Dave's Blog

11/29/2004 

Stock trading is the ultimate exercise in patience.  No matter 
what the stock movement has been in the past, as a long trader I 
like to see the stock move up.  The maxim "buy low, sell high" 
only takes meaning when I can see the lows and highs.  There 
are tools that can help me spot them, but there is no guarantee 
that a low will be the lowest low, or that a high will be the 
highest high.  In fact, finding a new high in a stock chart can 
indicate that it will move even higher!  

Picking a stock is the ultimate exercise in being "in the now."  
It is tempting to look at a chart and feel that I should have 
bought the stock three days ago, or that I should have dumped 
the stock last week.  Actually, what I could have done with past 
stock movements is completely irrelevant, and what the stock 
will do in the future is completely unknown.  The only real 
decision is what to do with the stock today.  

Sometimes I pick a stock that is at a low, and then it sags 
slowly, not starting a new trend, but trying my patience for 
days or weeks on end.  

Sometimes the minute I order a trade in a stock the chart 
changes.  I know it's my perspective shifting.  When it happens, 
I realize I did not exercise enough patience before pushing the 
button.  

Experience is bringing patterns to my consciousness.  I see 
the charts as wave patterns now.  Looking for a trough in the 
wave to catch is like surfing -- sit out on the water and wait 
for a good set.  Then when it comes in, make sure you're on it.  
On ClearStation I read an article in which the author described 
his perfect pattern -- a positive MACD with an oversold 
stochastic.  At first I looked for the pattern, and then I 
decided it was actually quite rare.  Now I am seeing it 
everywhere; it appears to be quite common.  What has changed?  My 
perception.  

Last week I paid for my original investing education.  The 
tuition was paid to the school of hard knocks, not to any 
institution.  After four years, the tuition I paid has come back 
to me.  There is a formal education to pay for now.  I expect it 
to pay back faster this time.  In the Now, it is paying back 
already.  


Wednesday, November 03, 2004

So there we have it.  George W. Bush will serve four more years 
as the President of the United States of America.  The People 
have spoken.  

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