warning about a potential disaster not because I'm psychic, but thanks to archaic industry regulations limiting transparency, for industry outsiders, there's really no way how deeply troubled these financial firms are. Judging by Bear's buyout price of $2, even well-informed industry insiders are scared to pay too much to take on such risk.

So, just as when I featured them last week, perfectly downtrending stocks like Sprint Nextel Corporation (NYSE: S), Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C) and Merrill Lynch & Co. Inc. (NYSE: MER) will probably continue downtrending, only more steeply this week around.

And, the perfectly uptrending stocks like Quicksilver Resources Inc (NYSE: KWK), streetTRACKS Gold Trust (NYSE: GLD) and United States Oil Fund (AMEX: USO) will similarly continue uptrending, if more steeply.

No, this is not magic or voo doo, it's just basic trend following. Maybe that's why trend following hedge funds and traders are all raking it in right now. Maybe that's why you need to take up chart reading, to which I have devoted my entire mind, body and soul.

I leave you with one radical thought: trust no one and no company and focus on your investments' charts.

Timothy Sykes writes the blog timothysykes.com, is a former hedge fund manager, star of the TV show Wall Street Warriors and author of the book, An American Hedge Fund: How I Made $2 Million as a Stock Operator & Created a Hedge Fund

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Last updated: February 10, 2012: 08:34 AM

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